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<blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 3618401" data-attributes="member: 22779">And, ladies and gentlemen, we have a perfect example of how DM's can affect CR.&nbsp; A simple mistake in the rules leads to large consequences.&nbsp; By Warlocklord's reasoning, a Drow cleric could never heal himself without lowering her SR first.&nbsp; Thus, a Drow cleric becomes much less of a threat.&nbsp; However, by following RAW, we see that this is not an issue and the CR comes back into line.Note that Doug McCrae is 100% correct according to the <a href="http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#spellResistance" target="_blank">Srd</a>.&nbsp; Another factor to remember when thinking about CR is that combat in 3rd edition is lethal.&nbsp; Scratch that.&nbsp; Combat in 3e is VERY lethal.&nbsp; Just about any melee monster of a given CR can kill or incapacitate any given equal leveled PC in a single round.&nbsp; It may not be highly likely, but, it is possible, and, over a long enough span, the odds always favour the DM because he makes more attacks.&nbsp; Even without a crit, an orc is capable of 15 points of damage - enough to drop just about any 1st level PC.&nbsp; With a crit, he's averaging about 28 points of damage which is enough to kill just about any PC up to 3rd level.&nbsp; Giants, trolls, and other Brute style critters can pump out a LOT of damage in a round to a single target.CR doesn't assume a run of luck on the part of the DM.&nbsp; It assumes fairly average rolls from both sides.&nbsp; A couple of lucky die rolls and a standard encounter can get lethal very, very quickly.&nbsp; Not that this really changes the CR of a creature so much, but, it does lead to some odd results where the party obliterates the +4 EL BBEG only to get their asses handed to them by a -1 EL group of mooks.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Hussar, post: 3618401, member: 22779"] And, ladies and gentlemen, we have a perfect example of how DM's can affect CR. A simple mistake in the rules leads to large consequences. By Warlocklord's reasoning, a Drow cleric could never heal himself without lowering her SR first. Thus, a Drow cleric becomes much less of a threat. However, by following RAW, we see that this is not an issue and the CR comes back into line. Note that Doug McCrae is 100% correct according to the [url=http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#spellResistance]Srd[/url]. Another factor to remember when thinking about CR is that combat in 3rd edition is lethal. Scratch that. Combat in 3e is VERY lethal. Just about any melee monster of a given CR can kill or incapacitate any given equal leveled PC in a single round. It may not be highly likely, but, it is possible, and, over a long enough span, the odds always favour the DM because he makes more attacks. Even without a crit, an orc is capable of 15 points of damage - enough to drop just about any 1st level PC. With a crit, he's averaging about 28 points of damage which is enough to kill just about any PC up to 3rd level. Giants, trolls, and other Brute style critters can pump out a LOT of damage in a round to a single target. CR doesn't assume a run of luck on the part of the DM. It assumes fairly average rolls from both sides. A couple of lucky die rolls and a standard encounter can get lethal very, very quickly. Not that this really changes the CR of a creature so much, but, it does lead to some odd results where the party obliterates the +4 EL BBEG only to get their asses handed to them by a -1 EL group of mooks. [/QUOTE]

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