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S A V A G E S P E C I E S

DAVID ECKELBERRY, RICH REDMAN, JENNIFER CLARKE WILKES

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A D D I T I O N A L D E S I G N

Eric Cagle, Jesse Decker, Jeff Quick,

Sean Reynolds, Skip Williams

D E V E L O P E R

Rich Redman

E D I T O R S

Jennifer Clarke Wilkes, Gwendolyn

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C O V E R A R T

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Mary Kirchoff

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ContentsIntroduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Chapter 1: Character Creation Basics . . . . . . . . . 5

Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Basics of Monster Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Chapter 2: Building Monster Characters . . . . . 9

Choosing a Base Creature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Estimating Level Adjustments . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Monster Character Skill Points and Feats . . . 11Introductory Monsters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Intermediate Monsters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Advanced Monsters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Difficult Monsters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Monster Character Building Example . . . . . . 23Monster Classes and Level Adjustments . . . . 25

Chapter 3: Monster Classes . . . . . . . . . 25Entering a Monster Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Example Monster Character:

Minotaur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Chapter 4: Feats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29When Monsters Gain Feats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Monstrous Feats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Background Feats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Feat Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30New Feats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Finding Monster Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Chapter 5: Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Changing Weapon Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Three or More Hands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42New Uses for Existing Special Abilities . . . . . 42Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Special and Superior Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Magic Armor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48Magic Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48Rings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54Staffs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54Wondrous Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Chapter 6: Spells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59Monsters and School Specialization . . . . . . . . 59

Permanency and Savage Species Spells . . . . 60Assassin Spells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Bard Spells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Cleric Spells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Druid Spells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Paladin Spell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Ranger Spells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Sorcerer and Wizard Spells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Spell Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Chapter 7: Prestige Classes . . . . . . . . . 73Designing Monster Prestige Classes . . . . . . . . 73Emancipated Spawn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Illithid Savant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77Master of Flies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80Scaled Horror . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83Siren . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84Slaad Brooder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86Survivor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89Sybil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Waverider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93Yuan-Ti Cultist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Chapter 8: Campaigns. . . . . . . . . . . . . 101Existing Campaigns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Monsters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101Alignment Interactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102Evil Characters and Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

New Campaigns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103With Malice toward None

(Chaotic/Accepting) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103Creature Management

(Lawful/Accepting) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103The People Oppressed

(Lawful/Rejecting) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104World without Rule

(Chaotic/Rejecting) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104Threats and Opportunities . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Chapter 9: Advancing a Monster . . . 105Advancing as a Character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Standard Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106Prestige Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Advancing by Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106Changing Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Advancing by Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107Advancement and CR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Advancing as a Character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107Advancing as a Monster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107Advancing by Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107Testing the New CR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107Advancement and Feats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Specific Feats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Chapter 10: Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111Adding a Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111Reading Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112New Monster Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Template Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114Templates and Level Adjustments . . . . . . 114

Feral Creature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115Gelatinous Creature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116Ghost Brute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118Incarnate Construct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120Insectile Creature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121Monstrous Beast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122Multiheaded Creature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124Mummified Creature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126Reptilian Creature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128Spectral Creature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129Symbiotic Creature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131Tauric Creature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132Umbral Creature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134Wight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136Winged Creature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137Wraith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138Yuan-Ti . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140Multiple Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

The Type Pyramid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142Notes on Specific Templates . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Chapter 11: Becoming a Monster . . 145Effects of Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145Rituals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Changing Back . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Appendix 1: Sample Monster Classes . . . . . . . . 152Air Elemental, Large . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Annis Hag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153Aranea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154Astral Deva (Celestial) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155Athach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156Avoral (Celestial) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157Azer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158Barghest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159Belker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160Centaur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161Djinni (Genie) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161Drider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163Earth Elemental, Large . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163Efreeti (Genie) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164Ettercap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165Fire Elemental, Large . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166Fire Giant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167Flamebrother (Salamander) . . . . . . . . . . . . 168Flesh Golem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169Frost Giant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170Ghaele (Celestial) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171Ghoul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173Green Hag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174Griffon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174Grig (Sprite) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175Hamatula (Devil) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176Harpy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177Hound Archon (Celestial) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178Imp (Devil) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179Janni (Genie) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180Kyton (Devil) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181Lillend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182Magmin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183Medusa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184Mind Flayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185Mummy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186Nixie (Sprite) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188Ogre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189Ogre Mage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189Pixie (Sprite) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190Rakshasa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191Satyr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192Sea Hag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193Shadow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194Stone Giant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195Succubus/Incubus (Demon) . . . . . . . . . . . 195Treant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197Triton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199Troll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199Trumpet Archon (Celestial) . . . . . . . . . . . . 200Umber Hulk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201Vrock (Demon) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202Water Elemental, Large . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

Appendix 2: Compiled Tables . . . . . 205Reading the Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Appendix 3: New Creatures . . . . . . . 214Anthropomorphic Animals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214New Race . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

Half-Ogres . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217New Monsters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

Desmodu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218Loxo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221Thri-Kreen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

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4

IntroductionSavage Species, a comprehensive guide to monster characters,helps you use monsters as either player characters (PCs) ornonplayer characters (NPCs) to serve as interesting allies andopponents for the player characters in your campaign.

You need the Player’s Handbook, the DUNGEON MASTER’s Guide,and the Monster Manual to use this book. The monster classesand templates in Savage Species are designed to be compliantwith the revised version of the Monster Manual (see the side-bar on this page for more information), but this book is stillcompatible with the original Monster Manual as well.

WHAT’S INSIDE? This book contains many different kinds of information.Here is a breakdown of its contents.• Chapter 1: Character Creation. Use the instructions in

this chapter to make character sheets for monster charac-ters. It gives you the procedure for taking a creature fromthe Monster Manual and adding class levels to it. This is onlyone of the ways to create a monster character; other meth-ods are discussed in chapters that follow.

• Chapter 2: Monster Characters. This chapter explainshow to build monster characters, using the concepts oflevel adjustment and effective character level (ECL) toensure that monster characters are compatible in powerwith standard characters.

• Chapter 3: Monster Classes. This chapter gives someoptions for altering standard monsters other than addingcharacter classes or using the monster advancementrules in the introduction of the Monster Manual. Oneexample, the minotaur monster class, appears here;others are provided in Appendix 1.

• Chapter 4: Feats. If you want some new feats for yourmonsters, whether they are characters or not, check outthis chapter.

• Chapter 5: Equipment. From aboleth mucus to a whipof webs, this chapter covers monster equipment andsuggestions for adding it to your campaign.

• Chapter 6: Spells. Designed for use on monsters or bymonster spellcasters but usable by anyone, the spells inthis chapter have something to offer for every spellcast-ing class.

• Chapter 7: Prestige Classes. This chapter presents newprestige classes designed specifically for monster charac-ters, such as the scaled horror and the waverider.

• Chapter 8: Campaigns. Whether you are adding mon-ster characters to an existing campaign or exploringcampaigns from the monsters’ point of view, read thischapter for ideas.

• Chapter 9: Advancing a Monster. This chapter pro-vides rules and advice for DMs who want to make ad-vanced versions of monsters.

• Chapter 10: Templates. This chapter delves into thedetails of how (and why) to add a template to a monsterand also presents new templates, such as the ghost bruteand the multiheaded creature.

• Chapter 11: Becoming a Monster. This chapter coversthe fine art of transforming standard player charactersinto monster characters.

• Appendix 1: Sample Monster Classes. These examplesuse the rules from Chapter 3:_Monster Classes.

• Appendix 2: Compiled Tables. This appendix collectsthe basic information needed to build monster charac-ters for all the appropriate monsters in the MonsterManual, including Hit Dice, level adjustment, startingECL, ability scores, good saves, base attack bonus, savingthrow bonuses, natural armor bonus, skill points, andnumber of feats.

• Appendix 3: New Monsters. Here’s where you’ll findrules for creating anthropomorphic animals; the half-ogre described as a new race; and three new creatures: thedesmodu, the loxo, and the thri-kreen.

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MONSTERS AS CHARACTERSSavage Species is all about treating monsters as characters. Inkeeping with that approach, this book features several changesto the rules concerning monsters. The changes summarizedbelow are also reflected in the D&D game’s revised core rule-books, particularly the revised Monster Manual.

Skills: A monster receives skill points based on itsIntelligence score and its Hit Dice, just as characters do. SeeTable 2–1 for details. The Wilderness Lore skill is now namedSurvival. The Alchemy skill is now named Craft (alchemy).

Feats: Every monster receives at least one feat and gainsadditional feats at the same rate a character does—one moreat 3 HD, another at 6 HD, and so forth.

Types and Subtypes: The beast type is removed from thegame. All beasts have their type changed to either magicalbeast or animal, as appropriate. (The gray render and the grif-fon are the only creatures in this book affected by this change;both are now magical beasts.)

Shapechanger is changed from a type to a subtype. Creatures

that had the shapechanger type now have a different type, andthey also have the shapechanger subtype. The aranea becomesa magical beast, the doppelganger becomes a monstroushumanoid, the phasm becomes an aberration, and lycanthropes(not mentioned in this book) become either humanoids orgiants.

The effect of the fire and cold subtypes is changed. See thefire elemental monster class in Appendix 1 for details.

Face/Reach: The space a creature or character occupies isalways expressed as a square; thus, only one figure rather thantwo is given for a creature’s face statistic: “10 ft.,” for instance,rather than “10 ft. by 10 ft.” Rectangular face statistics such as“5 ft. by 10 ft.” have been eliminated; Large creatures now havea face of 10 ft., Huge creatures have a face of 15 ft., Gargantuancreatures have a face of 20 ft., and Colossal creatures have aface of 30 ft. (or perhaps more). See Table 10–3 for details.

The natural reach of Gargantuan (long) creatures is changedfrom 10 ft. to 15 ft. (The baleen whale and the cachalot whaleare the only creatures in this book affected by this change.)

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haracters from Savage Species use standard DUNGEONS

& DRAGONS® character sheets. Open your Player ’sHandbook to Character Creation Basics and use thediagrams and numbers presented there to followthese instructions. If you need help with any of the

terminology used, see Terms. Follow these steps in orderunless a specific step says otherwise. Make sure you followall of them to get a complete character sheet.

TERMSBelow is a summary of game terms and their usage.

Base Creature: This term refers to the average version ofthat kind of monster, as presented in the Monster Manual,before any modifications are made for using it as a character.

Character: A creature, of any kind, with one or morelevels in a class.

Character Level: When a creature’s description refers tocharacter level, add any class levels it has to the base crea-ture’s Hit Dice to determine the character level. This is notthe same as effective character level (see below),, whichalso includes a level adjustment. The creature’s base saveand base attack bonuses are based on its character level.Thus, character level is a good measure of basic effective-ness in adventuring.

Class Levels: Class levels are levels in one or more char-acter classes. A 3rd-level fighter has three class levels (all in

fighter). A 3rd-level fighter/4th-level rogue has sevenclass levels.

Challenge Rating (CR): Challenge Rating plusclass level is a good measure of the creature’s overallthreat to a party. A bugbear with four levels of bar-barian is CR 6, making it a good encounter for aparty of 4th to 8th level. It is more dangerous to aparty of lower level and less dangerous to one ofhigher level.

Effective Character Level_(ECL): A creature’seffective character level is the sum of its leveladjustment, Hit Dice, and class levels. Use charac-ter level for all game functions except awardingexperience, determining starting equipment, anddetermining how much experience the characterneeds to gain a new level. All three of those func-tions use effective character level instead.

Goal Creature: When transforming an exist-ing character into a new race or creature type(see Chapter 11: Becoming a Monster), the goalcreature is what the character wishes to be-come. If a human wants to become an ogre, thegoal creature is ogre.

Hit Dice: A monster’s “kind” is, in many ways,its character class (see Chapter 3: Classes for moreon this concept); in this sense, its Hit Dice areequivalent to its monster class levels. If a crea-

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ture has 1 Hit Die or a fractional Hit Die, the first Hit Die itgains in an actual character class replaces its racial Hit Die orportion thereof, and the character functions as any othermember of its class.

Kind: Each entry in the Monster Manual describes a kindof monster. “Bulette” and “bugbear” are both kinds of mon-sters.

Level Adjustment: Some monster kinds are far morepowerful than other creatures that have the same Hit Dice.Such an extra-powerful monster is assigned a level adjust-ment—a number that, when added to its Hit Dice and classlevels, determines the level of character to which it wouldbe equivalent as a PC. A level adjustment provides a nu-meric comparison with the seven standard races from thePlayer’s Handbook, showing how much “better” that kind ofmonster is than one of the standard races. Level adjustmenttakes into account a monster’s special abilities, so it doesnot adequately reflect the character ’s effectiveness inadventuring the way base save and base attack bonuses do.Instead, it lets the DM know how much more challengingan encounter must be than a character’s character level, inorder to provide an adequate challenge.

Monster Character: A character created using somekind of creature other than the seven standard races fromthe Player’s Handbook is called a monster character.

Standard Races: The standard races are those given inthe Player’s Handbook as options for creating player charac-ters: dwarf, elf, gnome, halfling, half-elf, half-orc, andhuman.

Starting ECL: A monster’s starting ECL is defined as:

Base creature’s Hit Dice + level adjustment.

A monster character’s starting ECL should be equal to or lessthan the party’s average character level. In the latter case,add class levels to the monster character until its ECLequals the party’s average character level.

BASICS OFMONSTER CHARACTERS

This section gives an outline of the process for building amonster character, beginning with a creature from theMonster Manual and adding class levels to it. You can build

a monster character using just this outline and Appendix2: Compiled Tables when you are comfortable with therules in Savage Species. Until then, use the information inChapter 2: Building Monster Characters as well.

On the blank character sheet shown here, steps 1 through12 are keyed to the places on the sheet where the informa-tion for that step is recorded.

STEP 0. CHECK WITH YOUR DMIf you do not already have permission to play a monstercharacter, ask your Dungeon Master if such characters areallowed in the campaign. Because monster characters are sovaried, the DM may choose to allow only those created fromcertain kinds of monsters.

1. CHOOSE BASE CREATUREThe instructions in the Player’s Handbook apply equally here,with one exception. The DM helps you select a creaturefrom the level adjustment lists provided in Appendix 2:Compiled Tables. Your DM knows what complexity of mon-ster (see Chapter 2: Building Monster Characters) he or sheis willing to allow in the game. Pick a monster with a start-ing ECL equal to or less than the average character level ofthe rest of the party. (In step 3, you will add class levels untilthe ECL equals the party’s average character level.) Be awarethat creatures with ability scores below 3 may be unplayable.In particular, any creature with an Intelligence below 3 isnot a playable character, since 3 is the minimum Intelli-gence score for a player character according to the Player ’sHandbook. See the Awakened Characters sidebar in Chapter2: Building Monster Characters for guidelines on playingawakened animals and plants. Put the name of your basecreature in the space for “Race” on your character sheet.

2. ABILITY SCORESThe three methods for determining monster ability scoresare described below. Use one of them to generate a set of sixnumbers, and make a note of these numbers on a piece ofscratch paper.

A. Use the Base Creature’s Scores: You can copy theability scores of the base creature from the Monster Manual ifyou wish. This technique sounds simple, but it has onemajor drawback. Each of a monster’s ability scores, as givenin the Monster Manual, is 10 or 11, adjusted by racial modi-

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CHALLENGE RATING VERSUS EFFECTIVECHARACTER LEVELChallenge Rating and effective character level measure twodifferent things. CR measures the threat level of a monster, andECL measures its relative effectiveness compared to a charac-ter of one of the standard races, as given in the Player’sHandbook. The factors that go into making a good challengeand a good character are so different that CR is no help in thelatter case. A monster is only “on the scene” for a very shortwhile, usually just a few rounds. A player character, on theother hand, is present for almost every scene of the adventure.

For example, it makes little difference to a monster’s CR if a

spell-like ability is usable at will or once per day. It probablywon’t live long enough for the frequency of use to make adifference. But the distinction makes a huge difference to a PC,who could potentially use the ability in every encounter.Further, if a powerful creature (such as a balor) has access to aplethora of spell-like abilities, that fact doesn’t affect its CR tooheavily, because it only gets to use three or four of them in agiven encounter. Again, however, that kind of flexibility mattersa lot to a PC.

As illustrated by these examples, CR and ECL measure twodifferent things, so both are necessary. Never assume that CRand ECL are equivalent, or even related.

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