CR vs EL... Have I been doing this wrong?

[SpuneDagr]

Okay, I always thought that a particular encounter's Encounter Level was simply a measure of how difficult it would be for a party to defeat. I though that was the only thing one would use EL for.

I have always used the Challenge Rating of the creatures involved to determine experience awarded, and treasure generated. That is, the CR of each creature individually, and a stash of treasure for each creature individually.

My friend, who runs a campaign, assigns XP and treasure based on EL.

Have I been misinformed these past few years? Somebody help me out!

 

[the Jester]

I believe that by the RAW you use CR for xp and EL for loot.

 

[Bauglir]

In fact - both are the same thing!

Take for example - 2 CR 10 monsters. That is an EL 12 encounter.

To a 10th level party, a CR10 monster is worth 3000xp x2 = 6000xp total for the encounter.

An EL12 encounter is worth... 6000xp

I find sometimes when you're mixing a variety of monsters to make up an encounter, you can add together the xp awards, and compare the total to values on the table to get a rough feel for the EL of the encounter.

 

[dcollins]

Agree with the previous post. There's (somewhat surprisingly) no need for a debate on this issue.

 

[Kilamar]

One should be aware that this calculation does not work sometimes if you are at the fringes of the XP table (many low level encounters or two very high level encounters appropriate to your PCs).

Kilamar

 

[SpuneDagr]

Aha. Thanks yos.

 

[Derulbaskul]

I agree with the comments on the RAW (CR = XP; EL = treasure) but wanted to add that I sometimes award XP based on EL if I feel that the encounter was particularly difficult and the XP awards based on CR are too low.

 

[S'mon]

RAW is CR gives XP, loot value should be same whether done by CR or EL but by EL rolling on the tables will give higher-value items.

I often give XP by EL, often the PCs face numerous low-CR creatures that by CR would give no/discretionary XP; XP by EL gives a fair result where there's still a challenge - CR 5 trolls attacking sleeping lvl 13 PCs can do plenty of damage!