Making Enemy Monster NPCs in Hero Lab

[DwarvenWiz]

I'm a novice when it comes to creating enemy NPCs in Hero Lab and how its options relate to character level. I couldn't find a good tutorial in how to create monster NPCs or how NPC creation differs from PC creation.

How do you do this? Let's say I want to start with a base monster like a Hill Giant - I see they start with 10d12. If I start adding levels of classes on top of this such as barbarian, am I effectively generating higher levels? For example, if I start with the Hill Giant and add 3 levels of barbarian, did I increase the level of this creature from an assumed 10 to 13? Or is that completely off base with how NPC leveling works?

I need to vastly bump up the CR of some of these creatures and make them more unique, I have 5 players at level 7 with at least one +1 magic item each, but I want to make sure I understand what I'm doing.

Thanks in advance, sorry if this seems simplistic.

[dungeonguru]

Originally Posted by DwarvenWiz

How do you do this? Let's say I want to start with a base monster like a Hill Giant - I see they start with 10d12. If I start adding levels of classes on top of this such as barbarian, am I effectively generating higher levels? For example, if I start with the Hill Giant and add 3 levels of barbarian, did I increase the level of this creature from an assumed 10 to 13? Or is that completely off base with how NPC leveling works?

Short answer is that you are increasing the CR of the base creature every time you add a level to it, but it is not a necessarily linear progression. 1 level is about 1/4 CR, but that is a really rough estimate since the power levels of characters tend to jump at 5th level, 11th level and 17th level (at the "four tiers" of play).

Hero labs uses the 1/4 CR method when calculating the CR, but you can over-ride the Challenge on the Adjustments tab.

What this boils down to is that for a quick and dirty way to modify a monster, you can add levels and then use the adjustments tab to modify the CR up and down, add hit points, etc. and you will get a decent approximation of a tougher monster.

But, Long Answer, Hero Labs does not follow the rules on page 283 of the DMG for hit dice for monsters with classes. For example, a level of Sorcerer should grant 1d12 hit points per level for a Hill Giant, rather than 1d6. Four levels of barbarian may make a hill giant more of a challenge, but won't change the power level of an ancient red dragon, but even the DMG is vague on how CR gets changed.

SO, you can use the adjustments tab to readjust some, but this is a bit inefficient in the long run. If you find that you use a lot of 4th level barbarian Hill Giants, you can always create a custom version of Hill Giant using the editor, so you don't have to constantly re-equip your giants.

(Tip: Once you make a version you'll be using a lot of, create a .stock file in your 5e folder so that it appears in the Encounter Builder).

[DwarvenWiz]

Thanks for the reply! Very insightful. I feel better about tweaking monsters by adding class levels now that I know it isn't strictly following the designs in the book. Challenge rating seems somewhat less precise in this version anyway, so I think it's something I'll have to play with. I agree there's no reason to try to readjust CR manually in the long run, but I'm glad to know it's an option.

If anyone else routinely adds class levels to monsters, I'd love to hear anything you have to add here.