Pyramid's Combat Effectiveness Rating for Foes

[Archangel Beth]

Originally Posted by Stripe

I very nearly didn't click on the thread because this topic has been covered to death. It needs to be tagged with "Pyramid" or say "Combat Effectiveness Rating for Foes Article in Pyramid" or something. XD

I hope the real moderators here will forgive me for answering your plea. O:>

It's a pretty useful-looking article!

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by Jürgen Hubert

As you can see, there are still plenty of unrated monsters, so feel free to take a stab at them.

My current plan is to work up CERs for the 190 or so monsters that have halfway decent write ups. (I'm taking the opportunity to tweak the already-good stat blocks of those folks whose write ups I respect. I'm throwing up my hands at the ones that are messes.) I've done about 70 so far. I doubtless have made errors, especially with the spellcasters. In many cases, I assigned them Affliction modifiers that represent a spell that takes over someone's mind, which isn't perfect. If anyone wants to fix my work, feel free.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Rasputin

In many cases, I assigned them Affliction modifiers that represent a spell that takes over someone's mind, which isn't perfect.

Can you explain this part a bit more please?

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

Can you explain this part a bit more please?

Aboleth mind control.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Rasputin

Aboleth mind control.

Treat that as a form of Affliction - as you've done - but it's separate (like Terror) and thus adds to other things. In this case, it'd be worth +5 to its CER (Mind Control (Psi, -10%; Puppet, -40%) [25]).

[Rasputin]

Thanks. I keep treating the mind control spells as something like a +150% modifier to Affliction, which seems close. It's the same as sleep. I should sift through the spell list and assign modifiers, and look for problems.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Rasputin

Thanks. I keep treating the mind control spells as something like a +150% modifier to Affliction, which seems close. It's the same as sleep. I should sift through the spell list and assign modifiers, and look for problems.

I wouldn't do that personally, I've presented the method I would use above, but it's not my game and I ain't the fun police. :-)

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

I wouldn't do that personally, I've presented the method I would use above, but it's not my game and I ain't the fun police. :-)

Note that's describing what I was doing at the time. I certainly get the reason for your method. Like I said, I wanted to look through the spell list.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Rasputin

Note that's describing what I was doing at the time. I certainly get the reason for your method. Like I said, I wanted to look through the spell list.

It also lets you lump similiar traits together. So enemies that can do Mind Reading, Mind Control, Possession, etc. can get a bonus to their CER.

[Jürgen Hubert]

I just saw that I had a mistake in the "not tagged" list - it actually still listed the tagged monsters, even those below CER 200. It's now fixed.