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Message: <blockquote data-quote="vandaexpress" data-source="post: 6591029" data-attributes="member: 6790472">Brief thoughts.- I've found throwing down level-appropriate CR encounters using the "quick" stat blocks in the DMG vs something from the MM often results in a tougher fight for the PCs. Anyone else notice this?- I think a lot of people have pointed out that a lot of MM CRs are a little inconsistent. It's possible I'm not experienced enough to recognize why, for instance, a cultist and a guard are both CR 1/8. I therefore don't really feel guilty about bumping up stats every now and then on creatures that seem weak.- Sometimes the guidelines result in a creature that should be of a certain CR but in practice is a bit off. An example from my own experience is the CR2 Cult Fanatic. Mediocre HP and AC, terrible attack bonus. I'm guessing his OCR is calc'd from him using inflict wounds, but his spell attack bonus is +3, which just isn't up to snuff against my party but is pretty much necessary in order to keep his OCR low. I wound up just using them in pairs and spamming the DC11 command "Grovel" on the party's low wis front line until it finally hit, then they run up and try to land inflict wounds with advantage and.... still miss. Comparing these guys to something like an Orog or the low CR mages from Phandelver and it's no contest which one is actually challenging. Default attack routine seems underpowered. YMMV but this seems to be a bigger deal at lower levels, I'm guessing/hoping? I'd like to be able to play creatures from the MM to save time, but low attack bonus-high damage beasties seem to be pretty weak for my party unless they have a FAT stack of hit points. Maybe bounded accuracy will kick in more at upper levels now that party ACs have more or less peaked.- Magic items can have a huge effect on actual encounter difficulty, same if your group rolls stats. In particular, damage resistance creatures at low CRs are steamrolled if you've been liberally handing out items.- Finally, IMXP party and monster tactics have a much bigger impact on the encounter difficulty than newbie DMs might initially expect. Min-maxers may also prevent issues if confronted with "standard" encounter guidelines.- I haven't used slyflourish's guidelines yet, but I've already stolen his idea of bumping up the effective party level if the group seems to be stronger or better equipped than normal. I like it. Right now I'm running my party at encounters a level above them and I've found it presents a much more satisfying challenge for them.- Situational modifiers (advantage/disadvantage) totally change the encounter. I'm a fan of ranged ambushes (used sparingly).</blockquote>

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