Monster Gear

[AlanBruce]

Greetings! I am running a 3.5 game where the party is currently ECL 9, but should possibly be facing three mini bosses later on, at around levels 10 or 11.

Looking for weird races in the many books available, I came across the Varrangoin from Fiend Folio, page 183. Granted, the book is a transition between 3.0 and 3.5, but converting them to 3.5 wasn't that difficult.

For those who aren't aware, there are 3 castes of Varrangoin: Arcanist, Rager and Lesser. I used the Elite Array for each of them and gave two of them class levels, since their entry states they can advance either through HD or favored class, depending on the caste.

The leader of the pack is a an Arcanist Varrangoin Conjurer 1, with the Abrupt Jaunt ACF. It has 10 HD and casting as a 10th level wizard. CR 12.

The heavy hitter is the Rager Varrangoin, advanced through racial HD to Large size at 12HD. CR 11

The Lesser Varrangoin is more of a mindless brute that just wades in (even dumber than the Rager) and has 7 HD, with 2 of those being fighter levels, docking him at CR 8.

Since most of their HD is racial, I wanted to know how to generate their gear. Do I look up NPC WBL tables and adjust according to their number or do I arbitrarily give them items suited for their roles?

Any help would be much appreciated, particularly for the Arcanist Varrangoin, which gets Craft wand as a bonus feat.

Thank you very much in advance.

[Kelb_Panthera]

I'd gear them as NPC's of a level equal to their CR, since they're mini-bosses.

This is one of the "art of DM'ing" things. Go with your gut. If it doesn't turn out well, lesson learned for next time.

[sleepyphoenixx]

Mostly what Kelb_Panthera said. Don't be too strict with it, but keep it roughly within NPC WBL for their CR.

Generally i try to fiddle things so that i get the numbers (saves, AC, attack, damage, etc.) i want to provide the party with the appropriate challenge, then go look for items to get those numbers.
Then i try to find a balance between single-use and permanent/daily-use items for the right amount of loot.
If one of the players has a big weakness (like a low save) that's a prime candidate for a permanent item. Makes the players feel like they get good loot and balancing later encounters is easier if there isn't too much variance between the players.

Using exclusively permanent items not only makes it hard to reach your target numbers within NPC WBL, it'll also rapidly get your players way above WBL if you like using humanoid enemies.
You could just do everything with single-use items, but then your party wouldn't get any good loot at all.
You have to keep a rough estimate of your parties WBL and adjust accordingly.

Save Items: Items That Boost Saves (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=h7rl90fvk1q56e5ubuje1q6e80&topic=188) and Lists of Necessary Magic Items (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?187851-3-5-Lists-of-Necessary-Magic-Items) are always worth a look for boss NPC gearing. Pick a few of the cheaper options, then fill in the rest with potions, scrolls and so on.

[Beheld]

If you give a monster class levels then they get npc wbl. Also be sure to have a fair amount in consumables that they use in that fight, this is an expected part of their use when making those tables. You should probably give the arcanist several partially/mostly used wands. Don't discount them based on the feat though.

[AlanBruce]

Thank you for the responses. My biggest issue is that these guys get natural flight, whereas only 2 in the party have access to it. This is the current party make up:

Human Conjurer 9

Halfling sorcerer/ stormcaster with an Air Elemental familiar

Human half vampire battle sorcerer/fighter/spellsword

Human Beguiler 9

Human rogue/monk/drunken master

Human rogue/ invisible blade

Most of the Varrangoins have DR X/ silver & magic, so hurting them will be tricky. Having said that, they have the Extraplanar subtype and this takes place in the Material, so Dismissal or maybe even Banishment may prove to be safe options if the party does previous research about them.

Will look into the links provided and gear them as fairly as possible, since the Arcanist alone can reach an AC in the low 30's using most of his current spell list.