Challenge Ratings are broken and can't be fixed
Added 2024-06-11 16:55:12 +0000 UTCThis is part 1 of a 2 part series on Challenge Ratings.
Comments
Anytime I'm prepping monsters for a session, I start with the flavor then try to balance against my players' characters. Yup, I want a big plant monster. Will the team handle it, or steamroll it? I can guess, but I have to read every detail if I'm not familiar with it. Then I have to make a guess and see if I need any other enemies, or if it can outlast a whole party at least a few rounds alone. Of not, have some extras there, or at least on standby if the guess was wrong. I wonder if there's any way some icons or quick legend on each stat block could make choosing monsters easier at a glance. Something to say "this is a tough, close range damage monster with control powers but a vulnerability to most spells" would help a lot more than to look at the monster's saving throws, AC, every ability, the saving throws/recharges/damage/range to those abilities, the HP, move speed, and movement capabilities. Right now I grab the first thing sort of close, then throw in minions or tweak it to get into the ballpark of the challenge I have in mind, because going over all the monsters is too time consuming.
Marcaeus
2024-06-12 14:55:56 +0000 UTCHave you looked at Mearls recent thoughts (https://github.com/mikemearls/5e_point_encounters/blob/main/challenge_points.md) or Slyflourishs benchmark (https://slyflourish.com/the_lazy_encounter_benchmark.html)? I remember jumping through some hoops to conclude a PCs approximate CR was 3/4 of their level. Anyways, I agree that nothing is going to work like Pathfinder or 4e, but I still use CR all the time to pick monsters for encounters (I don’t bother with total CR < 1/2 the sum of the players levels and wouldn’t go beyond total CR = the sum of the players levels).
Krakenbreath
2024-06-12 07:33:53 +0000 UTC
