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<blockquote data-quote="AaronOfBarbaria" data-source="post: 6842322" data-attributes="member: 6701872">Here's a suggestion, but I feel it is important to preface by saying I am not joking, I'm not meaning to belittle you in any way, and I am genuinely trying to help you improve the way that 5th edition works for you:Don't.Just don't. The things that you think are expected are actually only conditionally expected of you; they only apply if you meet the condition of wanting to run encounters that are fine-tuned and &quot;appropriate&quot; or &quot;safe&quot; according to the numbers - and the game doesn't actually expect that you will care about the fine-tuning/numbers/safe/appropriate side of things; the game just expects that you'll have fun playing.Here's an alternative way to design encounters, it's one that I use, and likely very close to the same method that Mike Mearls has professed to use:A) Pick out monsters that seem like they'd make a fun and interesting encounter for you players, whether that encounter will be toe-to-toe combat, negotiation, or evasion being entirely irrelevant (and up to the players to choose which to attempt, though up to you as DM if one leads to another should that attempt fail).That's it - just use whatever sounds cool and ignore the numbers beyond the most cursory glance along the lines of &quot;Party is around level 5, this monster is CR 15... maybe I'll have it not be motivated to attack the party unless they force the issue since CR &gt; Party level means significant risk that someone's character dies even as the party wins the encounter.&quot;I should add this as a final note: I never fudge.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="AaronOfBarbaria, post: 6842322, member: 6701872"] Here's a suggestion, but I feel it is important to preface by saying I am not joking, I'm not meaning to belittle you in any way, and I am genuinely trying to help you improve the way that 5th edition works for you: Don't. Just don't. The things that you think are expected are actually only [I]conditionally[/I] expected of you; they only apply if you meet the condition of wanting to run encounters that are fine-tuned and "appropriate" or "safe" according to the numbers - and the game doesn't actually expect that you will care about the fine-tuning/numbers/safe/appropriate side of things; the game just expects that you'll have fun playing. Here's an alternative way to design encounters, it's one that I use, and likely very close to the same method that Mike Mearls has professed to use: A) Pick out monsters that seem like they'd make a fun and interesting encounter for you players, whether that encounter will be toe-to-toe combat, negotiation, or evasion being entirely irrelevant (and up to the players to choose which to attempt, though up to you as DM if one leads to another should that attempt fail). That's it - just use whatever sounds cool and ignore the numbers beyond the most cursory glance along the lines of "Party is around level 5, this monster is CR 15... maybe I'll have it not be motivated to attack the party unless they force the issue since CR > Party level means significant risk that someone's character dies even as the party wins the encounter." I should add this as a final note: I [I]never[/I] fudge. [/QUOTE]

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