Over/Under CRed?

[demiurge1138]

What monsters do you think are either too easy or too difficult for their Challenge Ratings? And if you have any stories about annihilating parties or having your monsters walked over, please do share.

My picks for over CRed are...

Hellfire Wyrm: It's like a half-fiend red dragon, only suckier. And with a higher CR than all but wyrms. No thank you.
Fiendwurm: CR 28 for spitting out vrocks? The swallow-portal is pretty cool, as are the death throes, but it's maybe CR 18-19 tops.
Linnorms: Yeah, they have some dangerous abilities. But they don't have nearly the hit points their CR would warrant.

All of these are from the MMII. I'm currently on the fence with ropers (MM).

Under CRed include...

Boneclaw: 105 hp? 20ft reach? And only CR 5?
Drowned: OK, this is just stupid. 20 hit dice and an incredibly lethal save-or-die, and only CR 8?!
Malebranche: This was probably one of the burliest devils in 3e, melee wise. 16 HD. Excellent strength and good attacks. And CR 9. Could have probably done a number on a 3e pit fiend, but CR 9. Actually, I have wonderful memories of using extra-abusive, advanced malebranches using the 3.0 advancement rules.
Tendriculous: This one isn't so radical as the others above, but the increased hit points and swallow whole - paralyze ability are both better than the abilities of the shambling mound, which is also CR 6. I'd raise the tendriculous' CR to 7-8.

Demiurge out.

 

[kenobi65]

I think that dragons, in general, have lower CRs than they deserve. IIRC, the designers did this intentionally, believing that most encounters with dragons will be in situations where the PCs know what they're up against (that is, they're out hunting the dragon), and are able to prepare themselves appropriately.

 

[the Jester]

Seems like lots of monsters in the MM2 are overvalued. The phoenix and leviathan are the two worst offenders imho.

 

[Dagger75]

Over CR well for a party I once ran.

Can't recall the name, In the first MM, its a dog like creature with spins that break off when you get close and cause temp Dex Damage. Cr like 6 I beleive

I had a group of 3 15+ character fight like 4 of these. Basically a filler combat to slow down the party a bit. Well those 4 things destroyed the party. Failing the saves, losing a bunch of dex, they resorted to high level spell to destroy them. It was funny. They feared those more than Maraliths.

 

[Shade]

Mountain giant. There's no way that something that something with +10 Reflex and Will saves and no spell resistance is CR 26! I picture wizards everywhere scrying to find one, so that they can reap a massive XP reward with little effort.

 

[kenobi65]

Can't recall the name, In the first MM, its a dog like creature with spins that break off when you get close and cause temp Dex Damage. Cr like 6 I beleive

I had a group of 3 15+ character fight like 4 of these. Basically a filler combat to slow down the party a bit. Well those 4 things destroyed the party. Failing the saves, losing a bunch of dex, they resorted to high level spell to destroy them. It was funny. They feared those more than Maraliths.

Sounds like howlers...which are only CR3!

The Reflex save to avoid those spines is DC16...for 15th level characters to be consistently missing those saves, they must have really been rolling lousy. (At which point, it's not the CR that's broken, it's the dice... )

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Over CR well for a party I once ran.

Can't recall the name, In the first MM, its a dog like creature with spins that break off when you get close and cause temp Dex Damage. Cr like 6 I beleive

I had a group of 3 15+ character fight like 4 of these. Basically a filler combat to slow down the party a bit. Well those 4 things destroyed the party. Failing the saves, losing a bunch of dex, they resorted to high level spell to destroy them. It was funny. They feared those more than Maraliths.

Sound like Howlers. And they're CR3.

http://www.systemreferencedocuments.org/35/sovelior_sage/monstersHtoI.html#howler

 

[kenobi65]

Mountain giant. There's no way that something that something with +10 Reflex and Will saves and no spell resistance is CR 26! I picture wizards everywhere scrying to find one, so that they can reap a massive XP reward with little effort.

Yup, they're just enormous beatsticks.

 

[Shade]

Another overvalued critter is the grimweird from MM3, which also happens to be my pick for the absolute worst official monster released thus far. At CR 12, this undead loser's greatest ability is summon monster IV once every five rounds!!! All it takes is one protection from/magic circle against spell and those critters are near-useless. It also has energy drain with its claw attack that it will never hit with unless it rolls a natural 20.

 

[cincinnati reds]

Belkers are too weak for CR6, IMO.