That's not how hit dice works for monsters, there's no level correlation between either CR or hit dice. Size of hit dice is determined by the size category of the monster, and you then simply give that monster enough hit dice to give it the right defensive CR for your target CR.
So say you have a monster with an offensive CR of 10 and you're aiming for an overall CR of 9. That means you want the defensive CR to be 8 so the average of the two is 9. For a defensive CR of 8 you want between 176 and 190 average hit points (and an AC of 16). If this is a medium creature we're talking about, that's a d8 hit dice with an average of 4.5. Say the creature has a +3 Con modifier. That means the average hit points calculation is 176 < n(hit die average + con mod) < 190 where n is the number of hit dice. Simplify that a bit and we get 176 < n(7.5) < 190. So anything between 23 and 25 hit dice should give you the right average hit points.
Obviously if the monsters AC is higher, that skews the target hit points down because that's an average within an average, and also there's how resistances and immunities affect effective hit points depending on CR.
Ah, I haven't balanced an encounter since 3e, when there was a bit more of a relationship between CR and HD. I hadn't noticed that kind of difference in 5e.
CR in 5E is a lot more slapdash than 3E's strict formula, especially when it comes to NPC equivalents of character classes, since NPCs no longer take class levels anymore.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
(Not discussing the movie, which I haven't seen ... just discussing the character writeups in the D&DB bundle)
Is it just me or are their CRs & Proficiency Bonuses WAY out of sync with their Hit Dice.
CR and PB seem to indicate a level 5-8 character.
Their Hit Dice seem to indicate a high teens level character.
That's not how hit dice works for monsters, there's no level correlation between either CR or hit dice. Size of hit dice is determined by the size category of the monster, and you then simply give that monster enough hit dice to give it the right defensive CR for your target CR.
So say you have a monster with an offensive CR of 10 and you're aiming for an overall CR of 9. That means you want the defensive CR to be 8 so the average of the two is 9. For a defensive CR of 8 you want between 176 and 190 average hit points (and an AC of 16). If this is a medium creature we're talking about, that's a d8 hit dice with an average of 4.5. Say the creature has a +3 Con modifier. That means the average hit points calculation is 176 < n(hit die average + con mod) < 190 where n is the number of hit dice. Simplify that a bit and we get 176 < n(7.5) < 190. So anything between 23 and 25 hit dice should give you the right average hit points.
Obviously if the monsters AC is higher, that skews the target hit points down because that's an average within an average, and also there's how resistances and immunities affect effective hit points depending on CR.
You can find more information here: https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dmg/dungeon-masters-workshop#CreatingaMonster
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
Ah, I haven't balanced an encounter since 3e, when there was a bit more of a relationship between CR and HD. I hadn't noticed that kind of difference in 5e.
CR in 5E is a lot more slapdash than 3E's strict formula, especially when it comes to NPC equivalents of character classes, since NPCs no longer take class levels anymore.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.