Mike Shea

It can't act. The only version that doesn't is legendary monsters. Even legendary monsters have a better action economy, but they're just spreading their damage over those higher number of actions. They're not really doing a whole lot else. So... The first thing to remember is that challenge rating really only means one thing, and that's comparing one monster to another.

It can't act. The only version that doesn't is legendary monsters. Even legendary monsters have a better action economy, but they're just spreading their damage over those higher number of actions. They're not really doing a whole lot else. So... The first thing to remember is that challenge rating really only means one thing, and that's comparing one monster to another.

You know that a CR5 is harder than a CR2, but you don't know by much. So what good is it? Why do we have challenge ratings? What value does it serve? Well, there's a couple of things that it serves. One is that you can define a challenge rating by the kind of monsters that are at a particular challenge rating.

You know that a CR5 is harder than a CR2, but you don't know by much. So what good is it? Why do we have challenge ratings? What value does it serve? Well, there's a couple of things that it serves. One is that you can define a challenge rating by the kind of monsters that are at a particular challenge rating.

You know that a CR5 is harder than a CR2, but you don't know by much. So what good is it? Why do we have challenge ratings? What value does it serve? Well, there's a couple of things that it serves. One is that you can define a challenge rating by the kind of monsters that are at a particular challenge rating.

So, for example, over in Forge of Foes and also on the Lazy GM's 5e Monster Builder Resource Document, we have our own version of monster statistics by challenge rating. And one of the things that we wanted to do here is define challenge rating by the types of monsters that have it. So what you can do here is you have your CR2 monster, and you know that a ghast, an ogre, and a priest are CR2.

So, for example, over in Forge of Foes and also on the Lazy GM's 5e Monster Builder Resource Document, we have our own version of monster statistics by challenge rating. And one of the things that we wanted to do here is define challenge rating by the types of monsters that have it. So what you can do here is you have your CR2 monster, and you know that a ghast, an ogre, and a priest are CR2.

So, for example, over in Forge of Foes and also on the Lazy GM's 5e Monster Builder Resource Document, we have our own version of monster statistics by challenge rating. And one of the things that we wanted to do here is define challenge rating by the types of monsters that have it. So what you can do here is you have your CR2 monster, and you know that a ghast, an ogre, and a priest are CR2.

If you pick CR6, you know that that's the equivalent of a mage, a medusa, or a wyvern. If you pick CR10, you know that's comparable to a stone golem or a young red dragon. So we put a list of monsters in this table so that you can help define challenge rating and thus think about what challenge rating a monster you're building is by comparing it to the other kinds of monsters and their fiction.

If you pick CR6, you know that that's the equivalent of a mage, a medusa, or a wyvern. If you pick CR10, you know that's comparable to a stone golem or a young red dragon. So we put a list of monsters in this table so that you can help define challenge rating and thus think about what challenge rating a monster you're building is by comparing it to the other kinds of monsters and their fiction.

If you pick CR6, you know that that's the equivalent of a mage, a medusa, or a wyvern. If you pick CR10, you know that's comparable to a stone golem or a young red dragon. So we put a list of monsters in this table so that you can help define challenge rating and thus think about what challenge rating a monster you're building is by comparing it to the other kinds of monsters and their fiction.

Is my monster weaker or stronger than a dire wolf in the fiction of the game? Is it weaker or stronger than a stone golem? Is it weaker or stronger than a ghast or an ogre or a priest? or is it roughly equivalent to an ogre? If something is roughly equivalent to an ogre, then you know that that's challenge rating too. So we define challenge rating by the kind of monsters that have them.

Is my monster weaker or stronger than a dire wolf in the fiction of the game? Is it weaker or stronger than a stone golem? Is it weaker or stronger than a ghast or an ogre or a priest? or is it roughly equivalent to an ogre? If something is roughly equivalent to an ogre, then you know that that's challenge rating too. So we define challenge rating by the kind of monsters that have them.

Is my monster weaker or stronger than a dire wolf in the fiction of the game? Is it weaker or stronger than a stone golem? Is it weaker or stronger than a ghast or an ogre or a priest? or is it roughly equivalent to an ogre? If something is roughly equivalent to an ogre, then you know that that's challenge rating too. So we define challenge rating by the kind of monsters that have them.

It's sort of reverse engineering. Oh, we know vampire spawns are CR5. We know that actual vampires are CR12. I think they're CR12. Vampire in here. I think, oh, a vampire is CR13. So we have an idea, like what's the difference between a vampire spawn and a vampire? We know it because we can look at it in this list. Why else do we, but why not just have levels?

It's sort of reverse engineering. Oh, we know vampire spawns are CR5. We know that actual vampires are CR12. I think they're CR12. Vampire in here. I think, oh, a vampire is CR13. So we have an idea, like what's the difference between a vampire spawn and a vampire? We know it because we can look at it in this list. Why else do we, but why not just have levels?

It's sort of reverse engineering. Oh, we know vampire spawns are CR5. We know that actual vampires are CR12. I think they're CR12. Vampire in here. I think, oh, a vampire is CR13. So we have an idea, like what's the difference between a vampire spawn and a vampire? We know it because we can look at it in this list. Why else do we, but why not just have levels?

So a common thing is that in fourth edition D&D and other variants like 13th Age has this and Shadow Dark has this, monsters don't have a challenge rating. They just have a level, like the characters have levels. And then you're like, well, that makes so much more sense. For example, a normal level 13 monster is, in fourth edition D&D was roughly equivalent to a 14th level character.

So a common thing is that in fourth edition D&D and other variants like 13th Age has this and Shadow Dark has this, monsters don't have a challenge rating. They just have a level, like the characters have levels. And then you're like, well, that makes so much more sense. For example, a normal level 13 monster is, in fourth edition D&D was roughly equivalent to a 14th level character.

So a common thing is that in fourth edition D&D and other variants like 13th Age has this and Shadow Dark has this, monsters don't have a challenge rating. They just have a level, like the characters have levels. And then you're like, well, that makes so much more sense. For example, a normal level 13 monster is, in fourth edition D&D was roughly equivalent to a 14th level character.