Jedi_Solo said:
I, personally, think that CR should be based on the combat/mechanical aspects of the monster as opposed to the social aspects.
A CR3 critter with heavy social abilities will always be a CR3 critter, the same with a CR5 or a CR8 or a CR325. As a player, it will much more fulfilling to have a decent fight after we expose the OM for what it is and pound it into a pulp in a decent fight as opposed to looking at it crosseyed and it dying from a heart attack due to fright from us being 5 levels higher that its combat stats would put it. I want a decent fight to end the storylines with, not be a schoolyard bully.
That said, there is no reason that a DM couldn't start messing with the PCs using the monsters social abilities a few levels before the PCs are ready to fight the monster. If a first level party runs into the town mayor (who is "charmed" by the OM) in the first session of the campaign, that's great. But to me, having the PCs figure out that the city officials are under control of the unassuming city clerk doesn't give the monster its CR. That is the story that takes the fight with the "City Clerk" from being a monster-of-the-week footnote to being a really cool encounter that is talked of for years afterwards.
CR should be based around a creatures staying power in a fight. When I have guest-DMed and I wanted a monster idea for the session I looked at the CRs to get ideas for the single session I was going to do. If I want a CR8 fight for the climactic fight I would want to know that a CR8 will (likely - barring the occational really odd roles) hold its own for a couple of rounds and not really be the same fight-wise as a CR5.
Some monsters would benefit greatly from a short sidebar pointing out odd stuff in the statblock, like that the Ogre Mage (old, or new with Mike's new charm-style power) is meant to play up the manipulative Oni and be more than a great-sword wielding blue skinned bully and would most likely be best used for a long term villian. But that won't put more fight into the creature when the party finally fights it.
Well, just two points here. The entry for the Ogre Mage under
Combat reads:
Ogre mages rely on their spell-like abilities, resorting to physical combat only when necessary. When faced with obviously superior forces, they prefer to retreat in gaseous form rather than fight a losing battle. Ogre mages hold deep, abiding grudges, however, and the unwise person who crosses one would do well to keep looking over his shoulder.
So basically, the Ogre mage is not that prone to face characters in direct battle anyway, if he's not definitely superior, but rather prone to vanish if the heroes prove too big for it to handle. Not that hard either, with
Darkness and
Invisibility on his side, as well as the shapeshifting abilities.
And second, a CR8 only means that a standard group of 4 8th level characters should expend roughly 25% of their resources while bringing down the monster, not that it is a climatic battle for them. For a good, climatic end fight, make them a mix of 5th and 6th level characters. Should still give them the chance to bring the monster down, might cost one of them a life, and will definitely be the kind of encounter that's talked about for some time after.
Also fits nicely with a storyline where the group comes into a village around 2nd level, starts having a few adventures around it, notice that something is not right with a few of the officials, strange things happening, people vanishing etc. They get sent on a red herring quest by the mayor to eradicate a tribe of humanoids who he claims are kidnapping citizens, that kind of stuff. After a few more adventures, the plot thickens, the first official is freed of his
charm for example, the evidence points to a lowly clerk, the confrontatioin looms, the PCs have become 5th level by now, or 6th, and during the fight that might down one of their numbers from a
Cone of Cold, the Ogre Mage reveals himself and causes plenty of havoc, being overcome only just so at the end.
Maybe a bit cliché, but the monster in question is 25 years old by now, too.
