D&D 5E Complete Basic Game

[JC99]

I looked at the monster stats from LotCS and they seem weaker than I'd expect having seen the Hobgoblin and having watched the Live Play session. EG:

Goblin [sblock]
Small Humanoid (Goblinoid)
Armor Class 13 (leather, shield)
Hit Points 3 (1d6)
Speed 30 ft.
Senses darkvision 60 ft.
Str 8 (–1) Dex 11 (+0) Con 10 (+0)
Int 10 (+0) Wis 9 (–1) Cha 8 (–1)
Alignment neutral evil
Languages Common, Goblin
Traits
Stealthy +5: The goblin gains a +5 bonus to all ability checks
to avoid detection.
Actions
Melee Attack—Mace: +1 to hit (reach 5 ft.; one creature). Hit: 2
(1d6 – 1) bludgeoning damage (minimum 1 damage).
Ranged Attack—Shortbow: +2 to hit (range 80 ft./320 ft.; one
creature). Hit: 3 (1d6) piercing damage.
Encounter Building
Level 1 XP 10[/sblock]
3hp? Seems VERY squishy especially since, in the Starter Set Live play it took about 5-7 damage to drop those Goblins.
I'm thinking monsters may have changed since Legend was published.

The general guideline people seem to be throwing around for the playtest/LotCS monsters is +1 AC, +1 damage, and +50% hp.

 

[caudor]

I started looking a monsters today with intentions of creating my own adventure. I noted the Starter Set has about 24 monsters (leaving out named NPCs). The first thing I looked at was the Legacy of Crystal Shard monsters. I compared the Orc, Goblin, Giant Frog, and several other monsters to the Starter Set. Not only is the math different, but things that used to be Level 1 (a different terminology) are now listed as CR 1/4 or CR 1/8. This threw me for a loop because I cannot figure out how to translate this to current math.

Looking onward, I found that Murder In Baldur's Gate and Ghost of Dragonspear Castle also use Level 1 as a minimum. The same monsters in the Starter Set not only have a fractional CR, but the actual XP award is significantly higher.

Scourge of the Sword Coast doesn't appear to have any CR or XP values listed at all.

So while there appears on the surface that there a lot of monsters, only 24 are really game ready. Perhaps there is a simple way to adjust these monsters to approximate the Starter Set math and I'm not clever enough to find it. I'm certainly not a math wiz. Your thoughts?

I should add the I know I can add 1 AC, 1 Damage, and +50% HP, but this does not give me any clue how to assign an appropriate CR and XP award. That's the specific thing I'm stuck on.