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v4: Challenge Ratings pdf (3.5 compatible)
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<blockquote data-quote="Wulf Ratbane" data-source="post: 1172843" data-attributes="member: 94"><p>I have comments up through page six.</p><p></p><p>First of all, I can't tell you how loathe I am to point things out after you went through the trouble of calculating CR's for every monster. Every thing I mention is gonna grate on you. Sorry in advance!</p><p></p><p><strong>ONE</strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>How Do Factors Work?</strong></p><p></p><p><em>Round down all fractions if the total is 4 or more,</em></p><p></p><p>Meaning, drop all fractions.</p><p></p><p><em>if the total is less than 4 apply the result to Table 1-1.</em></p><p></p><p>Why does the cat (-1.035) round down to -1.5, when the table shows an entry for -1.25? I'd be inclined to round it to -1, or -1.25, but it doesn't seem clear why you'd skip the -1.25 entry. I'd "fix" this by changing the CR, as well as clarifying the text to say, "Round down to the next lowest value on the table: -1.01 drops to -1.25, -1.26 drops to -1.5, etc."</p><p></p><p>Oh, and by the way, that's a comma splice; you want a semi-colon. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /></p><p></p><p><strong>TWO</strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>1. Character Levels</strong></p><p></p><p><em>All Class Prestige Levels: CR 0.8 / level</em></p><p></p><p>What happened to 1 CR = 1 Level?</p><p></p><p>What is the correct CR of an 8th level human rogue (including all factors)? You'd add CR for levels, + CR for wealth? (And assuming that we're rounding off the racial modifier for humans to 0, per the DM's option?</p><p></p><p>Clearly I think I know the answer to this one, but for someone who's reading this thing linearly, they've just heard you say how important 1 Level = 1 CR is, then you seemingly break that rule. A simple reminder that "Player characters add +.2 CR/level for equipment (see section X.X)" would help here.</p><p></p><p><em>The Fiendish template is identical to the celestial template except for the following:</em></p><p></p><p>... and presumably Smite Evil changes to Smite Good.</p><p></p><p><strong>Half-Celestial Templates</strong></p><p></p><p><em>CR variable +3.2 (1 HD) to 9.87 (20 HD)</em></p><p></p><p>I found the word "variable" confusing here. What other HD scaling effects would cause the CR to be variable? It would be helpful to flag the factors that vary by HD. What if I want a 6HD Half-Celestial? It's not immediately apparent how to calculate that, so I find this section (unfortunately) useless.</p><p></p><p>I suspect it's some application of the golden rule...?</p><p></p><p><em>Lich Template: Skill Bonuses (+56) CR +1.12</em></p><p></p><p>I have more to say on skill bonuses later. I flag this here and now because it jumps out at me in relation to the human "racial" factor coming up, which caps the value of +1 skill point per level at CR +.1 (.02 x 5 max). </p><p></p><p>I think there needs to be some distinction between fixed, racial bonuses to skills (+8 to Hide, for example) versus bonus "discretionary" skill points (+1 skill point per level for humans; greater number of skill points per HD for other types (Fey and Dragons have a lot of skills per HD if I recall...)</p><p></p><p>I might simply fix this by more specifically referring to "skill bonuses" as "Racial Skill Bonuses" which is the terminology already used for fixed bonuses. </p><p></p><p><strong>THREE</strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>Challenge Rating Modifier For Size</strong></p><p></p><p>I'd love it if this section broke down all the factors for each size that you ARE including.</p><p></p><p>Quick question: Why did you decide not to include natural armor, since WOTC considers this part and parcel of a size increase when advancing monsters?</p><p></p><p><strong>TRAITS</strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>Challenge Rating Modifiers For Traits</strong></p><p></p><p>Quick point: It occurs to me that in places you call them challeng rating factors, in other places, challenge rating modifiers. Were I an editor (and sometimes I am) I'd fight hard for consistent terminology.</p><p></p><p><strong>TYPE TRAITS</strong></p><p></p><p>I'd like to see every one of the types broken down here to show where the factors are-- not half of them here, and half of them in Table 1-3. I'd like to see Aberrations broken out, for example.</p><p></p><p><strong>FOUR</strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>RACIAL TRAITS</strong></p><p></p><p><em>DM's discretion to ignore the impact of core racial traits less than +1 CR.</em></p><p></p><p>A few points here.</p><p></p><p>First, it seems all the core races are .5 or less. Why not ignore .5 or less?</p><p></p><p>I also wonder about the golden rule when applied to player character races. I am not sure why a player should get a "discount" to ECL by adding factors that exceed his starting 1 HD.</p><p></p><p>What are the CRs for planetouched and genasi, out of curiosity? </p><p></p><p>Are there any official races that add more than +1 ECL without also adding HD?</p><p></p><p><strong>FIVE</strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>8. FULL ATTACK</strong></p><p></p><p>I liked this better when it was based on the attack bonus. What happens when a marilith uses a dagger? Does her CR drop?</p><p></p><p>Seems this works fine for creatures with natural weapons, but breaks when the creature can use manufactured weapons. If you advance the marilith's size, for example, you'll naturally go in and add factors for size; but you'd also have to go back and recalculate this section as well.</p><p></p><p>Again, all in all I think this section was better off when it was based on number of attacks and BAB.</p><p></p><p>Ideally, the system should work such that you can change any given factor without too many "cascading" changes. (The Golden Rule would be the one big exception I can see-- but it's easily enough to fix if you keep a tally of your total factors.)</p><p></p><p>That's it for now... I wish I had more hours in the day, my friend... But after all the hard work you did, I am doing my best to give this a very careful read.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Wulf</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Wulf Ratbane, post: 1172843, member: 94"] I have comments up through page six. First of all, I can't tell you how loathe I am to point things out after you went through the trouble of calculating CR's for every monster. Every thing I mention is gonna grate on you. Sorry in advance! [b]ONE How Do Factors Work?[/b] [i]Round down all fractions if the total is 4 or more,[/i] Meaning, drop all fractions. [i]if the total is less than 4 apply the result to Table 1-1.[/i] Why does the cat (-1.035) round down to -1.5, when the table shows an entry for -1.25? I'd be inclined to round it to -1, or -1.25, but it doesn't seem clear why you'd skip the -1.25 entry. I'd "fix" this by changing the CR, as well as clarifying the text to say, "Round down to the next lowest value on the table: -1.01 drops to -1.25, -1.26 drops to -1.5, etc." Oh, and by the way, that's a comma splice; you want a semi-colon. ;) [b]TWO 1. Character Levels[/b] [i]All Class Prestige Levels: CR 0.8 / level[/i] What happened to 1 CR = 1 Level? What is the correct CR of an 8th level human rogue (including all factors)? You'd add CR for levels, + CR for wealth? (And assuming that we're rounding off the racial modifier for humans to 0, per the DM's option? Clearly I think I know the answer to this one, but for someone who's reading this thing linearly, they've just heard you say how important 1 Level = 1 CR is, then you seemingly break that rule. A simple reminder that "Player characters add +.2 CR/level for equipment (see section X.X)" would help here. [i]The Fiendish template is identical to the celestial template except for the following:[/i] ... and presumably Smite Evil changes to Smite Good. [b]Half-Celestial Templates[/b] [i]CR variable +3.2 (1 HD) to 9.87 (20 HD)[/i] I found the word "variable" confusing here. What other HD scaling effects would cause the CR to be variable? It would be helpful to flag the factors that vary by HD. What if I want a 6HD Half-Celestial? It's not immediately apparent how to calculate that, so I find this section (unfortunately) useless. I suspect it's some application of the golden rule...? [i]Lich Template: Skill Bonuses (+56) CR +1.12[/i] I have more to say on skill bonuses later. I flag this here and now because it jumps out at me in relation to the human "racial" factor coming up, which caps the value of +1 skill point per level at CR +.1 (.02 x 5 max). I think there needs to be some distinction between fixed, racial bonuses to skills (+8 to Hide, for example) versus bonus "discretionary" skill points (+1 skill point per level for humans; greater number of skill points per HD for other types (Fey and Dragons have a lot of skills per HD if I recall...) I might simply fix this by more specifically referring to "skill bonuses" as "Racial Skill Bonuses" which is the terminology already used for fixed bonuses. [b]THREE Challenge Rating Modifier For Size[/b] I'd love it if this section broke down all the factors for each size that you ARE including. Quick question: Why did you decide not to include natural armor, since WOTC considers this part and parcel of a size increase when advancing monsters? [b]TRAITS Challenge Rating Modifiers For Traits[/b] Quick point: It occurs to me that in places you call them challeng rating factors, in other places, challenge rating modifiers. Were I an editor (and sometimes I am) I'd fight hard for consistent terminology. [b]TYPE TRAITS[/b] I'd like to see every one of the types broken down here to show where the factors are-- not half of them here, and half of them in Table 1-3. I'd like to see Aberrations broken out, for example. [b]FOUR RACIAL TRAITS[/b] [i]DM's discretion to ignore the impact of core racial traits less than +1 CR.[/i] A few points here. First, it seems all the core races are .5 or less. Why not ignore .5 or less? I also wonder about the golden rule when applied to player character races. I am not sure why a player should get a "discount" to ECL by adding factors that exceed his starting 1 HD. What are the CRs for planetouched and genasi, out of curiosity? Are there any official races that add more than +1 ECL without also adding HD? [b]FIVE 8. FULL ATTACK[/b] I liked this better when it was based on the attack bonus. What happens when a marilith uses a dagger? Does her CR drop? Seems this works fine for creatures with natural weapons, but breaks when the creature can use manufactured weapons. If you advance the marilith's size, for example, you'll naturally go in and add factors for size; but you'd also have to go back and recalculate this section as well. Again, all in all I think this section was better off when it was based on number of attacks and BAB. Ideally, the system should work such that you can change any given factor without too many "cascading" changes. (The Golden Rule would be the one big exception I can see-- but it's easily enough to fix if you keep a tally of your total factors.) That's it for now... I wish I had more hours in the day, my friend... But after all the hard work you did, I am doing my best to give this a very careful read. Wulf [/QUOTE]
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