Does anyone have a method of figure out encounter difficulty when using sidekicks? Sidekicks are, of course, nowhere near as potent as a player character, but they're not inconsequential either and should be able to be factored into the overall encounter difficulty.
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C. Foster Payne
"If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin' somebody else's dog around."
Sidekicks are generally the average level of the group. So they count and get treated as simply a member of the party.
They are NPCs, but as they are part of the party, they count and should be counted in designing encounters that same as a member of the party.
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Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities .-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-. An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more. Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
Encounter difficulty is so fuzzy and party-dependent to begin with, your best bet is to start low and ramp up the difficulty until you find the sweet spot. I don't put a lot of faith into the given tools or formulae to figure this stuff out.
Yeah, there’s really too much room for variance for any practical calculation to be more than a ballpark estimate. If nothing else, I’d say bump up any low challenge mobs by one or two units to keep the action economy from becoming too one-sided.
Factoring sidekicks into encounter difficulty involves assessing their abilities, combining their levels with the party's, and using encounter-building guidelines to ensure a balanced and challenging encounter that considers the added strength of the sidekicks.
Does anyone have a method of figure out encounter difficulty when using sidekicks? Sidekicks are, of course, nowhere near as potent as a player character, but they're not inconsequential either and should be able to be factored into the overall encounter difficulty.
C. Foster Payne
"If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin' somebody else's dog around."
Sidekicks are generally the average level of the group. So they count and get treated as simply a member of the party.
They are NPCs, but as they are part of the party, they count and should be counted in designing encounters that same as a member of the party.
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities
.-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-.
An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more.
Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
Encounter difficulty is so fuzzy and party-dependent to begin with, your best bet is to start low and ramp up the difficulty until you find the sweet spot. I don't put a lot of faith into the given tools or formulae to figure this stuff out.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
Yeah, there’s really too much room for variance for any practical calculation to be more than a ballpark estimate. If nothing else, I’d say bump up any low challenge mobs by one or two units to keep the action economy from becoming too one-sided.
Factoring sidekicks into encounter difficulty involves assessing their abilities, combining their levels with the party's, and using encounter-building guidelines to ensure a balanced and challenging encounter that considers the added strength of the sidekicks.
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I count any NPC, DMPC, henchman or sidekick with the party taking active part in combat as a character when calculating encounter difficulty.