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<blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 9199545" data-attributes="member: 20323">The answer I'm going to give you is 4 to 5.There's also an involved method in the DMG page 84 where you use the Adventuring Day XP Budget as your &quot;building&quot; points for stocking 1 Day in a Dungeon.However, what's probably more valuable is actually &quot;getting in under the hood&quot; to sort out factors related to your question. I'll give the summarized version...but you can follow up if anything is unclear...<ul>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">&quot;How many&quot; combat encounters is not just a function of combat balance, but also a function of pacing &amp; having a broad spectrum of challenges to appeal to different player tastes and keep things fresh – trap gauntlets, puzzles, cool discoveries or tricks, creatures to talk to, chases, etc. </li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">It's also a function of the scale/scope of your dungeon – is it meant to fill one 4-hour session? Or be a multi-session delve? Is it mostly linear (e.g. ABCDE)? Or does it present multiple paths (e.g. could go A-D-J-M-S, or A-C-H-M-S, or A-B-F-M-T)?</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">What is the high concept of the dungeon? For instance a death trap dungeon like Tomb of Horrors might be lighter on combats whereas a stronghold dungeon like The Sunless Citadel might be heavier on monsters/combats). Similarly, a stronghold might actually have wandering patrols without defined &quot;there's a combat in this room.&quot; Got to know your high concept when asking questions about what balance means.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Not all combats are equal, so if you're concerned about balance, then you want to consider both the difficulty each combat presents to PCs (e.g. you might have 3 extremely challenging encounters in a dungeon, or you might have 5 easy encounters and one moderate one) AND the complexity/difficulty/mental burden of running a given combat (too many complex combats in close proximity can lead to fatigue/drag).</li>
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[QUOTE="Quickleaf, post: 9199545, member: 20323"] The answer I'm going to give you is 4 to 5. There's also an involved method in the DMG page 84 where you use the Adventuring Day XP Budget as your "building" points for stocking 1 Day in a Dungeon. However, what's probably more valuable is actually "getting in under the hood" to sort out factors related to your question. I'll give the summarized version...but you can follow up if anything is unclear... [LIST] [*]"How many" combat encounters is not just a function of combat balance, but also a function of pacing & having a broad spectrum of challenges to appeal to different player tastes and keep things fresh – trap gauntlets, puzzles, cool discoveries or tricks, creatures to talk to, chases, etc. [*]It's also a function of the scale/scope of your dungeon – is it meant to fill one 4-hour session? Or be a multi-session delve? Is it mostly linear (e.g. ABCDE)? Or does it present multiple paths (e.g. could go A-D-J-M-S, or A-C-H-M-S, or A-B-F-M-T)? [*]What is the high concept of the dungeon? For instance a death trap dungeon like Tomb of Horrors might be lighter on combats whereas a stronghold dungeon like The Sunless Citadel might be heavier on monsters/combats). Similarly, a stronghold might actually have wandering patrols without defined "there's a combat in this room." Got to know your high concept when asking questions about what balance means. [*]Not all combats are equal, so if you're concerned about balance, then you want to consider both the difficulty each combat presents to PCs (e.g. you might have 3 extremely challenging encounters in a dungeon, or you might have 5 easy encounters and one moderate one) AND the complexity/difficulty/mental burden of running a given combat (too many complex combats in close proximity can lead to fatigue/drag). [/LIST] [/QUOTE]

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