So assume that the players have befriended an ancient gold dragon (CR24). How does I balance an encounter where the players have befriended such a high CR creature? Should I just make sure the XP matches - in other words, an ancient gold dragon awards 62,000XP, so does that mean a "balanced encounter" includes 62,000 worth of XP on the other side?
So here's some math I threw together with the help of kobold fight club. Five level 12 party members can fight 10 CR3 knights as a "hard" encounter based on adjusted CR (I'm assuming all enemies will be CR3 knights, just to keep things simple. 23 knights have a combined adjusted XP of 64,000. If my players plus the dragon fight 33 knights, is that encounter "balanced" correctly? Does anyone else have any other thoughts?
So assume that the players have befriended an ancient gold dragon (CR24). How does I balance an encounter where the players have befriended such a high CR creature? Should I just make sure the XP matches - in other words, an ancient gold dragon awards 62,000XP, so does that mean a "balanced encounter" includes 62,000 worth of XP on the other side?
So here's some math I threw together with the help of kobold fight club. Five level 12 party members can fight 10 CR3 knights as a "hard" encounter based on adjusted CR (I'm assuming all enemies will be CR3 knights, just to keep things simple. 23 knights have a combined adjusted XP of 64,000. If my players plus the dragon fight 33 knights, is that encounter "balanced" correctly? Does anyone else have any other thoughts?
That dragon could probably kill most of those knights with one breath weapon attack.
The easiest solution, don’t have the dragon travel with the party.
From my fiddling about with that, a monster's xp reward is the amount of xp needed for it to have a deadly encounter. So, enough enemies to reach a 62,000 xp budget would be a deadly encounter for the dragon, as well as for the enemies. One quarter of that amount is easy, half is normal, and three quarters is hard.
But balance aside, this combat doesn't sound like a good idea. The players won't be happy dealing little amounts of damage, while the dragon just totally crushes people. Adding a super powerful ally never works, in my experience. Also, huge encounters with lots of creatures definitely doesn't work. 23 knights will be hell.
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So assume that the players have befriended an ancient gold dragon (CR24). How does I balance an encounter where the players have befriended such a high CR creature? Should I just make sure the XP matches - in other words, an ancient gold dragon awards 62,000XP, so does that mean a "balanced encounter" includes 62,000 worth of XP on the other side?
So here's some math I threw together with the help of kobold fight club. Five level 12 party members can fight 10 CR3 knights as a "hard" encounter based on adjusted CR (I'm assuming all enemies will be CR3 knights, just to keep things simple. 23 knights have a combined adjusted XP of 64,000. If my players plus the dragon fight 33 knights, is that encounter "balanced" correctly? Does anyone else have any other thoughts?
That dragon could probably kill most of those knights with one breath weapon attack.
The easiest solution, don’t have the dragon travel with the party.
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From my fiddling about with that, a monster's xp reward is the amount of xp needed for it to have a deadly encounter. So, enough enemies to reach a 62,000 xp budget would be a deadly encounter for the dragon, as well as for the enemies. One quarter of that amount is easy, half is normal, and three quarters is hard.
But balance aside, this combat doesn't sound like a good idea. The players won't be happy dealing little amounts of damage, while the dragon just totally crushes people. Adding a super powerful ally never works, in my experience. Also, huge encounters with lots of creatures definitely doesn't work. 23 knights will be hell.
"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."