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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Fanaelialae" data-source="post: 7077838" data-attributes="member: 53980">I never said (nor intentionally implied) that you said (or intentionally implied) that intelligence = magical divination powers. I was stating what, in my opinion, is an important corollary to your point that you had not addressed.Like I said, I generally agree with your sentiment.If you're modifying CR then you are modifying XP. Unless you are using some system other than the one described in the 5e DMG and MM, XP correlates directly to a creature's CR. If you tell me a creature's CR, I can tell you how much XP it is worth. If you tell me how much XP a creature is worth, I can tell you its CR. You said that if you don't play monsters according to their intelligence, then their CR should be decreased. Which means that their XP value would also decrease commensurately. And I disagree with that idea.Let's face it, while many DMs wouldn't do so, any DM could play a group of zombies as tactical savants or an ancient dragon as a complete nitwit. I don't think you should modify CR based on intelligence. That presumes a given scenario that may or may not be true of actual play. Those zombies could function as a cohesive unit if a death knight or necromancer has joined them. And the ancient dragon could be effectively rendered a nitwit if the PCs manage to ambush it in the right circumstances, or land a Feeblemind spell on it.If the DM is determined to use the bugbears as brainless meatbags (perhaps the DM is hinting to the players that the local water supply has heavy levels of lead and mercury due to a nearby mine) then he'd be justified in reducing the relative difficulty of the encounter (from Hard to Medium, for example) and then adding additional monsters to bring the encounter back to the original difficulty (effectively giving it the same XP as a Deadly encounter). However, I don't feel that it is appropriate for the DM to reduce the actual CR of the monster, which would result in a lesser XP reward for the players.</blockquote>

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