CR to Level Difficulty Conversion

[jkat718]

I know there's no RAW method of calculating difficulty using CR'd creatures instead of leveled creatures (ie., monsters instead of PCs), but does anyone have ideas as to how they would handle it? For example, I have 5 level 4 PCs and 1 level 3 PC in my current campaign, and they're going to be joined by a CR 2 Priest. Obviously, I could swap out the Priest for a level 5 Cleric and go from there, but I wanted to figure out some way of handling allies that aren't as easy to convert (At some point, they will be joining forces with a CR 4 Orc War Chief that they made an alliance with, and will be fighting alongside a number of Angels later on). Does anyone have some suggestions?

[Ninja_Prawn]

My first thought would be to add the 'monster's' XP to the party's XP budget, and count them in the party (so now there are 7 people in the party).

You'll probably have to experiment a bit on your own to find the balance point though.

[Flashy]

My first thought would be to add the 'monster's' XP to the party's XP budget, and count them in the party (so now there are 7 people in the party).

You'll probably have to experiment a bit on your own to find the balance point though.

That seems like it's probably the best starting guess? It's certainly what I'd try.