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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Imaro" data-source="post: 7192743" data-attributes="member: 48965">I am still trying to understand why this is a given though (well outside of personal preference)... why should or do the encounters for PC's have to apply to the populace at large?  I've seen no real explanation for why this must be true... well again except for personal preference and at that point it kind of proves this isn't an objective thing but instead something a particular DM chooses to make true in his world and thus chooses to create the associated problems around it. But again with the effects of BA those stragglers who are disrupting civilization can be deadly encounters without a massive increase in numbers.  We can have a band of 10 bandits who are any CR we want and yet their limited numbers makes it suicide for them to openly and brazenly attack a settlement.  This is what I've been trying to convey (I think unsuccessfully)  throughout this conversation... there is no one set D&D X (where X is a monster).   As part of the game any X can be modified or even created anew in any way the DM wants thus it becomes a wholly self imposed problem when you choose to make your deadly encounter for a party of 3rd level characters 20 (CR 1/8 cultists) vs. say  8 (CR 1/2) cultists.  The logistics, effect on environment, worldbuilding implications, etc. are totally different for one encounter vs. the other... even without assuming the encounters are a mechanic for player interaction as opposed to a generator for worldbuilding.It's being claimed there are implications in using 3 deadly encounters to balance the game... while I'm saying the construction of said encounters can vary those implications so much that unless you mean it in the most generic sense possible (as in any encounter balance system will have implications) then it's a moot pointYes but we also have to look at the flexibility of said mechanics and out own responsibility in their use.  Again if I decide to have 20 CR 1/8 cultists in a small hamlet of 50 people vs. 8 CR 1/2  cultists in said hamlet... the worldbulding implications are different for eac h even though they are both "deadly" encounters for my 3rd level party... determining how to fit the right deadly encounters into the world so it makes sense in your campaign is the part the DM has to take responsibility for.</blockquote>

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