Can we define a reasonable boilerplate fight (for science)?

I wanted to compare my 3 strongest archer PCs to see which had the highest DPR, but I quickly realized that the ranking mostly depended on the encounter conditions as some did much more damage within 30', while others did much more after 2 swift action buffs, etc.

Can we find a CR-appropriate encounter setup that allows a PC of any level, any build type, to chew up a bunch of mooks solely for DPR comparison purposes? If we want to fairly compare blasters to archers to melee, it can't favor any of the above.

My proposal: • 12 melee, no-special-ability, 30' move enemies of a CR = character level -4\* • Assume the PC goes before all enemies • A minimum of 2 empty squares separate any two enemies • 4 are at least 5' away, but within 20' • 4 are at least 20' away, but within 40' • 4 are at least 40' away, but within 60' • The encounter starts with, at most, 2 groups of 3 enemies in a 60' straight line—targeting either line will require a move action • They're all melee mooks; they're going to move in to attack any detectable PCs before their next turn • The enemies will surround the PC if the PC moves on round 1, otherwise it's assumed the PC can move back as needed

Once we have the encounter set up, we can reference [the Benchpressing table](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CvlqyaockPeeL56je7y1Fba7npoJXeJoYNPUOtprBEs/edit?gid=0#gid=0) to find appropriate enemy AC and saves for the CR in question, then run the PC's numbers on those to arrive at DPR.

\* So 12 CR¼ opponents for level 1 PCs, 12 CR 16 opponents for level 20 PCs; a CR+3 encounter.