D&D 5E How do you prepare/build encounters in 5e? (Poll)

[Quickleaf]

I know a lot of these answers depend on the type of gaming group (home vs. organized play, rotating vs. stable), how well the DM knows the players, the influence instigator-type players have with the rest of the group, etc, etc. IOW it's a personal question, and there's no "one right answer for everyone."

See, I don't design different types of encounters. I've found that ANY encounter can become a combat encounter based solely on the actions of the PCs. I've also found that any combat encounter can become a social encounter or exploration encounter with smart actions by PCs.

I don't design for specific types, but try to be flexible to the player's potential actions. To be fair, I put more effort into what I assume will be the type of encounter, but I try to keep open possibilities. An example of this would be from an Encounters season during the playtest, where one of the PCs tried to convince the other players to kill and loot their employer, a renowned sage. This (almost) turned a social encounter into a combat encounter due to the actions of a single player.

That makes sense!

So, a few followup questions:

The party's negotiations with a [insert monster] king break down, how many [monsters] do you throw at them? Make whatever assumptions you want about the [monster], party level, and number of PCs.

Imagine a party of 3rd level adventurers in 5e (or whatever level you prefer for the purposes of the example). According to your DM intuition/experience, you must have a sense for how challenging a combat you are setting them up for, right? Generally, how do you make that discernment?

 

[iserith]

A followup question for you: Is it your job to inform player in advance about the challenge a particular scenario presents?

I'm not pming, but in my view, yes. This is known as telegraphing (a fancy word for foreshadowing). Show the badness ahead of time in some fashion. Not only does this build tension, but it gives the players the opportunity to change their fate. To me, that's just being fair.

For example, say you have a mixed group of new-ish players and experienced players. Following your example, their PCs are 3rd level. Let's say the island would be a deadly (as in probably impossible) scenario for them. What cues (if any) would you give to let them know? Do you simply say "mummies" and rely on experienced players to inform everyone that mummies are way above their experience level?

I would share local legends about the place if I feel that would be reasonable and entertaining, possibly through a quirky sailor NPC who talks about how he knew a pirate who got into a tussle with a shambling, bandaged deader. One look into the mummy's eye and the man was catatonic with fear. Through sheer luck, he escaped the mummy's rotting grasp and made if off the island only to waste away into a pile of dust back at his home port. ("True story!") This telegraphs the mummy's abilities and establishes a reason to fear them and build tension... plus may give them some ideas about how to avoid or confront them.

 

[Shiroiken]

That makes sense!

So, a few followup questions:

The party's negotiations with a [insert monster] king break down, how many [monsters] do you throw at them? Make whatever assumptions you want about the [monster], party level, and number of PCs.

Imagine a party of 3rd level adventurers in 5e (or whatever level you prefer for the purposes of the example). According to your DM intuition/experience, you must have a sense for how challenging a combat you are setting them up for, right? Generally, how do you make that discernment?

I use a combination of intuition and experience to design areas, based on the world's logic and the character's level. I seldom make an encounter that MUST be overcome that is too powerful for the party to defeat in combat, simply because it drives the game to a screeching halt. Often I'll create several paths that the adventure can go down, giving the players the opportunity to use their preferred method of problem solving.

In the case of negotiations, unless I have a reason why the enemy leader would keep their numbers hidden, I'd drop clues about the size of the opposition. This will give the players the expected outcomes of their actions (being rude to an overwhelming force is a bad idea), so they can plan accordingly.

To give a specific example: a Goblin Boss (CR 1) and 10-15 Goblins (CR 1/4) would be a good fight for five 3rd level PCs. Tactics could make the battle easier or harder. Fighting the goblins while surrounded in the middle of their lair after negotiations break down is going to be harder than fighting them in narrow hallways. Even better would be to sneak up on them and take them out a few at a time.

 

[Talmek]

When preparing encounters that are not already part of an adventure path (right now my group is playing through HotDQ so segregating those encounters) I typically will go through the appropriate CR list for the PCs level, then build according to storyline rather than guidelines in the DMG. However, I have made it a habit that if I have any doubt about the survivability of the party (not individual PCs, mind you) then I will round down the encounter rather than letting it lie as I wrote it. I've only had one TPK in the fifteen years of GM'ing games (something I do take a certain amount of pride in) excluding BBEG fights that are campaign-enders anyway.

Back to encounters within the APs that I use - these are actually run through with a fine-toothed comb before presenting them to the party. I've had a lot of bad luck over the years running published adventures that turned into meat grinders for the players...something we particularly don't enjoy. Perhaps I'm just a bit too paranoid/gun-shy, but I'd rather not lose a party in the first couple of sessions of what I would desire to be a long-term campaign.

 

[Inchoroi]

Hey, I have a quick poll for 5e DMs out there!

Simple question: How do you prepare or build encounters for your 5e games?

Select the one that matches your approach best.

Thanks for voting I am in the process of putting together a 5e DM cheat sheet / screen, similar to my 4e DM cheat sheet (link is in my sig), so I'd like to get a feel for how most ENWorld DMs are prepping encounters.

I almost always go by intuition and feel, with the caveat that I check for CR's when doing so; if they're close to the levels of the PCs, and there's more than one monster, I may tone them down to what I think is an acceptable level, erring on the side of more HP rather than more damage. I've found that AC counts for very little, and HP is what matters (which is, I think, what it should be).