I want to create a couple of random combat encounter tables (travel, nightly ambush, ...ect.) but most of the information I find on this starts with determining your party's daily XP budget. Which makes me wonder if the table loses value when the party levels up later on. So I want to create random combat encounter tables that can be used with any type of party composition. I want them to be usefull whether it's a 2 x lvl 2 party or a 5 x lvl 3 party.
So is there a way of creating a random encounter table that scales with the party? Or do they exist already?
My approach at the moment is creating a grid with party level and amount of players so I can easily crossreference the XP for medium encounter for a 2 x lvl 2 party is 200xp and that the XP for medium encounter for a 5 x lvl 3 party is 750xp for instance. Then I design a d20 list of creatures per region (eg.: Forest = ankheg, bandit, bugbear, ...ect.). I put this in a grid with ranges of XP (eg. 0-200, 200-500, 500-1000, ...ect.). Now I calculate how many of each creature could be present per XP range. That way I can quickly check the medium XP of my party, roll a d20 to see which monster, make sure I check which XP range the medium XP of my party falls in and determine that I have to roll 1d4+2 bandits for my 2 x lvl 2 party.
Or am I overthinking this? Just wanted to check before I pour a lot of time in this.
Not quite what you’re asking, but I just don’t use random encounters. They end up just being a 1-off fight, often the only fight of the day, so the PCs just mop up. Or worse, a character dies to a random owlbear attack, and now you need to rewrite the campaign to account for it.
Instead, I just plan them. They’ll be ambushed at this spot, because it’s a good spot for ambushes. And look, the bandits have a note that can kick off a side quest — or just be ignored.
When I want them to fight something, I put it in there, rather than cede control of my world to the dice.
I've not seen the like, but I wouldn't be surprised to find it lurking somewhere on the Net. I can say this. The Encounter Builder tool currently in Beta here is just wonderful for doing the calculating. If you have access to it, making up a huge pile of tables wouldn't be needed at all, and the DMG appendix has monster listings sorted by terrain type.
This works within small level ranges, but you can't just upscale the number of creatures. Effectively you have to make different encounter tables for level ranges to make them usable, paying particular attention to power jumps at level 5, and level 9 when much more potent spells become available.
As an example, let's assume that you have 5 PCs, and you put Hobgoblins on the random encounter table. You aim to design Medium encounters.
For 5 x Level 1 PCs, 2 Hobgoblins are a Medium encounter.
For 5 x Level 2 PCs, 3 Hobgoblins are a Medium encounter.
For 5 x Level 3 PCs, 5 Hobgoblins are a Medium encounter.
For 5 x Level 4 PCs, 7 Hobgoblins are a Medium encounter.
For 5 x Level 5 PCs, 12 Hobgoblins are a Medium encounter.
For 5 x Level 6 PCs, 14 Hobgoblins are a Medium encounter.
For 5 x Level 7 PCs, 14 Hobgoblins are a Medium encounter.
For 5 x Level 8 PCs, 17 Hobgoblins are a Medium encounter.
For 5 x Level 9 PCs, 19 Hobgoblins are a Medium encounter.
For 5 x Level 10 PCs, 23 Hobgoblins are a Medium encounter.
However. Since they have only 11 hit points and even a successful saving throw will result in an average of 14 damage, from level 5 upwards a single 3rd level Fireball is pretty much guaranteed to end the entire encounter in one spell. Those 23 hobgoblins are unlikely to dent the level 10 pcs even if they Surprise some of the party before they get torn apart. Yes, this would consume a precious 3rd level spell slot at level 5, but those slots are much more available as the levels go up.
Simply put, Hobgoblins don't pose any real threat from level 5 upwards. So you can feature them on a level 1-5 table, their only presence for level 5 characters being to appear as a resource drain.
Fireballs aren't the only issue. If the PCs mostly win initiative against the Hobgoblins, they'll likely wipe many of them - let's say 5 of them go down - and then the mopping up of the rest is no biggie. More likely, the rest of the Hobgoblins will flee.
Combats work best when there are roughly 1 enemy creature per PC, or slightly fewer if one is a large and powerful enemy, and one if the enemy has legendary actions. So what you want instead for those level 7 PCs are 2 Hobgoblin Devastator, 2 Hobgoblin Iron Shadow and 1 Hobgoblin Captain. This will give the PCs a more reasonable encounter that is less likely to be over in a single blast.
I want to create a couple of random combat encounter tables (travel, nightly ambush, ...ect.) but most of the information I find on this starts with determining your party's daily XP budget. Which makes me wonder if the table loses value when the party levels up later on. So I want to create random combat encounter tables that can be used with any type of party composition. I want them to be usefull whether it's a 2 x lvl 2 party or a 5 x lvl 3 party.
So is there a way of creating a random encounter table that scales with the party? Or do they exist already?
My approach at the moment is creating a grid with party level and amount of players so I can easily crossreference the XP for medium encounter for a 2 x lvl 2 party is 200xp and that the XP for medium encounter for a 5 x lvl 3 party is 750xp for instance. Then I design a d20 list of creatures per region (eg.: Forest = ankheg, bandit, bugbear, ...ect.). I put this in a grid with ranges of XP (eg. 0-200, 200-500, 500-1000, ...ect.). Now I calculate how many of each creature could be present per XP range. That way I can quickly check the medium XP of my party, roll a d20 to see which monster, make sure I check which XP range the medium XP of my party falls in and determine that I have to roll 1d4+2 bandits for my 2 x lvl 2 party.
Or am I overthinking this? Just wanted to check before I pour a lot of time in this.
There is a set of random encounter tables in Xanathar's Guide. They scale by Tier.
The XP table that you describe that you are creating sounds a lot like the XP Thresholds by Character Level in chapter 3 of the DMG - Creating a combat Encounter. Granted this table is only set for a single character, but from the base stat, it's a simple issue of adding / multiplying the number of characters you have to achieve the desired difficulty threshold.
The Random Encounter Tables that I mention are Chapter 2 of Xanathar's Guide and as I noted, are laid out by Tier. Additionally, if you'll notice the individual tables are also separated at around the 20-40-60-80 lines to delineate the levels/difficulty that are/is covered by that tier. So, for example, you want to run a random encounter for your party of 2-2LVL PCs, you would find the Forest Encounter Table(or whatever environment they are in), and then either roll D100 (Percentile) and stick with that, or ignore the last 20 or 40 number entries on the table to omit the possibility of a level 2 party facing off in a combat encounter against a dragon. (I may not be doing the best job of explaining this, but hopefully you get the main idea here.)
Lastly, random encounters don't automatically translate to "roll for initiative". They're just encounters. The PCs should get to determine the pillar that they use for the encounter. Now, I will grant you that the majority of players might see anything that you put in front of them as a potential punching bag.
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“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
I want to create a couple of random combat encounter tables (travel, nightly ambush, ...ect.) but most of the information I find on this starts with determining your party's daily XP budget. Which makes me wonder if the table loses value when the party levels up later on. So I want to create random combat encounter tables that can be used with any type of party composition. I want them to be usefull whether it's a 2 x lvl 2 party or a 5 x lvl 3 party.
So is there a way of creating a random encounter table that scales with the party? Or do they exist already?
My approach at the moment is creating a grid with party level and amount of players so I can easily crossreference the XP for medium encounter for a 2 x lvl 2 party is 200xp and that the XP for medium encounter for a 5 x lvl 3 party is 750xp for instance. Then I design a d20 list of creatures per region (eg.: Forest = ankheg, bandit, bugbear, ...ect.). I put this in a grid with ranges of XP (eg. 0-200, 200-500, 500-1000, ...ect.). Now I calculate how many of each creature could be present per XP range. That way I can quickly check the medium XP of my party, roll a d20 to see which monster, make sure I check which XP range the medium XP of my party falls in and determine that I have to roll 1d4+2 bandits for my 2 x lvl 2 party.
Or am I overthinking this? Just wanted to check before I pour a lot of time in this.
Not quite what you’re asking, but I just don’t use random encounters. They end up just being a 1-off fight, often the only fight of the day, so the PCs just mop up. Or worse, a character dies to a random owlbear attack, and now you need to rewrite the campaign to account for it.
Instead, I just plan them. They’ll be ambushed at this spot, because it’s a good spot for ambushes. And look, the bandits have a note that can kick off a side quest — or just be ignored.
When I want them to fight something, I put it in there, rather than cede control of my world to the dice.
I've not seen the like, but I wouldn't be surprised to find it lurking somewhere on the Net. I can say this. The Encounter Builder tool currently in Beta here is just wonderful for doing the calculating. If you have access to it, making up a huge pile of tables wouldn't be needed at all, and the DMG appendix has monster listings sorted by terrain type.
<Insert clever signature here>
This works within small level ranges, but you can't just upscale the number of creatures. Effectively you have to make different encounter tables for level ranges to make them usable, paying particular attention to power jumps at level 5, and level 9 when much more potent spells become available.
As an example, let's assume that you have 5 PCs, and you put Hobgoblins on the random encounter table. You aim to design Medium encounters.
However. Since they have only 11 hit points and even a successful saving throw will result in an average of 14 damage, from level 5 upwards a single 3rd level Fireball is pretty much guaranteed to end the entire encounter in one spell. Those 23 hobgoblins are unlikely to dent the level 10 pcs even if they Surprise some of the party before they get torn apart. Yes, this would consume a precious 3rd level spell slot at level 5, but those slots are much more available as the levels go up.
Simply put, Hobgoblins don't pose any real threat from level 5 upwards. So you can feature them on a level 1-5 table, their only presence for level 5 characters being to appear as a resource drain.
Fireballs aren't the only issue. If the PCs mostly win initiative against the Hobgoblins, they'll likely wipe many of them - let's say 5 of them go down - and then the mopping up of the rest is no biggie. More likely, the rest of the Hobgoblins will flee.
Combats work best when there are roughly 1 enemy creature per PC, or slightly fewer if one is a large and powerful enemy, and one if the enemy has legendary actions. So what you want instead for those level 7 PCs are 2 Hobgoblin Devastator, 2 Hobgoblin Iron Shadow and 1 Hobgoblin Captain. This will give the PCs a more reasonable encounter that is less likely to be over in a single blast.
There is a set of random encounter tables in Xanathar's Guide. They scale by Tier.
The XP table that you describe that you are creating sounds a lot like the XP Thresholds by Character Level in chapter 3 of the DMG - Creating a combat Encounter. Granted this table is only set for a single character, but from the base stat, it's a simple issue of adding / multiplying the number of characters you have to achieve the desired difficulty threshold.
The Random Encounter Tables that I mention are Chapter 2 of Xanathar's Guide and as I noted, are laid out by Tier. Additionally, if you'll notice the individual tables are also separated at around the 20-40-60-80 lines to delineate the levels/difficulty that are/is covered by that tier. So, for example, you want to run a random encounter for your party of 2-2LVL PCs, you would find the Forest Encounter Table(or whatever environment they are in), and then either roll D100 (Percentile) and stick with that, or ignore the last 20 or 40 number entries on the table to omit the possibility of a level 2 party facing off in a combat encounter against a dragon. (I may not be doing the best job of explaining this, but hopefully you get the main idea here.)
Lastly, random encounters don't automatically translate to "roll for initiative". They're just encounters. The PCs should get to determine the pillar that they use for the encounter. Now, I will grant you that the majority of players might see anything that you put in front of them as a potential punching bag.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
Here you go. https://robinloft.com/encounter_tables
That's great! Thanks!