Revived Fossil Template CR Confusion

[Drakevarg]

Not sure what to make of the Revived Fossil template. According to the template itself, the CR of an 8 HD creature should be 5, and nothing above 20 HD has a listing. But its own example monster - an 8 HD Megaraptor - is listed at CR 10, which is higher than the template should even go. I thought it might be a matter of addition, but that would make the example monster CR 11 since the base creature is CR 6.

I know the books are rampant with obvious errors like this, but I'm not really sure which direction to try and fix it in. No version is optimal since it simply doesn't allow for more than 20 HD, but that's pretty common with unintelligent undead.

[BlackOnyx]

Not sure what to make of the Revived Fossil template. According to the template itself, the CR of an 8 HD creature should be 5, and nothing above 20 HD has a listing. But its own example monster - an 8 HD Megaraptor - is listed at CR 10, which is higher than the template should even go. I thought it might be a matter of addition, but that would make the example monster CR 11 since the base creature is CR 6.


Yeah, it appears (to me at least) to just be a flat-out typo. Not sure how they would have reached that number otherwise. (Maybe the writer just had "10" on the brain at the time.)



I know the books are rampant with obvious errors like this, but I'm not really sure which direction to try and fix it in. No version is optimal since it simply doesn't allow for more than 20 HD, but that's pretty common with unintelligent undead.


My reaction would be to lean toward what the table suggests (the 8HD example = CR 5) as a starting point. Revived Fossils are basically just extra tanky skeletons; they're still mindless, lose most of their abilities/feats, and have relatively low BAB and saves.


That said, Revived Fossils of huge size and higher do seem to receive some pretty crazy bonuses to AC, damage, and HP for lower level parties. I'd probably consider your party's capability of dealing non-physical damage before employing one of those brutes (low HD or not) in a fight.

[Drakevarg]

Yeah, it appears (to me at least) to just be a flat-out typo. Not sure how they would have reached that number otherwise. (Maybe the writer just had "10" on the brain at the time.)

My reaction would be to lean toward what the table suggests (the 8HD example = CR 5) as a starting point. Revived Fossils are basically just extra tanky skeletons; they're still mindless, lose most of their abilities/feats, and have relatively low BAB and saves.

More or less the conclusion I came to after thinking on it for a while - I decided I could circumvent the 20HD cap the template has by just putting the template on the basic version of a creature and then using the Advancement rules from there. At +1 CR/4 HD for Undead, I wasn't likely to wind up with anything crazy.