A kobold saves as a Normal Man, and fights as a 1HD monster. A kobold chieftain has 2HD and deals more damage, but is otherwise a kobold.
Does this mean that the chieftain attacks as a 2HD monster, and the saving throws change (if so, what to?)
A kobold saves as a Normal Man, and fights as a 1HD monster. A kobold chieftain has 2HD and deals more damage, but is otherwise a kobold.
Does this mean that the chieftain attacks as a 2HD monster, and the saving throws change (if so, what to?)
On that note, is the experience point value of a kobold chief or champion more than that of a standard kobold? I've been assuming it is for my own games, but I'm not entirely certain I'm doing it right.
[quote="James S"]
A kobold saves as a Normal Man, and fights as a 1HD monster. A kobold chieftain has 2HD and deals more damage, but is otherwise a kobold.
Does this mean that the chieftain attacks as a 2HD monster, and the saving throws change (if so, what to?)
[/quote]
The chieftain attacks as a 2HD monster. The default assumption for saves is "as a fighter", so 2HD monster would save as F2 unless stated otherwise. Notable exceptions are witch docters (save as mage of equal spellcasting level) and shaman (save as cleric of equal spellcasting level).
The XP also increases, ordinary kobolds and champions are 5 XP (<1HD), subchieftains are 10 XP (1HD), and chieftains are 20 XP (2HD). Shaman are 13 XP (1*HD) and witch doctors are 7 XP (<1**HD).
These rules can be seen in action in Sinister Stone of Sakkara and Lairs & Encounters. A notable exception is Urza in tSSoS, but I believe his save is a typo as every other chief in the document follows the rules above.
Thanks that makes sense, and it's how I assumed it was done, but I wanted to be sure.
Oh! It just occured to me to ask this related question: When the book says something like "A shaman is equivalent to a sub-chieftain statistically, but has Clerical abilities at level 1d6. A witch doctor is equivalent to a champion statistically, but has Mage abilities at level 1d4", which "mage abilities" and "clerical abilities" are meant? The spellcasting is obvious, but how about the cleric's turn undead ability? Does it also include hit die size, saving throws, proficiencies gained by virtue of having class levels, poorer attack throw progression than most monsters, and other features associated with the mage and cleric classes?
[quote="GMJoe"]
Oh! It just occured to me to ask this related question: When the book says something like "A shaman is equivalent to a sub-chieftain statistically, but has Clerical abilities at level 1d6. A witch doctor is equivalent to a champion statistically, but has Mage abilities at level 1d4", which "mage abilities" and "clerical abilities" are meant? The spellcasting is obvious, but how about the cleric's turn undead ability? Does it also include hit die size, saving throws, proficiencies gained by virtue of having class levels, poorer attack throw progression than most monsters, and other features associated with the mage and cleric classes?
[/quote]
The easiest points to answer of this question are hit die, saving throws, and attack throw progression. Hit die is exactly as described, saving throws key off of spell casting level, and attack throw is determined by hit die. Ex. Kobold witch doctors are equivalent to champions (HD 1-1), so they have 1-1 HD, save as a mage of 1d4 level, and attack as a monster of 1-1 HD.
For class abilities, as far as I can tell the answer is no. Mystic path in axioms 2 doesn't give beastmen casters class abilities, L&E gives no beastman shaman special abilities beyond casting and racial abilities, and tSSoS doesn't contain beastman shaman.
For proficiencies, L&E implies that you are correct. A monster that casts as a 4th level mage can have the proficiencies of a 4th level mage minus adventuring and with the monster proficiency.
*nods sagely*