I think the rules on what level of spells they get need to be modified to take into account lower levels of play. As written now, it only cares about what the maximum level is. So I could make CR 6 monster with a 7th level SLA, and it wouldn't be considered "caster". I know that's obviously not the intent, but I'm just illustrating my point.
How about:
1) you're considered a caster if you have access to spells of the same level as a wizard of your level would have
2) a "mundane" (I don't like melee as the distinction here, and would suggest replacing it with mundane) may not have any spells higher than half the maximum the "caster" could have
3) and anything else is 3/4ths or less (all rounded down).
Of course clean the wording up (because mine sucks), but hopfully you get the idea.
Examples:
An 8th level "caster" monster could have spells or spell-like abilities up to 4th level. A "mundane" could have Spells or SLAs no higher than 2nd level, and anything else could have no higher than 3rd level.
I don't really see why the "melees" (which I'd rename to "mundanes") are capped at 4 skill points per level. Skill points have such a negligible impact on power, and the role of "melee" is not mutually exclusive with "skilled". I'd at least advocate raising that to 6, but perhaps reserve 8 sp/lvl for those monsters with no spells of higher than half what an equal level caster could produce, and which have no more than 3/4 BAB progressions.
Thanks for the Suggestions
. I am hesetant to put SLA users in the same category as spellcasters for balancing purposes, with the way you have that written out a monster with one strong SLA is treated the same as a full caster, even if its primary focus is towards melee combat. I agree I need to come up with a better word than Melee for class distinctions as it should cover ranged attackers as well but mundane dosen't seem to be the right word as Paladins and Rangers need to fit into that particular area and they are certainly not mundane...
Ignoring titles at the moment I have three basic classifications (With some Examples):
Spellcaster
Wizard
Cleric
Warlock
Druid
Melee
Scout
Ranger
Paladin
Fighter
Everyone Else
Rogue
Bard
Artificer
The hope is that the primary damage dealing classes get their full BAB/Good saves whereas those who have other stuff to do get reduced stats.
The intent is to have a monster like a Balor sit in the melee grouping despite the fact it has a couple of high level SLAs. I certainly cant see a Balor going into the spellcaster group.
I may need another classification (Brute is a good name
) for big smashy monsters like golems. They definitely don't need all good saves and full BAB due to their already high ability scores and unique abilities, maybe I'll have them in the Everyone else category.
These are however only guidelines, not hard and fast rules. Applying these is not going to be a hard and fast process whatever they end up saying. If there is a melee monster that should get 8 skill points then so be it, it would be somewhat of a outlier though.