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Message: <blockquote data-quote="BoldItalic" data-source="post: 6534426" data-attributes="member: 6777052">The encounter and treasure guidelines in the DMG are not set in stone and even the published 5e adventures (LMoP and HotDQ) don't follow them. So, wanting the DM to follow them more closely is a bit unfair.What you could point out, though, is that character levels in 5e are not the same as character levels in previous editions - they've been rebalanced against different criteria - so what in his mind is an exciting 4th-level encounter is not necessarily right for a party of 4th-level 5th edition PCs. The game's been redesigned and the meaning of "4th-level" has been changed. This is linked to the prevalence of magic items because whereas in previous editions, encounters were balanced on the assumption that PCs have lots of magic items built into them, in 5e that is no longer the case. Encounters are balanced on the assumption that PCs don't have any.It might be that the DM is throwing magic items at you because he realises your party seems underpowered for his encounters and believes that is the way to correct the problem. In older editions it would have been, but in 5e magic items have been adjusted downwards so that they have only a marginal effect on the power of the PC party. The new way to compensate for a weaker party is not to patch them up with magic items but to weaken the monsters they are faced with.Suppose you reckon up for yourself, privately, the difficulty level (easy/medium/hard/deadly) of each encounter you are faced with, and announce to your fellow players "This is too hard, let's run away" or "This looks easy, let's slaughter them" as appropriate. This will give the DM feedback and allow him to learn how to balance his encounters. In other words, train your DM gradually, rather than throwing the rule book at him.(edit - added) Looking at the encounter guidelines, 7 ogres and a troll would be a medium encounter for five 11th-level PCs, or a deadly encounter for five 7th-levels. If you are around 3rd level, you should definitely run away or use clever tactics to split them up and only take on one or two at a time. So, rather than asking the DM to cut it down to just two ogres or one troll, vote with your feet and avoid encounters that are out of your league. He will take the hint.</blockquote>

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