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<blockquote data-quote="kigmatzomat" data-source="post: 2956060" data-attributes="member: 9254">I think the CR/EL system actually helps develop DM judgement.&nbsp; In the 2E days you had no real guidelines for evaluating the threat of a creature; you're only &quot;universal&quot; summation of risk was the XP value and it was incomplete as the total XP value depended greatly on the loot.&nbsp; I treat it as a tool for making a rough draft.&nbsp; A few minutes with the MMs and I can have a reasonably close encounter.&nbsp; I then examine the encounters as a whole.&nbsp; Are there synergies that make them stronger?&nbsp; Are there points of opposition that will cause them to actually become weaker?&nbsp; (e.g. a medusa + something that causes blindness)The CR system is something you can get a feel for.&nbsp; People have an idea what a CR5 should be.&nbsp; They can look at a creature and think &quot;is this in line with a CR5?&quot;&nbsp; It is much simpler to decide if a given creature should have a certain CR than to develop a CR system from scratch.&nbsp; And once DMs are comfortable adjusting the CR/ELs to match their party, they will have more confidence to make other changes to the &quot;recommended guidelines&quot; of running a game.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="kigmatzomat, post: 2956060, member: 9254"] I think the CR/EL system actually helps develop DM judgement. In the 2E days you had no real guidelines for evaluating the threat of a creature; you're only "universal" summation of risk was the XP value and it was incomplete as the total XP value depended greatly on the loot. I treat it as a tool for making a rough draft. A few minutes with the MMs and I can have a reasonably close encounter. I then examine the encounters as a whole. Are there synergies that make them stronger? Are there points of opposition that will cause them to actually become weaker? (e.g. a medusa + something that causes blindness) The CR system is something you can get a feel for. People have an idea what a CR5 should be. They can look at a creature and think "is this in line with a CR5?" It is much simpler to decide if a given creature should have a certain CR than to develop a CR system from scratch. And once DMs are comfortable adjusting the CR/ELs to match their party, they will have more confidence to make other changes to the "recommended guidelines" of running a game. [/QUOTE]

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