Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 6801489" data-attributes="member: 22779">[MENTION=12731]CapnZapp[/MENTION] - I think it was you in another thread talking about Out of the Abyss and specifically how after a few levels the random encounters in the escape from the Underdark become pretty much a non-issue.&nbsp; I think this was you, but, if I'm wrong, sorry.I think this illustrates what I'm getting at quite nicely.&nbsp; I don't know the specifics of that module, but, I would assume it's 1 in X chance of encounter every Y hours.&nbsp; Let's assume 4 checks per day.&nbsp; Thing is, that usually results in 1 or maybe 2 encounters in a day and they will be spaced hours apart.&nbsp; The party is always fresh going into an encounter that isn't really meant to be a seriously difficult fight in the first place.&nbsp; Random encounters rarely are.Why not switch things up a bit though.&nbsp; Keep the 1 in X chance of encounter, and keep the idea of 4/day, but, all checks are made within 1 hour.&nbsp; Pick a random hour of the day/night, and then roll 4 random encounter checks.&nbsp; First check is on the hour, and each subsequent check is 15 minutes later (or something close to that).&nbsp; Make all 4 rolls first, before proceeding to the first encounter.&nbsp; Take a minute to string some sort of narrative between the encounters.&nbsp; If the first encounter is an insane monster and the next one is a drow patrol, then the drow patrol is hunting that monster.&nbsp; Party deals with the monster, fairly easily probably, but, before they can regain any resources, they get bumped by the Drow patrol.&nbsp; Even though the Drow patrol is no more difficult than the single monster in terms of XP budget, because the party has already burned a few resources - they're down an action surge and maybe a couple of superiority dice, the warlock has spent a spell, leaving him with only one spell slot, the monk has burned a few Ki points.&nbsp; That sort of thing.&nbsp; 5e works a LOT better when you don't treat encounters as completely discrete and allow the party to regain resources between each encounter.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Hussar, post: 6801489, member: 22779"] [MENTION=12731]CapnZapp[/MENTION] - I think it was you in another thread talking about Out of the Abyss and specifically how after a few levels the random encounters in the escape from the Underdark become pretty much a non-issue. I think this was you, but, if I'm wrong, sorry. I think this illustrates what I'm getting at quite nicely. I don't know the specifics of that module, but, I would assume it's 1 in X chance of encounter every Y hours. Let's assume 4 checks per day. Thing is, that usually results in 1 or maybe 2 encounters in a day and they will be spaced hours apart. The party is always fresh going into an encounter that isn't really meant to be a seriously difficult fight in the first place. Random encounters rarely are. Why not switch things up a bit though. Keep the 1 in X chance of encounter, and keep the idea of 4/day, but, all checks are made within 1 hour. Pick a random hour of the day/night, and then roll 4 random encounter checks. First check is on the hour, and each subsequent check is 15 minutes later (or something close to that). Make all 4 rolls first, before proceeding to the first encounter. Take a minute to string some sort of narrative between the encounters. If the first encounter is an insane monster and the next one is a drow patrol, then the drow patrol is hunting that monster. Party deals with the monster, fairly easily probably, but, before they can regain any resources, they get bumped by the Drow patrol. Even though the Drow patrol is no more difficult than the single monster in terms of XP budget, because the party has already burned a few resources - they're down an action surge and maybe a couple of superiority dice, the warlock has spent a spell, leaving him with only one spell slot, the monk has burned a few Ki points. That sort of thing. 5e works a LOT better when you don't treat encounters as completely discrete and allow the party to regain resources between each encounter. [/QUOTE]

Verification