Help understanding EL and CR

[Eladrinblade]

Am I right in saying that encounter level is a number for what level the PC's should be when fighting this encounter?

So 4 level 6 orc barbarians is an EL 10 encounter, meaning it's a good fight for a party of 4 10th level pc's, and the encounter gives out experience equal to CR 6 x 4 (3000), right? Which is the same as a CR 10 enemy. So, EL is meaningless then? You just make sure the exp matches the level of the party (CR 10 for 10th level pc's is 3000 exp; so just make sure a party of 10th level pc's would get 3000 exp for a fight and you know it's adequate?)

Or am I missing something?

What is the EL of, say, 6 kobolds? There's a paragraph on pg 39 of the DMG that explains that encounters of EL 2 are calculated differently. As I understand it, the 6 kobolds should be about EL 1.5 (would you round up or down? does it matter?). 4 would be EL 1 and 8 would be EL 2, right?

[Beheld]

Well 1) It's a lot easier to track EL than XP.
2) EL includes other things besides monsters present, such as if you fight monsters outside their usual environment, or deprive PCs of their abilities in a meaningful way beforehand.
3) EL tells you if the encounter is appropriate yes, but the thing to understand is that the PCs are supposed to fight 4 EL = Party level fights a day and win all of them. So these fights shouldn't be that tough, the PCs should always win. Also party level equals PC level if there are four of them, but goes up and down with more or less.

[OldTrees1]

Am I right in saying that encounter level is a number for what level the PC's should be when fighting this encounter?
Incomplete. A party of 4 10th level PCs can handle encounters of EL 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 with a range of difficulties. EL+3 and EL+4 (13 & 14 in this case) are boss encounter level difficulty.


Rules of Thumb for EL I use:
1) All monsters of CR less than 1 come in groups that sum to EL 1.
2) A pair of monsters of CR X are EL X+2
3) A CR X monster and a CR X+2 monster are EL X+3
4) Rules of Thumb 2 & 3 also work for ELs.

Example: 6 Kobolds
Kobolds are CR 1/4th each
Rule 1 -> 4 Kobolds are EL 1
Rule 2 -> 8 Kobolds are EL 3
Rule 3 -> 12 Kobolds are EL 4
Rule 2 -> 6 Kobolds are EL 2

Warning, these rules of thumb are inconsistent. Do the calculation in as few steps as possible to minimize accumulated error.