How does this effect an encounter difficulty and experience?
In general summons that occur during combat are counted against the summoner and thus have no effect on difficulty or experience. Summons that occur before combat should be counted but are usually too trivial to change the xp multiplier (so baba + 4 swarms remains at x1 and is 7,600 xp).
The CR system is like a poorly bult fence. It might do the job passably well, and give you an idea where the boundaries are, but it's prone to fall apart when you lean on it.
Instead ask yourself, "what can my party do?". if they have an Area Effect which can reasonably wipe out the swarms in one go, then they are trivial and don't count them. If the barbarian leans heavily into roleplaying and is terrified of bugs, and the druid doesn't harm animals, then you need to consider that for your encounter difficulty.
a flying kobold with a dartgun can kill an all-melee party so what the creatures can do is a bigger consideration for you - the CR ratng is a ballpark for whether you should even consider something (EG a lich is not suitable for level 1 parties) but you'll need to think "hmm, this big monster can one-hit kill any of my PC's, that's probably too powerful", or "this monster will summon more monsters, so I shold consider that and not give it minions already in the fight".
It's also worth noting that single monsters tend to make bad encounters, as they tend to be too powerful by being powerful enough to solo a party. keep them for the biggest fights!
Remember that the act of summoning requires an action, that it usually has a high chance of failing, and that it only lasts for 1 minute or until the summoner dies. It's more balanced than you think.
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Age: 33 | Sex: Male | Languages: French and English | Roles: DM and Player
Many monsters can summon more monsters.
How does this effect an encounter difficulty and experience?
Are they already included in the encounter difficulty, or should I include all of them for determining the encounter?
so Baba Lysaga is worth 7200 xp, and can summon up to 4 insect swarms.
But baba + 4 insect swarms is 15200xp.
In general summons that occur during combat are counted against the summoner and thus have no effect on difficulty or experience. Summons that occur before combat should be counted but are usually too trivial to change the xp multiplier (so baba + 4 swarms remains at x1 and is 7,600 xp).
The CR system is like a poorly bult fence. It might do the job passably well, and give you an idea where the boundaries are, but it's prone to fall apart when you lean on it.
Instead ask yourself, "what can my party do?". if they have an Area Effect which can reasonably wipe out the swarms in one go, then they are trivial and don't count them. If the barbarian leans heavily into roleplaying and is terrified of bugs, and the druid doesn't harm animals, then you need to consider that for your encounter difficulty.
a flying kobold with a dartgun can kill an all-melee party so what the creatures can do is a bigger consideration for you - the CR ratng is a ballpark for whether you should even consider something (EG a lich is not suitable for level 1 parties) but you'll need to think "hmm, this big monster can one-hit kill any of my PC's, that's probably too powerful", or "this monster will summon more monsters, so I shold consider that and not give it minions already in the fight".
It's also worth noting that single monsters tend to make bad encounters, as they tend to be too powerful by being powerful enough to solo a party. keep them for the biggest fights!
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Remember that the act of summoning requires an action, that it usually has a high chance of failing, and that it only lasts for 1 minute or until the summoner dies. It's more balanced than you think.
Age: 33 | Sex: Male | Languages: French and English | Roles: DM and Player
The CR would normally include the fact that the creature can summon things.
Thanks everyone.
that helps my planning.