whats a good CR?

[PDXCerealKilla]

So I am running a game with 4 level 3 characters. What is a good challenge rating to have them face? I'm mainly concerned about a single big bad, a couple random encounters and a few groups of 3 monsters. Any help is greatly appreciated!

[HWalsh]

PDXCerealKilla wrote:

So I am running a game with 4 level 3 characters. What is a good challenge rating to have them face? I'm mainly concerned about a single big bad, a couple random encounters and a few groups of 3 monsters. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Well remember how the CR system works:

It is all based on APL.

APL -2 is a very easy encounter
APL -1 is an easy encounter
APL +/-0 is a normal encounter
APL +1 is a challenging encounter
APL +2 is a very difficult encounter

----

So a normal difficulty encounter would be 4 level 3 PCs against 1 CR 3 enemy.

An easy encounter could be something like: 2 CR 1's and 1 CR 2

So... If I were reading you right I'd do:

Random Encounter 1:
6 CR 1/2 enemies

Random Encounter 2:
2 CR 1's, 1 CR 2

----

3 Enemy Planned Encounter 1:

1 CR 3, 2 CR 1/2

3 Enemy Planned Encounter 2:

2 CR 2's, 1 CR 1

----

Big Bad:
1 CR 4

[Necrovegemite]

The only good CR is a dead one.

[EC Gamer Guy]

HW had a good post. You need to adjust it depending on your group:

1) How experienced are your players? I.e. Are there characters effective?

2) What is the group composition?

3) Watch for monster immunities your party can't overcome. Incorporeal vs a party with no energy weapons is tragic. Lower level parties haven't had the resources necessarily to fully diversify their weapon loadout.

In the end it comes down to the words of the Great GG, "Kill'em all."

PDXCerealKilla wrote:

So I am running a game with 4 level 3 characters. What is a good challenge rating to have them face? I'm mainly concerned about a single big bad, a couple random encounters and a few groups of 3 monsters. Any help is greatly appreciated!

[gnoams]

Designing encounters can be found in the CRB on pages 388-390 read it.

The table in the book reads a bit different from HW's post. It says:
APL-1: easy
APL: average
APL+1: challenging
APL+2: hard
APL+3: epic

I would say is that a big bad should be a hard encounter, not just challenging. I would probably go with a CR4 boss with 2 CR1/2 henchmen. If it is the big bad of the entire campaign, it should definitely be an epic encounter (so like a CR5 boss and 4 CR 1/2 henchmen).

[james014Aura]

The table gnoams just cited is for things which are NOT starship combat. The table for starships is:
Easy: APL-3
Average: APL-2
Challenging: APL-1
Hard: APL even
Epic: APL+1

However, you need to know how many gunners you have on each side, and how accurate the gunners are, etc. since different ship builds may be more lopsided towards combat or towards support.