James Jacobs
Adventurer
frankthedm said:
HA!
Actually, those are excellent examples of how the CR system doesn't work that well, and why it's usually best NOT to assume that just because something is rated at CR 5 doesn't mean it's as tough as another CR 5. A 20th level human commoner and a very old blue dragon are both CR 19 monsters, by the book. They're obviously not the same challenge. The CR system is anything but perfect.
The CR 3 monster's ability scores do use the elite array. In fact, his Charisma score is a little higher than it should be (a case where I Ad Hoc bumped his Cha up by a little to fit his character; it doesn't really increase his threat level at all). His stats aren't number-crunched, sure, but that was a conscious design decision to make him smarter instead of faster.
And fighter or ranger would have been FAR too tough for that encounter; instead, I went with an elite warrior. Makes him tough enough that he can boss around his underlings with ease, but not too tough for a group of 1st level characters to fight.
If it makes you feel better, consider that the "bonus XP" one might get for defeating an NPC that isn't number-crunched to be the best he can be comes from a story reward for defeating key NPCs.
In any case, my design philosophy of "Not every NPC needs to be adjusted to be the toughest NPC he can possibly be" is obviously not for everyone. If you want tougher NPCs, you can certainly adjust them as appropriate—that's the best part about being a DM!
