Calculating Experience

[Krinkle]

I haven't DMed in about 18 years and I am having a heck of a time figuring out encounter level, especially with mixed CR monsters. Below I have posted a couple of example encounters and I would appreciate it if someone would walk me through the paces of how they calculated the EL of one or more of these examples. I am not so much interested in the answers per se as the steps that are taken to get there. Thanks

What is the EL of:
A 3rd level human soulknife (CR3)
with 4 1st level human warriors (CR1).

What is the EL of:
A Frost Giant (CR9), 2 ogres(CR3) and 6 orcs (CR1/2)?

How about:
A Frost Giant (CR9), , 2 ogres (CR3) and 6 orcs, the orcs have 3 levels of fighter (CR3?)

How about:
A 4th level goblin sorcerer (CR4) riding a winter wolf (CR5)

 

[Shin Okada]

First of all, "EL" is short for "Encounter Level", not "Experience Level", That is the number to indicate how difficult the encounter is. When calculating experience points, you still use each monster's CRs.

When determining EL of an encounter composed of multiple creatures of different CR, you use the table in 49. Especially,

>A 3rd level human soulknife (CR3)
>with 4 1st level human warriors (CR1).

This is easy. Let's see the "Mixed Pair" line. "3+1" is written in the line for EL 4. So this is an EL 4 encounter.

When calculating experience points, PCs will get exp for a CR 3 monster and a CR 1 monster.

>A Frost Giant (CR9), 2 ogres(CR3) and 6 orcs (CR1/2)?

2 ogres(CR3) = EL 5, thus an equivalent to a CR 5 monster.
6 orcs (CR1/2) = EL 3 or 4, thus an equivalent to a CR 3-4 monster.
A CR 5 monster plus a CR 3 monster = EL 6 Encounter. But as 6 Orcs are between EL 3 and 4, in the higher side of EL 6 Encounter. Now combined, an equivalent to a CR 6-7 monster.
A Frost Giant (CR9) plus a CR 6-7 monster = Slightly lower than EL 10 Encounter (CR 9 + CR 7)
Thus, EL 9-10.

When calculating experience points, PCs will get exp for a CR 9 monster, 2 CR 3 monsters and 6 CR 1/2 monsters.

>A Frost Giant (CR9), , 2 ogres (CR3) and 6 orcs, the orcs have 3 levels of fighter (CR3?)

This encounter is composed of a CR 9 monster and 8 CR3 monsters.
8 CR 3 monsters = EL 9, thus an equivalent to a CR 9 monster.
2 CR 9 monsters = EL 11.

When calculating experience points, PCs will get exp for a CR 9 monster and 8 CR 3 monsters.

>A 4th level goblin sorcerer (CR4) riding a winter wolf (CR5)

A CR 4 Monster and a CR 5 Monster = EL higher than CR 3 + CR 5, lower than 2 CR 5 monsters, thus EL 6-7.

When calculating experience points, PCs will get exp for a CR 4 monster and a CR 5 monster.

Hope this helps.

 

[dcollins]

Technically, EL is not used to calculate experience; just calculate XP by the CR of each individual creature and add it all up. However, the way it works is if you take the overall EL and compute experience based on that, you'll actually wind up with effectively the same number.


When you do want to calculate EL, usually it works additively (by which I really mean associatively), and works best by combining lower-level figures and working your way up. I'll just do your first example:

Note: First of all, 1st level warriors are CR 1/2, not 1.
A 3rd level human soulknife (CR3) with 4 1st level human warriors (CR 1/2).
- Looking at DMG "Encounter Numbers" table, 4 CR 1/2's --> EL 3.
- Now you've got the same as 2 CR 3's --> EL 5 total.

The general rule (under "Matched Pair" in DMG) is that doubling the number of a given monster type increases the EL by +2. I actually use an Excel spreadsheet I whipped up that abbreviates the process -- I've attached it here, but you can find several other variations of the idea online, if you want.