D&D 5E 6-8 encounters/day - how common is this?

[Ancalagon]

Hello

So as I explore the (new to me) 5e rules and read about it here, I see several reference to the "6-8 encounters per adventuring day". Because of the short vs long rest powers economy, the number of encounters per day becomes quite important, as they allow the "short-rest powered" classes to shine.

But how many people do this actually? I've gamed (both as a PC and a GM) in a number of groups and a number of systems in my 25 year gaming "career" and in almost every group that high number of encounters was the exception, not the rule. Most of us found it more fun to have less fights, but have the fights matter more - big exciting battles, not a series of ho-hum scraps with goblins and brigands. (It is possible to have exciting battles with goblins or brigands mind you).

So is it just me, or are other people also tossing this guidance to the side?

 

[JeffB]

Im with ya. Quality over Quantity.

 

[Lehrbuch]

So as I explore the (new to me) 5e rules and read about it here, I see several reference to the "6-8 encounters per adventuring day"...
But how many people do this actually?

In my experience, this intensity of combat encounters is only achieved when a) the PCs are in a region with multiple "independent" foes (a dungeon, for example), and b) when things are going well for the PCs.

In wilderness type scenarios the PCs (in my experience) normally only have one or two combat encounters per day. Possibly even only one or two per week.

And when things are not going well for the PCs they tend to retreat/hole-up and have a rest (unless the PCs want to achieve something that can't suffer delay, or the DM stops the PCs from resting).

So, in my experience, 6-8 encounters a day is a very theoretical number that has little relationship to what actually happens in play.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Hello

So as I explore the (new to me) 5e rules and read about it here, I see several reference to the "6-8 encounters per adventuring day". Because of the short vs long rest powers economy, the number of encounters per day becomes quite important, as they allow the "short-rest powered" classes to shine.

And to keep sufficient resource pressure on the daily classes, yes. If you have too few encounters, not only does relative class balance suffer, but the encounter balance becomes problematic, as well...

But how many people do this actually?

I enforce it as much as seems reasonable. But, when running AL, the story has some pacing that's built-in (some more than others, HotDQ being one of the worst offenders, starting out with an overnightmare of as many as 8 encounters at 1st level, then a small dungeon, then eventually switching to and encounter-a-day-or-less FR sightseeing expedition.

In general, I find it works better to adjust individual encounters on the fly, just enough to keep things interesting and everyone engaged. The whole 'rulings not rules,' thing. Encounter guidelines and 6-8 encounters/day may help keep classes & encounters balanced, but the point of that balance is to keep the game enjoyable for all the players, and a good enough DM can always manage that - 5e strongly encourages 'Empowers' the DM to do just that.

I've gamed (both as a PC and a GM) in a number of groups and a number of systems in my 25 year gaming "career" and in almost every group that high number of encounters was the exception, not the rule.
So is it just me, or are other people also tossing this guidance to the side?

There was a poll a while back, a couple of them, asking about encounters/day and short-rests/day, and, yes, they showed a tendency towards shorter days with fewer short rests than the assumed 6-8 & 2-3.

 

[Rhenny]

For me, different days in our campaign world have different amounts of encounters.

The 6-8 is a guideline, but on any given day, the PCs may encounter 2 or 3, or 6-8 or any other number. To me, the variety is what keeps it interesting. Also, players never really know how many encounters they will have in a day, so I think they should always expect 6-8, and when a campaign has variety, they can never be too sure so they can't adjust their decision making processes. This is how I keep the pressure on and avoid "15 minute work day."

If my players encounter 2 really tough wilderness encounters and they seem to be getting weaker, I try to keep them in suspense. Will they have to manage 1 or 2 more (even easy encounters at times), or will they be able to find a place to camp for the night? Keeping the numbers unknown raises the tension.

It is largely easier to develop multiple encounters when PCs get to adventure sites, so really I think most of the time the 6-8 guideline is about pure adventure/dungeon scenarios. Also, an encounter does not have to be a combat encounter. There are other ways to build encounters that include exploration or interaction and they can still damage the party or give them opportunities to expend limited resources.

 

[mellored]

You might want to use the optional rest rules.

I.e. 6-8 encounters in a week. With short rests being overnight, and long rests being a week.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

I don't, as DM, put any effort towards reaching X number of encounters in a day. That's just not how I set up adventures.

However, that doesn't stop the party from having those 6-8 encounters on a fairly regular basis simply because they've got a goal they are trying to accomplish which has about that many encounters between them and reaching that goal, and resting as feels needed to them results in not taking a long rest until after their goal is accomplished.

The only thing that I actually concern myself about the 6-8 encounters per day expectation for is when I am trying to decide if the game is working as intended or not - if things seem really easy for the party before they end up taking a long rest, and they had less than 6-8 encounters between that rest and the last one, I say "ok, that makes sense. Working as intended it seems." rather than "I must not have put together hard enough encounters" or "this game is busted."

 

[Rhenny]

I totally agree with both Aaron and cbwjm. 6-8 is just a guide that seems to balance class contribution mathematically. Rarely if ever has any player at my table felt under or over powered when we've gone 2-3 and out, etc. As long as players are having fun making choices, and they feel as if their pcs are accomplishing goals, and there is a fair degree of tension and relief, it really doesn't matter much.

Quite frankly as long as a player has experienced a PC die or at least one really difficult encounter every now and then, the players will feel that it is quite possible to walk into a deadly situation at any moment. Resting won't change that.

 

[meshon]

I've been aware of the concept of 6-8 encounters, and how important it is in terms of gauging the relative difficulty, but a recent "day" in my campaign helped to solidify my understanding. The party had dealt with five encounters (one of which was getting across a subterranean river), none of which felt particularly challenging to me as the DM. Then a sixth encounter loomed... and the party hid, then retreated to safety and had a rest. I realized that my criteria for determining whether an encounter was "challenging" enough needed a broader perspective. That was also around the time I decided that a DC 10 skill check was a really good number, but that's a different story.
Like Aaron, I wouldn't say I worry TOO much about enforcing it, but it really helps me to judge whether things are working as intended.

 

[Dormouse]

The fear of running fewer more interesting and important encounters is that classes who burn out quickly (paladins, wizards, etc) will outperform classes that don't (rogues, fighters, etc.) In my experience, averaging about 3 encounters each adventure in my games, that hasn't actually been a problem.

My one advice would be to make sure your adventures don't all follow the same formula. If the wizard knows your adventure is 3 encounters and that the last encounter is always the hardest, then that is a problem because he will just unload in the third encounter. But maybe an adventure has 4 encounters or maybe one adventure the first is the hardest instead of the last. This will change your players mindset from figuring out how to ration out their dailies over a 3 encounter day, to instead trying to make sure they spend exactly what they need, which solves most of the problems of shorter adventuring days and will still make fighters and rogues feel good since they don't have to try to figure that out.