Player Equivalent CR (5e Variant Rule)

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Player Equivalent CR[edit]

Anyone could tell you that 5e's CR is a little broken. With this variant rule, all creatures are built from the ground up as player characters. This variant rule is intended to replace 5e's base CR, and thus is not readily applicable to every campaign.

When balancing a combat encounter, add the players' levels and the CR of any friendly creatures fighting alongside them with each creature's proficiency bonus. The result is the Party's Combat Value (PCV). Next, add the CR of any creatures fighting the party with each creature's proficiency bonus, with the result being the Threat's Combat Value (TCV). If a creature's CR or level is less than half the average level or CR of the other side, their CR or level counts as 0 when calculating their side's Combat Value. With PCV and TCV calculated, use the following calculations to determine the difficulty of a combat encounter. Additionally, each difficulty has a PCV penalty meant to represent how much of their resources the party will likely lose during the encounter in an outright assault, which would reasonably make later encounters harder. PCV penalties are successive, not cumulative. Taking a long rest removes any PCV penalties, and taking a short rest removes half of all PCV penalties.

PCV รท TCV Penalty
2 - 1.75 10% Easy encounter. The party really has no reason to lose, with only minor losses in the worst case scenario.
1.75 - 1.5 20% Medium encounter. The party might take some bad hits, but no major loses should occur.
1.5 - 1 50% Hard encounter. The party is on near-even footing with the opposition, making death a real possibility.
1 - 0.5 75% Deadly encounter. The party is fighting an uphill battle, and at least one death is almost confirmed.

Below is an overview of non-setting specific creatures using this variant rule.

PECR Creatures[edit]

Name CR Speed Size Type Alignment
Small Beast 1 40 ft. Small beast unaligned
Tiny Beast 1 30 ft. Tiny beast unaligned
Bandit, Variant 2 30 ft. Medium humanoid any non-lawful alignment
Medium Beast 2 30 ft. Medium beast unaligned
Large Beast 3 40 ft. Large beast unaligned
Thief, Variant 3 30 ft., climb 30 ft. Medium humanoid any alignment


Huge Beast 5 40 ft. Huge beast unaligned



Gargantuan Beast 10 45 ft. Gargantuan beast unaligned


Assassin, Variant 12 30 ft. Medium humanoid any non-good alignment





Champion, Variant 20 30 ft. Medium humanoid any alignment
Knight of the Round Table 20 30 ft. Medium humanoid lawful good
Commoner, Variant 0 30 ft. Medium humanoid any alignment

Derivative PECR Creatures[edit]

Name CR Speed Size Type Alignment
Aroma Bat (JJBA Supplement) 2 15 ft., fly 15 ft. Tiny monstrosity unaligned
Baoh Parasite (JJBA Supplement) 2 15 ft., climb 15 ft. Tiny monstrosity unaligned
Goro Majima 13 45 ft. Medium humanoid chaotic neutral
Goro Majima, Young 11 30 ft. Medium humanoid chaotic good
Kiryu Kazuma 14 30 ft. Medium humanoid neutral good
Kiryu Kazuma, Young 12 30 ft. Medium humanoid neutral good
Martin (JJBA Supplement) 5 30 ft., climb 30 ft. Large monstrosity chaotic evil
Mr. Shakedown 14 15 ft. Large humanoid any non-good alignment
Sap Spider (JJBA Supplement) 4 30 ft., climb 30 ft. Medium monstrosity unaligned

Incomplete PECR Creatures[edit]

Name CR Speed Size Type Alignment

Additional Optional Rules[edit]

Alternate Character Creation

When creating a character, you may forgo a player may forgo choosing a race, class, and background to instead choose a PECR creature with a disclaimer not listing a background or class with a CR equal to the level the character would have been to be your character. If this character gains a level, you must multiclass.


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