A subtle aspect of encounter building that's often overlooked is the terrain of the encounter. (This is long winded, TLDR at the bottom)
Sure it's nice to have a bunch of mini stat blocks for monsters and a number showing how many then knowing how XP the encounter is worth and that the CR is appropriate based on your party's level, composition, and number... but what if there's a 25ft wide gap across the map in this dungeon and they can't get around it? What if the only bridge that was there has been cut? Let's look at an example here. Maybe your party of Four level 2 Paladins and One level 2 Wizard are trying to cross this gap?They're going to have a bit tougher of a time effectively dealing damage against the 6 goblin archers across the gap that have been needling them with arrows since they appeared on the other side. So as a DM what happened that lead to this encounter? Experience! New DM's however don't have this and even intermediate ones like myself often forget about this aspect of building the encounter. Let's fast-forward to game night, maybe it's unlikely but what if the worst happens and you get so caught up in juggling 10 different things that you forget about the gap in this part of the map. Now you just have this awkwardly easy encounter that you can't remember why you created it nor why you noted "Secret Door, Flying Rug, Cell 3, pre-gap". There's no gap on this map... Wait where's the map? Was that 25ft gap supposed to be in this dungeon? I thought it was for a different dungeon! Great! Now they wiped the floor with those goblins and that combat took 10 minutes when it was supposed to take 30 and I'll have to end the game early tonight etc...
My point is, I think that a simple dungeon generator or a simple map/room editor would be VERY handy with this as it would allow us DM's the opportunity to do a little more prep and set up before the game that can't be spoiled by the player's sitting at the gaming table early etc... I don't believe that the CR for the encounter should have to be adjusted for various obstacles in the terrain in this Encounter Builder. I do think however that including it would allow us to be more organized and effective in our approach to building the encounters. Examples like the one I gave above can make it so that way lower CR enemies are much tougher because you don't have a decent way of dealing with them. Here's the issue that I see currently WITHOUT this type of terrain editor system in place. Anyone could go to a competing website or use math from the DMG/MM and figure out that, "Yes, this would be an easy enough encounter for this type of party." as they may have been doing already prior to this alpha being introduced. The only thing keeping them on DDB is the fact that their other content is already here. What if they play using books and the encounter builder is just an added bonus? Now they have to think of these situations and come up with the terrain on graph paper or draw it on the battle-map to begin with and explicitly ask the players not to look at the map and meta-game, or the dm could try to cover up the map somehow.
To continue with the example, maybe the DM decides to go with fewer of a stronger type of enemy, Bugbear archers! That DM really doesn't want those player's to go where those bugbears are yet but if they can beat 4 bugbears then they've earned it at this point, right?!
Next thing you know those 4 bugbears TPK your party.
What happened? Well the DM really liked the Goblinoid aspect of this dungeon and didn't see any other Goblinoid types that fit the aesthetic that they were after. So as it turns out too many bugbears were a problem, but also too few would have been too easy. Maybe in this DM's game that few would've been unrealistic? If only there was something that could've been done!
Well the New DM in this case didn't think about the Terrain. They didn't give any stalagmites for cover. They didn't even think about the fact that there could've been a kind of built in mote or ravine in this dungeon separating the party from the enemies; something that would have provided an interesting challenge to a fight but outside of combat this would have been a minor inconvenience. The party being this low level really only should have been confronting Goblins and not Bugbears, but the night is already over and the player's went home a little less happy than before, but still enjoyed getting to play.
TLDR:
I'm not a New DM per se, but I am forgetful sometimes and I'm not as experienced as I'd like. I feel like when it comes to building encounters, something like being able to have a grid and do a basic MS Paint type of color by numbers thing , would be a huge improvement to the current Encounter Builder and set it apart from others that are commonly used. It doesn't even have to be complex. Just something that would allow us to get our ideas down and then be able to use it as a reference at our own gaming tables.
DM's sometimes make mistakes, but seeing as CR of an encounter is generally supposed to be something players can overcome 4-6 times a day or so, then if some environmental hazards TPK your party, the DM made a huge mistake. I don't know how often inexperienced DMs use terrain (in my experience, it's usually more experienced gamers that use terrain).
Either way, I wouldn't expect them to bake in some terrain guide into the Encounter Builder, at least not anytime soon. Maybe eventually, like the other guy above me said, it doesn't hurt to suggest it.
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A subtle aspect of encounter building that's often overlooked is the terrain of the encounter. (This is long winded, TLDR at the bottom)
Sure it's nice to have a bunch of mini stat blocks for monsters and a number showing how many then knowing how XP the encounter is worth and that the CR is appropriate based on your party's level, composition, and number... but what if there's a 25ft wide gap across the map in this dungeon and they can't get around it? What if the only bridge that was there has been cut? Let's look at an example here. Maybe your party of Four level 2 Paladins and One level 2 Wizard are trying to cross this gap?They're going to have a bit tougher of a time effectively dealing damage against the 6 goblin archers across the gap that have been needling them with arrows since they appeared on the other side.
So as a DM what happened that lead to this encounter? Experience! New DM's however don't have this and even intermediate ones like myself often forget about this aspect of building the encounter. Let's fast-forward to game night, maybe it's unlikely but what if the worst happens and you get so caught up in juggling 10 different things that you forget about the gap in this part of the map. Now you just have this awkwardly easy encounter that you can't remember why you created it nor why you noted "Secret Door, Flying Rug, Cell 3, pre-gap". There's no gap on this map... Wait where's the map? Was that 25ft gap supposed to be in this dungeon? I thought it was for a different dungeon! Great! Now they wiped the floor with those goblins and that combat took 10 minutes when it was supposed to take 30 and I'll have to end the game early tonight etc...
My point is, I think that a simple dungeon generator or a simple map/room editor would be VERY handy with this as it would allow us DM's the opportunity to do a little more prep and set up before the game that can't be spoiled by the player's sitting at the gaming table early etc... I don't believe that the CR for the encounter should have to be adjusted for various obstacles in the terrain in this Encounter Builder. I do think however that including it would allow us to be more organized and effective in our approach to building the encounters. Examples like the one I gave above can make it so that way lower CR enemies are much tougher because you don't have a decent way of dealing with them. Here's the issue that I see currently WITHOUT this type of terrain editor system in place. Anyone could go to a competing website or use math from the DMG/MM and figure out that, "Yes, this would be an easy enough encounter for this type of party." as they may have been doing already prior to this alpha being introduced. The only thing keeping them on DDB is the fact that their other content is already here. What if they play using books and the encounter builder is just an added bonus? Now they have to think of these situations and come up with the terrain on graph paper or draw it on the battle-map to begin with and explicitly ask the players not to look at the map and meta-game, or the dm could try to cover up the map somehow.
To continue with the example, maybe the DM decides to go with fewer of a stronger type of enemy, Bugbear archers! That DM really doesn't want those player's to go where those bugbears are yet but if they can beat 4 bugbears then they've earned it at this point, right?!
Next thing you know those 4 bugbears TPK your party.
What happened? Well the DM really liked the Goblinoid aspect of this dungeon and didn't see any other Goblinoid types that fit the aesthetic that they were after. So as it turns out too many bugbears were a problem, but also too few would have been too easy. Maybe in this DM's game that few would've been unrealistic? If only there was something that could've been done!
Well the New DM in this case didn't think about the Terrain. They didn't give any stalagmites for cover. They didn't even think about the fact that there could've been a kind of built in mote or ravine in this dungeon separating the party from the enemies; something that would have provided an interesting challenge to a fight but outside of combat this would have been a minor inconvenience. The party being this low level really only should have been confronting Goblins and not Bugbears, but the night is already over and the player's went home a little less happy than before, but still enjoyed getting to play.
TLDR:
I'm not a New DM per se, but I am forgetful sometimes and I'm not as experienced as I'd like. I feel like when it comes to building encounters, something like being able to have a grid and do a basic MS Paint type of color by numbers thing , would be a huge improvement to the current Encounter Builder and set it apart from others that are commonly used. It doesn't even have to be complex. Just something that would allow us to get our ideas down and then be able to use it as a reference at our own gaming tables.
As far as I'm aware, this sort of functionality isn't planned to be part of the encounter builder or combat tracker.
However, this is still a great idea! I would highly encourage you to post your suggestion to https://dndbeyond.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/topics/115000209847-Feature-Requests?sort_by=votes. The more traction it gains, the higher the likelihood of the team implementing something similar to your idea becomes!
DM's sometimes make mistakes, but seeing as CR of an encounter is generally supposed to be something players can overcome 4-6 times a day or so, then if some environmental hazards TPK your party, the DM made a huge mistake. I don't know how often inexperienced DMs use terrain (in my experience, it's usually more experienced gamers that use terrain).
Either way, I wouldn't expect them to bake in some terrain guide into the Encounter Builder, at least not anytime soon. Maybe eventually, like the other guy above me said, it doesn't hurt to suggest it.