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#1 DaveDash Oct 20, 2014 15:03:45

I've been running a group of 4x11th level PCs through City of the Spider Queen, which I have been converting as we go. I've noticed a few things so far and will share my thoughts. 1. Converting straight CR to CR encounters results in many encounters being deadly. In some cases when large numbers are involved this results in these encounters being way over the deadly rating. 2. Having said that, deadly isn't deadly, unless it's towards the end of the adventuring day. My group has been managing 5 or so of these encounters before retreating to rest. 3. NPCs in the monster manual are way lower CR than their level, whereas 3e treats them as CR=Level + 1 (generally). Presumably this is because NPCs in the monsters manual are cut down versions due to action overload. 4. Deadly encounters also result in the PCs leveling very fast. What I have done to correct this is mix higher numbers of lower CR monsters in with higher ones. This keeps the challenge up, but the XP bonaza down. Looking at the large numbers of lower CR monsters va mid to high in the monsters manual, this may have been the designers intent. What's your encounter building experience been like?