The Robgoblin

It's no secret in the Fifth Edition community that Challenge Rating sucks. It's a guideline at best, and a rather loose one. There are all sorts of suggestions out there on how to fix it, or work better with it. I have an alternative idea. Bin it entirely. You see, Fifth Edition back in 2014 had some OSR credibility. So lets do it the OSR way. Encounter balance? Try to have approximately the same number of hit points and attacks per round on both sides for a fair fight. If one side has an advantage, it's an unfair fight. Roleplay accordingly. And yes, that means 'run away or negotiate'. As far as stats go...  The Fifth Edition way of determining them is an arcane process of 'guess a Challenge Rating, work out the numbers, check if you were right, repeat if necessary'. That's not good design. Instead, just use Hit Dice. It's what you do for player characters, after all. A 5 HD monster? It has a Proficiency Bonus of +3. Extending the Proficiency Bonus ...

The King has always been the King. Even when Great-Grandfather was a boy, he had always been King. Nobody questions this. But the players might. Typical players. Roll a d12 for the explanation they are given. One of these might be true. 1. He is the last surviving Elf King. 2. He consumes the souls of children to postpone death. 3. He is an undying vampire. Court cuisine is remarkably bland. 4. He consumes the magic of ancient Elvish artefacts to prolong his life. Those who provide him with them are generously rewarded. Nobody thinks too hard about what will happen when there are no more artefacts to harvest. 5. The Gods have blessed him with eternal life, so long as he serves their will. 6. He defeated Death in a duel. Death is still pissed off about it, but the Laws of the Universe must be obeyed. 7. Death just sort of… Forgot. It would be embarrassing to have to come back and call attention to the error. 8. Death came for his soul. He offered Death something far more valuable. 9. He...