Rank

In Dragon Age, hostile creatures are assigned one of five ranks: critter, normal, lieutenant, boss, and elite boss. The developers use rank to balance encounters without knowing what the level of the encounter, as level enounter is determined by level scaling. The rank determines how powerful the creature is relative to a party member at the same level.

Critters are easy creatures which are significantly less powerful than a single party member. The party has to fight a large group for them to be challenged. Lieutenant rank creatures are roughly equal to a party member in power, and even odds will be a difficult fight. Bosses are designed to provide a challange for the entire party.