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Message: <blockquote data-quote="chriton227" data-source="post: 3661639" data-attributes="member: 33263">Yeah, I noticed that too.  DMG, Ch. 2, Treasure section:MM, Ch. 4, Monsters and Class Levels:So now not only are there inconsistancies between how PC and NPC classes are treated (CR vs ECL gear amount), but there are also inconsistancies between how monsters with class levels are treated based on their whether or not their advancement is "by character class" and also whether using the DMG (treasure for base creature plus gear for levels only) or the MM (gear based on ECL).Take an Ogre Barbarian 1 (Base CR3, +1 for Brb1; ECL 7 [4HD+2LA+Brb1]).  By the MM, it would have gear equivalent to a Level 7 NPC (7,200 gp).  By the MM, it would have gear equivalent to a L1 NPC (900 gp) plus treasure for a CR3 (900 gp), or a total of 1,800 gp.  A CR 4 encounter would normally be about 1,200 gp.  The DMG mentions that an NPC's gear is usually worth about 3 times as much as an encounter of their level, but because the gear can be used against the party it all balances out.  A CR 7 treasure is 2,600 gp, which is just a little over 1/3 the gear value for a Level 7 NPC, but that proportion completely breaks down if you look at the actual CR compared to any of the methods for calculating how much gear (CR4 = 1,200 gp, ECL Gear = 7,200 gp [6x as much], Lvl Gear+Treasure = 1,800 [1.5x as much]). The Gear for Level Plus Treasure for Base model breaks down badly at the higher levels.  A creature with a base CR of 14 would be about 17,000 gp in treasure, adding 1 level brings it up to a CR 15 with 17,900 gp. A normal CR 15 would be about 22,000 gp, so the CR 14 plus a class level is effectively short 4,100 gp (18.6%) compared to a normal creature of the same CR.  CR 8 is actually the break-over point where adding a class level hurts the treasure values (a CR8+1Lvl is 200 gp short of a CR9, a CR7+1Lvl is 100 gp over a CR8).</blockquote>

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