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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 7845713" data-attributes="member: 20323">I agree. Encounter building is largely a creative endeavor.However, an aspect of the conversation that's often overlooked is the Adventuring Day Adjusted XP Budget on DMG page 84. Those adventuring day guidelines are actually a decent starting point, in my experience.So in your example – four 7th-level PCs (adventuring day adjusted XP = 20,000) against a CR 13 adult white dragon (XP 10,000) – it's definitely a winnable yet challenging fight for a party that's fresh, playing smart together, and/or well-prepared for a flying frost-breathing monster.I actually ran an encounter quite similar to this with a party of four 6th-level PCs (adventuring day adjusted XP = 16,000) fighting a CR 12 <a href="https://www.5esrd.com/gamemastering/monsters-foes/monsters-by-type/beasts/titanoboa-3pp/" target="_blank">titanoboa</a> (XP 8,400). It played as very tense, with some close calls, one PC death averted by the luck of the dice, but ultimately the PCs won and cut the head off the snake. There were no combat encounters prior to this one during that adventuring day, though they did expend some resources exploring. Later in the same session they encountered another enormous snake, though this one was blind and they parlayed with it. The players were very nervous about the prospect of fighting another enemy as tough as the titanoboa they slew, but fortunately their parlay went over smoothly. Having that fight before the parlay helped build tension during the interaction scene.</blockquote>

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