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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Asmor" data-source="post: 4565280" data-attributes="member: 1154">Well, at 4th level, fighting a single level 7 monster isn't at all difficult (assuming the Otyugh isn't a solo, I'm too lazy to look it up... Even an elite level 7 would be an easy encounter for a group of level 4s).So let's change that otyugh into a young red dragon (solo 7 soldier). While we're at it, we'll make the PCs 10th level, so we're looking at 3 levels above and 3 levels below.The dragon would be a difficult encounter for the party of level 4s, but they should be able to handle it as long as they're not completely wasted and don't have terrible luck. It's a difficult encounter because the dragon is hard to hit, has a ton of hit points relative to their potential damage output, and does a lot more damage.The same encounter would be much easier for 10th level PCs, because the dragon's easy to hit, has relatively few hit points compared to their damage potential, and doesn't do a whole lot of damage.If we remove the half-level adjustments to PCs and the dragon, then most of the above still holds true. The only difference is that it's now a theoretically average challenge to hit the dragon, rather than it being easier or more difficult than normal.The low-level party is still going to take longer to kill it, thus are going to be hit more often since the dragon's going to be alive longer, and each individual hit hurts more because they don't have as many hit points.The 10th level party will kill the dragon faster, so it will get fewer attacks off, and each individual attack will deal less damage.Ultimately, what matters is the percentage of resources (hit points) that the dragon can take from the PCs before it is defeated.Let's make a formula...Dd = Dragon's average damage per round = [Dragon's damage * hit probability]Dh = Dragon's HPPd = Party's average damage per round = [Party's damage * hit probability]Ph = Party's HP, including healing and suchSo the dragon will survive for [Dh / Pd] rounds, and will deal [Dd / Ph] damage per round.Thus, for the whole dragon fight, the PCs will lose [Dh * Dd] / [Pd * Ph] percentage of their HP resources.Since the dragon's static, [Dh * Dd] is constant. Pd and Ph both increase as the party increases in level, thus the percentage of their resources lost is essentially an inverse square function.In other words, as their level raises, the threat the dragon poses drops off quadratically!If we keep the level bonus in, that's going to have the following effect: As the PCs level rise relative to the dragon, Dd will go down and Pd will go up due to the dragon hitting less often and the players hitting more often. Thus, the effect of the half-level bonus is to cause the dragon's threat to drop off quartically.</blockquote>

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