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<blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 3638046" data-attributes="member: 22779">Yeah, I think that's been my whole point all the way along.&nbsp; A lot of the complaints I see about CR/EL is from DM's whose encounters went pear shaped.&nbsp; The problem is, CR/EL is a predictive tool, true, but, like all predictive tools, it suffers in actual use.&nbsp; Yes, a bog standard troll vs a 5th level party should be a cakewalk fight.&nbsp; That's what EL says.&nbsp; It shouldn't be hard and it certainly shouldn't be lethal.&nbsp; Unfortunately, when the DM rolls three straight crits and nearly maximum damage and turns the fighter into a pretzel, &quot;shouldn't be lethal&quot; tends to be kinda laughable.And that's something else to remember.&nbsp; At the end of the day, the odds always favour the DM.&nbsp; Always.&nbsp; Simply because the DM rolls at least as many attacks as the party combined.&nbsp; Take my example above of three straight crits.&nbsp; A 1 in 8000 chance.&nbsp; Not too likely right?&nbsp; But, over the course of a 20 level campaign, the DM can easily roll a couple of thousand attack rolls.&nbsp; Now, the chances are more 1 in 4.&nbsp; Suddenly, it's a reasonable possibility that at some point, during the campaign, the DM might pull out three straight 20's.And a PC dies.The CR/EL system simply cannot predict this kind of event.&nbsp; It might happen, and when it does, you whack a PC.&nbsp; Or your PC whacks that BBEG in one round.&nbsp; Whichever.&nbsp; I do see the addition of things like Action Points as a very excellent mechanic for mitigating this sort of event.&nbsp; It's one thing for your PC to get buried under enemies and fall.&nbsp; That happens.&nbsp; It's quite another to have your 7th level PC smoked by Random Mook #33 just because the dice fall a certain way.&nbsp; Having killed FAR too many PC's in my World's Largest Dungeon campaign (1 every 3 sessions on average), I think I'll be using Action Points from here on in.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Hussar, post: 3638046, member: 22779"] Yeah, I think that's been my whole point all the way along. A lot of the complaints I see about CR/EL is from DM's whose encounters went pear shaped. The problem is, CR/EL is a predictive tool, true, but, like all predictive tools, it suffers in actual use. Yes, a bog standard troll vs a 5th level party should be a cakewalk fight. That's what EL says. It shouldn't be hard and it certainly shouldn't be lethal. Unfortunately, when the DM rolls three straight crits and nearly maximum damage and turns the fighter into a pretzel, "shouldn't be lethal" tends to be kinda laughable. And that's something else to remember. At the end of the day, the odds always favour the DM. Always. Simply because the DM rolls at least as many attacks as the party combined. Take my example above of three straight crits. A 1 in 8000 chance. Not too likely right? But, over the course of a 20 level campaign, the DM can easily roll a couple of thousand attack rolls. Now, the chances are more 1 in 4. Suddenly, it's a reasonable possibility that at some point, during the campaign, the DM might pull out three straight 20's. And a PC dies. The CR/EL system simply cannot predict this kind of event. It might happen, and when it does, you whack a PC. Or your PC whacks that BBEG in one round. Whichever. I do see the addition of things like Action Points as a very excellent mechanic for mitigating this sort of event. It's one thing for your PC to get buried under enemies and fall. That happens. It's quite another to have your 7th level PC smoked by Random Mook #33 just because the dice fall a certain way. Having killed FAR too many PC's in my World's Largest Dungeon campaign (1 every 3 sessions on average), I think I'll be using Action Points from here on in. [/QUOTE]

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