I have one question. I've seen that with most creatures and characters, their equipment doesn't influence in their challenge rating (except for Weapons of Legacy). I think it's right, since their level considers that they gain special and powerful items as they level-up. But aren't some items supposed to be determinant in the difficulty to beat enemies, like artifacts, for example? What if a character has 3 major artifacts (I know it's extreeme, but it's just to make my point); wouldn't he have a higher CR than one with absolutely no magical items, even at same levels?
And one question regarding this theme: Is a 20th level Wizard who has lost his spellbook and has no prepared spells be a CR 20 opponent? That doesn't make sense to me, but according to the Core Books, it is. And according to those books, the first questions seem to answer that, "yes, they have the same CR".
I have one question. I've seen that with most creatures and characters, their equipment doesn't influence in their challenge rating (except for Weapons of Legacy). I think it's right, since their level considers that they gain special and powerful items as they level-up. But aren't some items supposed to be determinant in the difficulty to beat enemies, like artifacts, for example? What if a character has 3 major artifacts (I know it's extreeme, but it's just to make my point); wouldn't he have a higher CR than one with absolutely no magical items, even at same levels?
And one question regarding this theme: Is a 20th level Wizard who has lost his spellbook and has no prepared spells be a CR 20 opponent? That doesn't make sense to me, but according to the Core Books, it is. And according to those books, the first questions seem to answer that, "yes, they have the same CR".
The section on CRs makes it pretty clear that CRs are meant to reflect the average situation. Your supposed to raise or lower the CR if the situation is extreme for some reason or another. I believe the books encouraged the DM to not change CRs lightly and I would think thats good advice. Most of the time you should probably hand out the same CR if the trolls are likely to surprise the players as if the players are likely to surprise the trolls. But in extreme situations - wizards that were wandering around helpless or say the kobold with a Staff of Power are cases were the CR should be adjusted.
That said I'd not adjust the CR if the PCs stole the wizards spell book - then they earned their CR. Furthermore I would generally avoid kobolds with Staffs of Power. In the vast majority of cases I think that the DM should be generally keeping it so that s/he does not have to adjust the CR since this sort of activity is usually a recipe for unbalancing everything - but sometimes the requirements of the story trump such considerations - as well it should.
Not too long ago I read a post about the CR of the spellweaver. In the post James Jacobs wrote that a mage equal to the spellweaver CR should have about 20,000 gp worth of gear, therefore the spellweaver would be about an equal encounter. If you reverse this thinking, a spellweaver with 20,000 gp worth of gear should be a more challenging encounter with a higher CR. If you want to read what was written James is more eloquent with his words than I am, search "spellweaver".
Here's a question that I had some time ago, and I don't remember tha answer I got on the boards: When giving class levels to a monster, how do you determine total gp worth of equipment to give them? HD, CR (Base + class levels or 1/2 of nonassociated class levels), or Class Levels added?
I don't think it's CR for this reason. I made a scrag Barbarian 2, which would have a normal CR of 7, but since it had class levels, I gave it equiment as a 7th level character. I did the same with a scrag barbarian 1, giving it gp as a 6th level character, and then put them together. Can you say "Near TPK"? Woops.
So, should I have given them stuff as a character of their HD, or as a character with the same number of class levels as they had?
As far as equipment goes I don't often equip monsters with stuff that isn't in their stat block.
However, the suggestion I would make is that you roll out the treasure for their CR and equip them with that treasure. Fudge the treasure if you desarately want them to have armour and weapon and shield and bag holding. Just make sure the monetary total is not out of wack with the treasure expected for that monster at that CR (include class levels in CR calculation).
igi
Anyone who works at Dungeon care to weigh in on how magic items are calculated for monsters with level?
Both DUNGEON and WotC have altered CR's based on differences in the equipment and other factors. Both Warduke from DUNGEON and some of the NPCs from the Eberron setting have CR's 1-2 higher than normal because they have more magical equipment than a normal NPC of the same level. Both lady Dromond from "Shut-In" and Hehranna from the "Hive" have lower Crs than normal. The villain in "Shut-In" because of her lack of equipment and wretched physical stats, and Hehranna because she is forgetting how to cast spells as she becomes a formian queen.
Creative Director
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Anyone who works at Dungeon care to weigh in on how magic items are calculated for monsters with level?
By the book; you're supposed to give a monster treasure as if it were a standard monster for its CR. If it has class levels, you also give it treasure according to its class levels. Thus, a 5th level chuul ranger would have:
Treasure appropriate for a chuul + treasure appropriate for a 5th level ranger.
That said, we rarely, if ever use this method. For monsters with class levels, I tend to award them treasure equal to an NPC of a level equal to their CR if they're important to the plot, or as monsters equal to their total CR if they're not. And then I go through the entire adventure to make sure if the total amount of treasure the adventure hands out is close enough to the guidelines listed in the DMG.
Anyone who works at Dungeon care to weigh in on how magic items are calculated for monsters with level?By the book; you're supposed to give a monster treasure as if it were a standard monster for its CR. If it has class levels, you also give it treasure according to its class levels. Thus, a 5th level chuul ranger would have:
Treasure appropriate for a chuul + treasure appropriate for a 5th level ranger.
That said, we rarely, if ever use this method. For monsters with class levels, I tend to award them treasure equal to an NPC of a level equal to their CR if they're important to the plot, or as monsters equal to their total CR if they're not. And then I go through the entire adventure to make sure if the total amount of treasure the adventure hands out is close enough to the guidelines listed in the DMG.
Thanks James. This helps a great deal with a submission I am working on. Look to see something from me soon.