CR and how does it work?

[chronoknight420]

I have always wondered about CR. Could one level 1 player face a CR of 1? How does it work?

[Zacchaeus]

Page 82 of the Dungeon Master's Guide (in Fantasy Grounds Reference Manual > Chapter 3 > Creating a Combat Encounter) tells you all about how CR works. The difficulty of an encounter is determined by the average level of the party, how many monsters there are and what their total CR is.

[Nickademus]

The base description is that a well-rested, properly equipped party of four adventurers of the same level should be able to handle a single creature of the same CR as the party's level without significant problem or loss of life. Basically, it is an encounter somewhere between medium difficulty and challenging. This changes when you add more creatures or the levels of the characters are different. Also, the situation can influence the difficulty if it favors one side of the conflict or the other.

[chronoknight420]

Wouldn't it be to easy? I thought on it and 4 Goblons for a party of 4 level 1 sounds way easy

[LordEntrails]

Wouldn't it be to easy? I thought on it and 4 Goblons for a party of 4 level 1 sounds way easy

Depends on what you mean by "too easy". If you look at the part above and notice the "without significant problem or loss of life"?

That basically means to me that a CR equal to the party level is an annoyance and use of daily resources. And you need 6 to 8 of such encounters over a day to threaten the nm lives or success of the party.

I personally usually use encounters of much high CR.

[Zacchaeus]

4 1st level characters according to the DMG has an XP threshold of 100. 4 Goblins have an XP total of 200. According to the DMG this would make a deadly (highest difficulty) encounter for a party of 4 2nd level characters. As Lord Entrails says you can't look at each encounter in isolation; you need to look at the overall situation of the dungeon or wherever the party are adventuring. Typically you will have as he says several encounters between long rests when the party can recover hit points, spells and special abilities. Whilst 4 Goblins may not present a huge problem in the first encounter; if the party have 5 or 6 such encounters then they will begin to run out of healing, spells and abilities. A single hit from a Goblin could easily knock a character unconscious and with their ability to disengage as a bonus action they can perform hit and run tactics.

Overall it depends on how often you allow the party to rest and recover. If you allow this after every encounter then no problem - throw everything at them. But normally rests are not as common and your party will run low on resources quickly - especially at low levels.

[Blackwolf]

Yes that all then comes down to the play style you as the DM run how often you allow short and long rests. How many encounters you have in a play session how long in time is your groups play time is hours. Some groups like nothing but endless combat with a lot of semi easy encounter's and a short rest after 2 to 3 of them. while others might not. I find my group prefers maybe one or two minor encounter's or a bigger one per play session if that? a lot of times we just have investigation and Role play. The CR system takes some getting used to for new DMs.

[chronoknight420]

As I like to do it is goblins starting with 4 and 2 hobgoblins. The goblins are cannon fodder and I can send in waves if it seems to easy.

[Trenloe]

As I like to do it is goblins starting with 4 and 2 hobgoblins. The goblins are cannon fodder and I can send in waves if it seems to easy.
How much D&D 5E have you played or DMed?

[Blackwolf]

Yes the reserve is always good when I first started to work with the CR system I found I was under challenging the players and had to have the Monsters call in the Back ups several times. But be careful at the lower levels of first to third Player characters when matching up some stronger CR opponent's some of those can take out low hit point Characters very easy in a One shot Hit.

[Nickademus]

A goblin can one-shot a 1st-level PC. A hobgoblin working with an ally will almost definitely one-shot a PC.
I suggest you play a little more 5e before trying to make encounters. The monsters are different from previous editions.

[dragonheels]

Did I understand the DM guide badly, or FG does not apply the multiplier according to the number of monsters?

[Zacchaeus]

Did I understand the DM guide badly, or FG does not apply the multiplier according to the number of monsters?

FG doesn't add a multiplier. It just adds up the XP of all the monsters in the encounter.

[LordEntrails]

Did I understand the DM guide badly, or FG does not apply the multiplier according to the number of monsters?
The multiplier is for determining encounter difficulty, not for awarding XP. FG's XP tracking is for awarding XP, not for determining encounter difficulty. There is (used to be) an extension that would change this for you, but I haven't heard it mentioned in a long time so it may no longer be supported or work. You can check the stickies to see if it is still listed.

[Griogre]

You should also be aware the stuff in the DMG about encounter balancing with number of creatures in't that good after 1st level in my opinion. If you have "Xanther's Guide to Everything" I would use those encounter building instructions. They basically ignore the multiplier.

[GavinRuneblade]

This is the most workable version of a CR system I've seen: https://theangrygm.com/how-to-f-cr-practical-example-1/
AngryGM gives a way of plotting it out that is very simple and fast. You can use his guidelines for tweaking monsters or creating new ones or just re-scaling existing ones if they are too good or too weak.

Again, it is crazy fast and simple, unlike all the other systems I've seen.

[Beemanpat]

So there is this extension that helps by telling if you made a trivial, medium hard, deadly encounter at the click of a button. It is good to understand how to make encounter and do the math yourself but I found this a big help. It for 5e only I believe.

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?43977-5E-Encounter-Calc-(updated)

Hope this helps.

[dragonheels]

I've made an Excel sheet in the meantime, but this extension is even better :)

[Beemanpat]

I've made an Excel sheet in the meantime, but this extension is even better :)

Glad it helped.