CleanDeceit
2016-09-29, 10:44 AM
I have designed an encounter that involves a conditional Monster.
To be precise:
The encounter takes place on a forest trail near a small river.
There is a Centaur with 7 levels of ranger (CR 10 favored enemy not being the PCs). The Centaur uses a magically enhanced bow and ranged feats, focusing party spell casters when they come into range.
Next to the Centaur is a small fire where he is camped by the river - guarding a summoning circle. When an intelligent creature steps into the circle, using a full round action to activate it they become temporarily incapacitated and summon a Large Shadow Elemental (CR 7) under their command.
Roughly 60ft away, sitting on stones in the river are two Harpies. One CR 4, the other with levels of sorcerer CR 10.
As players enter the area, the Harpies are already singing, but as a special rule, the sound of the river plus the distance means the players can hear the song and have a chance to roll knowledge to identify the danger before they get closer. Once they are within 150 ft or so, if not being very sneaky, they will be spotted by the Centaur's Hawk animal companion. The Centaur alerts the Harpies and the Stronger Harpy commands its weaker sibling to move to summon the Shadow Elemental, while the stronger Harpy uses its various spells to protect the trio and assail the front line of the party. (assuming the party does not fall under the command of their song).
The players don't have to kill the Elemental if they target the Harpy in the summoning circle - Killing the Harpy, disabling her or removing from the circle in some way will remove the Elemental from play. Also, they can if they want, use the summoner circle to control their own Elemental.
So the question is, by having a Stronger Monster appear to replace a weaker one - that can be removed from play by targeting the body of the Weaker Monster, how do I calculate CR?
To be precise:
The encounter takes place on a forest trail near a small river.
There is a Centaur with 7 levels of ranger (CR 10 favored enemy not being the PCs). The Centaur uses a magically enhanced bow and ranged feats, focusing party spell casters when they come into range.
Next to the Centaur is a small fire where he is camped by the river - guarding a summoning circle. When an intelligent creature steps into the circle, using a full round action to activate it they become temporarily incapacitated and summon a Large Shadow Elemental (CR 7) under their command.
Roughly 60ft away, sitting on stones in the river are two Harpies. One CR 4, the other with levels of sorcerer CR 10.
As players enter the area, the Harpies are already singing, but as a special rule, the sound of the river plus the distance means the players can hear the song and have a chance to roll knowledge to identify the danger before they get closer. Once they are within 150 ft or so, if not being very sneaky, they will be spotted by the Centaur's Hawk animal companion. The Centaur alerts the Harpies and the Stronger Harpy commands its weaker sibling to move to summon the Shadow Elemental, while the stronger Harpy uses its various spells to protect the trio and assail the front line of the party. (assuming the party does not fall under the command of their song).
The players don't have to kill the Elemental if they target the Harpy in the summoning circle - Killing the Harpy, disabling her or removing from the circle in some way will remove the Elemental from play. Also, they can if they want, use the summoner circle to control their own Elemental.
So the question is, by having a Stronger Monster appear to replace a weaker one - that can be removed from play by targeting the body of the Weaker Monster, how do I calculate CR?