How does one calculate the CR of creature with both racial HD and class levels?

[MonkeySage]

For example, I want to write up a dungeon boss- a Bugbear Sorcerer, Level 6 (For reasons).

He'd have 4 body guards, two of whom are level 4 hobgoblin fighters, 1 level 3 Bugbear barbarian, and 1 goblin cleric.

[Ralcos]

If my memory serves me right, the CR is equal to the monster's base CR (without class levels), and then add 1 CR for every class level gained.
I have a feeling that Racial HD is calculated in the base CR, so no need to apply it to the total.

So, a Bugbear with 6 levels in Sorcerer has a total of 8 (if my calculations are right).

Oh. This is a Pathfinder thing. I'm not sure if the CR system is similar or not, so I apologize for wasting everyone's time. :smallfrown: :smallredface:

[Keneth]

Like this (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/rules-for-monsters/monster-advancement#TOC-Step-3:-Determine-CR).

[MonkeySage]

So... about CR 5. :) That's pretty cool, thanks Keneth.

And no worries, Ralcos, I've only just converted my 3.5 game to pathfinder, so am myself still figuring things out, like this. My biggest hit was that I had finally figured out how to do monster characters properly in 3.5, and then when I switched to pathfinder I had to relearn everything, cause the methods are different. Bright side is they've made Level Adjustments less crippling, so a drow character in a party of humans isn't going to be behind everyone at end game.

[Keneth]

If by "less crippling" you mean gone. There's no LA in Pathfinder. :smalltongue:

[CombatOwl]

If by "less crippling" you mean gone. There's no LA in Pathfinder. :smalltongue:

Best. Move. Ever.

[Sylthia]

There's a bit of a gray area for class levels, especially at higher levels. Once I get around level 10 or so, I have martial class levels count as 3/4 the class levels that a casting class would have. I also tend to use NPC class levels as well, that further puts them behind the curve.

Usually, I only use true class levels for the "boss" characters.

[Sayt]

Paizo's rules for monsters as PCs can be found here (http://paizo.com/PRD/monsters/monstersAsPCs.html), which you might find helpful.