Hi D&D community, especially you clever DMs... I am tuning encounters for my level 10 party, specifically adjusting monster's +hit and spell save DCs to achieve an average damage/round.
My question is this - the DMG (Ch 9, Monster Statistics by Challenge Rating table) lists damage/round of 87-92 for a CR 14 creature. That's fine and all, but I wonder what assumptions the DMG has in calculating that 87-92 dmg/rnd number. For instance, I'd need a +11 to hit to damage a pally and ~40 average per hit, with at least 2 attacks per round to achieve that. For the other party members, that kind of damage output is a one-shot. Same w/ spell saves, I'm looking at 21+ DCs to hit those kind of numbers, and again - what might be a simple save for one character could be a lethal one for another.
Which brings me to my question. Does the dmg/rnd assume some AC level, or saving throw bonus, for each character? In other words, it would be 87-92 damage if you had an AC of 10, or a +0 saving throw bonus. Then AC and saving throw improvements would be considered mitigation factors, just as other feats might be (like uncanny dodge). That would make sense to me, and I can certainly tune to that. But tuning to 90 damage/round seems ridiculous given my character's abilities, stats, and equipment - I'm basically pulling stats from CR 21 monsters to account for mitigation measures.
I looked for any language about AC/saving throw assumptions in the DMG for calculating the CR damage per round, but I can't find anything. I can't find anything online either.
I'd love your input & thoughts on the matter. BTW, I'm only looking at tuning offensive CR, defensive CR is an entirely different ball game (which I suppose has the same issue, but I'm only working offensive CR at the moment).
Cheers.
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Hi D&D community, especially you clever DMs... I am tuning encounters for my level 10 party, specifically adjusting monster's +hit and spell save DCs to achieve an average damage/round.
My question is this - the DMG (Ch 9, Monster Statistics by Challenge Rating table) lists damage/round of 87-92 for a CR 14 creature. That's fine and all, but I wonder what assumptions the DMG has in calculating that 87-92 dmg/rnd number. For instance, I'd need a +11 to hit to damage a pally and ~40 average per hit, with at least 2 attacks per round to achieve that. For the other party members, that kind of damage output is a one-shot. Same w/ spell saves, I'm looking at 21+ DCs to hit those kind of numbers, and again - what might be a simple save for one character could be a lethal one for another.
Which brings me to my question. Does the dmg/rnd assume some AC level, or saving throw bonus, for each character? In other words, it would be 87-92 damage if you had an AC of 10, or a +0 saving throw bonus. Then AC and saving throw improvements would be considered mitigation factors, just as other feats might be (like uncanny dodge). That would make sense to me, and I can certainly tune to that. But tuning to 90 damage/round seems ridiculous given my character's abilities, stats, and equipment - I'm basically pulling stats from CR 21 monsters to account for mitigation measures.
I looked for any language about AC/saving throw assumptions in the DMG for calculating the CR damage per round, but I can't find anything. I can't find anything online either.
I'd love your input & thoughts on the matter. BTW, I'm only looking at tuning offensive CR, defensive CR is an entirely different ball game (which I suppose has the same issue, but I'm only working offensive CR at the moment).
Cheers.