Reducing the number of encounters in a day

[Xeviat]

3 seems to be the magic number of rounds they assume; it's also what I've found when stress testing the CR calculator.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Sounds good: impose a save to keep raging after 3 rounds, that gets harder each round until stop raging or spend another rage.

And, to be fair, require concentration saves after 3 rounds, too.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

After further thinking, it seems I may have to reduce the number of the Barbarian's rages per day. By the default rules, with 6 to 8 encounters per day, having 2 rages per day means you can rage for 1/3 to 1/4 of the fights. If I'm instead having 3 to 4 encounters per day, then they have rages for 2/3 to 1/2 of the encounters.

The default rules give roughly 5 Medium encounters per day. If you divide XP per adventuring day by the average Medium encounter (halfway between Medium and Hard), 3rd level is the only level which exceeds 6 encounters per day, at 6.4 Mediums per day. Other than that, the low is 12th level with 4.6 encounters per day, and the high is 10th level with 5.8 encounters per day.

There is no "6-8 encounters per day" standard unless you stick to Easy encounters.

Daily	Medium	Hard	Average Medium	Encounters per day
300	50	75	62.5	4.8
600	100	150	125	4.8
1200	150	225	187.5	6.4
1700	250	375	312.5	5.44
3500	500	750	625	5.6
4000	600	900	750	5.333333333
5000	750	1100	925	5.405405405
6000	900	1400	1150	5.217391304
7500	1100	1600	1350	5.555555556
9000	1200	1900	1550	5.806451613
10500	1600	2400	2000	5.25
11500	2000	3000	2500	4.6
13500	2200	3400	2800	4.821428571
15000	2500	3800	3150	4.761904762
18000	2800	4300	3550	5.070422535
20000	3200	4800	4000	5
25000	3900	5900	4900	5.102040816
27000	4200	6300	5250	5.142857143
30000	4900	7300	6100	4.918032787
40000	5700	8500	7100	5.633802817

 

[Tony Vargas]

The default rules give roughly 5 Medium encounters per day. If you divide XP per adventuring day by the average Medium encounter.

You're assuming each encounter is against a lone monster?

Based on the number of monsters in the
encounter, multiply the encounter’s XP value by the
matching multiplier from the Encounter XP Multipliers
table. ... This doesn’t change the actual XP award
the adventurers receive for overcoming the monsters,
just your calculations of how difficult the encounter is.

There is no "6-8 encounters per day" standard unless you stick to Easy encounters.

It's more an expectation, than a standard.

Assuming typical adventuring conditions and average
luck, most adventuring parties can handle about six
to eight medium or hard encounters in a day.

 

[S'mon]

I don't actually believe that most PC parties (typical 4-5 PC group) can handle 6-8 hard encounters/day, except perhaps at high level. My groups always seem pretty drained after 3-4.

 

[designbot]

There is no "6-8 encounters per day" standard unless you stick to Easy encounters.

DMG, page 84:

Assuming typical adventuring conditions and average luck, most adventuring parties can handle about six
to eight medium or hard encounters in a day.

 

[Sunseeker]

I don't actually believe that most PC parties (typical 4-5 PC group) can handle 6-8 hard encounters/day, except perhaps at high level. My groups always seem pretty drained after 3-4.

Now when you say "groups" are you saying that their PCs are drained, or that the players are drained (ie: losing interest), or both?

 

[S'mon]

Now when you say "groups" are you saying that their PCs are drained, or that the players are drained (ie: losing interest), or both?

PCs are drained of resources.

 

[Xeviat]

The default rules give roughly 5 Medium encounters per day. If you divide XP per adventuring day by the average Medium encounter (halfway between Medium and Hard), 3rd level is the only level which exceeds 6 encounters per day, at 6.4 Mediums per day. Other than that, the low is 12th level with 4.6 encounters per day, and the high is 10th level with 5.8 encounters per day.

There is no "6-8 encounters per day" standard unless you stick to Easy encounters.

I did the same math, but I used the base XP for a medium encounter.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

You're assuming each encounter is against a lone monster?

No. The number of monsters is irrelevant, because the ratio of (adjusted XP per adventuring day)adjusted XP per fight) remains constant.

Are you computing the daily XP budget with raw XP instead of adjusted XP? It's a surprisingly common mistake, but the DMG makes it plain (in its muddled, poorly-written way) that adjusted XP is what the chart refers to.