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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 6294547" data-attributes="member: 2067">The big takeaway is this:PC's and NPC's are different.As a player, what determines balance is my overall experience over the course of multiple encounters and adventures relative to the rest of the party. As a monster, what determines balance is how close I can come to a TPK in one encounter. These are different measures, different numbers, different values. One number will not represent both things. Nova potential drives up CR as a monster, because that's a lot to unleash in one encounter, but it doesn't necessarily affect the balance between party members on the player's side, since there are multiple encounters between long rests, and nova-ing in one is going to weaken you for the others (and let other classes take the spotlight). When players are comparing their own characters and deriving CR values for them as if they were monsters, what they're really doing is comparing nova potential: big booms are worth more in one encounter. This doesn't tell you much about what it's like to play them in multi-encounter adventures, though. So if your 3rd level fighter is all "Heh, if I faught the party, I'd be CR 9!", what he's really saying is that in one encounter, he can pump out enough damage to threaten a level 9 party. Of course, this doesn't mean he's not the equal to the other 3rd level characters in the party -- if your 3rd level thief is all "Aww, I'm only CR 4," that just means she doesn't have the spike potential. As PC's, they can still be balanced because while the 3rd level fighter might wipe the floor with a typical CR 3 monster, in the next encounter, they might not. And your thief will.</blockquote>

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