CR of a monster

Post/Author/DateTimePost
#1

vosborne

Jun 10, 2015 15:06:22

What is the CR of a 2nd level orc fighter. I am thinking 2 but I am not sure. There is no clear cut defination of how to determine monster CR when you add character classes some insight would be appreciated.

#2

transcendantviewer

Jun 10, 2015 16:24:17

Are you building them exactly as a PC or are you making them like a monster? Because PCs with the same amount of hit dice tend to have slightly more HP than monsters. Monsters don't get the maximum for their hit dice and have a die size specified by size, not usually class or something. Aside from that, you can just calculate their CR normally.

#3

transcendantviewer

Jun 10, 2015 16:27:07

Their CR depends upon a few things. Their AC, HP, Attack Bonus, and overall damage per turn, with special features adjusting these values slightly. I'd recommend going to the Monster Creation section in the DMG for this.

#4

shintashi

Jun 10, 2015 22:33:57

PC's tend to be about 1/4 the power of a monster of equal level. So 4 PCs = 1 monster. 1 monster with 2 PC levels is not much of a monster. Vaguely, half the PC level is their CR, from what I've seen. Take giants for instance. 20 hit dice, hundreds of hit points, a stat bordering on 30 and innate offensive spell like abilities still only adds up to 13. 2 level 20 PCs might be about CR 15, 3 would be about CR 18, and 4 level 20 PCs would be about CR 20.

 

But who really knows?

#5

Xeviat-DM

Jun 11, 2015 1:46:04

Running my stock Champion build through the CR calculator in the DMG finds a level 2 greatsword wielding gwfing champion is a CR 1; CR 1/4 defensively, CR2 offensively.

#6

Lobo316

Jun 11, 2015 6:52:24

This is the one area that I feel is a bit muddied in 5.  I think the way you go about adding levels and abilites to stock monsters is just a bit convuluted for my taste.  I just eyeball it with a tendacy to er' on the side of caution.  I'll find simliar monters to what I want to use and see what their CR is and use that as a basis.


The one thing that plays to the favor of the DM here is that there is a pretty good sized gap or range between the the CR levels, so even if you over esitmate just a tad, it may be a slightly tougher encounter, but it should not "break" the game so, to speak.

#7

Xeviat-DM

Jun 11, 2015 20:07:59

By the chart, you can "rough" level something by adding +15 hp and +6 damage per round. You have to boost it's AC and Attack at certain levels too, but it's pretty on point with player ability increases and proficiency increases.

#8

MonsterEnvy

Jun 12, 2015 13:18:09

vosborne wrote:
#9

OGRE1984

Jun 13, 2015 16:31:42

DMG page 283, monsters with class. DMG page 280 aggressive monster feature modifies chart on page 274.

2 level of fighter to base orc from monster manual.

add 2d8 +6 hp to orc base 2d8 +6 = 4d8 +12 [average 30hp], look on chart [p. 274] cr 1/8

ac for orc[hide armor] AC 13, ac for cr 1/8 AC13 cr 1/8 [can be modified by better armor]

damage per round great axe 1d12 +3 [average 9] add aggresive modifier from page 280 +2= 11 damage/round cr 2

attack bonus +5 for orc compare to cr 2 attack bonus of +3 move cr up 1, cr 3

average out defense cr and offense cr, round up. cr 1

 

i don't know what fighting style you want orc fighter to have tthat may further adjust cr according to table.

unsure about action surge and second wind, but a quick look at the chart on 280 shows alot of features do not modify cr as 1 shot abilities they don't seem worth considering to me

better armor and different weapon set will also change cr

this is the simple version, you can get more detailed by building from scratch.

CR does not = character level. CR is designed to challenge 4-5 characters. so an orc with 2 level of fighter CR1 [200xp, chart p. 275] would be a medium difficulty encounter for a party of four 1st level characters.