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General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
DM's, what's your experience with suggested Challenge Ratings?
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<blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 7058114" data-attributes="member: 20323"><p>Yah <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /> Our ranks are growing!</p><p></p><p></p><p>You're going to need to learn your players and the monsters. Expect a trial-by-error period where the DMG guidelines give you a starting point. It's unlikely you'll get encounter balance "perfect" (whatever that means) just beginning to DM. And that's fine. </p><p></p><p>I'll offer a bit of advice, and I'm sure others will too, but ultimately your own trial-by-error and observations with your group are all that matter. </p><p></p><p></p><p>That's usually correct, and it's built into the effective XP encounter multiplier in the DMG.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Yeah, a savvy group of players who've optimized will definitely be able to face steeper opposition. That has certainly been true in my games. </p><p></p><p>Also, I'd pay more attention to Adventuring Day XP (in the DMG). It's easy for DMs to focus on encounter building with the Easy/Medium/Hard/Deadly thresholds laid out in the DMG, but you also want to understand the pacing of your adventures and how that relates to setting up / foreshadowing a particularly challenging combat.</p><p></p><p>EDIT: Also, <em>read</em> monsters before using them whenever possible. Usually you can get away with running monstrous humanoids (orcs, goblins, gnolls, kobolds, etc) without doing so, but more complex monsters like medusae, dragons, and intellect devourers really need to be grokked by the DM before sitting down to play. A lot of play reports abound with DMs misusing complicated monsters because they overlooked an important detail (a recent example was a Death Tyrant beholder being turned by a cleric and having no escape route or minions or traps or any other options for how to handle that situation).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Quickleaf, post: 7058114, member: 20323"] Yah :) Our ranks are growing! You're going to need to learn your players and the monsters. Expect a trial-by-error period where the DMG guidelines give you a starting point. It's unlikely you'll get encounter balance "perfect" (whatever that means) just beginning to DM. And that's fine. I'll offer a bit of advice, and I'm sure others will too, but ultimately your own trial-by-error and observations with your group are all that matter. That's usually correct, and it's built into the effective XP encounter multiplier in the DMG. Yeah, a savvy group of players who've optimized will definitely be able to face steeper opposition. That has certainly been true in my games. Also, I'd pay more attention to Adventuring Day XP (in the DMG). It's easy for DMs to focus on encounter building with the Easy/Medium/Hard/Deadly thresholds laid out in the DMG, but you also want to understand the pacing of your adventures and how that relates to setting up / foreshadowing a particularly challenging combat. EDIT: Also, [I]read[/I] monsters before using them whenever possible. Usually you can get away with running monstrous humanoids (orcs, goblins, gnolls, kobolds, etc) without doing so, but more complex monsters like medusae, dragons, and intellect devourers really need to be grokked by the DM before sitting down to play. A lot of play reports abound with DMs misusing complicated monsters because they overlooked an important detail (a recent example was a Death Tyrant beholder being turned by a cleric and having no escape route or minions or traps or any other options for how to handle that situation). [/QUOTE]
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DM's, what's your experience with suggested Challenge Ratings?
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