Challenge Rating
A quick method for tuning ordinary enemies to the party facing them.
Originally devised for Dungeons & Dragons 5e, this is a quick way to tune an NPC to the party facing it. It sets armour class, hit points, attack bonus, and damage without relying on the game’s built-in Challenge Rating. It transfers readily to other d20 games, and often to other systems.
Set n to 0 for mooks, 1 for tough mooks, 2 for leaders, and so on.
- Armour class: average PC attack bonus +
10 + n. - Hit points:
(2 + n)× average PC damage. - Attack bonus: average PC armour class +
n - 13. - Damage:
(1 + n) / (4 + n)× average PC hit points.
This gives you mooks that are easy to hit and take a couple of blows to defeat, tough mooks that last a little longer while hitting harder and more often, and leaders that take about four hits to drop and can deal half a PC’s health in a single blow. The damage may seem a bit high at first – that’s because it’s tuned for a party with healing spells and potions, to give them a reason to use them. Note, this rule is intended for ordinary enemies – not bosses.