D&D 5E Where did the 6-8 encounter standard come from?

Nevvur · Nov 17, 2017

Fanaelialae said:
IME, 5e doesn't require 6-8 encounters to be balanced. What it does need is the POTENTIAL for 6-8 encounters.

If the players know that the DM will only throw 1-2 encounters at them per long rest, then of course the paladin will outshine the warlock, and the fights will be easier, since they know they can safely expend half their total resources every encounter.

At my table, we tend to roll about 6 random encounter checks for each day of overland travel (4 during the day, 2 at night). The odds of having 6 encounters is extremely low. But we avoid going nova because there's always a chance. Lately, on most days we have 0-2 encounters. Some of those encounters might benign or even beneficial. However, the potential for a hellish encounter day means that we treat each encounter as though it won't be the last. We've had days where we were so resource drained by the end that we were forced to flee from the last encounter or two despite our best resource management, and no one at my table likes running away. It happens rarely, but rarely is sufficient to keep us on our toes.

Interesting that you mention that. I have long been opposed to including random encounters in my games, but lately I've been re-examining this stance as I prepare to launch a new campaign. This is good food for thought as I pin down what sort of game I'd like to run.

OB1 · Nov 17, 2017

Stalker0 said:
That’s not completely true. Spells that last a duration “like bless” depend more on encounter number than number of rounds. You could argue many buff spells do.

Also the short rest influences healing a lot. If I can rely on my healing dice I don’t need as much healing magic.

All concentration spells are heavily affected by both encounter number and rounds. Every round you are trying to keep bless up is that much more likely that you will fail a concentration check and either need to re-cast or lose the benefit.

Fanaelialae said:
IME, 5e doesn't require 6-8 encounters to be balanced. What it does need is the POTENTIAL for 6-8 encounters.

Exactly! And all you need to keep players from going completely nova even on a BBEG fight is to have one time when immediately following the death of the BBEG her 3 lieutenants bust into the room to avenge their boss.

Hussar said:
Basically, it comes down to the old engineering issue. You can have:

1. Short fights
2. Fast to play fights
3. Deadly fights

Pick 2.

I'm thinking it might be more like

1. Fast
2. Fun
3. Deadly

Pick 2

Hussar said:
But, we shouldn't get lost in the individual examples. There are more than just the number of rages per day. Monks gaining Ki, for example. There isn't much point in having 15 ki points if you only have 1 encounter/short rest. It's extremely unlikely a monk is going to burn more than 6 ki points in any given encounter. Well, I'm thinking Way of the Hand monks here. I suppose the elemental monks might be burning more with spells. But, at that point, if you're dropping that many spells in an encounter, why aren't you just playing a wizard?

I don't think the barbarian being able to rage on every encounter really makes that big of a difference if you are playing 3 Deadly, since with more encounters she probably would have just saved the rages for the tougher fights anyhow.

As for the Monk, stunning fist can really burn through Ki points quick if you are trying to lock down a group of enemies (or a single one who keeps making their dang save against it). You can use up to 5 ki a round doing that.

guachi · Nov 17, 2017

Hussar said:
And, since 5e is very much going back to the AD&D mode of play, 6-8/day makes a LOT of sense in order to try to capture the feel. Look at how many encounters you'd have in those old AD&D modules. As a random example, N1 Cult of the Reptile God has a dungeon. There are 10 combat encounters on Level 1 and 9 on Level 2, plus random encounters to be checked 1 in 6 every 3 turns.

If we balance around the 2-4 encounters of 3e, that module will take a VERY long time to actually play out. Whereas in 5e, that should take about 2 adventuring days.

I've run N1 Against the Cult of the Reptile God twice for 5e. It's really fun because the village is great. Both times the PCs really enjoyed interacting with the residents.

As you said, the funds two level dungeon is a great two adventuring day dungeon. In fact, it's a bit much for two adventuring days and probably requires careful avoidance of a few encounters.

5e is really well-suited for playing older modules.

D&D 5E Where did the 6-8 encounter standard come from?

Nevvur

Explorer

OB1

Jedi Master

guachi

Hero

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