D&D 5E CR to Level calculation ?

[the Jester]

There's no formula of class level : CR. You have to run the npc through the DMG's system for rating its offensive and defensive CR.

An npc wizard with no offensive spells above 1st level but a good suite of utility spells up to 5th level will not have the same CR as an npc wizard with the same number of spell slots who is packing ice storm, cloudkill and fireball.

 

[surfarcher]

It is my own conclusion/guideline based on the NPCs in the back of the Monster Manual. Sorry, thought that was clear. For example, a 9th level caster gets CR 6 (Mage), while an 8th level warrior gets CR 3 (Knight). I may be high-balling the warrior monster CR, for some it may be closer to CR = 1/3 x level. Regardless, this is just a rule-of-thumb, and whether designing monsters or NPCs we need to (a) estimate / use our DM instincts, (b) compare the monster/NPC to others of the same CR, and (when we have time) (c) run the hard numbers using either [MENTION=84774]surfarcher[/MENTION]'s method or the DMG method.

The DMG's approach to CR calculating sounds very similar to the method [MENTION=84774]surfarcher[/MENTION] developed....you come up with a defensive index and an offensive index for your monster, then somehow merge those two indices to determine its CR.

You called? Lol

Early feedback is that the two systems end up in the same ballpark. That said I'd love to see a few hundred monsters run through both and then assess how they compare... Hhhmmm... That sounds like an interestign project!

There's no formula of class level : CR. You have to run the npc through the DMG's system for rating its offensive and defensive CR.

An npc wizard with no offensive spells above 1st level but a good suite of utility spells up to 5th level will not have the same CR as an npc wizard with the same number of spell slots who is packing ice storm, cloudkill and fireball.

Definately!