Quote Originally Posted by Doug Lampert View Post
Sunny is probably elite, my memory from playing 3.x is that making a monster elite added about +4 or more to all the DCs. +2 from a higher ability score, and +2 from a feat (IIRC called "ability focus" or something like that, it's in the monster manual).

If Sunny has any items that buff its stats, it could easily have a 24+ DC with no monster advancement or class levels or epic items or inherent bonuses, and at that point, what we see isn't that surprising.
The elite array is a +1 CR(and frankly a character level gives all the benefits for the same CR increase so that's strictly better), but feats can be swapped around without touching the CR, and Serini can probably use a scroll, potion, or wand of Eagle's Splendor on Sunny anyways.