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| #1SarducciNov 27, 2014 8:49:17 | Hi All!
I've been running the Starter Kit adventure, almost allt he way through, and I was curious as to what you all thought of encounter difficulty. I am finding that with low monster AC and moderate HP in this edition, a PC can pretty dependably drop one CR 1/4 - 1 monster per round. It seems like encounters need to have tons of monsters in them to be reasonable challenges to the party given the + hit bonuses and average HP outputs of 4th level characters.
I also looked at the encounter building rules in the DMG free rulls supplement. The party recently hit the encounter of 9 ghouls--and I added a ghast--in wave echo cave. Based on the enounter design rules, this was a (9*200+450)X2.5/4 encounter, or ~1400 xp per player. This should have been a _deadly_ class enounter for a party fo four 6th level characters, yet my party of four 4th level characters (Monk, Rogue, Sorceror, Cleric) had no trouble with it.
Am I being too easy on my group playing the monsters? Are encounter building rules creating encounters that are too easy? was this encounter easier than the XP calc would have you believe because the front line monk was an elf?
I am overall interested in DM's opinions of encounter difficulties vs standard parties, and if the DMG encounter design rules have it right or if encounteres need to be rougher. My secondary question is, are monster ACs or HP pools too low, or do you think the level of carnage PCs can produce is appropriate and fun?
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| #2iserithNov 27, 2014 9:03:53 | The CRs of those monsters are significantly lower than the 6th-level PCs you have in your game. At that level, the PCs have access to more resources and options for dealing with threats. The tactics you chose and stakes you set could potentially have made it more difficult. Having some ghouls use the Help action while others grapple and drag a lone PC up the stairs on the escarpment (a potential bottleneck that can be blocked by other ghouls) to be devoured would be both cinematically interesting and maybe a tough tactic to counter.
Ultimately though, this is a game where you're expected to get through 6 to 8 encounters in an adventuring day if you use reasonable strategy and tactics. So if they expended a few resources in that fight but otherwise made it through then the system is working properly. As well, the encounter difficulty rules are way less reliable than in D&D 4e, so you'll have to eyeball it to determine if an individual encounter is too easy or too hard to suit your goals. |
| #3RhennyNov 27, 2014 9:09:39 |
Additionally, the entire game is designed to accomodate 6-8 encounters per day, and the overall difficulty of an adventure should be rated by the adventuring day, not by just one combat. (Scooped by Iserith).
The same medium or deadly combat can be much more difficult near the end of an adventuring day when PCs have expended most or all of their resources.
Overall, it is easier to add than to subtract, and I think that WoTC designed the monsters in the monster manual and the xp guidelines to reflect this.
Also, monster tactics, use of terrain/positioning and sometimes just plain luck are all factors that contribute to encounter difficulty. In some encounters, the monsters can use terrain to attack and hide or overwhelm one PC with focused fire or gang tactics, etc. This will always make the encounter more difficult.
Also, surprise is a key element for shifting encounter difficulty. If the monsters gain surprise...ouch. If the PCs (or even just a few of them) gain surprise, the encounter is much easier.
Spell using foes and foes with area of effect attacks are also much more dangerous, and I don't think that the xp guidelines really takes that into consideration.
There is nothing wrong with tinkering. In some encounters, upgrade the armor of the foes, even give a few some special ability. I love doing that. It keeps the players on their toes and adds a little spice.
Cheers. |
| (Reply to #2)Sarducci |
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| #5iserithNov 27, 2014 9:23:11 |
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