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<blockquote data-quote="Reynard" data-source="post: 4649423" data-attributes="member: 467">I started work on a 4E sandbox style, heroic tier game.&nbsp; Part of the creation process is building encounter tables for when PCs go exploring or wandering about on their own.&nbsp; In so doing, I ran across something of a mathematical snag.&nbsp; I though some other folks' perspectives might help me solve the problem.4E suggests that encounters should range from PL(Party Level)-2 to PL+3.&nbsp; I want to use a single chart for any given area (The Fellwood, frex) for all character levels (up to 10th, anyway). In addiiton, the distribution of encounters by encounter level isn't even -- there are supposed to be more encounters, on average, of the party's level than lower or higher level encounters.&nbsp; The way adventure design lays it out, there should be 1 encounter at PL-1 (or PL-2, I assume; the encounter design rules suggest PL-2 is acceptable but the adventure design rules indicated PL-1 is your low end), 3 at PL, 3 at PL+1 and 1 at PL +3. If this were an encounter chart per level per location, it'd be easy -- roll 1d8.The problem comes in when trying to build an encounter chart with overlapping encounters.&nbsp; The first thing that's necessary is to even out the distribution and filling in the PL+2 encounter level.&nbsp; Doing this, we can end up with 5 categories -- -1, 0, +1, +2, +3.&nbsp; But the frequency is still a problem.Below is a brief example of how the chart may look using a d10.&nbsp; I level 1st level off because there is no PL-1 for 1st level (half strength level 1 encounter?)Enc.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Party LevelLevel&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 2&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 3&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 41&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 1-22&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 3-4&nbsp;&nbsp; 1-23&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 5-6&nbsp;&nbsp; 3-4&nbsp; &nbsp; 1-24&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 7-8&nbsp;&nbsp; 5-6&nbsp; &nbsp; 3-45&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; 9-10&nbsp; 7-8&nbsp; &nbsp; 5-6&nbsp;&nbsp; etc&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; d10 rollThe problem with the above is that the &quot;easy&quot; and &quot;hard&quot; encounters are too common, and with the inclusion of PL+2, the encounters will tend to skew toward hard. But, adjusting the frequency creates some strange chart issues:Enc.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Party LevelLevel&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 2&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 3&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 41&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; 12&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 2-4&nbsp; &nbsp; 13&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 5-7&nbsp;&nbsp; 2-4&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 14&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 5-7&nbsp; &nbsp; 2-45&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; 8&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 5-76&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; 87&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 8&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; d8 rollIn either case, my goal was to create a singular chart with some &quot;die modified by party level&quot; roll but I can't seem to find the math that would make it work -- with either even distribution or the distribution per the adventure design guidelines.Also, flipping through the monster manual makes it clear that each encounter is going to have to be crafted; that is, rolling monsters (monster level ranges from PL-3 to PL+7, per the DMG) individually is not likely to be a workable idea.&nbsp; And if you look at the sample encounters in the MM -- I was considering just cribbing them to fill out the chart -- they are, to me, nonsensical and fairly random in the choices of monster combinations.It's likely that my pre-4E mentality and attempts at simulation are what's getting in my way and there really isn't a solution that both hews to the 4E encounter design paradigm *and* allows for a reasonable degree of randomness, but I thought I'd ask the floor before I threw the whole idea out.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Reynard, post: 4649423, member: 467"] I started work on a 4E sandbox style, heroic tier game. Part of the creation process is building encounter tables for when PCs go exploring or wandering about on their own. In so doing, I ran across something of a mathematical snag. I though some other folks' perspectives might help me solve the problem. 4E suggests that encounters should range from PL(Party Level)-2 to PL+3. I want to use a single chart for any given area (The Fellwood, frex) for all character levels (up to 10th, anyway). In addiiton, the distribution of encounters by encounter level isn't even -- there are supposed to be more encounters, on average, of the party's level than lower or higher level encounters. The way adventure design lays it out, there should be 1 encounter at PL-1 (or PL-2, I assume; the encounter design rules suggest PL-2 is acceptable but the adventure design rules indicated PL-1 is your low end), 3 at PL, 3 at PL+1 and 1 at PL +3. If this were an encounter chart per level per location, it'd be easy -- roll 1d8. The problem comes in when trying to build an encounter chart with overlapping encounters. The first thing that's necessary is to even out the distribution and filling in the PL+2 encounter level. Doing this, we can end up with 5 categories -- -1, 0, +1, +2, +3. But the frequency is still a problem. Below is a brief example of how the chart may look using a d10. I level 1st level off because there is no PL-1 for 1st level (half strength level 1 encounter?) Enc. Party Level Level 2 3 4 1 1-2 2 3-4 1-2 3 5-6 3-4 1-2 4 7-8 5-6 3-4 5 9-10 7-8 5-6 etc d10 roll The problem with the above is that the "easy" and "hard" encounters are too common, and with the inclusion of PL+2, the encounters will tend to skew toward hard. But, adjusting the frequency creates some strange chart issues: Enc. Party Level Level 2 3 4 1 1 2 2-4 1 3 5-7 2-4 1 4 5-7 2-4 5 8 5-7 6 8 7 8 d8 roll In either case, my goal was to create a singular chart with some "die modified by party level" roll but I can't seem to find the math that would make it work -- with either even distribution or the distribution per the adventure design guidelines. Also, flipping through the monster manual makes it clear that each encounter is going to have to be crafted; that is, rolling monsters (monster level ranges from PL-3 to PL+7, per the DMG) individually is not likely to be a workable idea. And if you look at the sample encounters in the MM -- I was considering just cribbing them to fill out the chart -- they are, to me, nonsensical and fairly random in the choices of monster combinations. It's likely that my pre-4E mentality and attempts at simulation are what's getting in my way and there really isn't a solution that both hews to the 4E encounter design paradigm *and* allows for a reasonable degree of randomness, but I thought I'd ask the floor before I threw the whole idea out. [/QUOTE]

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