Vampire CR/Level Adjustment: huh?

[Errant]

Can anyone explain to me how the (SRD) Vampire template has only a +2 Challenge Rating adjustment but a +8 Level adjustment?

If I wanted to use a lone vampire NPC as a standard encounter for a group of 4 iconic PCs (for instance) what base NPC level do I apply the template to? A L2 NPC (for an adjusted level of 10) or a L8 NPC (for an adjusted challenge rating of 10)???

All the extra abilities, natural armor, resistances etc are significant, but no improvement in base attack bonus or saves is a massive handicap facing off against PCs equal to the increased level adjustment.

Am I missing something?

 

[Infiniti2000]

CR != ECL.

A monster used as a player character has far different implications than a monster used as an encounter.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Basically, CR is a measure of "How tough is this creature in a single fight / encounter?" The vampire template is worth about two levels here.

ECL (which includes racial hit dice and level adjustment) is a measure of "How tough is this creature in the hands of a player over the course of a campaign?" The vampire template is worth about eight levels here.

 

[TheGogmagog]

Can anyone explain to me how the (SRD) Vampire template has only a +2 Challenge Rating adjustment but a +8 Level adjustment?

If I wanted to use a lone vampire NPC as a standard encounter for a group of 4 iconic PCs (for instance) what base NPC level do I apply the template to? A L2 NPC (for an adjusted level of 10) or a L8 NPC (for an adjusted challenge rating of 10)???

All the extra abilities, natural armor, resistances etc are significant, but no improvement in base attack bonus or saves is a massive handicap facing off against PCs equal to the increased level adjustment.

Am I missing something?

As an NPC encounter, you would use the L8 NPC +2 CR for a CR10 encounter. As a PC character you would use a L2 PC +8 LA for an ECL 10 character.

In what language is != mean not equal to? I think Basic and C++ used <> or <=>.

 

[Infiniti2000]

In what language is != mean not equal to? I think Basic and C++ used <> or <=>.

C, C++ for sure. And even Pascal methinks. Excel is also <>, but then Excel is merely a superset of Basic.

 

[IcyCool]

C, C++ for sure. And even Pascal methinks. Excel is also <>, but then Excel is merely a superset of Basic.

"!=" is the "not equal" operator for Java as well.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Supporting I2K on the C++ angle.

I always used "<>" in Pascal.

 

[Nail]

Java too? Huh.

 

[seans23]

c#, php, and ruby, too.

I think perl uses <>

<=> is usually used to return -1, 0, or 1 if the first item is less than, equal to, or greater than the first item.

 

[Thanee]

Is this the computer programming forum now?

Bye
Thanee

P.S. != works in Perl, I suppose <> works, too, in numeric context, anyways