I am looking to have an NPC follow my party of 4 level 1 players. The stat-block for the NPC is a CR 1. Should I assume four level 1 PC and one level 4 PC in terms of considering difficulty? I'm, not sure how to determine how to properly balance encounters with this NPC. I assume a CR 1 is equivalent to a PC lvl 4 because in XgtE it stats that a CR1 vs PC4 is an equal match.
Encounter balance is always only 'best guess', so that seems fine. Start with easy encounters and then gradually increase difficulty to find the sweet spot.
I personally just add the allied monsters xp to the budget for the encounter. This basically means that it cancels out a monster of equal cr on the enemies side.
so if a party of 4 level 1's has a hard budget of 300 it becomes 500 if they have a cr 1 ally worth 200xp.
For this, you might want to stat out the NPC as a character of no higher level than the PCs. It'll make balancing fights easier, and it prevents the NPC from dominating the fights.
Also, the asymmetry between monsters and characters will probably make things kind of weird in a fight. Your NPC has a lot more HP, and does less damage, than the PCs
Also in order to avoid blowing up the balance too hard, you could be having your NPC do primarily "support" work - giving help actions in combat, doing buffer spells that kind of thing. After all, your players are the protagonists of the game, so they want to be the ones doing the big hits
I am looking to have an NPC follow my party of 4 level 1 players. The stat-block for the NPC is a CR 1. Should I assume four level 1 PC and one level 4 PC in terms of considering difficulty? I'm, not sure how to determine how to properly balance encounters with this NPC. I assume a CR 1 is equivalent to a PC lvl 4 because in XgtE it stats that a CR1 vs PC4 is an equal match.
CR1 vs 4 level 1 PCs is a standard match (one part of a 6-8 encounter day), not an equal match; an actual equal match is more like CR1 vs 2 level 1 PCs.
I'd lean toward the supporting role for the npc as well. If they have to take an active role in the fight, have them mostly tank hits from the biggest monster in the room.
As for actual encounter math, I don't have any better guess than what's already been said. But I do have a word of caution: Avoid using much higher CR monsters than usual against this party, because level 1s are notoriously fragile. Upping the damage even slightly puts players at risk of being downed or even killed outright in one hit.
As for actual encounter math, I don't have any better guess than what's already been said. But I do have a word of caution: Avoid using much higher CR monsters than usual against this party, because level 1s are notoriously fragile. Upping the damage even slightly puts players at risk of being downed or even killed outright in one hit.
The easiest encounter math is to add a monster and have the monster and the NPC follower fight off screen while the rest of the party faces an encounter appropriate for them.
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I am looking to have an NPC follow my party of 4 level 1 players. The stat-block for the NPC is a CR 1. Should I assume four level 1 PC and one level 4 PC in terms of considering difficulty? I'm, not sure how to determine how to properly balance encounters with this NPC. I assume a CR 1 is equivalent to a PC lvl 4 because in XgtE it stats that a CR1 vs PC4 is an equal match.
Encounter balance is always only 'best guess', so that seems fine. Start with easy encounters and then gradually increase difficulty to find the sweet spot.
I personally just add the allied monsters xp to the budget for the encounter. This basically means that it cancels out a monster of equal cr on the enemies side.
so if a party of 4 level 1's has a hard budget of 300 it becomes 500 if they have a cr 1 ally worth 200xp.
For this, you might want to stat out the NPC as a character of no higher level than the PCs. It'll make balancing fights easier, and it prevents the NPC from dominating the fights.
Also, the asymmetry between monsters and characters will probably make things kind of weird in a fight. Your NPC has a lot more HP, and does less damage, than the PCs
Also in order to avoid blowing up the balance too hard, you could be having your NPC do primarily "support" work - giving help actions in combat, doing buffer spells that kind of thing. After all, your players are the protagonists of the game, so they want to be the ones doing the big hits
dabbler in diverse and detailed worlds
CR1 vs 4 level 1 PCs is a standard match (one part of a 6-8 encounter day), not an equal match; an actual equal match is more like CR1 vs 2 level 1 PCs.
I'd lean toward the supporting role for the npc as well. If they have to take an active role in the fight, have them mostly tank hits from the biggest monster in the room.
As for actual encounter math, I don't have any better guess than what's already been said. But I do have a word of caution: Avoid using much higher CR monsters than usual against this party, because level 1s are notoriously fragile. Upping the damage even slightly puts players at risk of being downed or even killed outright in one hit.
The easiest encounter math is to add a monster and have the monster and the NPC follower fight off screen while the rest of the party faces an encounter appropriate for them.