el-remmen
Moderator Emeritus
I basically have only used it after the fact for this experiment. Otherwise, I just eyeball it and so far it has been fine and fun!
D&D 5E It's Official! Most of my encounters are "Deadly" (now updated with info through the end of 2022!)
I basically have only used it after the fact for this experiment. Otherwise, I just eyeball it and so far it has been fine and fun!
el-remmen
Moderator Emeritus
Update Time!
The PCs wrapped up a sidetrek and other related encounters only tangentially connected to the previous adventure:
Despite being technically "easy," encounter 52 was made sufficiently difficult that the PCs cast some obscuring spells (darkness, fog cloud) and fled, because the guards had missile weapons and got the drop on the PCs from above and with sufficient cover and distance, to make taking them out nearly impossible - esp. since the party has no means to fly or teleport (well, ranger/sorcerer can misty step but then she'd be up there by herself). Despite, being against 17 foes, encounter #53 did not take too long (about 6 rounds?) and in this case the PCs saw the troop of undead coming up the road and prepped an ambush which helped.
The PCs (both players and characters) did not know about troll regeneration, so that fight was interesting as they figured it out once one of the trolls threw caution to the wind to reach the gnome bard/wizard who fire bolted him. One of these two trolls managed to get away, ducking into a dark cave the PCs did not want to follow him into for fear of more trolls in there.
Eventually for encounter 55 (which took 15 rounds), the PCs had to face that knight and his men again at the same time as a fully healed returned troll and the giant-two-headed troll (basically an ettin with troll traits), while also trying to defend a defenseless civilian, which complicated the fight. I also used a bunch of DIY terrain to create a tiered and vertical battle site that made it very interesting. In the end, they destroyed both trolls, killed all the guards (or they were killed by a troll), and took the knight prisoner. Oh they took a short rest both after the undead fight and after the first troll fight.
For those who are curious, encounter 52 and 53 happened in the same session, and 54 and 55 were the session after that. All this activity happened within a 10 hour period where the PCs were unable to get a long rest.
Do with this info, what you will - and I am happy to answer questions - oh and below are the set-ups for where encounters 54 and 55 took place.
One last thing: There was another session after this one with the big fight, but there was no combat in it.
The PCs wrapped up a sidetrek and other related encounters only tangentially connected to the previous adventure:
| Encounter # | Monsters | # of (N)PCs/Level | CRs | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 52 | Knight (1), Guards (5) | 4/6 | 3, 1/8 | Easy |
| 53 | Skeletons (16), Ogre Zombie | 4/6 | 1/4, 2 | Hard |
| 54 | Trolls (2) | 4/6 | 5 | Hard |
| 55 | Knight (1), Guards (5), Troll, Giant Two-Headed Troll | 4/6 | 3, 1/8, 5, 6 | Deadly |
Despite being technically "easy," encounter 52 was made sufficiently difficult that the PCs cast some obscuring spells (darkness, fog cloud) and fled, because the guards had missile weapons and got the drop on the PCs from above and with sufficient cover and distance, to make taking them out nearly impossible - esp. since the party has no means to fly or teleport (well, ranger/sorcerer can misty step but then she'd be up there by herself). Despite, being against 17 foes, encounter #53 did not take too long (about 6 rounds?) and in this case the PCs saw the troop of undead coming up the road and prepped an ambush which helped.
The PCs (both players and characters) did not know about troll regeneration, so that fight was interesting as they figured it out once one of the trolls threw caution to the wind to reach the gnome bard/wizard who fire bolted him. One of these two trolls managed to get away, ducking into a dark cave the PCs did not want to follow him into for fear of more trolls in there.
Eventually for encounter 55 (which took 15 rounds), the PCs had to face that knight and his men again at the same time as a fully healed returned troll and the giant-two-headed troll (basically an ettin with troll traits), while also trying to defend a defenseless civilian, which complicated the fight. I also used a bunch of DIY terrain to create a tiered and vertical battle site that made it very interesting. In the end, they destroyed both trolls, killed all the guards (or they were killed by a troll), and took the knight prisoner. Oh they took a short rest both after the undead fight and after the first troll fight.
For those who are curious, encounter 52 and 53 happened in the same session, and 54 and 55 were the session after that. All this activity happened within a 10 hour period where the PCs were unable to get a long rest.
Do with this info, what you will - and I am happy to answer questions - oh and below are the set-ups for where encounters 54 and 55 took place.
One last thing: There was another session after this one with the big fight, but there was no combat in it.
Urriak Uruk
Gaming is fun, and fun is for everyone
I'll say, the Easy/Medium/Hard/Deadly system is fairly accurate for low levels. It's when you hit level 8 that all of your encounters are going to start skewing to Deadly, and they won't really be incredibly challenging for the PCs.
Official 5E modules support this too; the high-level adventures in Candlekeep Mysteries mostly contain Deadly encounters.
Official 5E modules support this too; the high-level adventures in Candlekeep Mysteries mostly contain Deadly encounters.
Zardnaar
Legend
I kind of go with boss fight 4 CRs higher than party, one Mook per pc-1 Mook.
Maybe not at low levels though by lvl 7 you can go up to +7 CR.
Bolares
Hero
Hey, cool terrain! Good mix of modularity and immersion.
Ruin Explorer
Legend
Just a random thought but "Most of my encounters are 'Deadly'" would make a great name for a blog or a DMing memoir or similar.
el-remmen
Moderator Emeritus
You know, I have been considering starting a You Tube channel with the name of my zine "HOW I RUN IT." But "Most of My Encounters are 'Deadly'" would make a great category for videos about encounter design.
Or a dating app.
I'll say just off the cuff "Most of my Encounters are Deadly" is a lot more catchy to me than "How I run it"
el-remmen
Moderator Emeritus
Maybe. But more importantly, I think it'd give the wrong impression, as opposed to "How I Run It" which is punchier and has the tagline "I can't tell you how to run your game, but I can tell you how I run mine."
