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<blockquote data-quote="abirdcall" data-source="post: 7321286" data-attributes="member: 6748898">A good rule of thumb for 5e is to forget what you know from 3e and 4e.In 3.x creatures too high or too low would either be impossible to beat or impossible to lose to. CR was also used to determine experience compared to character level. I think it was Mike Mearls who said that he regrets calling it CR because people compare it to 3e.It's better to treat encounters like 2e. CR determines experience regardless of character level.It might be easier to see it in action by buying one of the adventure books. You'll see the difference in adventure design. There are often creatures of varying CR strewn about. It's up to the party in how they want to deal with those creatures.For example, in an adventure I'm running for 3rd-4th level characters there is a CR 7 creature which benefits from superior terrain due to its lair. So it's probably closer to a CR 8 encounter. The party isn't likely to stand a chance against it, but it's still there. 5e is built on the idea that at low level the PCs are more likely to encounter threats that are too strong for them, and at higher levels they will still face those or weaker threats but now they will be easier. It's not the treadmill of 3e. Magic items will also make threats easier. A CR 7 creature will be much easier to overcome if the party has a bunch of magic items. That is by design. How many items the party has isn't directly linked to level like it is in 3e.Party size has a huge impact too, more than I think most realize. I would estimate a party of 6 to have twice the power of a party of 4.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="abirdcall, post: 7321286, member: 6748898"] A good rule of thumb for 5e is to forget what you know from 3e and 4e. In 3.x creatures too high or too low would either be impossible to beat or impossible to lose to. CR was also used to determine experience compared to character level. I think it was Mike Mearls who said that he regrets calling it CR because people compare it to 3e. It's better to treat encounters like 2e. CR determines experience regardless of character level. It might be easier to see it in action by buying one of the adventure books. You'll see the difference in adventure design. There are often creatures of varying CR strewn about. It's up to the party in how they want to deal with those creatures. For example, in an adventure I'm running for 3rd-4th level characters there is a CR 7 creature which benefits from superior terrain due to its lair. So it's probably closer to a CR 8 encounter. The party isn't likely to stand a chance against it, but it's still there. 5e is built on the idea that at low level the PCs are more likely to encounter threats that are too strong for them, and at higher levels they will still face those or weaker threats but now they will be easier. It's not the treadmill of 3e. Magic items will also make threats easier. A CR 7 creature will be much easier to overcome if the party has a bunch of magic items. That is by design. How many items the party has isn't directly linked to level like it is in 3e. Party size has a huge impact too, more than I think most realize. I would estimate a party of 6 to have twice the power of a party of 4. [/QUOTE]

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