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[Historical context] Why "6 to 8 medium/hard encounters" meme is obsolete
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<blockquote data-quote="clearstream" data-source="post: 7204407" data-attributes="member: 71699"><p>Hmm... it says that Adventuring Day XP is "<em>how much XP that character is expected to earn in a day</em>" but then goes on to refer to "<em>adjusted</em>" XP which seems like it must refer to the adjustment for number of foes due to similar wording in that section; but then in that section it says that "<em>adjusted value is not what the monsters are worth in terms of XP</em>". So is it or isn't it? Take four 1st level characters (Adventuring day = 1200XP). 4 orcs adjusted is 400XP which is Deadly for that party. We can have three of those in the Adventuring Day but... we're only awarding the unadjusted XP for each, right? In conflict with the words in the Adventuring Day section, the PCs can't earn 1200XP in that day.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Good observation, I wonder what we can do with that... ?</p><p></p><p></p><p>Chart preserving first decimal is below. Regarding 6-8 relevance, note the <strong>hypothesis</strong>: "<span style="color: #006400"><em>5e designers tuned classes based on judgement and play testing so that characters can handle 6-8 medium to hard encounters between long rests.</em></span>" If that is valid, then it saves us a lot of work. We can assert that no matter what the XP table says, characters are capable by design of handling 6-8 encounters per Adventuring Day so fewer than that number equates to easy difficulty, higher than that number equates to hard difficulty, and that number equates to medium difficulty.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Level Easy Medium Hard Deadly</p><p>1 8.1 4.8 3.4 2.8</p><p>2 8.1 4.8 3.4 2.8</p><p>3 10.7 6.4 3.8 3.3</p><p>4 9.1 5.4 3.9 3.2</p><p>5 9.3 5.6 3.8 3.1</p><p>6 8.9 5.3 3.5 2.9</p><p>7 9.1 5.4 3.6 3.1</p><p>8 8.9 5.2 3.4 2.9</p><p>9 9.1 5.6 3.8 3.1</p><p>10 10.0 5.8 3.8 3.3</p><p>11 8.8 5.3 3.5 2.9</p><p>12 7.7 4.6 3.1 2.6</p><p>13 8.2 4.8 3.2 2.7</p><p>14 8.0 4.8 3.2 2.6</p><p>15 8.6 5.1 3.4 2.8</p><p>16 8.3 5.0 3.3 2.8</p><p>17 8.5 5.1 3.4 2.8</p><p>18 8.6 5.1 3.4 2.8</p><p>19 8.2 4.9 3.3 2.8</p><p>20 9.4 5.6 3.8 3.2</p><p> </p><p>mean 8.8 5.2 3.5 2.9</p><p>median 8.7 5.2 3.4 2.9</p><p>min 7.7 4.6 3.1 2.6</p><p>max 10.7 6.4 3.9 3.3</p><p></p><p>Whichever way we land on "adjusted" I feel like Adventuring Day difficulty settings could work something like this -</p><p></p><p><strong>Easy</strong> - this is the current setting, no modifier needed</p><p><strong>Medium</strong> - increase encounter XP thresholds by <span style="color: #FF0000">50%</span> <em>without</em> increasing XP awarded to players</p><p><strong>Hard</strong> - increase encounter XP thresholds by <span style="color: #FF0000">100%</span> <em>without</em> increasing XP awarded to players</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="clearstream, post: 7204407, member: 71699"] Hmm... it says that Adventuring Day XP is "[I]how much XP that character is expected to earn in a day[/I]" but then goes on to refer to "[I]adjusted[/I]" XP which seems like it must refer to the adjustment for number of foes due to similar wording in that section; but then in that section it says that "[I]adjusted value is not what the monsters are worth in terms of XP[/I]". So is it or isn't it? Take four 1st level characters (Adventuring day = 1200XP). 4 orcs adjusted is 400XP which is Deadly for that party. We can have three of those in the Adventuring Day but... we're only awarding the unadjusted XP for each, right? In conflict with the words in the Adventuring Day section, the PCs can't earn 1200XP in that day. Good observation, I wonder what we can do with that... ? Chart preserving first decimal is below. Regarding 6-8 relevance, note the [B]hypothesis[/B]: "[COLOR=#006400][I]5e designers tuned classes based on judgement and play testing so that characters can handle 6-8 medium to hard encounters between long rests.[/I][/COLOR]" If that is valid, then it saves us a lot of work. We can assert that no matter what the XP table says, characters are capable by design of handling 6-8 encounters per Adventuring Day so fewer than that number equates to easy difficulty, higher than that number equates to hard difficulty, and that number equates to medium difficulty. Level Easy Medium Hard Deadly 1 8.1 4.8 3.4 2.8 2 8.1 4.8 3.4 2.8 3 10.7 6.4 3.8 3.3 4 9.1 5.4 3.9 3.2 5 9.3 5.6 3.8 3.1 6 8.9 5.3 3.5 2.9 7 9.1 5.4 3.6 3.1 8 8.9 5.2 3.4 2.9 9 9.1 5.6 3.8 3.1 10 10.0 5.8 3.8 3.3 11 8.8 5.3 3.5 2.9 12 7.7 4.6 3.1 2.6 13 8.2 4.8 3.2 2.7 14 8.0 4.8 3.2 2.6 15 8.6 5.1 3.4 2.8 16 8.3 5.0 3.3 2.8 17 8.5 5.1 3.4 2.8 18 8.6 5.1 3.4 2.8 19 8.2 4.9 3.3 2.8 20 9.4 5.6 3.8 3.2 mean 8.8 5.2 3.5 2.9 median 8.7 5.2 3.4 2.9 min 7.7 4.6 3.1 2.6 max 10.7 6.4 3.9 3.3 Whichever way we land on "adjusted" I feel like Adventuring Day difficulty settings could work something like this - [B]Easy[/B] - this is the current setting, no modifier needed [B]Medium[/B] - increase encounter XP thresholds by [COLOR=#FF0000]50%[/COLOR] [I]without[/I] increasing XP awarded to players [B]Hard[/B] - increase encounter XP thresholds by [COLOR=#FF0000]100%[/COLOR] [I]without[/I] increasing XP awarded to players [/QUOTE]
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[Historical context] Why "6 to 8 medium/hard encounters" meme is obsolete
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