Ok so bear with me guys and girls im kinda new at this.
Ok so im making an encounter and i want to put 4 1/2cr bandits (from the gamemasters guide)in i checked this with the cr chart in the core rule book and it said +4 cr for 4 monsters does that mean my cr is 8 for 4 bandits this seems kind of high to me can any one help?
CR 8 would be for 4 monsters of CR 4 each (CR 4 + 4 = CR 8). You have 4 CR 1/2 monsters, which makes for a much lower final CR.
Below CR 1, you add up the CRs until they're at 1. So, 2 CR 1/2 bandits are a total CR of 1. You have two such "groups" at CR 1, so you add 2 points to find the total CR. CR 1 + 2 = CR 3 for the entire encounter.
Another, perhaps easier, way to do it is to simply add the XP values for all your combatants together, then see which XP value that number compares to. A single CR 1/2 creature awards 200 XP, so 4 of those award 800 XP. 800 XP is the same as a single CR 3 creature awards (a Mephit, for instance), so the previously calculated CR-value appears to be spot-on.
Ok so bear with me guys and girls im kinda new at this.
Ok so im making an encounter and i want to put 4 1/2cr bandits (from the gamemasters guide)in i checked this with the cr chart in the core rule book and it said +4 cr for 4 monsters does that mean my cr is 8 for 4 bandits this seems kind of high to me can any one help?
How did you get CR 8?
Just ignore that table. (Table 12-3)A CR 1/2 creature is worth 200xp according to 12-2. 4 of them would be worth 800xp (200 x 4). According to that table, an 800xp encounter is a CR 3.
Ok so bear with me guys and girls im kinda new at this.
Ok so im making an encounter and i want to put 4 1/2cr bandits (from the gamemasters guide)in i checked this with the cr chart in the core rule book and it said +4 cr for 4 monsters does that mean my cr is 8 for 4 bandits this seems kind of high to me can any one help?
No, the +4 is added to the CR of the monster, so 4 monsters each CR1 is CR 5, 4 monsters each CR2 is CR6 etc. I can't remember offhand how to adjust for CR 1/2, though. CR3 or CR4 I think.
Actually for groups I'm leaning towards possible reinforcements, so if the party do very well, another bandit or group of bandits would crash in. If they're struggling the extras just don't turn up.
Thank for the help guys
Did they totally redo the system from 3.5e? I haven't read the Pathfinder one in detail, but I had thought they didn't redo it.
Okay, no, it's still the exact same system, except that I think the Pathfinder folks made the XP values match the system, which is nice. Now, granted, CRs under 1 are wonky, but in general, the system goes as follows:
If 1 creature has CR X, then 2 creatures = CR X+2, four creatures = CR X+4, etc. ... in short, each time you double the number of creatures, you increase the CR by two.
If you look at the XP values for CRs, you'll see that (in general) the XP value doubles with every +2 in CR ... it does so to match the +2 CR for doubling the number of creatures.
As I mentioned, CRs under 1 are kind of wonky; you're best using the XP calculations to figure it out. I typically so it by CR, but then again I virtually never deal in CRs that low.