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Combats and Ressources (again...) - How to condense Adventures
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<blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 7055421" data-attributes="member: 82106"><p>DMG1 never SAYS there's a certain assumed number of encounters per day, but all of the math of 4e's resource management seems to be clearly aimed at a target of 5 encounters per day. the number of HS you have in comparison with monster damage output clearly converges to near exhaustion at the 5th reasonable encounter. Milestones come at 2-encounter intervals, which argues plainly for either 3 or 5 as the likely number (IE 1 or 2 milestones followed by another significant encounter after the last one). </p><p></p><p>You could argue that the developers aimed for 3 encounters per day, but I think the truth is they assumed that the GM would apply effectively encounters 'worth' 5 basic at-level encounters, possibly in the form of 5 encounters (with one or 2 weaker ones and one or 2 stronger ones) or 3 encounters with one being significantly strong. Both patterns work out reasonably well. </p><p></p><p>I'd note as well that DMG1 DOES tell you what it expects PER LEVEL, something like 6-9 combat encounters with one or maybe 2 that are easier than normal, and a couple that are harder than normal. At least one encounter worth of XP will then be relegated to a major quest, which means you'd normally get one of these per level (though if each PC also gets a minor quest award then you'd be at 8 actual encounters). </p><p></p><p>So you might model an IDEALIZED 4e level as a day with 5 encounters, including 1 or possibly 2 SCs that come out about average in difficulty (IE maybe one is a level-1 and one is a level+1), followed by another day with 3 harder encounters, including probably one SC with one being level+2 and possibly level+3. One day would resolve a major quest, and the days as a whole would resolve minor quests for each character. Note that you could also have some lower complexity SCs. Instead of 2-3 of complexity 5 you could have a larger number, say up to 5 or more, with complexities varying from 1-5 (in theory they should sum to a level 5 per nominal encounter they replace). </p><p></p><p>Again, nothing absolutely demonstrates this in the core books as a stated set of rules, but it makes sense. You end up with a fairly good dramatic adventure structure where the PCs forge ahead, accomplish some intermediate goals, regroup, and act out the final climactic part of the adventure, then level up and rest in preparation for the next level's portion of the overall story arc (and a whole adventure module seems to be around 3 levels, which makes sense too).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="AbdulAlhazred, post: 7055421, member: 82106"] DMG1 never SAYS there's a certain assumed number of encounters per day, but all of the math of 4e's resource management seems to be clearly aimed at a target of 5 encounters per day. the number of HS you have in comparison with monster damage output clearly converges to near exhaustion at the 5th reasonable encounter. Milestones come at 2-encounter intervals, which argues plainly for either 3 or 5 as the likely number (IE 1 or 2 milestones followed by another significant encounter after the last one). You could argue that the developers aimed for 3 encounters per day, but I think the truth is they assumed that the GM would apply effectively encounters 'worth' 5 basic at-level encounters, possibly in the form of 5 encounters (with one or 2 weaker ones and one or 2 stronger ones) or 3 encounters with one being significantly strong. Both patterns work out reasonably well. I'd note as well that DMG1 DOES tell you what it expects PER LEVEL, something like 6-9 combat encounters with one or maybe 2 that are easier than normal, and a couple that are harder than normal. At least one encounter worth of XP will then be relegated to a major quest, which means you'd normally get one of these per level (though if each PC also gets a minor quest award then you'd be at 8 actual encounters). So you might model an IDEALIZED 4e level as a day with 5 encounters, including 1 or possibly 2 SCs that come out about average in difficulty (IE maybe one is a level-1 and one is a level+1), followed by another day with 3 harder encounters, including probably one SC with one being level+2 and possibly level+3. One day would resolve a major quest, and the days as a whole would resolve minor quests for each character. Note that you could also have some lower complexity SCs. Instead of 2-3 of complexity 5 you could have a larger number, say up to 5 or more, with complexities varying from 1-5 (in theory they should sum to a level 5 per nominal encounter they replace). Again, nothing absolutely demonstrates this in the core books as a stated set of rules, but it makes sense. You end up with a fairly good dramatic adventure structure where the PCs forge ahead, accomplish some intermediate goals, regroup, and act out the final climactic part of the adventure, then level up and rest in preparation for the next level's portion of the overall story arc (and a whole adventure module seems to be around 3 levels, which makes sense too). [/QUOTE]
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