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<blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 9149690" data-attributes="member: 996">That's how I initially felt about CR when 3.0 introduced it.&nbsp; I'd always (after the first few years) been able to eye-ball a challenge (and then, if my eyes got it wrong, adjust it on the fly).&nbsp; But, it did turn out to be a useful/simple idea - a CR = level monster is a speedbump encounter, for 2 monsters, reduce CR by 2, for 4, by 4, just doubling/deducting 2 - you could spllit up just one of two monsters for&nbsp; mixed encounter.&nbsp;&nbsp; Of course, it was not very dependable because 3.5 CharOP had party capability even more varied than ever, and I didn't very actually run that much 3e (I was lucky enough to be in a group with two other DMs!).&nbsp;&nbsp; But it was a neat idea.&nbsp; 4e, of course, had class balance and it's encounter building was similarly straightforward (starting with same number of same level monsters, then Solos count as 5, Elites as 2, minions as 1/4), so it worked smoothly.5e CR is not, I think, a lot worse than 3e's, for similar reasons, even if it were spot-on, what the party's ability could vary wildly.&nbsp; But it is not as intuitive as I remember 3e's being (and I could be mis-remembering).&nbsp; There's no like, base-line encounter of CR = level.&nbsp; There's that odd multiplier if you don't heroically outnumber the enemy, that somehow says &quot;Yes, this is harder, but you don't deserve exp for it being harder?&quot;</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Tony Vargas, post: 9149690, member: 996"] That's how I initially felt about CR when 3.0 introduced it. I'd always (after the first few years) been able to eye-ball a challenge (and then, if my eyes got it wrong, adjust it on the fly). But, it did turn out to be a useful/simple idea - a CR = level monster is a speedbump encounter, for 2 monsters, reduce CR by 2, for 4, by 4, just doubling/deducting 2 - you could spllit up just one of two monsters for mixed encounter. Of course, it was not very dependable because 3.5 CharOP had party capability even more varied than ever, and I didn't very actually run that much 3e (I was lucky enough to be in a group with two other DMs!). But it was a neat idea. 4e, of course, had class balance and it's encounter building was similarly straightforward (starting with same number of same level monsters, then Solos count as 5, Elites as 2, minions as 1/4), so it worked smoothly. 5e CR is not, I think, a lot worse than 3e's, for similar reasons, even if it were spot-on, what the party's ability could vary wildly. But it is not as intuitive as I remember 3e's being (and I could be mis-remembering). There's no like, base-line encounter of CR = level. There's that odd multiplier if you don't heroically outnumber the enemy, that somehow says "Yes, this is harder, but you don't deserve exp for it being harder?" [/QUOTE]

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