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Okay, here is a tough one...
All classes being "equal" at what level could a solo player have a "decent" chance of defeating a CR 16 monster...
At what level would two players be able to "defeat" a CR 16 monster...
and finally at what level would three players be able to "defeat" a CR 16 monster?
And yes this is intentionally intended to not go into what class is better able to defeat which monster at CR 16.
Thanks for your help!
Effective CR of 16th level party is equal to 19 (4/2/2=1; 16-1+2+2=19), so, using the CR formula, a 20 level character should be able to overcome a 16 level challenge with reasonable luck.
Now, dependind of your definition of decent substract 2 levels for a ¨very hard¨ challenge or 3 for an ¨epic one¨.
Finally, reverese engeniring the CR system again,(3=2+1; 19-1-2+1=17) they should be able to overcome a 16 level challenge with reasonable luck at 17 level.
This is a rule of thumb at best and a DM should evaluate carefully the strengths of the PCs, specially in such a snmall groups.
Humbly,
Yawar
In a strenuous fight to the last hit-point, groups do very different damage based on the size. If a creature would kill/knock-out a PC every X rounds, then:
A single PC does X rounds of damage.
Two PCs do 3X rounds of damage.
Three PCs do 6X rounds of damage.
Four PCs do 10X rounds of damage.
Five PCs do 15X rounds of damage.. etc.
So... CR 16, using Yawar's reverse engineering (since we're all theoretical here), a 13th level group of four would have an epically challenging encounter.
A group of 3 would have to be each 5/3 stronger (10x/6x) to handle the same encounter. Using strength X 2 = Strength +2, that puts us near level 14.5 (two increases of that much would be 25/9ths as strong, almost 3 times, which is Strength-CR + 3).
A group of 2 would have to be 10/3 stronger each (~3 times) - so Level 16.
A group of 1 would have to be 10 times stronger, which is difficult to measure, but roughly Strength-CR + 6, or 19th level.
I agree with the "all classes being equal" premise, but anyone trying to prove it one way or another needs to consider the usage curve of each classes "equalness". Some are front loaded (some casters), some are high and even (some fighter-types), and some are up and down (rogues).