*snip*Edit: I have been asked to point out that the Monster Manual says flat out that all Challenge Ratings are based on a party size of 4 characters.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't the 5e encounter creation guidelines specify that encounters are made for 4-5 characters? If you have 6-8(ish) characters, you need to add more monsters to make an encounter of the same difficulty. If you have 3 characters, you need to remove monsters. But encounter difficulties are calculated as default CR for 4-5 PCs..
