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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jgsugden" data-source="post: 7217359" data-attributes="member: 2629">You can create great encounters in 5e using the monsters in the books as solo monsters for characters of any level and any degree of optimization.  I've played in enough games and run enough games to have seen it done across the board.  One of the keys to this is not confusing a battle for survival with a battle of life and death. Great battles can occur when the PCs are heavy favorites in the battle. The trick can often be to not have the combat be focused on the PCs surviving the battle, but on having them beat a challenge before something specific happens. As an example, I've used the Tarrasque in several battles over several editions. When I have, it was never a battle between the heroes and the beast where the only concern was the players surviving. Instead, it was a battle where the beast had to be stopped by the PCs before it destroyed something. As another example, in a recent campaign a group of PCs fought their way to the hidden lair of an ancient red dragon... only to find that their attack on his lair prompted the dragon to hunt down and attack their lair. Believing it could escape, when the PCs arrived, the dragon continued to focus on destroying as much of the city as possible.D&D is not a strategy game of DM versus PCs.  It is a role playing game in which heroes face challenges and, usually, win the day as they tell a great story. This is why the DMG advises using easy encounters. People ask, "What is the point of an easy encounters term where the PCs lose no HPS and waste no spells?"   My response is that there should be something in that battle that advances the story and provides a different type of challenge, such as information that can be gathered, saving an NPC, preventing the destruction of something, or persuading an enemy to change sides.</blockquote>

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