Is it me, or are they seriously underpowered for their listed CR and LA modifiers? At LA +18 (or maybe LA +11, not sure...) the Sillit is pathetic. At first I thought I was missing something important, like spellcasting or somesuch, but there's really nothing there. What makes the LA and CR so high on these things?
Nerra from Fiend Folio
- Thread starter nameless
- Start date
Knight Otu
First Post
The reflective SR and Mirror Walking abilities are pretty potent as far as I can see. Those shouldn't be underestimated, especially as the reflective SR scales with the character level. At character level +12, the opponent should better have Spell Penetration for his own good.
Not having to worry about gaze attacks is an added bonus that can be seen as important.
Not having to worry about gaze attacks is an added bonus that can be seen as important.
I dunno... the mirror walk and reflective SR are potent, but not enough to make them significantly more powerful. Mirror walking is good for out of combat movement, but as a DM tool, they can move in any number of ways to confound PCs. As PCs, they can't take anyone along with them (I don't believe), so their travel ability is marginalized.
The SR is nice, but their HD is rather low, and they attack power is nothing to write home about. A canny opponent will just beat the crap out of a Nerra in melee, or summon something to fight. They aren't at the top of their CR's melee combat ability, so a beefy summoned animal will probably do the job.
As PCs, the LA is enormous. With LA of +11 for the most powerful, you'll have SR of 19 at level 18. That is so low that an equal level opponent is guaranteed to land all his spells on you. The mirror walking ability is no more powerful than a Shadow Walk spell. The Reflective SR is by far the most powerful ability of the race, but it still is only worth so many levels... 3 at the most.
Acid Testing against a Flesh Golem, the golem has a host of immunities, way stronger ability scores, significant natural armor, DR, and complete magic immunity at a much lower LA.
I'm not blaming anyone here, of course. I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't missing some major ability that the Nerra have that would be worth a lot of levels.
The SR is nice, but their HD is rather low, and they attack power is nothing to write home about. A canny opponent will just beat the crap out of a Nerra in melee, or summon something to fight. They aren't at the top of their CR's melee combat ability, so a beefy summoned animal will probably do the job.
As PCs, the LA is enormous. With LA of +11 for the most powerful, you'll have SR of 19 at level 18. That is so low that an equal level opponent is guaranteed to land all his spells on you. The mirror walking ability is no more powerful than a Shadow Walk spell. The Reflective SR is by far the most powerful ability of the race, but it still is only worth so many levels... 3 at the most.
Acid Testing against a Flesh Golem, the golem has a host of immunities, way stronger ability scores, significant natural armor, DR, and complete magic immunity at a much lower LA.
I'm not blaming anyone here, of course. I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't missing some major ability that the Nerra have that would be worth a lot of levels.
Knight Otu
First Post
I think I understand part of your problem now. For some reasons, some of the LA numbers include the Racial Hit Dice of the creatures, and the Nerra belong to them. Their actual LA is the given LA minus their racial Hit Dice (excluding the Sillit, with one HD).
the Jester
Legend
It seems to me that, while some earlier books were overly conservative with their CRs (look at the remorhaz and CC1, f'rex) the FF was erred more on the side of overestimating CR. I think it's much more successful at accurately appraising CR, however.
Knight Otu
First Post
Ouch! Why doesn't anybody stop me from writing rubbish! 
Used wrong numbers and names. Sorry, nameless.
Here is what I think that happened: The fighter nerra and the varoot have correct ECLs. The sillit, on the other hand looks as if his Hit Dice have been counted twice into the given LA.
This is apparently born from a confusion of the terms LA and ECL. It might have went like this:
A to B: 'Ok, the sillit has a LA of four, for a total LA of +11'
B to C: 'The sillit has a LA of +11, put that into the book.'
C reads SavSpe: 'OK, LA +11 means ECL +18.'
C to D: 'Write that the sillit is basically a level 18 character-'
D writes into the book: 'Sillits have a LA of +18.'
Or something like that.
Used wrong numbers and names. Sorry, nameless.
Here is what I think that happened: The fighter nerra and the varoot have correct ECLs. The sillit, on the other hand looks as if his Hit Dice have been counted twice into the given LA.
This is apparently born from a confusion of the terms LA and ECL. It might have went like this:
A to B: 'Ok, the sillit has a LA of four, for a total LA of +11'
B to C: 'The sillit has a LA of +11, put that into the book.'
C reads SavSpe: 'OK, LA +11 means ECL +18.'
C to D: 'Write that the sillit is basically a level 18 character-'
D writes into the book: 'Sillits have a LA of +18.'
Or something like that.
Similar Threads
