D&D 5E Some spells _really_ powerful?

[Alessandro Guarita]

Careful, there. CR doesn't work the way it used to. The CR 2 Berserker is definitely not level 2. CR 2 means he's a significant threat to a four-man 2nd level party!

Yeah, I know. This doesn't make my entire argument wrong or invalid:

You still expect to fight a CR x on Level x (or higher) and this make the CR the "monster level" unofficially. Specially because monsters don't have level.

And the CR isn't a Challenge measure only (like on 3.x) and this is a power measure because the Proficiency bonus of the monster is based on this CR and not the HD or Level (on the case of casters npc). More important the NPC isn't build like a PC and I talked about it on that very topic.

 

[jadrax]

Unless you like dying a lot, you really want to avoid fighting things with the same Challenge as your level.

Challenge 2 doesn't mean 'this is an appropriate encounter for a level 2 party', it means 'this monster can't kill a level 2 character in a single round unless it rolls crits'.

 

[pedro2112]

Unless you like dying a lot, you really want to avoid fighting things with the same Challenge as your level.

Challenge 2 doesn't mean 'this is an appropriate encounter for a level 2 party', it means 'this monster can't kill a level 2 character in a single round unless it rolls crits'.

I can't find the exact quote, but one of the developers stated that a CR means you shouldn't even put that monster in an encounter unless the party is at least that level!

 

[Prism]

You still expect to fight a CR x on Level x (or higher) and this make the CR the "monster level" unofficially. Specially because monsters don't have level.

If it helps you can use the hit dice as a reference to level. So the berserker is a 9th level (NPC) and is a decent fight for a party of 2nd level characters

 

[sithramir]

I don't think you can use HD for CR. I believe they now use total HP's to balance CR and match HD later to fit the HP with con modifier in a lot of monsters

 

[TwoSix]

I don't think you can use HD for CR. I believe they now use total HP's to balance CR and match HD later to fit the HP with con modifier in a lot of monsters

You can't use Hit Dice for CR. But you can use Hit Dice as a rough proxy for an equivalent character level. That CR2 9HD berserker is a lot closer to a level 9 fighter in stats than it is to a level 2 fighter.

 

[Alessandro Guarita]

You can't use Hit Dice for CR. But you can use Hit Dice as a rough proxy for an equivalent character level. That CR2 9HD berserker is a lot closer to a level 9 fighter in stats than it is to a level 2 fighter.

You are right. And wrong.

The HD is near the level, yes. The mage are a 9th level caster and has 9 HD, the Priest has 5 HD and caster level 5. But the Acolyte is 2HD, caster 1 (but this one is CR 1/4), so we can ignore it.

The berserker isn't equivalente a 9th level fighter or nothing: it does only one attack and the proficiency bonus is based on it's CR (2), instead of the HD (9). If was the case, the attack would be +7.