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<blockquote data-quote="greywulf" data-source="post: 3281343" data-attributes="member: 4285">CR/EL is badly broken, but I still use it as a rough guideline when planning encounters. OK, that's a lie. I look at the creature's stats and abilities, weigh them up against my character's abilities, then look at the CR to see if it's remotely accurate. Sometimes it is, but usually it isn't. CR/EL exists so we DMs have something to cross-reference against a dumbass table at the end of the encounter to award XP. I've had players have the fight of their life against kobolds and the table says they should get pitiful XP for it. Another time they'll top a Giant in three rounds and get an XP boost to die for. There's no correlation betwen CR and how the combat plays out, so I just fudge it. Heck, I don't even look at the table any more, and don't think I know a DM who does. So CR is redundant. It's not used for planning, and not used for XP awards.Where CR/EL is useful is for inexperienced DMs as a guideline while they're getting the feel for the game. That's not to decry anyone who's using it as being in anyway &quot;less-clever&quot; than me, before the flames start again - I'm just saying it's a good, helpful tool if you need it. If you don't, that's cool too.I'd like to see it replaced with a mechanism which is usable for all DMs. AND something that's calculable instead of being pushed into WoTC's mystical black box of being &quot;an art, not a science&quot;. Oh, please. Why can't we just have monsters with an XP total at the bottom which is the sum of their hp, 10xAC and 5xthe number of their special abilities. Or anything, anything but some number which all too often seems to be picked out of thin air. Whether the CR is right or not purely depends on your gaming style. Give us an equation and we can fiddle with it to suit.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="greywulf, post: 3281343, member: 4285"] CR/EL is badly broken, but I still use it as a rough guideline when planning encounters. OK, that's a lie. I look at the creature's stats and abilities, weigh them up against my character's abilities, then look at the CR to see if it's remotely accurate. Sometimes it is, but usually it isn't. CR/EL exists so we DMs have something to cross-reference against a dumbass table at the end of the encounter to award XP. I've had players have the fight of their life against kobolds and the table says they should get pitiful XP for it. Another time they'll top a Giant in three rounds and get an XP boost to die for. There's no correlation betwen CR and how the combat plays out, so I just fudge it. Heck, I don't even look at the table any more, and don't think I know a DM who does. So CR is redundant. It's not used for planning, and not used for XP awards. Where CR/EL is useful is for inexperienced DMs as a guideline while they're getting the feel for the game. That's not to decry anyone who's using it as being in anyway "less-clever" than me, before the flames start again - I'm just saying it's a good, helpful tool if you need it. If you don't, that's cool too. I'd like to see it replaced with a mechanism which is usable for all DMs. AND something that's calculable instead of being pushed into WoTC's mystical black box of being "an art, not a science". Oh, please. Why can't we just have monsters with an XP total at the bottom which is the sum of their hp, 10xAC and 5xthe number of their special abilities. Or anything, [I]anything[/I] but some number which all too often seems to be picked out of thin air. Whether the CR is right or not purely depends on your gaming style. Give us an equation and we can fiddle with it to suit. [/QUOTE]

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