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I think Nth level is *said* to be a CR N. However I think this is said falsely. It is also said that a CR N monster is a moderate challenge for an Nth level group. But both statements can't be true... Hmm, I'm repeating myself. I think we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. :)...

A moderate encounter for four 1st-level characters would be one CR 1 monster, or two 1st-level characters. Four 1st-level characters would be even odds of a TPK, as you note; two 1st-level characters would represent the loss of one quarter the resources of the party.

The assertion that a PC's level is equal to its CR is inconsistent with the assertion that a moderate encounter for an Nth level group is a creature whose CR is N. I prefer to accept the latter and reject the former. And why wouldn't Lanchester's square law hold against a single monster...

What I hope he means is that instead until 4e comes out he's going to spend his time getting caught up on his story hour. :D

Sorry Wulf- that's not what I was interpreting you as saying. I have spent many of my posts amplifying and exploring the notion that monster power in 3.5 is basically an exponential function; that a four-fold increase in a monster's power is reflected by a +2 CR. This isn't true for a...

Excellent points, mmadsen! Your description of the AC issue is very clear. I suppose it is no accident that three of the "big six" are AC boosters (armor and shield; amulet of natural armor; ring of protection... oh, and Dex boosters. So 4, actually). AC is super important to survival...

Nothing improves your popularity like fireballing your party while they are in melee with the enemy. :D

I don't know. Suppose that there are 5 fighter/wizards facing a group of 5 bloody-bonusers. Suppose it takes 4 rounds for each PC to take down their opponent; two round they are fighting a non-bloodied monster, and two rounds they are fighting a bloodied monster. If one of the wizard lobs a...

Here's another sequence of critters. Call them Orcs, though I haven't used the Orc statistics. It's the Ogre stats, but with a higher starting AC. Each row is four times as powerful as the row above it, but the end result is weaker than an Ogre20, even though it starts off stronger...

Maybe I've made a mistake with the numbers, but I get a series of OgreNs that seem to be awfully strong. Each is 4 times as strong as its predecessor- it can defeat two of them when they gang up on him. In theory each should be a moderate encounter for an Nth level group. But they look...

No, I am using the 3.5 notation. If we can agree on what the power curve is in the current system, and what exactly that means for monster and PC power, then we can speculate on how it might change in 4e. I have a suspicion that if they changed from exponential (the current system) to a...

That's exactly the problem with the AC and attack numbers; they are nowhere near as easy to manage as the hit points and damage. And even hit points and damage are not as simple as one would like. :) These calculations are all rough calculations, giving the general scheme of things. I start...

Thanks for pointing it out. I wouldn't have noticed it, otherwise (the new page makes it easy for edits to slip by). I think I made a mathematical error, though, when I was setting the benchmarks. (Easy to do in these kinds of calculations!). If 2 Ogre4s are going to have a 50/50 shot...

Ooh. Good point. I worked out somewhere that a character's CR (assuming an exponential system) is two less than his level. (In this thread.) Assuming standard equipment and everything. So yeah, it should be a 6th level fighter for a 50% chance. And the 20th level fighter only has to fight 2...

OK, how about we take the Ogre as our benchmark CR 3 brute. Attack: +8, damage: 16 (ranged 9), AC: 16, hp: 29. Actually, let's tweak it a trifle so that the numbers are more regular (I'd like the chance of it hitting itself to be 50%, if possible, and the hit points to be a multiple of its...

I wonder if it might not be better to fork a thread about Combat Casting. Then this thread could return to the task of collecting Little Known Rules.

I think to calculate the power curve you need to have a sequence of benchmark monsters. Or at least bundles of statistics (attack bonus, AC, damage per hit and hit points would be the minimum) that can stand in for a fully statted-out monster. You'd want it to work out that 2 of monster A...

Where did you get that Terry Eagleton quote from? Edit: Never mind- Google came through with the following: Terry Eagleton (2001) Demons New Blackfriars 82 (969), 499–513.

I haven't read the whole thread, so I'm just going to jump in with my response. I think Sundragon is incorrect: specifically, I hold that the Great Wheel has nothing to do with moral relativism. Suppose that moral relativism is incorrect; suppose there is objective right or wrong. Now suppose...

It seems like the distance between good and evil is about twice as much as between law and chaos, at least as far as quantifying cooperation goes. By this I mean that it is not too much of a stretch to think of CG and LG characters working together; there will be strains, of course, but it is...