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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 6561091" data-attributes="member: 4937">Not really.  I offered up an extreme example knowing that the fact that if a threat represented no challenge, it would be well known that no XP is earned.  But I think it's less well appreciated that for any given creature, there is a continuum of challenge which depends on the environment in which the creature is encountered - and this includes situations where sans the creature, the environment itself wouldn't represent a hazard at all.Consider the case of a dire tiger encountered in a gladiatorial arena.  A very large portion of the potential threat of a dire tiger is neutralized, and the encounter is turned into a very predictable slugfest between the PC(s) and a brute low AC monster where you can do a calculation like, "Tiger does average X damage per turn.  Party does average Y damager per turn.  How many rounds pass before the tiger drops a party member, or the party drops the tiger?"But consider the case of the same beast encountered in a vast tall grass pampas of thick grass 9-14' tall with a muddy mire and shallow pools beneath it.  Suddenly things like low-light vision, +11 bonus to hide in favored terrain, +11 bonus to move silently, and scent become huge factors in the monster's challenge rating.   In particular, a RBDM will have such cats stalk the party, attack at night, with the intention of surprising the party when they are trying to camp and killing the character on watch or as they break camp (while the cleric/wizard is preparing spells, for example).  The 100% concealment past 5' completely counters missile weapons and many magic spells.  Lone characters could be quickly overwhelmed by the tiger's pounce (perhaps 36 damage on the first round) and decent chance of surprise.  The +24 grapple bonuses plus improved grab and enough strength to carry a PC as a light burden, means that a cat can move the grapple and run away with a victim (even one not yet unconscious) forcing the party to try to chase in a situation where the cat's broad paws might incur no movement penalty while the party itself is forced to treat everything as difficult terrain.  The cleric and fighter in their heavy armor might be useless while the tiger is 'running away' with another character in its mouth.   After all, the cat probably isn't interested in fighting to the death.  It's intending to jump one target and go.  Imagine 4 encounters of this sort in quick succession, attacking isolated members of the party.  Four encounters per day is fair, right?But if the same party is flying on magic carpets over that pampas?  Now, the encounter if it occurs at all is again trivial.</blockquote>

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