What is the CR of....

[kentma57]

I am currently DM a game and my PC's(4th level) are fighting a 6th level caster, a 3rd level caster, and a 1st level fighter. What is the CR of this and is there some chart(or method) I can use to figire this out my self? (this kind of thing will happen again)

[drengnikrafe]

This thing says it calculates what the CR of the overall encounter is, and the exp your party would get for it.
I'm not entirely sure how valid it is, but it is worth something.

As a general rule (and I'm only pretty sure on this one) if the creature is a race that is a normal race with no LA or HD or anything, then the CR = the class level.

And for this exact instance, the calculator I linked says CR 7

[Kizara]

The term you are looking for is EL or Encounter Level, which I honestly don't understand the system of myself and always just eyeball it.

As for your situation, that encounter seems fine for a 4th level party, assuming you have 4-6 PCs.

I might make it like 4 lvl 1 fighters just to add some depth and roundedness to the encounter, but its not bad as-is.

[Ted_Stryker]

The two main rules for combining ELs/CRs by the book are

CR X & CR X -> CR X+2

CR X & CR X+2 -> CR X+3

With a CR 1, CR 3, and CR 6, the 1 & 3 combine to make a 4, and then the 4 & 6 combine to make a 7 total.

[kentma57]

That calculator looks good and it matches the formula.