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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Majoru Oakheart" data-source="post: 4708116" data-attributes="member: 5143">It's not just when you use encounters in ways that are unforseen.  The problem with CRs is that they are not actually mapped with difficulty.  A creature with an AC of 10 and 20 hitpoints could be CR 10.  A creature with AC 25 and 100 hitpoints could be CR 6.  CRs are just a guess based on a formula/playtesting/eyeballing by the creator.  Some creators are better at eyeballing than others and get more accurate CRs than others.Part of the problem comes from having too much randomness to be predictable.  If a creature has 2 hitpoints but has a DC 25 save or die what CR should it be?  It might kill level 10 characters on the first round before they act if it goes first.  It might die in one hit before it even has a chance to do anything.But, while CR does a poor job of predicting actual difficulty, it is advertised as working so well that the entire encounter design and XP rules are based around using CR.  Which creates a house of cards built on a shaky foundation.  So, it sometimes requires a bit of correction on the DMs part.However, I agree that using CRs to plan encounters DOES imply a desired result.  I know, I always desire the result that the players live.  At least most of them.  I want to keep running the game and them to keep playing.</blockquote>