Hello all, Burny here. I am currently running a campaign for my family and I have been hoping to up the encounters that we have. at what level would you consider to send in a zombie beholder or a lich at the party. Also do you guys have a type of rating for certain CR monsters? Thanks, BurnyFirball
I’m not sure what you mean by having a “rating for certain CR monsters”. Can you explain more, please?
The CR is supposed to mean an adequate but not deadly challenge for a party of four of the same level, assuming 6-8 total encounters during an adventuring day. So a beholder zombie is an appropriate challenge for a party of 4 level 5 characters; a lich would (in theory) be a bit of a stretch for 4 level 20 characters.
If you have access to the Dungeon Master’s guide, there is a section on creating combat encounters in chapter 3 that walks you through figuring out how challenging a given encounter is.
You can also use the encounter builder here to figure out how difficult an encounter will be when facing your party.
The CR system isn’t perfect, and generally folks find that the higher CR monsters are not as powerful as their CR implies. And things like terrain, number of enemies, etc. Make a big difference.
Also do you guys have a type of rating for certain CR monsters?
Not sure what you mean - CR stands for Challenge Rating, so what other type of rating are you thinking of?
Speaking of CRs, a Beholder Zombie has a CR of 5 while a Lich has a CR of 21. The party levels at which it'd be appropriate to use them are very different. CRs are approximate and the encounter difficulty will depend (heavily, sometimes) on party composition, equipment, knowledge of the critter and how fresh the party is, but if using just the single monster party level equal to or slightly over CR is a good starting point.
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Hello all, Burny here. I am currently running a campaign for my family and I have been hoping to up the encounters that we have. at what level would you consider to send in a zombie beholder or a lich at the party. Also do you guys have a type of rating for certain CR monsters? Thanks, BurnyFirball
I’m not sure what you mean by having a “rating for certain CR monsters”. Can you explain more, please?
The CR is supposed to mean an adequate but not deadly challenge for a party of four of the same level, assuming 6-8 total encounters during an adventuring day. So a beholder zombie is an appropriate challenge for a party of 4 level 5 characters; a lich would (in theory) be a bit of a stretch for 4 level 20 characters.
If you have access to the Dungeon Master’s guide, there is a section on creating combat encounters in chapter 3 that walks you through figuring out how challenging a given encounter is.
You can also use the encounter builder here to figure out how difficult an encounter will be when facing your party.
The CR system isn’t perfect, and generally folks find that the higher CR monsters are not as powerful as their CR implies. And things like terrain, number of enemies, etc. Make a big difference.
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Not sure what you mean - CR stands for Challenge Rating, so what other type of rating are you thinking of?
Speaking of CRs, a Beholder Zombie has a CR of 5 while a Lich has a CR of 21. The party levels at which it'd be appropriate to use them are very different. CRs are approximate and the encounter difficulty will depend (heavily, sometimes) on party composition, equipment, knowledge of the critter and how fresh the party is, but if using just the single monster party level equal to or slightly over CR is a good starting point.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].