T O P I C R E V I E W |
bitter thorn |
Posted - 14 Jul 2009 : 01:44:33 I believe that Tanarukk are listed as CR2 in MoF (a 3E source ). I can't seem to locate my copy.
I have a hard time seeing an evil outsider with 5 HD, SR and other stuff being CR 2 like a bugbear, imp or dretch.
Did I miss some errata or something? Tanarukk seem like a solid CR 3 to me. |
6 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
freyar |
Posted - 05 Dec 2009 : 13:46:59 How many did you use? Even just 4 CR 3 monsters is EL7, which is pretty difficult. With a run of good luck for the tanarruks or bad luck for the PCs, I could see this going pretty badly. |
bitter thorn |
Posted - 04 Dec 2009 : 02:28:07 quote: Originally posted by bitter thorn
Fair points.
It's not really a party mortality issue. I just put together some Tanarukk barbarian 1 front line combat guys and they seem to compare pretty favorably to CR 3 critters like ogres etc. I reckon I'll see in play on Saturday.
I stand corrected. This is a party mortality issue. I ran a group of these guys against a 5th level party of 5 and almost TPK'ed them. The barbarian level and rage is an enormously effective synergy. |
Arivia |
Posted - 14 Jul 2009 : 02:42:08 That would make sense, seeing as barbarian's an associated class for them, making it a CR3 NPC. |
bitter thorn |
Posted - 14 Jul 2009 : 02:40:43 Fair points.
It's not really a party mortality issue. I just put together some Tanarukk barbarian 1 front line combat guys and they seem to compare pretty favorably to CR 3 critters like ogres etc. I reckon I'll see in play on Saturday. |
Arivia |
Posted - 14 Jul 2009 : 02:21:22 Look at table 4-4 in the 3.5 MM. While it has quite the complicated history, that's basically the table for eyeballing CR.
It's notable that basically all the tanarukk brings to the table is its 5 HD. SR isn't enough to grant an extra point of CR (this gets mentioned in Savage Species, I think) and neither is fire resistance or control flame. As a monster, the tanarukk brings 5d8 hp and a full base attack bonus, and that's it. That is balanced at CR 2 (contrast to the fey'ri, which gets a big CR kick for its special abilities.)
This may seem a little weird, but it gets mentioned once or twice in 3e that outsiders were given a generous HD to CR relation to compensate for the big CR kicks many take from their wealth of special abilities. In short, a tanarukk is dangerous to a CL 2 party, but not overpowered.
It's additionally notable that stat blocks like the tanarukk's are important because they're what you build NPCs out of; you can't do it out of racial stat descriptions and it saves you time working with the standard array. Without one, you can't actually make an NPC of that race, which is an affliction the avariel (as the most prominent example) suffers from.
Finally, don't forget the updates to MoF that were published as PGtF's web enhancement.
Edit: By the way, bugbears have similar HD spreads and trade SR for better stat bonuses. Imps and dretches have cold iron DR; imps additionally have fast healing. Both fiend species have usable spell-like abilities, too. |
bitter thorn |
Posted - 14 Jul 2009 : 01:46:22 BTW, I'm using the data from RoF. |