Am I Building Encounters Right?

Post/Author/DateTimePost
#1

arjomanes

Jul 09, 2014 8:16:33

I'm not sure I'm doing this right. According to Mike Mearls' Building Adventures post on July 7, "A party of five 1st-level characters should expect to face about 500 XP worth of monsters for a challenging fight." So the XP budget in the chart is for each PC in the party. That means an Easy encounter will be 100 XP (20 x 5), Moderate 250 XP (50 x 5), Challenging 500 XP (100 x 5), and Hard 750 XP (150 x 5).

Now, in the PDF with stats for the Legacy of the Crystal Shard a goblin is listed as having 10 XP.

 

So using this formula, an easy encounter would be 100 XP, or 7-8 goblins (normally 10, but hordes that outnumber the PCs 2:1 should have the XP multiplied by 1.5, so 20 x 5 = 100/10 =10 x .75 = 7.5).

And a moderate encounter would be 12-13 goblins (normally 25, but using the advice that a horde that outnumbers the PCs 3:1 should have their XP doubled, so 50 x 5 = 250/10 = 25 x .5 = 12.5).

 

Maybe it's just me, but 7 goblins seems like a lot for an easy encounter, especially when compared to other versions of the game. And to have a normal encounter, you have 12 monsters in that battle? Should I run them in waves, or have them all attack at once? What if some are attacking from range with short bows? Would terrain affect the XP budget as well?

 

Is this because goblins are so weak, that you need a ton of them? A level one encounter that can potentially deal 36 (12d6) damage in the first round seems more dangerous than a normal encounter. With a +3 to hit they are just as accurate as level 2 or 3 monsters.

Am I missing something important, or do I just need to get used to the new rules? Are 5e D&D characters really that much more resilient?

#2

AaronOfBarbaria

Jul 09, 2014 8:30:19

arjomanes wrote:
(Reply to #2)

arjomanes

AaronOfBarbaria wrote:
#4

Guest855761860

Jul 09, 2014 23:19:04

I do think that 7 goblins in this specific encounter would be easy - as long as you can keep behind cover until you reach them. 

But yes, like Aaran said - not done, etc.

#5

Lawngnome4hire

Jul 10, 2014 1:16:43

arjomanes wrote: