Pathfinder 1E "Page 42" for Pathfinder

[Achan hiArusa]

You can, but I think there's a conceptual difference at work here. With the table, you look for a difficulty set to the characters at their level and come up with the rationale afterwards to justify the DC. Ruemere, I think, prefers the opposite direction - set the DC appropriate to the specific case, don't worry about what's on par with the PCs' level.
For some people, it's like the tail's wagging the dog to do it the 4e table way.

I think if you do it the second way, then you can still use the table. You just make the encounter, set the DCs for the specific case and then use the table to find out what the CR of the challenge was and use that to determine how many XPs they get for the encounter.

 

[Perram]

Any update on the PDF version of this?

 

[Stormonu]

Where can I find "monster stats by CR"? I tried Googling d20pfsrd.org and looking in my beta playtest book.

That low damage expression at level 1 seemed a little high, so I checked out the first twelve CR 1 monsters from the 3.5 SRD (air elemental through giant worker ant). They do:


which averages out to 4.5 plus or minus two. Going by that, low damage at CR 1 should be 2.5, medium 4.5, and high 6.5. So that low damage expression is high at 5.5, but the other high and medium ones are pretty close. From these twelve monsters I'd go

Low 1d4
Med 1d6 + 1
High 1d6 + 3

This is certain to be a great help, but I have to agree on the low damage side.

Mathematically, I'd be inclined to base the Low/Med/High on expected hp levels in the game, possibly based on how likely it would be to take out characters: Low designed to take out d6 hp characters in about 4 successful hits; Medium designed to take out d8 hp characters in about 4 hits; High designed to take out d10 hp characters in about 4 hits. Each group should also be factored to account likely Con bonuses/feats/items that affect hit points at the various levels (Low might assume no Con bonus or magic items, while high might assume a 16 starting Con, ability raises to Con, toughness feat and access to Con bonus items as soon as a character could feasibly afford them).

 

[The_Gneech]

I updated the initial post with a new link, including one to a larger, printable version. (I've been working on updating my website, so the PDF plan got delayed.)

re: damage, the values I picked were based on the Pathfinder monster creation tables ... you'd have to ask the folks at Paizo where they got their numbers from on that. I do kinda wonder if it's not too much damage all around, but remember that Pathfinder characters are more durable generally than baseline 3.x characters.

-The Gneech

 

[Endarire]

Scaling DCs provide a base for the uninitiated. A level 12 character can do a lot of things, but can he reliably disable a DC50 trap? Game designers assume certain things, and while it may be true in your case, it is most likely false in the general case.

 

[Longtooth Studios]

Very handy!
I have been running adventure paths lately, but there still come the opportunity to GM on the fly, and create new encounters not covered in the adventure.
Great resource, thanks for your time and effort.

Mind if I link to it from my blog?

 

[The_Gneech]

Please do! Make note that this is a work in progress, so any "in play" feedback would be welcome.

-The Gneech

 

[Sir Robilar]

Hi,

I would also be very interested in the PDF for this.

One question: By taking only D6s, doesn´t this get extremely swingy? Would it be more sensical to add other dice types or to increase the bonuses to the rolls?