D&D 5E CR ratings are obsolete.

[Wiseblood]

CR ratings were intended to give an idea about relative monster strength. It came about when XP was decoupled from the monsters because monster XP was determined by relative PC level.
Monsters have set XP again (yay) and encounters have XP budgets and modifiers (meh). CR becomes a vestigial rule included bacause of an editing oversight.

Am I regurgitating something I read on EN world?

 

[Oofta]

This has been discussed ... well let's just say it's been discussed a lot. You could use XP the same way as CR, CR is simply a shorthand that can make calculations a little easier.

In addition, a CR 4 monster should be a medium difficulty encounter for a group of 4 PCs. However, it does seem to be geared towards a party of 4 with no feats, no magic and strict adherence to the ability score generation methods from the book and more of a novice group.

So it's a quick guideline to how difficult a monster will be, but it may not be a good guideline for your group. I use it as "in general a CR 5 will be more of a threat than a CR 4" I also use my own calculations, and based on group and number of encounters I regularly throw deadly encounters.

In other words, it's a little easier to add up CR than XP, and it's clearer for most people what the approximate threat level will be.

 

[Wiseblood]

This has been discussed ... well let's just say it's been discussed a lot. You could use XP the same way as CR, CR is simply a shorthand that can make calculations a little easier.

In addition, a CR 4 monster should be a medium difficulty encounter for a group of 4 PCs. However, it does seem to be geared towards a party of 4 with no feats, no magic and strict adherence to the ability score generation methods from the book and more of a novice group.

So it's a quick guideline to how difficult a monster will be, but it may not be a good guideline for your group. I use it as "in general a CR 5 will be more of a threat than a CR 4" I also use my own calculations, and based on group and number of encounters I regularly throw deadly encounters.

In other words, it's a little easier to add up CR than XP, and it's clearer for most people what the approximate threat level will be.

That makes sense. Thanks.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Yep. Quick guideline, but nothing compares to having a good feel of what seems right for your gaming table. Which comes with experience, and has been true since pretty much day 1. The only time I've ever used any sort of XP or CR guideline is when doing something that may be AL legal. Other than that? Just gut feeling.

 

[Zmajdusa]

yeah, CR is absolutely wack. Monsters that require constant saves have really messed up CRs especially when there is more than one, Umberhulks are guilty of this as it is a Charisma save each round you are within 30 feet of them to avoid being confused for a round.

 

[MechaTarrasque]

It also figures into some spells (conjure and summon) as a way to keep the conjured/summoned critters from overshadowing the martial PC's.

My pet theory is that most everything in 5e is based around a hypothetical group of new/casual players who are more likely to play things that seem "cool" or "neat" rather than worry about the DPR. For more established groups, things like skipping the multiple monster multiplier or recalculating the CR without the adjustments for immunity/resistances is probably necessary (although you probably shouldn't do this for the spells I mentioned above).

 

[alienux]

When I was at Origins Game Fair this past summer, Chris Perkins and Chris Lindsey did an "Ask the DM" session in one of the conference rooms. I remember someone asked Chris Perkins about using CR, and he said he doesn't really pay attention to it. He just presents the encounter and lets the players deal with it regardless of difficulty. So basically, it's up to the players to decide whether to fight, negotiate, try to get away, or deal with it in another way.

That approach really frees you up as a DM to not worry about calculating every encounter to make sure it's easy, medium, or hard based on the book numbers. And the players learn to react appropriately whatever the challenge (hopefully).

 

[Jaelommiss]

I have no difficulty in making effective use of monster CR, though I look at the system radically differently than most other people.

For me, CR is a numerical representation of relative monster strength as defined by its ability to stay alive (AC and HP) and deal damage (attack bonus or save DC and damage per round). The relativity is with regards to other monsters, and not player character level despite the overlapping range of numbers.

Once I know what CR creature provides an appropriate challenge (based on the table's agreed upon standards of challenge), I can then increase or decrease the difficulty of future confrontations by increasing or decreasing that number. Take a party challenged by CR 8 monsters. I can use a CR 6 monster to give them an easy time or a CR 10 monster to give them a harder time. At no point does character or party level factor into it.

 

[Charlaquin]

CR has always been wonky. Personally, I think the problem is the insistence on balancing one creature against a party of 4 or 5. Even a theoretically balanced 1v4 fight is heavily weighted in the favor of the side with four times the actions to spend per round. So, most monsters are less challenging than their CR would indicate, until they’re in a group of similar or greater numbers to the party, at which point they switch to being more challenging than their CR would indicate. That’s why 4th Edition switched to the baseline assumption of group vs. group combats, and was the best balanced encounter building guidelines in any edition.

 

[Mistwell]

CR ratings were intended to give an idea about relative monster strength. It came about when XP was decoupled from the monsters because monster XP was determined by relative PC level.
Monsters have set XP again (yay) and encounters have XP budgets and modifiers (meh). CR becomes a vestigial rule included bacause of an editing oversight.

Am I regurgitating something I read on EN world?

Not an editing oversight. It's an eyeball back of the envelope type number. You can glance at it and make a quick mental adjustment in your head to determine where that monster is at relative to a party. Not a very precise estimate, but it's a close enough ballpark estimate to be useful.