Monsters as Player Characters

[Ughbash]

In Bestiary they had a section on playing a monster as a Player character.

Basically if you were playing a campaign starting at level 3 you could play a CR2 monster and add 1 character leve to it. Then when you had gotten 3 class levels you got an effective class level as they lowered the CR by 1 (down to a minimum of 1/2 orginal level).

So a Lyrakien (Cr2) Druid 1 should be a third level character and a Lyrakien druid 6 should be a 7th level character.

When I try to creat a Lyrakien Druid in Hero Lab it treats the first 3 levels as Lyrakien sicne it has 3 hd....

Is there a setting to use "Monsters as Player Characters"?

[Exmortis]

Seems OP is correct, I forgot that PF did away with ECL and CR is to be treated at level for Monsters as PCs:

http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/m...tersAsPCs.html

[RavenX]

Hero Lab tracks the CR of the creature on the Class Tab.

If there were such a setting in hero lab, it would likely be in the config screen (CTRL + K) in the list on the right side of the screen. If it's not there, feel free to add it to the feature request thread for Pathfinder.

[ChrisRevocateur]

Originally Posted by Ughbash

In Bestiary they had a section on playing a monster as a Player character.

Basically if you were playing a campaign starting at level 3 you could play a CR2 monster and add 1 character leve to it. Then when you had gotten 3 class levels you got an effective class level as they lowered the CR by 1 (down to a minimum of 1/2 orginal level).

So a Lyrakien (Cr2) Druid 1 should be a third level character and a Lyrakien druid 6 should be a 7th level character.

When I try to creat a Lyrakien Druid in Hero Lab it treats the first 3 levels as Lyrakien sicne it has 3 hd....

Is there a setting to use "Monsters as Player Characters"?

From how I understood it (I haven't read it in a while though), the rules actually state that your ECL for calculating APL, and deciding what level of party you are able to adventure with, uses your CR (or the reduced CR as you go up in level), but that ALL other things use your race's HD as levels. Basically, Hero Lab is correct in how it is calculating your level/stats. The rules in the back of the Core Rulebook only apply to how your character fits in with all the other characters in a campaign.

[Ughbash]

Cut and paste from the PAIZO reference document.

For monsters with racial Hit Dice, the best way to allow monster PCs is to pick a CR and allow all of the players to make characters using monsters of that CR. Treat the monster's CR as its total class levels and allow the characters to multiclass into the core classes. Do not advance such monsters by adding Hit Dice. Monster PCs should only advance through classes.

If you are including a single monster character in a group of standard characters, make sure the group is of a level that is at least as high as the monster's CR. Treat the monster's CR as class levels when determining the monster PC's overall levels. For example, in a group of 6th-level characters, a minotaur (CR 4) would possess 2 levels of a core class, such as barbarian.

Note that in a mixed group, the value of racial Hit Dice and abilities diminish as a character gains levels. It is recommended that for every 3 levels gained by the group, the monster character should gain an extra level, received halfway between the 2nd and 3rd levels. Repeat this process a number of times equal to half the monster's CR, rounded down. Using the minotaur example, when the group is at a point between 6th and 7th level, the minotaur gains a level, and then again at 7th, making him a minotaur barbarian 4. This process repeats at 10th level, making him a minotaur barbarian 8 when the group reaches 10th level. From that point onward, he gains levels normally.

Definitely appears that the CR is used for Total level not its racial Hit Dice (in 3.5 it was racial hit dice plus LA) and not just for what party they would fit in with.

Just looked through the "Configure Hero" (ctrl-K) and while bestiary is there it does not have anything to check about Monsters as PC's. So I will look for the Feature request thread and post there.

Thank you

[Exmortis]

Actually submit it as a bug report, since they are in violation of the PF rules, it is a bug not a feature.