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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rhenny" data-source="post: 6955232" data-attributes="member: 18333">I'd love to see (and if I had time, I'd try to make it myself), a complete listing of all feats and powers with a rough guideline as to how adding one or more to a monster would change the CR estimate.  The DMG kind of goes there with some of its charts, but nothing is integrated or easy to use.  The monster statistics by challenge rating chart on p. 274 and the monster features tables on p. 280-281 are a start, but they do not integrate easily or make it easy to plug and play.I always loved how in sci-fi games there were often rules that would help people modify or construct equipment or star ships, etc.  I want to apply the same to "build-a-monster".   I think a whole bunch of the issues raised in this thread really just come down to not being able to estimate the true difficulty of the encounter.  It would be awesome if a list of small tweaks and their possible impact on CR could be handy and easy to use.  But, to tell the truth, there are so many variables during a gaming session, I don't think any guideline or stat block guide would ever be able to narrow it down.  4e tried to lock it down, and did pretty well.  It was much easier to judge the difficulty of encounters with 4e, but it led some to feel that the way monsters behaved and the outcome of many encounters was more pre-determined and less free to bust expectations.  5e certainly comes down on the more freedom side, which does present interesting challenges for DMs when players get more skilled and less casual.I'd like to run a 5e campaign that uses 3d6 to generate initial abilities if I were going to try to challenge more experienced players. I bet that would shift the power curve a bit.Overall, I do feel what CapNZapp is getting at.  The game can be fun even when the encounter isn't as challenging.  And sometimes a DM doesn't want to sweat it too much and play all the foes optimally.  Personally, I hate playing chess because I get too wrapped up in planning ahead all of the moves and making calculated decisions.  I don't want D&D to play that way.  I want D&D to be able to play that way for those that like it, but also play more casually for those that don't.  In my games, I often tell the players that in combat, there is a "fog of war" so sometimes foes will do strange things that don't seem optimal.  They might run and take AOs.  They may decide to attack a more armored foe who is closer rather than run to another who isn't as well armored.  They may pick to use a spell based more on the foes personality than what is best for the situation.  Basically, I'm telling them that I would rather make quicker decisions and keep the flow of the game moving at a faster pace than bog it down with too much tactical decision making.  I also encourage players to play the same way.  Speed and rule of cool is so much more important to me and my games than taking too much time to pick the "right" action.</blockquote>

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