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<blockquote data-quote="Oofta" data-source="post: 7450022" data-attributes="member: 6801845">A lot of what I think has already been covered.&nbsp; D&amp;D is far too flexible in character creation and implementation to answer all of your questions.&nbsp; It's far from perfect but I do think it's the best version yet.Older versions of the game (3 and before) fell apart after about level 14/15.&nbsp; I played in and ran games to 30th in 4E, it was a boring slog-fest that took an hour or more per turn.&nbsp; I've played in and run games that ran to 20th in 5E.&nbsp; The games in 5E were a little silly at times with the wizard taking out entire encampments with Meteor Storm, but I was still able to challenge the players.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; I use it as a rule of thumb, but you still have to think about the encounter.&nbsp; I've done encounters that were &quot;low&quot; and ones that were &quot;high&quot; that were about the same challenge.&nbsp; Throw a &quot;calculation level appropriate&quot; encounter with just flameskulls, give them a surprise round and you're probably risking a TPK.&nbsp; Bunch of ogres approaching in fireball formation?&nbsp; Cakewalk.So as a general guideline adjusted appropriately for your party, it works decent most of the time.&nbsp; Use it assuming a single calculation will work for every group and every monster combo regardless of environment? Obviously not going to work.Being blunt: you're doing it wrong.&nbsp; Vary goals, terrain, tactics.&nbsp; It could be a whole other thread.&nbsp;Not in my experience.&nbsp; I'm not generally a killer DM but I have killed PCs, and had encounters where they were hanging on by a thread.I use the alternate rules where a short rest is overnight, a long rest is several days or a week or so depending on where they are.&nbsp; That fits the pace of my campaign since I generally don't do dungeon crawls.&nbsp; Having said that, I set up situations and challenges I don't &quot;count&quot; encounters ahead of time.I do use custom monsters on a pretty regular basis or modify existing.&nbsp; So that dragon?&nbsp; It has levels of sorcerer.&nbsp; That death knight?&nbsp; It has a split personality, with each personality taking a turn.&nbsp; That &quot;boss&quot; monster?&nbsp; It's going to transform during the fight with different tactics at different levels.&nbsp; The only limit is your imagination.&nbsp; The rules are merely a framework to start your game.&nbsp; If you have specific questions, ask them.&nbsp; Don't throw them into a general D&amp;D SUCKS post.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Oofta, post: 7450022, member: 6801845"] A lot of what I think has already been covered. D&D is far too flexible in character creation and implementation to answer all of your questions. It's far from perfect but I do think it's the best version yet. Older versions of the game (3 and before) fell apart after about level 14/15. I played in and ran games to 30th in 4E, it was a boring slog-fest that took an hour or more per turn. I've played in and run games that ran to 20th in 5E. The games in 5E were a little silly at times with the wizard taking out entire encampments with Meteor Storm, but I was still able to challenge the players. I use it as a rule of thumb, but you still have to think about the encounter. I've done encounters that were "low" and ones that were "high" that were about the same challenge. Throw a "calculation level appropriate" encounter with just flameskulls, give them a surprise round and you're probably risking a TPK. Bunch of ogres approaching in fireball formation? Cakewalk. So as a general guideline adjusted appropriately for your party, it works decent most of the time. Use it assuming a single calculation will work for every group and every monster combo regardless of environment? Obviously not going to work. Being blunt: you're doing it wrong. Vary goals, terrain, tactics. It could be a whole other thread. Not in my experience. I'm not generally a killer DM but I have killed PCs, and had encounters where they were hanging on by a thread. I use the alternate rules where a short rest is overnight, a long rest is several days or a week or so depending on where they are. That fits the pace of my campaign since I generally don't do dungeon crawls. Having said that, I set up situations and challenges I don't "count" encounters ahead of time. I do use custom monsters on a pretty regular basis or modify existing. So that dragon? It has levels of sorcerer. That death knight? It has a split personality, with each personality taking a turn. That "boss" monster? It's going to transform during the fight with different tactics at different levels. The only limit is your imagination. The rules are merely a framework to start your game. If you have specific questions, ask them. Don't throw them into a general D&D SUCKS post. [/QUOTE]

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