Challenge rating question??? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Challenge rating question??? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Boldtalon
12-14-04, 06:10 PM I'm playing a campaign that's based around two characters... so you can't say it's your typical 4-man adventuring party- especially considering that i've been playing it for 6 years now. we've started playing in 3.5 just recently cause we were too lazy to switch from 3rd to 3.5

My character is a 19th lvl cleric and the other character is a 23rd lvl cleric.
The question is- how do you calculate XP awards for us considering monsters' CRs and that we are a 2-man (and not a typical 4-man party) party in 3.5?

do you add up our levels and then divide them by four (rounded down) which would then mean that our party lvl is 10 or something else?
please help!!

and thanks in advance! :D
Morwen
12-14-04, 06:52 PM As far as I recall, you should gain experience as if the encounter level was 2 higher than it really is.

So, if you face two 19th level characters, you gain experience as if they were 21st level instead.
LukiLoki
12-14-04, 07:13 PM There are two, separate but related issues, really.

The actual Experience award will work out such that PCs in a party composed of fewer than 4 members will get more experience than PCs in a party of 4, because the award is divided up fewer ways. So there is no need to "fudge" the numbers on that end, it's built in.

Determining what EL to throw against a given party can be a little more subjective. They should still be able to handle EL 19, but probably not more than 2 in a row (maaaaybe 3) without resting. So the most common CR/EL such a party (two 19th level characters) should face is probably 18.

Likewise, what EL to consider "overpowering" is going to be much lower than the guideline given in the DMG (which is party level + 4), probably 21. But even a CR 20 could threaten a death with just 2 party members.

There are other issues with smaller parties, too, since they're unlikely to have all the "roles" covered (blaster, healer, sneaker, tank), certain types of encounters are going to be tougher than they would be for a standard "balanced" 4-member party.

Lastly, at such high values (19-21), the whole concept of CR as an objective metric comes into more question than at lower values. Lots of different variables can make a given combat a lot tougher or weaker for a given set of PCs at high levels.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Boldtalon 12-14-04, 06:10 PM	I'm playing a campaign that's based around two characters... so you can't say it's your typical 4-man adventuring party- especially considering that i've been playing it for 6 years now. we've started playing in 3.5 just recently cause we were too lazy to switch from 3rd to 3.5 My character is a 19th lvl cleric and the other character is a 23rd lvl cleric. The question is- how do you calculate XP awards for us considering monsters' CRs and that we are a 2-man (and not a typical 4-man party) party in 3.5? do you add up our levels and then divide them by four (rounded down) which would then mean that our party lvl is 10 or something else? please help!! and thanks in advance! :D
Morwen 12-14-04, 06:52 PM	As far as I recall, you should gain experience as if the encounter level was 2 higher than it really is. So, if you face two 19th level characters, you gain experience as if they were 21st level instead.
LukiLoki 12-14-04, 07:13 PM	There are two, separate but related issues, really. The actual Experience award will work out such that PCs in a party composed of fewer than 4 members will get more experience than PCs in a party of 4, because the award is divided up fewer ways. So there is no need to "fudge" the numbers on that end, it's built in. Determining what EL to throw against a given party can be a little more subjective. They should still be able to handle EL 19, but probably not more than 2 in a row (maaaaybe 3) without resting. So the most common CR/EL such a party (two 19th level characters) should face is probably 18. Likewise, what EL to consider "overpowering" is going to be much lower than the guideline given in the DMG (which is party level + 4), probably 21. But even a CR 20 could threaten a death with just 2 party members. There are other issues with smaller parties, too, since they're unlikely to have all the "roles" covered (blaster, healer, sneaker, tank), certain types of encounters are going to be tougher than they would be for a standard "balanced" 4-member party. Lastly, at such high values (19-21), the whole concept of CR as an objective metric comes into more question than at lower values. Lots of different variables can make a given combat a lot tougher or weaker for a given set of PCs at high levels.