D&D 5E Encounters per day and session time

[MonkeyWrench]

I've read a lot of threads lately where posters claim that the 6-8 med/hard encounters* per adventuring day is the best way to balance PC abilities against the standard monsters. I accept that the game system is based on this assumption, however outside of OD&D I have never found this many encounters, combat or otherwise, to be realistic at the table. My group's sessions last between 4-5 hours and we're good to get in 2-3 combat encounters per session; the majority of our session time is taken up with social enounters, information gathering, and downtime activities, none of which sufficiently deplete player resources in the way combat encounters do.

For the DMs who find the 6-8 encounters/day works for them:
- how long are your sessions?
- do you have multiple sessions that take place within one adventuring day?
- how long are your combats?
- how do you pace your adventures/scenarios?

I'm looking for at-the-table practices and strategies. There are many ways players have to control when and how they approach combat (scouting, divination, etc), and I know how to handle those. I'm looking more for practical tips on how to fit in that many encounters without turning every session into a combat grindfest (the most likely outcome of that many combats from my perspective).

Thanks

* Yes, I'm aware encounters don't alway have to be combat, but social interactions and environmental challenges rarely require the PCs to expend as many resources as combat encounters and the balance of the classes against standard mo alters seems to be based on gradual resource depletion over a long day.

 

[Rhenny]

On average, I run 2-3 hour sessions, and I get in 2-3 encounters. Of course it depends on situation too. Sometimes the session is more exploration and interaction with quicker combats that the pcs take care of easily only expending a few resources (spells, abilities and hit points), other times there are 1 or 2 larger combats that are more dangerous and take more time. In all aspects, I let the story of the campaign dictate what happens (with some random encounters to keep the threat of unexpected combat in the PC minds). I've even run a 3 hour session with 4-5 encounters. Sometimes the PCs draw two encounters or even three into one when they are in confined areas or dungeon locations with adjacent rooms, and sometimes an encounter might be an easy monster with a trap or puzzle to solve, or even an encounter that tests the non-combat skills of the PCs (like trying to scale a crumbling cliff face, or figuring out how to swim across a lake or pond/river, or trying to find a way out of a burning forest, etc.).

For me, remembering that not all sessions have to be complete days helps too. Also, realizing that some sessions will span multiple days and some of those may not be as dangerous to the PCs is often part of the campaign.

 

[Oofta]

Depends on the group. Current group I'm DMing meets for 4-5 hours, I split the adventuring day into two sessions.

People have to keep track of where we left off, but other than that it's pretty simple. If possible I try to leave on a minor cliff hanger.

Length of combat really varies, and combat to non-combat also changes quite a bit with some scenarios being a fight/chase/fight scenes. I'd have to pay closer attention, but I'd say average between 20-30 minutes. Maybe.

I use the optional rules from the DMG, a short rest is overnight, a long rest is several days. That just seems to fit my pace better and allows adventures to span multiple locations since I rarely do straight up dungeons. As far as actual pacing, I try to switch it up. Some games start with the group in the thick of things with multiple fights followed by RP/strategizing/investigation to find out what the heck was going on and why they were under attack. Other games start with the group trying to find the BBEG/macguffin followed by encounters as they enter the snake's den.

So when it comes to pacing, I try to have a mix of scenarios and I switch it up. Sometimes I don't get 6 combat encounters in but the encounters I do have are really tough. Other times I have mostly combat, but easier encounters or the group has assistance.

 

[MonkeyWrench]

On average, I run 2-3 hour sessions, and I get in 2-3 encounters. Of course it depends on situation too. Sometimes the session is more exploration and interaction with quicker combats that the pcs take care of easily only expending a few resources (spells, abilities and hit points), other times there are 1 or 2 larger combats that are more dangerous and take more time. In all aspects, I let the story of the campaign dictate what happens (with some random encounters to keep the threat of unexpected combat in the PC minds). I've even run a 3 hour session with 4-5 encounters. Sometimes the PCs draw two encounters or even three into one when they are in confined areas or dungeon locations with adjacent rooms, and sometimes an encounter might be an easy monster with a trap or puzzle to solve, or even an encounter that tests the non-combat skills of the PCs (like trying to scale a crumbling cliff face, or figuring out how to swim across a lake or pond/river, or trying to find a way out of a burning forest, etc.).

For me, remembering that not all sessions have to be complete days helps too. Also, realizing that some sessions will span multiple days and some of those may not be as dangerous to the PCs is often part of the campaign.

Yeah, that pretty much describes how we run our games now. The problem is, while that's worked in the past, it's made for some very boring sessions in 5e; out of my four regular players only one is really excited about continuing with 5e and even he wants more challenge out of our combats. I'm looking to alter how I run my games and was curious how people fit in more combats in a limited timeframe.

 

[Warmaster Horus]

I don't understand the need for some sort of fixed encounters-per-day thing. Encounters are based on the story being told, not on some sort of periodic expectation. If your players aren't being challenged because CR isn't a good guide for how they're playing or how the adventure is shelling out encounters, make the encounter you do run tougher. Problem solved.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Yeah, the encounter day is not the same as a session day. I.e., just because we might have a four hour session with only 2 encounters, doesn't mean that adventuring day ends when our session ends. We might have two ro three sessions that all cover the same adventuring day.

Also, the # of encounters tends to vary, depending on what the PCs are doing, and how the monsters/NPCs would react to them. Our typical session lasts 8 hours. Sometimes the whole session can go by without any combat at all, even in a combat heavy environment (like when we played ToEE and the players spent an entire session playing the various cultists against each other). Other times, we have lots of encounters, and it's not possible for the PCs to stop and rest after 8, 9, or even a dozen encounters. Especially if they stirred up a hornet's nest.

But on average, the 6-8 number feels pretty accurate for us.

 

[alienux]

I've had as many as 3 or 4 sessions that took an adventuring day, and as little as less than 1 session. It really depends on what's happening at that point of the adventure and what the PCs are doing. It doesn't have to be a 1 session to 1 day ratio.

 

[Cyrinishad]

I have found that my games end up being similar to MonkeyWrench's sessions... 4-5 hours, and 2-3 combats. Not all of those combats necessarily take place on the same day in-game, but there is a wide variation on this that is very circumstantial and dependent on the story and/or player's actions. I haven't found CR or XP value to be a particularly effective guide to creating individual encounters in any edition of the game. I just try to create story-driven encounters that will push the players to their limits without breaking them, and provide all the players with opportunities to have their characters tactics be useful. Admittedly, this is an approach that has be refined over many years, and requires the players to have some faith that I'm not being abusive or stacking the deck against them just for a lark.

In the games I have played in that followed the 6-8 encounter formula, I found that the combat encounters all felt underwhelmingly easy and/or boring.

 

[MonkeyWrench]

I don't understand the need for some sort of fixed encounters-per-day thing. Encounters are based on the story being told, not on some sort of periodic expectation. If your players aren't being challenged because CR isn't a good guide for how they're playing or how the adventure is shelling out encounters, make the encounter you do run tougher. Problem solved.

For the most part that's what I've been doing - lets the actions of the PCs, their consequences, and the actions/reactions of the NPCs & monsters drive the number of encounters. I abandoned the CR system mid-HotDQ because it wasn't a good guide and went with encounters that I thought would challenge the party, modified monsters, used my NPCs to the fullest of their abilities, etc. The result was a game that myself and my players found uninteresting from a mechanical perspective. When I've gone looking for others who encountered similar issues, I've seen people say it's because those DMs aren't following the 6-8 encounter/day guideline. I'm now asking, for people who average 6-8 per day, how they fit them in a 4-5 hour game session?

 

[happyhermit]

Prior to this whole 5e encounters/day issue, I had never known that so many people connected session time to in-game time. Over all the years and editions and systems, I couldn't count the number of sessions that didn't end at the end of a "day", we had just never cared about that for ongoing campaigns. There are a lot of "cliffhangers" that stick in my mind.

Personally I think the whole x/day guideline is really useful if you are having issues with inter-party class balance, and moderately useful if you are having issues with players "nova-ing". The important thing to keep in mind is the "can expect" part imo, if the players/characters expect that they might get x-encounters and x-short rests in a "day" the previous issues are mitigated.