How can this be right?

[adienpryde]

Our group of characters is facing 4 Minators with 5 levels of fighter each. According to the on chart they are an encounter level of 13, so if I understand that, a group of 4 PC's shouldn't face them till 13th level, but when it cones to experience, we will get experience for 4 9th level monsters divided by our party. This all leads to not much exp. Is this right, if so, does them having magic items add to the challenge rating?

 

[Magic Slim]

It is correct.

And it will bring in as much XP as if you had faced a single, CR 13 monster.

4 CR9 monsters = 4 * 975XP = 3900 XP
1 CR13 monster = 1 * 3900 = 3900 XP

The creatures should have appropriate magical equipment for their level.

Slim

 

[The Souljourner]

The experience for 4 9 CR monsters is exactly the same as the XP for a single CR13 monster. Check the chart, it works.

And yeah, it's not a ton, it also shouldn't be that hard. Encounters of your average party level aren't supposed to be life or death. They're supposed to be dangerous, but not truly something that could destroy your party,which I think makes them boring.

On the other hand, a fight 3-5 CR higher than your average party level is a fight for your life, and ends with the PCs glad they made it out alive. Now *those* are the kinds of fights I like.

-The Souljourner

 

[adienpryde]

The experience for 4 9 CR monsters is exactly the same as the XP for a single CR13 monster. Check the chart, it works.

And yeah, it's not a ton, it also shouldn't be that hard. Encounters of your average party level aren't supposed to be life or death. They're supposed to be dangerous, but not truly something that could destroy your party,which I think makes them boring.

On the other hand, a fight 3-5 CR higher than your average party level is a fight for your life, and ends with the PCs glad they made it out alive. Now *those* are the kinds of fights I like.

-The Souljourner

Which is what is happening, we are an average of level 9(11,10,9,9,9,5).
They took our highest HP character,117 in on round(2 minators, 6 attacks with 5 being crits.almot 200 points of damage). It just is doen't ssem right that we will be lucky to escape with half of use alive for about 1500-2000 exp each.

 

[Grog]

Which is what is happening, we are an average of level 9(11,10,9,9,9,5).
They took our highest HP character,117 in on round(2 minators, 6 attacks with 5 being crits.almot 200 points of damage). It just is doen't ssem right that we will be lucky to escape with half of use alive for about 1500-2000 exp each.

Well, the odds of your DM rolling 5 crits on 6 attacks are pretty damned low. It sounds like it was just a freak incidence of bad luck for you, which the system really can't take into account.

 

[Hammerhead]

Conversely, you guys could have rolled several consecutive crits, got lucky on a few spells, etc. and put those minotaurs in shallow graves with nary a scratch. That's luck.

 

[Silverglass]

Which is what is happening, we are an average of level 9(11,10,9,9,9,5).
They took our highest HP character,117 in on round(2 minators, 6 attacks with 5 being crits.almot 200 points of damage). It just is doen't ssem right that we will be lucky to escape with half of use alive for about 1500-2000 exp each.

That is just down to some extremely lucky rolls form the DM. Unless he boosted the stats a lot you would probably be looking at +15/+10/+5 so I guess that your frontline guy was in a low AC for 9th level.

If the DM rolls 5 20's out of 6 and confirms them all (which must have been another 20 for the 5th crit) then you just have to chalk that up to bad luck.

 

[adienpryde]

That is just down to some extremely lucky rolls form the DM. Unless he boosted the stats a lot you would probably be looking at +15/+10/+5 so I guess that your frontline guy was in a low AC for 9th level.

If the DM rolls 5 20's out of 6 and confirms them all (which must have been another 20 for the 5th crit) then you just have to chalk that up to bad luck.

They were upped. Nose rings to limit crits to 20 only and even the crit damage is halved, Improved crit feat taking them to 17-20, and attack mods of +12

 

[Magic Slim]

One of the problems of correctly evaluating a monster's CR is the fact that it can be a total killer in a certain situation, whereas the PC's can take them out in a round in another.

Take your Minotaur example. Those monsters are melee monsters. They do have the capacity to dish out tremendous amounts of melee damage in a single round. What to do? Get out of Melee. Fly. Out-run them. Or exploit their weaknesses. They probably have very low Will saves.

5 Crits in 6 attacks? That's just bad luck.

You say they were wearing nose rings that protected them from critical hits? Those seem like powerful custom items. Maybe the DM over-equipped the monsters, making the combat tougher.

I have a similar example, I think. We were surprised (~10 th level) by dire lions, who completely devoured the monk in the surprise round (new character, he didn't even get the chance to make a single roll and he was already dead). When we got to attack, it took us only a couple of rounds to wipe them out.

Slim

 

[Darklone]

Minotaurs with 5 level fighter? CR9? Huhm... wow. That means my puny Minotaur with 4 charlevels of barbarian is CR 8 and I'm playing in a group of 12th level chars.

And nope, I can't say I am overequipped (the mino is naked). Got an adamantite greataxe of speed now though, but that's it. The mino is usually fighting naked and I seem to be able to handle most monsters pretty well.

But yes, I am not looking forward to flying encounters without my personal buffers.