So, My long time DM decided he wanted to play with the group for a change of pace so i volunteered to take the mantle of DM for this game, for some reason i decided it would be a good plan to have the game just continue out of finishing Tomb, as such they are all level 11. Our first game was last week and it was a success in the fact i didn't end up a crying mess in the corner, the problem i had was both the combat situations were too easy for the group even though the encounter builder told me they should have been just shy of deadly, i was wondering if anyone could offer advice on how to know if i was going too overboard with the power of the monsters in trying to compensate for the last fights being too easy.
The advantage of planning 6-8 encounters is that you can figure out you're overdoing it and just drop the last couple.
I personally never do 6-8. My sessions are usually heavy RP with one combat. Max is prob 3 combat encounters a session. Less encounters just means you can drop stronger threats. Downside is it’s a lot more swingy and things can get deadly quick. I drop a lot of encounters that by the books are well beyond deadly. Start small though and scale up. Test the waters.
The advantage of planning 6-8 encounters is that you can figure out you're overdoing it and just drop the last couple.
I personally never do 6-8.
Well, it's per long rest, not per session, but yeah, it's a lot. A problem with a smaller number of tougher fights is that it skews the balance between casters (who mostly use daily resources) and non-casters (who mostly use encounter and at-will resources).
I find that my players can pretty much breeze through any encounter that I make too straight forward. If they can recon it out and decide on a plan of action and there aren’t any twists, it’s really difficult to challenge them without just using high CR monsters. Now I try to build in plausible twists to the combat so after 2 rounds I can decide to add in more foes or a trap or other condition if they’re cruising through it without breaking a sweat.
When i started using the ecounterbuilder i was surprised how hard some monsters a supposed to be.
I looked at them again and i noticed that i was using the monsters "wrong". Not using some of their abilities/skills to the full potential. So the encounters went by beeing to easy.
If you use everything you have it should be harder and more represent of the CR
I recognize your question as I struggle with the same thing. I'm running SKT and there's a lot of traveling, but you do want them to progress in the story. If I would add 6-8 encounters to every day of travel I'm affraid they'll lose focus and besides that I think it's not very realistic. I've started boosting the number of monsters compared to the given encounter numbers but still, once charged up it's just fireball, fireball, throw a spike growth combined with a planth growth and there goes your whole group of monsters. Some damage? Ahh we'll throw some heals we're golden!
Referring to what Yemika said, I also recognize this - I tend to focus on building the encounter, preparing RP and travel locations, descriptions and plots and lose focus on maximizing the abilities of the monsters- which can also be challenging especially when it involves heavy magic wielding monsters~.
I like my players to be victorious and feel like heroes but if there's no sense of danger this is just a given, and there's no 'real' victory.
So now what I've started doing: - include nightly encounters and events that keep them from having a long rest while traveling; - throw in very short challenges and events without going into an hour or 2 of combat that drain their spellslots;
Looking forward to more tips as I could really use some myself :)
As suggested above, shorting players on long rests ramps up the difficulty significantly. It's not so hard to do if you thrown an encounter at them that disrupts the rest. I've settled in with 3 - 4 encounters between long rests is about right. I might be making them tougher than the 6 - 8 because with missing a long rest when it becomes 6 - 8 they are teetering on the edge of TPK.
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Hello friends,
So, My long time DM decided he wanted to play with the group for a change of pace so i volunteered to take the mantle of DM for this game, for some reason i decided it would be a good plan to have the game just continue out of finishing Tomb, as such they are all level 11. Our first game was last week and it was a success in the fact i didn't end up a crying mess in the corner, the problem i had was both the combat situations were too easy for the group even though the encounter builder told me they should have been just shy of deadly, i was wondering if anyone could offer advice on how to know if i was going too overboard with the power of the monsters in trying to compensate for the last fights being too easy.
Cheers everyone.
Too easy to start with is good. It is better to learn while leaning on the lighter side than wiping the party.
The 5E DMG states that they expect 6-8 Medium or Hard combat encounters per day, with about two short rests.
play with it, tweak it, feel it out.
things get swingy.
as a DM you will constantly wrestle with what is balanced for your group. There’s not a clear answer.
welcome to the party
The advantage of planning 6-8 encounters is that you can figure out you're overdoing it and just drop the last couple.
I personally never do 6-8. My sessions are usually heavy RP with one combat. Max is prob 3 combat encounters a session. Less encounters just means you can drop stronger threats. Downside is it’s a lot more swingy and things can get deadly quick. I drop a lot of encounters that by the books are well beyond deadly. Start small though and scale up. Test the waters.
Well, it's per long rest, not per session, but yeah, it's a lot. A problem with a smaller number of tougher fights is that it skews the balance between casters (who mostly use daily resources) and non-casters (who mostly use encounter and at-will resources).
I find that my players can pretty much breeze through any encounter that I make too straight forward. If they can recon it out and decide on a plan of action and there aren’t any twists, it’s really difficult to challenge them without just using high CR monsters. Now I try to build in plausible twists to the combat so after 2 rounds I can decide to add in more foes or a trap or other condition if they’re cruising through it without breaking a sweat.
When i started using the ecounterbuilder i was surprised how hard some monsters a supposed to be.
I looked at them again and i noticed that i was using the monsters "wrong". Not using some of their abilities/skills to the full potential. So the encounters went by beeing to easy.
If you use everything you have it should be harder and more represent of the CR
If you feel it is to easy, increase the monsters HP during the fight to keep them alive for another round or two.
Attack: [roll]3d20dl2+6[/roll] Damage: [roll](if([roll:-1:critical], =0, 1d8, 2{1d8}.expand()))+4[/roll] Sneakattack: [roll](if([roll:-2:critical], =0, 2d6, 2{2d6}.expand()))[/roll]I recognize your question as I struggle with the same thing. I'm running SKT and there's a lot of traveling, but you do want them to progress in the story. If I would add 6-8 encounters to every day of travel I'm affraid they'll lose focus and besides that I think it's not very realistic. I've started boosting the number of monsters compared to the given encounter numbers but still, once charged up it's just fireball, fireball, throw a spike growth combined with a planth growth and there goes your whole group of monsters. Some damage? Ahh we'll throw some heals we're golden!
Referring to what Yemika said, I also recognize this - I tend to focus on building the encounter, preparing RP and travel locations, descriptions and plots and lose focus on maximizing the abilities of the monsters- which can also be challenging especially when it involves heavy magic wielding monsters~.
I like my players to be victorious and feel like heroes but if there's no sense of danger this is just a given, and there's no 'real' victory.
So now what I've started doing:
- include nightly encounters and events that keep them from having a long rest while traveling;
- throw in very short challenges and events without going into an hour or 2 of combat that drain their spellslots;
Looking forward to more tips as I could really use some myself :)
Kr,
Rob.
As suggested above, shorting players on long rests ramps up the difficulty significantly. It's not so hard to do if you thrown an encounter at them that disrupts the rest. I've settled in with 3 - 4 encounters between long rests is about right. I might be making them tougher than the 6 - 8 because with missing a long rest when it becomes 6 - 8 they are teetering on the edge of TPK.
Everyone is the main character of their story