willpell
2012-06-21, 11:06 AM
It's relatively easy to figure out the power level of a monster when it comes to combat situations - compare its damage output to existing threats, its HP and AC and so forth - not effortless, but relatively straightforward given the volume of information that's available. What's harder is guessing whether a bonus is too generous when it comes to a monster whose purpose isn't as straightforward as "bash and get bashed until one side stops moving".
Case in point - I decided that in my game, I didn't like for my version of the Yuan-Ti to be able to shapeshift into snakes, so I dropped their Alternate Form ability in exchange for some skill bonuses. I'm portraying them as a race of secretive infiltrators and manipulators, sowing corruption in human society rather than openly fighting, and it bugged me how many skills they were missing. The skills I picked were Balance, Escape Artist, and Move Silently to represent the graceful, liquid movements of someone who's part snake, Bluff and Sense Motive for their ability to deceive people (both by directly lying to them and by figuring out what they want to hear so as to choose a "strategic truth" that will lead them into ruin), and Sleight of Hand for a little of both (it remains usable only while trained, they just get good at it really easily). But the question is, how much of a bonus is appropriate?
I'm giving them exactly what they want to be what their campaign role is intended to be, but I want to keep things more or less balanced with the race remaining playable. Alternate Form is a fairly strong ability to give up, but is it worth +2 each to those six skills on a race with 4d8 racial HD? What about +4 to the same skills? Weak, strong, absurd - I have no real way to guess. If I wanted to godmod them as a plot device it wouldn't matter, but I'm aiming for something a little more nuanced, so the question ultimately becomes how powerful Alternate Form is compared to boosting these skills.
Case in point - I decided that in my game, I didn't like for my version of the Yuan-Ti to be able to shapeshift into snakes, so I dropped their Alternate Form ability in exchange for some skill bonuses. I'm portraying them as a race of secretive infiltrators and manipulators, sowing corruption in human society rather than openly fighting, and it bugged me how many skills they were missing. The skills I picked were Balance, Escape Artist, and Move Silently to represent the graceful, liquid movements of someone who's part snake, Bluff and Sense Motive for their ability to deceive people (both by directly lying to them and by figuring out what they want to hear so as to choose a "strategic truth" that will lead them into ruin), and Sleight of Hand for a little of both (it remains usable only while trained, they just get good at it really easily). But the question is, how much of a bonus is appropriate?
I'm giving them exactly what they want to be what their campaign role is intended to be, but I want to keep things more or less balanced with the race remaining playable. Alternate Form is a fairly strong ability to give up, but is it worth +2 each to those six skills on a race with 4d8 racial HD? What about +4 to the same skills? Weak, strong, absurd - I have no real way to guess. If I wanted to godmod them as a plot device it wouldn't matter, but I'm aiming for something a little more nuanced, so the question ultimately becomes how powerful Alternate Form is compared to boosting these skills.