A question about challenge ratings

[Orcsmasher]

I'm dming a game with 5 (sometimes 4) 3d level characters. How many CR 1 gnollgnasher should they fight? What about CR 3 gnolls?

[Greylurker]

how hard a fight do you want it to be?

Your Average Party Level is roughly 3.

So an average fight would be 2 of the CR: 1 Gnolls or 1 of the CR 3 ones.

A Hard Fight would be 4 of the CR:1s or 2 ofthe CR:3s (or 2 of the CR1s plus 1 of the CR3)

Honestly it's more of a guideline than a real solid formula. For all I know your group might be loaded for Gnoll and trivialize it, or maybe they are particularly vulnerable to Gnolls and will get butchered.

[Orcsmasher]

Thanks Greylurker. It's been a while since I've done home brew. I threw them up against three CR 3s. They survived but it was tough.

[Decimus Drake]

Matthew Colville has an interesting perspective on challenge ratings which I think is worth considering when using the cr system.

Challenge Rating, Running the Game #44