CR Modifications for NPCs with Extra Gear

[Deaths_Fist]

How much, if any, should giving an NPC extra gear affect his CR? My players may shortly be taking on the high priest of a corrupt temple who has extensive resources at his command. Giving him an amount of gear closer to my players' average amount rather than an amount the DMG says I should give a standard NPC seems appropriate, especially given the woefully inadequate ability of a DMG-style NPC to provide any real challenge to the average party of four higher-level PCs.

Say, for example, I double his "treasure." Does this increase affect the statistics enough to warrant a higher CR? Or, alternatively, should the encounter simply be worth bonus XP to help even out the distribution of treasure-to-party-level, since in the end the PCs will undoubtedly be taking this treasure as loot?

Thanks all, in advance.

 

[Shin Okada]

Estimating CR is not a science but an art. It is impossible to say how much of gears will raise their CR by1. So you must estimate it by yourself comparing that NPC to, say, sample NPC in DMG.

Not just gears, but ability scores may affect. In case of monsters, just giving elite array of abilities (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8, before racial adjustments) to creatures which does not have PC level, is supposed to rase the CR by 1.

My advice is, race CR at least by 1 if you think better gears (and/or high abilities) are making that NPC at least moderately better than NPCs made with elite array or 25-point buy and average NPC gears. IMHO, You well rarely need to rase one's CR by 2 unless you give some really strong magic items.

Anyway, always keep this sentence from MM, "Err on the side of overestimating: if a monster has a higher Challenge Rating than it deserves, it's less likely to kill off an entire party if you had erred in the other direction".

 

[Infiniti2000]

...especially given the woefully inadequate ability of a DMG-style NPC to provide any real challenge to the average party of four higher-level PCs.

That's because no "high priest" would ever take on the party in a 1-on-4 fight.

 

[andargor]

That's because no "high priest" would ever take on the party in a 1-on-4 fight.

Yeah, where are the mooks? Any high priest worth its salt would have a massive amount of meat shields around...

Andargor

 

[Slobber Monster]

I use this calculator to get ballpark figures for how gear affects CR. It assumes that gear accounts for about 1/3 of an NPC's CR. The formula it uses is:

Challenge Rating (with equipment) = ((2 x Base CR) + Gear Level)/3

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I wouldn't boost the CR - the reward for the "extra challenge" is the phat loot the PCs get their hands on. Unless the loot could only be used by that NPC, of course.

NPCs aren't worth their CR due to their lower amount of equipment, at least not if they're non-spellcasting NPCs who are already heavily dependent on equipment. Spellcasting NPCs rely less on equipment and can dish out more spells before running dry, so they make things more complicated.

 

[Deaths_Fist]

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

Yeah, this guy's gonna have mooks, but mooks don't last forever, and I don't want them overshadowing the villain. In other words, they're not gonna provide any real challenge to the party combat-wise, which means it's ultimately up to the high priest. That's why I wanted to give him a bit of a boost. I'll take all your opinions into consideration, though.

Thanks again!

 

[dema]

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

Yeah, this guy's gonna have mooks, but mooks don't last forever, and I don't want them overshadowing the villain. In other words, they're not gonna provide any real challenge to the party combat-wise, which means it's ultimately up to the high priest.

Maybe it's just me but from my experience you will want the priest to have his Champion melee person(s), possilble a Missle person to take out / distract the spellcasters. A Sneaker would be an option but only if the party has some one that hangs back, this will give them a threat to deal with too, unless you just want to use mooks to crawl towards the spellcaster.

The high priest should not enter melee until he has boosted himself properly to withstand the melee assault that he will get from the fighter types.

 

[dcollins]

Say, for example, I double his "treasure." Does this increase affect the statistics enough to warrant a higher CR?

By the book, you could just say this is a very difficult encounter and apply +2 EL and XP level.

My calculations, shared by others I've seen, are that gear constitute about 20% of an NPC's challenge rating. Therefore at say, 10th level with double gear, you'd wind up with a challenge of 8 (character) + 2 (gear) x 2 = 12th level. Which is to say the same thing, +2 EL (at this level).

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

Yeah, this guy's gonna have mooks, but mooks don't last forever, and I don't want them overshadowing the villain. In other words, they're not gonna provide any real challenge to the party combat-wise, which means it's ultimately up to the high priest. That's why I wanted to give him a bit of a boost. I'll take all your opinions into consideration, though.

Thanks again!

IME, this will result in an easy fight. One cleric, on his own, can't take on a whole party (and since mooks are, by definition, wimps, the cleric has to do most of the work on his own). He will just get Akbar'd. He should have a named henchman or two to act as guards for him (in addition to any wimpy mooks).

(The last time I faced a villainous cleric as a PC, he had a barbarian and mage as henchmen. The mage died quickly, but the barbarian still made it a chellenging encounter. Plus, the cleric healed[/i ]the barbarian, making things even worse for us.)