Nalfien
March 16th, 2017, 02:48
https://dhmholley.co.uk/encounter-calculator-5th/
Check out this encounter calculator for 5th edition. I'm new to 5e, and I'm trying to make sense of the DM Guide's rules for appropriate challenges. I'm coming from 3.5ed so from what I can tell, expecting a group of 4 players of level 1 to take on a CR of 1 can be really deadly. In fact, using the calculator, simple 1/4 CR skeletons can go from 2 being easy to 3 being hard with no middle ground.
I notice that in Fantasy Grounds there is a great encounter builder that will tell you a CR value. If it included the linked calculator, it sure would help out new 5e DMs such as myself. XP awarded will not be the sames as adjusted XP for determining difficulty, and although it's a bit rough to learn, I think it accounts for more variables than the 3.5ed ECL system did.
So I think I've got this down, but please feel free to reply your methods of how you dish out your adventuring days. Also, if it looks like I have some wrong idea about all this, please speak up and thanks in advance.
The DM guide section on The Adventuring Day (pg 84) gives an XP pool you can segment out, and assumes the party will take two short rests that day. It also mentions the typical party can handle about 6 to 8 medium or hard encounters each day.
The xp threshold for (4) 1st level PCs is; Easy 100, Medium 200, Hard 300. The Adventuring Day chart budgets adjusted 1200 XP for the day. Expected short rests are at about 400xp of challenge and 800xp of challenge. This is enough to award each player 300 xp at the end of the day and level them to 2... if you make them fight one monster at a time, which wouldn't be fun. I always level my players up at the end of the first session, it's just a personal tradition that has worked well. I suppose that story rewards could make up for this, or the milestone system of leveling up, but I really expected this to be possible inside the CR vs. level system.
So to plan out the first day I would like a boss at the end with no helpers. How about a dragon wyrmling of 200xp, a medium encounter. That leaves 1000.
Before that boss fight, how about getting another 200xp of monsters in there to leave 800 xp and they can rest up afterwards. 2 zombies at 150xp and an additional zombie they can find if they open a room door for the other 50xp. That leaves us with 800. We had a medium and easy encounter there, really.
I only really wanted 4 battles on the first night and we have a lot of budget left. Id Like to start with an easy encounter, so how about 2 skeletons for 150xp.
So this leaves 650 for the second battle. Sheesh, that's too much for them to handle by far. I guess some left overs will be ok. Lets make the second encounter hard because we know they need a short rest after this one. Three skeletons for 300 xp. The real boss fight, I guess! There is 350 left over, and I can't really fit it in that session.
Ok, so that was all adjusted XP. Lets see how much awarded xp we get for 1 wyrmling, 3 zombies, and 5 skeletons. Thats 600xp... half of what they would actually need to level up to 2. I would have to award a 600xp story award. Perhaps this is just a problem at level 1 since there are so few monsters with lower xp values. Heck a skeleton has the same xp value as a bat.
Check out this encounter calculator for 5th edition. I'm new to 5e, and I'm trying to make sense of the DM Guide's rules for appropriate challenges. I'm coming from 3.5ed so from what I can tell, expecting a group of 4 players of level 1 to take on a CR of 1 can be really deadly. In fact, using the calculator, simple 1/4 CR skeletons can go from 2 being easy to 3 being hard with no middle ground.
I notice that in Fantasy Grounds there is a great encounter builder that will tell you a CR value. If it included the linked calculator, it sure would help out new 5e DMs such as myself. XP awarded will not be the sames as adjusted XP for determining difficulty, and although it's a bit rough to learn, I think it accounts for more variables than the 3.5ed ECL system did.
So I think I've got this down, but please feel free to reply your methods of how you dish out your adventuring days. Also, if it looks like I have some wrong idea about all this, please speak up and thanks in advance.
The DM guide section on The Adventuring Day (pg 84) gives an XP pool you can segment out, and assumes the party will take two short rests that day. It also mentions the typical party can handle about 6 to 8 medium or hard encounters each day.
The xp threshold for (4) 1st level PCs is; Easy 100, Medium 200, Hard 300. The Adventuring Day chart budgets adjusted 1200 XP for the day. Expected short rests are at about 400xp of challenge and 800xp of challenge. This is enough to award each player 300 xp at the end of the day and level them to 2... if you make them fight one monster at a time, which wouldn't be fun. I always level my players up at the end of the first session, it's just a personal tradition that has worked well. I suppose that story rewards could make up for this, or the milestone system of leveling up, but I really expected this to be possible inside the CR vs. level system.
So to plan out the first day I would like a boss at the end with no helpers. How about a dragon wyrmling of 200xp, a medium encounter. That leaves 1000.
Before that boss fight, how about getting another 200xp of monsters in there to leave 800 xp and they can rest up afterwards. 2 zombies at 150xp and an additional zombie they can find if they open a room door for the other 50xp. That leaves us with 800. We had a medium and easy encounter there, really.
I only really wanted 4 battles on the first night and we have a lot of budget left. Id Like to start with an easy encounter, so how about 2 skeletons for 150xp.
So this leaves 650 for the second battle. Sheesh, that's too much for them to handle by far. I guess some left overs will be ok. Lets make the second encounter hard because we know they need a short rest after this one. Three skeletons for 300 xp. The real boss fight, I guess! There is 350 left over, and I can't really fit it in that session.
Ok, so that was all adjusted XP. Lets see how much awarded xp we get for 1 wyrmling, 3 zombies, and 5 skeletons. Thats 600xp... half of what they would actually need to level up to 2. I would have to award a 600xp story award. Perhaps this is just a problem at level 1 since there are so few monsters with lower xp values. Heck a skeleton has the same xp value as a bat.