

In our system, a player can play a mind flayer with statistics taken straight from the monster manual as a level 7 character. So a Mind Flayer, CR 7, is an ECL 7 character. A player character’s ECL is equal to their levels in classes. If their CR is less than 1, their ECL is 0. Base RulesĪll monsters in the monster manual now have an Effective Character Level equal to their CR. If your DM is letting you use some guy’s house rule he published on his vanity site, you’re probably in a group open to a little bit of DM interpretation with your rules. But if it lets me play a Frost Giant, it’s a sacrifice I’ll have to make. This means these rules require a much heavier DM hand than I normally like to see. Then when the DMG came out, it had different CR rules after everyone laughed at the preview rules).

In 3e, I modify the playable monster rules a little bit, and have converted them for use in 5e.īefore diving in, 5e’s monster CR system is an afterthought at best (like literally, they released the monster manual and said they would define it in the DMG and shared preview rules they used for the MM. Even among those who do convert, it’s a common complaint. A LOT of 3e or pathfinder players have not moved to 5e in large part because isn’t a playable option. Savage Species was one of the most popular, and disliked books of the 3e era, and the playable monster rules in the monster manual were honestly the foundation of why the system works as well as it does.
