D&D 5E (2014) How do you prepare/build encounters in 5e? (Poll)
- Thread starter Quickleaf
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ThirdWizard
First Post
I use the DM guidelines, with the caveat that I am fairly generous with magic items so I build encounters as if the PCs are +1 level and I only make Hard or higher encounters. So far it has worked very well.
Wuzzard
First Post
I don't think I've ever consulted encounter building rules in any edition when actually putting together an encounter for an actual game. I do take note of monster CR, but only to make sure I'm not way off. The truth is that actual game situations rarely match whatever expectations that the encounter building rules think they are measuring, so actual play can be much easier or much more difficult than expected. These requires the DM to be adaptable during play, so why not start from that premise.
Sacrosanct
Legend
Intuition and feel, and what fits the area. If I'm working on an adventure for 5-7th level PCs, I'm not going to put in super high CR monsters in areas where the PCs are certain to encounter, but I also won't shy in putting in an old dragon in that nearby volcano because that's where it makes it's lair. If a group of 5th level PCs hear the stories of that dragon living in the volcano and hunting the landscape since "before my granddad's time" and decide to go investigate despite it not really being part of the main plot of the core adventure? Well, if it doesn't work out for them, that's on them.
My method:
Step 1: Design the fiction behind the encounter. Purpose of encounter. Random encounters I incorporate into developing setting by giving a feel for the dangers of an area or the world. Motivation and personality of creature. Angry animal. Calculating ambusher. Territorial predator. Take some time to think about why this encounter is occurring and what purpose it serves.
Step 2: Determine what kind of battle I want it to be in terms of difficulty and length. Longer fights I generally consider epic against an enemy that can truly stand up to the entire party attacking them.
Step 3. Start doing the math. I usually start with damage and durability calculations giving some leeway for bad rolls if I want them to live and no leeway if it is a battle to the death.
Step 4. Attempt to account for special abilities such as the effects of spells and the possible defenses the enemy will have to stand against them. This often depends on the fiction which determines if the creature has sufficient intelligence on the PC's capabilities to know how to counter them. During this step I also account for X-factors like an NPC being coerced into fighting that won't try to kill the PCs or if they'll give up rather than face death.
I go through those four steps when building encounters. I don't like wasting time on random encounters or room by room clearing. I want meaningful fights against creatures that react to the sound of nearby battle and make the PCs feel like they're in a fantasy world.
Step 1: Design the fiction behind the encounter. Purpose of encounter. Random encounters I incorporate into developing setting by giving a feel for the dangers of an area or the world. Motivation and personality of creature. Angry animal. Calculating ambusher. Territorial predator. Take some time to think about why this encounter is occurring and what purpose it serves.
Step 2: Determine what kind of battle I want it to be in terms of difficulty and length. Longer fights I generally consider epic against an enemy that can truly stand up to the entire party attacking them.
Step 3. Start doing the math. I usually start with damage and durability calculations giving some leeway for bad rolls if I want them to live and no leeway if it is a battle to the death.
Step 4. Attempt to account for special abilities such as the effects of spells and the possible defenses the enemy will have to stand against them. This often depends on the fiction which determines if the creature has sufficient intelligence on the PC's capabilities to know how to counter them. During this step I also account for X-factors like an NPC being coerced into fighting that won't try to kill the PCs or if they'll give up rather than face death.
I go through those four steps when building encounters. I don't like wasting time on random encounters or room by room clearing. I want meaningful fights against creatures that react to the sound of nearby battle and make the PCs feel like they're in a fantasy world.
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Tony Vargas
Legend
It was tough to choose between intuition/feel and just 'don't build encounters.' Because I really don't pre-build encounters in 5e, it's not worth it. The game happens at the table, the guidelines are significantly more trouble than 3e or 4e and barely deliver results as dependable as 3e, and the PC's performances are variable enough (I typically don't run for a consistent group, but for strangers, or for an open-entry/exit public event where I may know most of the players and have regulars, but can never be sure which of them will miss a session) that it's just not worth it. Instead, I improvise the encounter, and sometimes the monster stats, at the moment the PCs come upon it. Then I'll tweak it as I go. So it's very much a matter of DM experience, intuition & feel, but it's just not prepared/built, it's in the moment.
Remathilis
Legend
Just starting to DM it, so DMG for now. Once I get comfortable at eyeballing it, then intuition will kick in.
Wuzzard
First Post
+100
FormerlyHemlock
Hero
Sometimes I'll roll up an encounter on kobold.com (keep rolling until something strikes my fancy then build a story around it), but most of the time I build something in AD&D fashion: decide on a monster ecology/organization and roll dice within those parameters to see how many there are. I honor 5E tropes to a certain extent, e.g. you may run into a small clan of 12 Fire Giants but you probably won't run into a divison of 4000 of them, even though 4000 could make perfect sense as a medieval-sized army.
I think the main thing I use DMG difficulty for is that the higher into Deadly the official "difficulty" rating is, the more careful I am to telegraph the danger and give my players the opportunity to run away. Which they usually don't take, anyway, except against dragons and beholders. But I don't use the DMG guidelines for building the encounter.
So anyway, I voted "intuition and feel" instead of "other" but I basically go off of monster ecology and organization structure. 1d1000 janxes is fine by me.
I think the main thing I use DMG difficulty for is that the higher into Deadly the official "difficulty" rating is, the more careful I am to telegraph the danger and give my players the opportunity to run away. Which they usually don't take, anyway, except against dragons and beholders. But I don't use the DMG guidelines for building the encounter.
So anyway, I voted "intuition and feel" instead of "other" but I basically go off of monster ecology and organization structure. 1d1000 janxes is fine by me.
epithet
Explorer
I use Kobold Fight Club.
http://kobold.club/fight/#/encounter-builder
I'll decide what enemies I want in the encounter, and then use the web tool to adjust how many of them to drop on the party. I try to remain flexible, ready to drop an extra enemy or two into the action if the party has brought along an NPC or something.
I also wing it.
http://kobold.club/fight/#/encounter-builder
I'll decide what enemies I want in the encounter, and then use the web tool to adjust how many of them to drop on the party. I try to remain flexible, ready to drop an extra enemy or two into the action if the party has brought along an NPC or something.
I also wing it.
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