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Message: <blockquote data-quote="M_Natas" data-source="post: 9832680" data-attributes="member: 7025918">I think the Problem is - it is not one Formula. It is a very big spread sheet.Like, creating a single table is already a compromise and very limiting. For 2014 I reverse engineered it the other way around (not using the monsters, but using the characters as a base line for Monster Stats) - but already averaged out - Party of 4, 2 Wizards, 2 Fighters, each with +2 Con.Average HP at Level 1: 10, AC Average 15, Attack Bonus +5, Damage (before Hitchance) they can doll out in a round: 33,95 (in a full adventuring day with 18 Rounds of combat).So based on this alone, a CR 1 Monster can have anywhere from 4 HP (at AC 25) to 101 HP (AC 6), depending on AC, doing 4d4+2 Damage / 12 on average with an Attack bonus of +0 or 1d4+2 / Average 4 Damage with an Attackbonus of +10. An this with an expected combat time of 3 rounds. One can increase combat time by increasing HP and lowering damage output. A CR 1 Monster that is supposed to last for 6 Rounds would have 9 HP (AC 25) up to 196 HP (AC 6) and doing from average 6 to 2 damage (Attackbonus 0 or +10).So a typical CR 1 Monster / or 1 Monster that is a medium encounter for a Level 1 Party can be either:AC 6, HP 90, Attack-Bonus +2, Damage 3d4+2 (9) - 3 Rounds of CombatAC 18, HP 35, Attack-Bonus + 7, Damage 2d4 (5) - 3 Rounds of CombatAC 12, HP 120, Attack-Bonus +7, Damage 1d4+1 (3) - 6 Rounds of CombatAnd that is for a Medium Encounter, that uses up 16% of Party HP for that Adventuring day. Those 3 Monsters are doing the exact same thing math wise to the HP of a party, but would feel totally different in combat. I use Excel and some formulas, but printed out it would be at least 40 tables (Defense and offense per Character Level). Oh, times four because I added back the 4e Minion, Normal, Elite, Boss Categories, also times another 5 for the Option to have different Combat length (from 2 rounds to 7 rounds).Because also Player abilities are not based on one formula. The only thing that can be done in a formula is HP of the Characters. But the Damage output of the PCs changes on a level basis, based on the length of adventuring day (having 3 combat rounds between long rests or 18 dramatically changes Damage Output per Combat Round). Which means that you need to adjust damage output and HP of the Monsters ...Also that CR und Level are not identical (so a Level 12 Party vs a CR 12 Monster is a medium encounter) is really annoying. Why in the world is a CR12 Monster a trivial encounter for a Level 12 party of four? That is so annoying and counter intuitive and probably responsible for most of the encounter balance problems newer DMs encounter.</blockquote>

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