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<blockquote data-quote="Sacrosanct" data-source="post: 7289765" data-attributes="member: 15700">Absolutely agree.&nbsp; I am not against adding extra things to monsters.&nbsp; Heck, A year or two ago I even released a product guide call<a href="http://www.dmsguild.com/product/189178/Monstrous-Leaders" target="_blank"> Monstrous Leaders</a>, which was all about adding extra abilities and traits to monsters, and how it might impact CR.&nbsp; So it's obvious I'm not against adding things to monsters if you want.That being said, the impact of as you say, &quot;playing with a brain&quot;, is often undervalued.&nbsp; It makes the world of difference in game play and challenge.Someone mentioned this earlier, and I'm sorry I don't remember who that is to give credit to, but it is an excellent point.&nbsp; CRs are largely based on the baseline: the average table, may not even have feats or magic items, etc.&nbsp; So why would anyone allow an optimized party where players use all of the tools to min/max their PCs, but then don't allow the DM to do the same with the monsters?&nbsp; That doesn't make any sense.&nbsp; If your players are optimizing and using optional rules, then by all means you as the DM should be doing the same.&nbsp; RAW, a CR4 creature is appropriate for a standard encounter for 4ea level 4 baseline PCs.&nbsp; If those PCs are optimized, then it seems common sense to me that the CR4 rating is no longer going to work, and the DM will need to add things to it on the same level as the players added to their PCs in order to keep it a CR4.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Sacrosanct, post: 7289765, member: 15700"] Absolutely agree. I am not against adding extra things to monsters. Heck, A year or two ago I even released a product guide call[URL="http://www.dmsguild.com/product/189178/Monstrous-Leaders"] Monstrous Leaders[/URL], which was all about adding extra abilities and traits to monsters, and how it might impact CR. So it's obvious I'm not against adding things to monsters if you want. That being said, the impact of as you say, "playing with a brain", is often undervalued. It makes the world of difference in game play and challenge. Someone mentioned this earlier, and I'm sorry I don't remember who that is to give credit to, but it is an excellent point. CRs are largely based on the baseline: the average table, may not even have feats or magic items, etc. So why would anyone allow an optimized party where players use all of the tools to min/max their PCs, but then don't allow the DM to do the same with the monsters? That doesn't make any sense. If your players are optimizing and using optional rules, then by all means you as the DM should be doing the same. RAW, a CR4 creature is appropriate for a standard encounter for 4ea level 4 [I]baseline [/I]PCs. If those PCs are optimized, then it seems common sense to me that the CR4 rating is no longer going to work, and the DM will need to add things to it on the same level as the players added to their PCs in order to keep it a CR4. [/QUOTE]

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