Humanoid (any) - creating NPCs and humanoid encounters

[Mr Adventurer]

I posted in the Simple RAW thread but there was some discussion and I'd like to have a thread on it.

When a monster entry says "humanoid (any humanoid)", do I apply the traits of the humanoid race I select? Do I recalculate statistics? Should I recalculate CR?

An example of this could be the War Priest. If I make it a Hill Dwarf War Priest, and apply those traits, then it's Con goes up by two and it's Wis goes up by one. Both of these increase the relevant bonus by 1, so it's Con save and Wis save, HP, and spell DC and attacks all increase. It also gains the extra HP from the Hill Dwarf trait.

This is a fair chunk more HP and the spellcasting boost is noticeable. Should I check whether I need to adjust the creature's CR for doing this?

[JackPhoenix]

You should, same as if you've given NPCs different armor or weapons. In practice, I suspect +1 here or there won't have much of an effect on CR on anything with CR>1.

Quick check on War Priest says CR 9 creature should have save DC of 16 already, and 36 extra HP won't change much either... CR 9 creature should have about 200 HP.

[Monster Manuel]

I could have sworn that the DMG says something about applying the racial statistics to an NPC stat block didn't change the CR, but a quick look in D&DBeyond, the only thing I was able to find was a line under NPC Stat Blocks which says "If the NPC's AC, hit points, attack bonus or damage changes, recalculate its challenge rating".

So, yes, by the book, you should go in and recalculate CR.

Which, honestly, is the opposite of what I thought it should be. Regardless, I think that the incremental stat changes that would come from one core race vs another will rarely amount to enough of a difference to really impact the CR. Most of the time, I would just leave it...the Hill Dwarf war priest in your example is a particularly good race/NPC stat block combo.

[Mr Adventurer]

Thanks. One of the replies in the RAW thread indicated that there's DMG pages that talk about applying racial mods to NPCs. Taken with the part above about recalculating CR, it looks like you do apply modifiers and you should check CR - although it's a very good point that it's unlikely a normal race will make enough change to modify the CR.

Another reply in the RAW thread said that you should not apply these modifiers, but the evidence doesn't seem to support that.

[BurgerBeast]

Thanks. One of the replies in the RAW thread indicated that there's DMG pages that talk about applying racial mods to NPCs. Taken with the part above about recalculating CR, it looks like you do apply modifiers and you should check CR - although it's a very good point that it's unlikely a normal race will make enough change to modify the CR.

Another reply in the RAW thread said that you should not apply these modifiers, but the evidence doesn't seem to support that.

I personally, when I care enough to add the racial traits, recalculate CR. If I end up just barely crossing the threshold to the next higher CR, say because I went over by about 5-10 go on the DCR... then I will beef up the character a little more, say by adding a stronger attack spell or two, until it’s a more average representative of the new CR.

[erok0809]

When I run these things, I don't assume that the default has a race that needs to be changed. What I mean is that whether the war priest is a dwarf, elf, or otherwise, their stats are the stats listed in the book, no modifiers necessary. They may get racial features, like if the war priest is a high elf they'll get an extra cantrip like all high elves do, that sort of thing, but those aren't likely to change CR. If it does anyway, if for example casting the cantrip does more damage than their statblock's current attacks, then it might change their offensive CR, but I'm not sure how many examples of racial features that could do that.

[Aussiehams]

I keep the stats the same and just reskin it. Maybe add dark vision or sleep immunity or similar, but keep the numbers the same.
PCs and NPCs are built differently

[Mr Adventurer]

These are good points.

I especially do agree that PCs and NPCs are built differently. But the 'monster' stat block already is different to a PC class. It's interesting, though - for some reason the racial abilities feels more important than class abilities.

What I'm not keen to do is introduce an extra decision-making step where I have to pick the racial traits that go in and those that don't...

[Chronos]

The module I'm currently running has a number of named NPCs that use the standard humanoid stat blocks. They all say things like "Use the ____ statblock, with these changes:", then specify an alignment and add one racial trait. None of them say to change the ability scores, and none of them adds more than one racial trait. For instance, tieflings get Thaumaturgy but not fire resistance or a boost to Int and Cha, and half-orcs get the ability to go to 1 HP instead of 0, but not an extra die on a crit or a Str boost.