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<blockquote data-quote="Wulf Ratbane" data-source="post: 4553460" data-attributes="member: 94">Folks can't complain about the problem and then reject every solution. (Wait, this is the internet...)My suspicion is that most of the folks demanding PC/NPC parity are players, not DMs. It drives some of my players up the wall when a goblin throws a fireball at them, if that goblin turns out not to be a 5th level wizard. From the DM side the major complaint seems to be Fey and Undead-- for whom it's hard to raise BAB to practical levels without raising HD, Saves, etc. The problem is that CR is inextricably linked to HD, and HD are inextricably linked to BAB, Saves, etc. There are &quot;best practices&quot; involved with monster design, so if you increase CR, BAB, Saves, etc. without a corresponding increase in HD (hp, really) you run the risk of creating a glass cannon with the potential to dramatically impact play balance. The more dramatic the glass cannon effect, the less granularity you have in outcomes: the outcomes become restricted more and more to &quot;total pushover&quot; or &quot;total party kill.&quot;It's like a top that goes out of balance. The farther out of balance you go, the less likely you'll see just a little wobble on an overall stable system, and the more likely you'll see wild wobbly swings and an eventual crash.All of this is to say is that you should be increasing HD, BAB, and Saves as CR increases; and that the desire to be able to move any one of these sliders without affecting the others is problematic. This is all shades of housecats and expert commoners, again. And ultimately I think if you can't swallow this fundamental assumption of the D&amp;D world, you're playing the wrong system.All that being said, there is a little bit of wobble room in those sliders yet.I hope that you do. I am quite fond of you. To say nothing of my moral obligation to keep your German mind occupied with thoughts other than its natural tendencies-- ie, world domination.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Wulf Ratbane, post: 4553460, member: 94"] Folks can't complain about the problem and then reject every solution. (Wait, this is the internet...) My suspicion is that [I]most [/I]of the folks demanding PC/NPC parity are players, not DMs. It drives some of my players [I]up the wall[/I] when a goblin throws a fireball at them, if that goblin turns out [B]not [/B]to be a 5th level wizard. From the DM side the major complaint seems to be Fey and Undead-- for whom it's hard to raise BAB to practical levels without raising HD, Saves, etc. The problem is that CR is inextricably linked to HD, and HD are inextricably linked to BAB, Saves, etc. There are "best practices" involved with monster design, so if you increase CR, BAB, Saves, etc. without a corresponding increase in HD (hp, really) you run the risk of creating a glass cannon with the potential to dramatically impact play balance. The more dramatic the glass cannon effect, the less granularity you have in outcomes: the outcomes become restricted more and more to "total pushover" or "total party kill." It's like a top that goes out of balance. The farther out of balance you go, the less likely you'll see just a little wobble on an overall stable system, and the more likely you'll see wild wobbly swings and an eventual crash. All of this is to say is that you [I]should [/I]be increasing HD, BAB, and Saves as CR increases; and that the desire to be able to move any one of these sliders [I]without affecting the others[/I] is problematic. This is all shades of housecats and expert commoners, again. And ultimately I think if you can't swallow this fundamental assumption of the D&D world, you're playing the wrong system. All that being said, there is a little bit of wobble room in those sliders yet. I hope that you do. I am quite fond of you. To say nothing of my moral obligation to keep your German mind occupied with thoughts other than its natural tendencies-- ie, world domination. [/QUOTE]

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