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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jedi_Solo" data-source="post: 2966870" data-attributes="member: 40245">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.</blockquote>

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