Post/Author/DateTime	Post
lifespeed 10-01-04, 12:04 PM	Okay, I've been playing 3.x for a while now and I've got a pretty good handle on most aspects of the game. I'm working on an adventure for a campaign set in Forgotton Realms and I want the characters (bard, cleric, wizard and barbarian), who are 1st level, to face off against a 1st level wizard and four thugs, which are 1st level experts. The CRs of the thugs are 1/2 and the wizard 1, that much I know, and I was planning this to be an EL 3 fight. Now, call me crazy, but I thought I read somewhere a formula indicating that two monsters of the same CR (say 5) don't simply add together, making a EL 10 fight, but instead they raise the CR by two, in this case to 7. At least it was something like that. I can't remember where I read this, unless I dreamed it, and I can't find it anywhere in DMG 3.5. Was it a DMG 3 thing perhaps? Am I crazy? Possible, but I'd hope not.
Aricandor 10-01-04, 12:20 PM	That is almost correct; Doubling the number of same CR creatures increases the EL by two. So indeed, two 5th level enemies would be EL 7.
lifespeed 10-01-04, 12:22 PM	Okay, that helps. Now for a second clarification. If I have four CR 1/2 monsters, does that makes them CR 2?
Dash Branaghan 10-01-04, 01:56 PM	If you want to mix monster CR ratings, check the 3.5 DMG. I'm not 100% sure what page it is on, but I believe it is page 46 or thereabouts (sorry, no book in hand atm). It has CRs determined by Party Level with possible mixes. Oh, and just one suggestion...the thugs. Why not make them warriors? Why experts? Just seems a little odd to me. If it works, use it, but I wasn't sure if that was a typo or not. Dash
Midnight Lich 10-01-04, 02:08 PM	Okay, that helps. Now for a second clarification. If I have four CR 1/2 monsters, does that makes them CR 2? Yeah. Look at it like this: two CR 1/2 creatures = 1 EL 1 "creature." Two CR 1 creatures = 1 EL 2 "creature." So, 2*2 = 4 CR 1/2 creatures = EL 2 "creature" CR 2 + CR 1 is a little weaker than an EL 3, I believe. -crp