What I am looking for when making or running an encounter.
I am looking for PC immersion by making them feel that when in the environment they are in all nature of things can happen. I would like to supply a totally random encounter based on terrain/environment and I would like to be able to toggle the encounter by hostile or non hostile. I would like to select at random ignoring completely Challenge Rating as in the wilds all manor of things really can happen.
Let us know how you currently build encounters for your home game.
Currently I run my players through games using Fantasy Grounds, I roll for random encounter ahead of time whenever I can and I tailor the encounters to the current whereabouts of the PC's. I also keep a small list of random encounters ready to go based on various environments
Let us know how you use / modify official encounters for your home games.
I try to toss a bit of customization in my encounters and include the PC's whenever possible. A cryptic note, a special piece of ornament or treasure or include a bit of color about a PC's home town, etc.
Anything else you want to share with us about encounter building!
I feel players want to feel nervous about where they choose to explore, I feel exploration is the backbone of our hobby, to that end even the lowest CR level encounter can mystify the PC's or the highest CR level encounter excites the DM! muahahah!
Saw a few posts already asking for a treasure calculator as part of the encounter, and yes I'm in for that and all ... but i'd also like to be able to equip magic items to monsters if they are useable, why shouldn't that ogre be wielding the +2 sword?
I'm quite new to D&D Beyond, but went ahead and got a subscription so that I could try the Encounter Builder. At first blush it looks useful to me, and seems to be done pretty well. Perhaps I completely missed it, somehow, or am re-hashing already discussed issues, but I don't see any method to add characters from my campaigns. Without that capability, the tool is more or less useless to me, in terms of a practical tool for in-game use. Are there plans to add this capability?
Aside from that, these simple things:
* Allow me to create the encounters beforehand, give them labels, and put put them into groups, for easy access and recall.
* Initiative management is, for me, as a pretty new DM, one of the more difficult things to keep straight. It's not easy for me to tell exactly how this works in the encounter builder, or if even the capability exists. It'd be great if there were some sort of very simple, visual cue to show initiative order.
* Integrate some methodology for the encounter builder to generate experience point scores for characters, based upon combat participation/outcome.
For instance: I add a goblin to the encounter, the loot tracker should automatically add a scimitar, short bow, leather armor, and shield. I should then have the ability to add a Potion of Healing and be able to click the entry and see the details or summary page.
I don't know...the general rule of thumb is that monster weapons/equipment are such poor quality as to be useless to adventurers.
Organization suggestions for the My Encounters page:
A button on the My Encounters page labeled "Create Encounter Group" where I can then label that folder as whatever I want. (i.e. Dragonspear Castle) Then the ability to tie the individual encounters I've created to that group so that I can click on the group name and bring up a page listing all the encounters I've created for that group. (This is basically the same as creating a campaign and adding characters to the campaign.)
Ability to sort the columns so I can have some semblance of organization. (This is the bare minimum dream for this page.)
Pagination instead of endless scroll/load more button.
I love what you've done so far! I've been using the encounter builder in my Tomb of Annihilation Campaign to pre-plan encounters before each session. It's been a time saver. I was thinking though... the ability to use the rich text editor (like here in the forums)and tool tips in the encounter description boxes would be great, as that would cut down on the amount of time spent looking up things on-the-fly.
I've been using the encounter builder for a bit now, so here's a update. I've mostly used the EB in its alpha release as an easy way to collect the stat blocks of both monsters and allied NPCs. This has led me to a request for future iterations. Would it be possible to add checkboxes or some such to include which monsters/NPCs will be added to the encounter calculation? Or maybe allow an "Ally" group that is not included in the calculator?
I've been using the encounter builder for a bit now, so here's a update. I've mostly used the EB in its alpha release as an easy way to collect the stat blocks of both monsters and allied NPCs. This has led me to a request for future iterations. Would it be possible to add checkboxes or some such to include which monsters/NPCs will be added to the encounter calculation? Or maybe allow an "Ally" group that is not included in the calculator?
Yep this is a planned feature that'll be added at some point down the line!
I don't do too much when it comes to planning an encounter, I look at some creatures that look cool to fight and makes sense for the environment my players are in and have them fight them. I scale them down or up depending if they are too weak or strong for my players at the moment.
Everything I want from the encounter builder here on DnD beyond was already outlined in the post with the roadmap for the encounter builder. I think something that hasn't been mentioned yet and isn't so crazy but it would be cool to have a loot generator too. Both random as well as chosen from a list of coin, magic items, normal gear and trinkets.
Keep up the good work everyone super excited for the encounter builder release!
I've been using the encounter builder for a bit now, so here's a update. I've mostly used the EB in its alpha release as an easy way to collect the stat blocks of both monsters and allied NPCs. This has led me to a request for future iterations. Would it be possible to add checkboxes or some such to include which monsters/NPCs will be added to the encounter calculation? Or maybe allow an "Ally" group that is not included in the calculator?
Hi there! Marking a creature for "Friend" or "Foe" determination has become a task we are planning based on likewise feedback. I can't say for certain how this will play into the groups functionality, but we want to integrate the option in the builder itself. Thanks for using the alpha Encounter Builder and providing your feedback!
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I was going to post the same thing! The XP per player seems to be the same as the whole XP for me.
In the event it has not been provided, you can drag and drop the monster from the list. Click, drag off the field, drop.
Gray Mouser
Turns out on my mobile phone I was not able to see the entire screen where I could grab and drop from. Thanks for the info.
Saw a few posts already asking for a treasure calculator as part of the encounter, and yes I'm in for that and all ... but i'd also like to be able to equip magic items to monsters if they are useable, why shouldn't that ogre be wielding the +2 sword?
Life's hard - get a helmet!
Will DDB create a virtual table top to integrate the builder with, dragging and dropping creatures on the fly would be nice//
also can i save filters like sources?
We can only hope, Im sure they are working on something.
ok, now my players are play testing their characters with the encounter builder... bunch of dang goblins they are
I'm quite new to D&D Beyond, but went ahead and got a subscription so that I could try the Encounter Builder. At first blush it looks useful to me, and seems to be done pretty well. Perhaps I completely missed it, somehow, or am re-hashing already discussed issues, but I don't see any method to add characters from my campaigns. Without that capability, the tool is more or less useless to me, in terms of a practical tool for in-game use. Are there plans to add this capability?
Aside from that, these simple things:
* Allow me to create the encounters beforehand, give them labels, and put put them into groups, for easy access and recall.
* Initiative management is, for me, as a pretty new DM, one of the more difficult things to keep straight. It's not easy for me to tell exactly how this works in the encounter builder, or if even the capability exists. It'd be great if there were some sort of very simple, visual cue to show initiative order.
* Integrate some methodology for the encounter builder to generate experience point scores for characters, based upon combat participation/outcome.
That's pretty much it. Looks decent so far.
Fair point, maybe a checkbox to add monster weapons/armor?
I would like to be able to keep track of monsters HP and have a "dead" marker. This would make it alot easier too keep track of lager encounters.
Also I would like to be able to lable individual monsters in the same way I do with "group encounters".
That is what I have so far :)
Organization suggestions for the My Encounters page:
A button on the My Encounters page labeled "Create Encounter Group" where I can then label that folder as whatever I want. (i.e. Dragonspear Castle) Then the ability to tie the individual encounters I've created to that group so that I can click on the group name and bring up a page listing all the encounters I've created for that group. (This is basically the same as creating a campaign and adding characters to the campaign.)
Ability to sort the columns so I can have some semblance of organization. (This is the bare minimum dream for this page.)
Pagination instead of endless scroll/load more button.
My Homebrew Backgrounds | Feats | Magic Items | Monsters | Races | Subclasses
I love what you've done so far! I've been using the encounter builder in my Tomb of Annihilation Campaign to pre-plan encounters before each session. It's been a time saver. I was thinking though... the ability to use the rich text editor (like here in the forums)and tool tips in the encounter description boxes would be great, as that would cut down on the amount of time spent looking up things on-the-fly.
I've been using the encounter builder for a bit now, so here's a update. I've mostly used the EB in its alpha release as an easy way to collect the stat blocks of both monsters and allied NPCs. This has led me to a request for future iterations. Would it be possible to add checkboxes or some such to include which monsters/NPCs will be added to the encounter calculation? Or maybe allow an "Ally" group that is not included in the calculator?
Yep this is a planned feature that'll be added at some point down the line!
I would like to be able to add homebrew monsters to encounters.
It is planned for a future iteration and is tracked in the document.
Check out all my important links here.
May we live in Less Interesting Times
Putting my thoughts on treasure/reward management here because it doesn't really merit its own thread.
What I'd like to see:
What'd be cool to have in addition:
I don't do too much when it comes to planning an encounter, I look at some creatures that look cool to fight and makes sense for the environment my players are in and have them fight them. I scale them down or up depending if they are too weak or strong for my players at the moment.
Everything I want from the encounter builder here on DnD beyond was already outlined in the post with the roadmap for the encounter builder. I think something that hasn't been mentioned yet and isn't so crazy but it would be cool to have a loot generator too. Both random as well as chosen from a list of coin, magic items, normal gear and trinkets.
Keep up the good work everyone super excited for the encounter builder release!
Hi there! Marking a creature for "Friend" or "Foe" determination has become a task we are planning based on likewise feedback. I can't say for certain how this will play into the groups functionality, but we want to integrate the option in the builder itself. Thanks for using the alpha Encounter Builder and providing your feedback!