And it is not just that. The difficulty modifier for multiple monsters being gone, most encounters actually become way harder than that. For encounters with 3-6 enemies for example, the new level 20 high is three and half times more difficult than the old level 20 deadly. I think people underestimate the impact of this.
To put it in perspective, a deadly encounter for four 20th level characters using the 2014 rules could be:
3 Erinyes at CR 12 each
Budget of 4 PCs: 4 x 12,700 = 50,800
Encounter Total: 3 x 8,400 = 25,200 x 2 = 50,400 (multiple monster multiplier)
Under the 2024 rules, the characters could face 10 Erinyes or 4 Balor!
10 Erinyes at CR 12 each
Budget of 4 PCs: 4 x 22,000 = 88,000
Encounter Total: 10 x 8,400 = 84,000
4 Balor at CR 19 each
Budget of 4 PCs: 4 x 22,000 = 88,000
Encounter Total: 4 x 22,000 = 88,000
That’s an enormous difference! Now honestly, the 2014 encounter seems underpowered for a deadly encounter but the 2024 encounters seem over the top.
Assuming that 2024 monsters got buffed to a similar extent to 2024 characters, this might be an acknowledgement that the expected number of encounters per day has been reduced, meaning there’s expected to be less attrition of resources. Still, those are super deadly encounters!
I’m not sure they thought through the impact of increasing the budget while removing the multipliers. It may have been better to remove the multipliers without increasing the budget—it’s more or less what I’ve been doing for the past decade.
This approach gives encounters of 6 Erinyes or 2 Balor (plus some minions). Still tough fights but it eyeballs a little closer to expectations.
