Wulf Ratbane
Adventurer
Step One: Determine the Encounter Budget
For each PC in the party, look up his level, and add the indicated amount of XP to the encounter budget.
Example: Party of four 1st level PCs each add +100 to the budget; total budget = 400 XP.
Step Two: Determine Desired Difficulty
Multiply the total XP budget by the following multipliers:
Easy: x2/3 (-1 EL)
Average: x1
Challenging: x1.5 (+1 EL)
Hard: x2 (+2 EL)
Epic: x3 (+3 EL)
Example: Initial budget 400, challenging encounter x1.5, final budget = 600.
Step Three: Purchase Creatures from the Budget
Using the Creature XP values provided by Pathfinder, "purchase" creatures out of your encounter budget.
NOTE 1: If you have to purchase more than 10 of any creature, it's probably not going to add much to the challenge of the encounter.
NOTE 2: Buy the most expensive creatures first. When you are done, if you have points left over, you can either toss them aside, or you can "overspend" just enough to buy one creature of the closest available amount.
Pathfinder Examples
These examples are taken directly from the Alpha 2 document.
Four 5th level characters each add 400 XP to the budget, for a total of 1600 XP.
An average fight (x1 budget multiplier, 1600 budget) is 2 ogres (CR3=800 each).
A challenging fight (x1.5 budget multiplier, 2400 budget) is 3 ogres.
A hard fight (x2 budget multiplier, 3200 budget) is 4 ogres.
An epic fight (x3 budget multiplier, 4800 budget) is 6 ogres.
Six 8th level PCs is a base budget of 6 x 1200XP, or 7200 XP.
It's to be a challenging fight, x1.5, final budget = 10800 XP.
Stone Giant (CR8) costs us 4800 XP, leaving 6000 XP to spend on gargoyles.
Gargoyles cost 1200 XP each; 6000/1200 = five gargoyles.
For each PC in the party, look up his level, and add the indicated amount of XP to the encounter budget.
Example: Party of four 1st level PCs each add +100 to the budget; total budget = 400 XP.
Code:
Level XP Budget (per PC)
1 100
2 150
3 200
4 300
5 400
6 600
7 800
8 1200
9 1600
10 2400
11 3200
12 4800
13 6400
14 9600
15 12800
16 19200
17 25600
18 38400
19 51200
20 76800Step Two: Determine Desired Difficulty
Multiply the total XP budget by the following multipliers:
Easy: x2/3 (-1 EL)
Average: x1
Challenging: x1.5 (+1 EL)
Hard: x2 (+2 EL)
Epic: x3 (+3 EL)
Example: Initial budget 400, challenging encounter x1.5, final budget = 600.
Step Three: Purchase Creatures from the Budget
Using the Creature XP values provided by Pathfinder, "purchase" creatures out of your encounter budget.
Code:
CR XP
1/10 40
1/8 50
1/6 65
1/4 100
1/3 135
1/2 200
1 400
2 600
3 800
4 1200
5 1600
6 2400
7 3200
8 4800
9 6400
10 9600
11 12800
12 19200
13 25600
14 38400
15 51200
16 76800
17 102400
18 153600
19 204800
20 307200
21 409600
22 614400
23 819200
24 1228800
25 1638400NOTE 1: If you have to purchase more than 10 of any creature, it's probably not going to add much to the challenge of the encounter.
NOTE 2: Buy the most expensive creatures first. When you are done, if you have points left over, you can either toss them aside, or you can "overspend" just enough to buy one creature of the closest available amount.
Pathfinder Examples
These examples are taken directly from the Alpha 2 document.
Four 5th level characters each add 400 XP to the budget, for a total of 1600 XP.
An average fight (x1 budget multiplier, 1600 budget) is 2 ogres (CR3=800 each).
A challenging fight (x1.5 budget multiplier, 2400 budget) is 3 ogres.
A hard fight (x2 budget multiplier, 3200 budget) is 4 ogres.
An epic fight (x3 budget multiplier, 4800 budget) is 6 ogres.
Six 8th level PCs is a base budget of 6 x 1200XP, or 7200 XP.
It's to be a challenging fight, x1.5, final budget = 10800 XP.
Stone Giant (CR8) costs us 4800 XP, leaving 6000 XP to spend on gargoyles.
Gargoyles cost 1200 XP each; 6000/1200 = five gargoyles.
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