Challenge Ratings from 3rd Edition supplements > maxminis.com- D&D minis, 4th edition D&D

Subject: Challenge Ratings from 3rd Edition supplements

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wildmage
Sneak
Sneak

123 Posts

01/22/2006 11:57 AM
I'm currently looking through some 3rd Edition Forgotten Realms supplements that I've picked up for the campaign that I'm DMing (most notably Lords of Darkness- detailing the various evil organizations of Faerun). Do encounter levels (EL) given for various combinations of 3rd edition baddies generally track with the CRs/ELs of their 3.5 counterparts? Also I was checking out XP awards for different combinations of baddies using the Encounter Calculator found at www.d20srd.org: [html]http://www.d20srd.org/encounterCalculator.htm[/html] For example, 3 monsters each with CR 2 add up to an EL of 5, and a party of four 4th level PCs would get 450 XP each (and an average total of 1668 gp worth of treasure). However 1 CR 2 monster and 1 CR 3 monster would also add up to EL 5, but only give 350 XP per character and ~1417gp total. Is it generally true that more monsters of a lower CR each adding up to the same EL as fewer monsters of higher CR each should give more XP and more gp value per encounter? I thought everything was supposed to scale directly with EL?

Champion of the Bone Naga (There's just so much roleplaying to be done with a large skeletal snake!)

jgsugden
Commander

4320 Posts

Walnut Creek, CA

01/22/2006 3:17 PM
In general, 3.0 and 3.5 CR/EL track well ... but there are exceptions. Unfortunately, those few exceptions can be lethal to a party if a DM isn't prepared. I suggest a careful review of any translatted materials on an encounter by encounter basis to make sure that it still works. As for your EL/CR observation: I have not looked into it, but my guess is that the scaling of EL and CR leaps around a bit, as there are many ways to construct an 'EL X' encounter.

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wildmage
Sneak
Sneak

123 Posts

01/22/2006 4:05 PM
Upon rechecking the 3.5 DMG (p. 38 XP Awards, and p. 49 - Encounter Numbers) I found that for certain combinations of multiple lower CR monsters adding to a specific EL, the XP awards at that same EL could vary by +/- 100 XP (possibly more in some cases) when awarding XP per single monster and adding all the XP up for an encounter. For some avg. PC level and EL combinations all the monster combinations that could give a certain EL work out to the same total XP (such as 4th level PCs and EL 6) but others don't quite (such as 4th level PCs and EL 5). Do you as a DM typically treat a group of monsters as a single monster whose CR = the EL for purposes of awarding XP or do you do it on a single monster by monster basis? The +/- 100 XP could add up over time if you consistently like to use groupings of lower CR monsters to get a certain EL, or maybe its just not that big of a deal. What do you think?

Champion of the Bone Naga (There's just so much roleplaying to be done with a large skeletal snake!)

Sammael
Underboss

1881 Posts

01/22/2006 4:39 PM
I always use individual monster CR to determine the XP rewards.

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Gristlemane
Sergeant

623 Posts

01/23/2006 4:30 PM
You can generally just eyeball it. For example, look at the CR of the Brown Dragon in Monsters of Faerun. There's no way that thing is only CR 3. So I would just use CR 4 or 5.

It's deja vu all over again.

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