FaithLilley
commented
10 months ago To make a points-based system really fly would need digital access to the full stats for all of the monsters. There's a lot of interesting calculations could be done around damage output & durability. e.g. A monster with 3 attacks at +7 to hit for 14 (2d8+5) damage.
If the party are pretty much all heavily armored and in AC 23 or so, this monster is going to need to roll a 16 or higher to hit (25%) so is only going to average 3 x 0.25 x 14 = 10.5 damage per round against that party.
Against a party that averages AC 15, it has 65% chance to hit, so 3 x 0.65 x 14 = 27 damage per round against the party.
It's something I have found to be a stumbling block for any sort of CR / points system - the impact of a given monster can vary hugely depending upon your party.
For me, the solution is staring us in the face - we have digital tools now, that we could use to calculate the efficacy of any given monster against THAT party, giving a GM a much better chance of balancing their encounters. It wouldn't help at all for encounters in published books,
We can see some attempts to address that in organized play modules, where encounters will specify things like, "There are 2 orcs per party member, plus an extra orc for each party member that is level 3, and a bug bear for each party member that is level 4"
I'm unsure of the goal here. The Challenge Points just reflect back to the Challenge Rating of the monster. To the same effect as using Experience Points to determine how hard a fight will be.
Converting CR 2 = 16 or 8 or 2 CP doesn't do anything to resolve the issue that two creatures of the same CR can perform wildly on the battlefield. Or that having specific party comp will dramatically alter the difficulty of an encounter.
To mimic how tabletop strategy games use points, the points have to be tailored to the creature's capabilities. A unit of 4 Widowmakers cost as many points as a full unit of Winterguard Corps because those 4 Widowmakers were far more effective than the Winterguard in most situations (advanced deployment, better range, guaranteed damage, stealth, better mobility, etc... vs the Winterguard advantage of just sheer numbers).
But taking this approach would require either subjective points-based evaluation, or an algorithmic approach to defining values for capabilities. In either case, significant testing would be required to get the points values dialed in. Additionally, guidance would need to be offered to DMs who have parties with highly effective comps.
For example, a level 7 party with Bless, paladin aura, and flash of genius is likely to carve through a Beholder with ease as the DC on the saves is trivialized. That same party vs a Young Red Shadow Dragon will have a heck of a fight on their hands and likely TPK if the dragon can take advantage of flight and darkness.