EL = Encounter Level

[dreaded_beast]

Other than for use in published adventures, what use is EL?

When creating your own adventures, do you use EL?

As a DM, I have not really found much use for EL and have been a bit confused by it at times, especially when trying to find the EL of a mixed-HD encounter using the tables in the DMG.

Any insights on the usefulness of EL, especially in homebrew campaigns/adventures would be appreciated.

 

[reanjr]

Other than for use in published adventures, what use is EL?

When creating your own adventures, do you use EL?

As a DM, I have not really found much use for EL and have been a bit confused by it at times, especially when trying to find the EL of a mixed-HD encounter using the tables in the DMG.

Any insights on the usefulness of EL, especially in homebrew campaigns/adventures would be appreciated.

It affects the amount of treasure for the encounter. You use EL, not CR for treasure with multiple creatures.

 

[S'mon]

I use EL all the time; I often base XP off it not CR since otherwise my players high-level PCs wouldn't get any XP... also 3.5 XP is a lot quicker to do w 1 session EL than w 30 different CRs!

 

[dreaded_beast]

Interesting.

So can anyone clue me in as to how to figure out mixed-HD EL?

 

[d20Dwarf]

You can figure almost any combination of creatures with the chart in the DMG. If you have a bunch of different CR creatures, then just try to combine them up until you finally have a single EL. For example, say you have two ogres (CR 3), a troll (CR 5), and a hill giant (CR 7) in a room.

Look and see that two ogres is an EL 5 encounter, so when paired with the troll you have 2 "5s", which makes an EL 7. Now you have 2 "7s", which is a 9. I would put this encounter as EL 9.

 

[S'mon]

Yup, I do it like Wil, and I'd often award XP as if it were a single CR 9 foe; both quicker & more equitable when PCs are level 12+.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

You can figure almost any combination of creatures with the chart in the DMG. If you have a bunch of different CR creatures, then just try to combine them up until you finally have a single EL. For example, say you have two ogres (CR 3), a troll (CR 5), and a hill giant (CR 7) in a room.

Look and see that two ogres is an EL 5 encounter, so when paired with the troll you have 2 "5s", which makes an EL 7. Now you have 2 "7s", which is a 9. I would put this encounter as EL 9.

d20M uses a simplyfied version: EL = CR + Number of creatures. If the critters aren't of the Same CR, calculate the average CR and use the formula.

 

[the Jester]

I often glance passingly at the EL of an encounter to get an idea of how tough it'll be on the pcs imc. Also, I use EL for setting treasure.

 

[Joshua Randall]

Here is a very useful web page that can calculate EL of mixed CR creatures - and show you the XP awards, too.

http://arcady0.topcities.com/Encounter_Calculator.html

As others have said, you need to use EL (not CR!) to determine the proper amount of treasure to award per encounter. This is explained in detail in the DMG.

 

[dreaded_beast]

Great help everyone!

I've been staring at the chart, but I'm still having trouble trying to find the EL for mixed-CR encounters.

For example, how would I find the EL for an encounter with a CR 10 and CR 4 creature? CR 10 and CR 6 for example.

When I plan encounters, I get together some monsters that I think would make an interesting encounter or are part of the story. However, when I go and try to figure out the EL, I get a bit confused, since under the "Mixed-CR" column of the EL chart, it rarely contains the mixed CR of the creatures I am using.

However, I really like your example Wil and find it very helpful at trying to figure this out.