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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MerricB" data-source="post: 6366401" data-attributes="member: 3586">HotDQ was also designed with the monster stats in flux, so there are several encounters there that are, quite likely, too hard for the PCs. Monsters got a lot deadlier between the early playtest and the actual release.Basically, you have to ignore a lot of the way you created encounters in 3E and 4E. In 3E, single monsters or pairs of monsters generally made up the best challenges. A lot of lower-level monsters didn't work at all, because their AC/attack bonuses were just too low. Hordes of lower-level monsters are a real threat in 5E, because of bounded accuracy: they can hit and damage the party!Likewise, 4E went on a "one monster for each PC" baseline, while also having (to a lesser extent) the problem that monsters a couple of levels away from the party often being not that fun to fight. Lower-level monsters weren't that bad, but higher-level monsters, especially soldiers, could turn very grindy: the party just couldn't hit them!Because of bounded accuracy, you can use a much greater range of monster levels in 5E. There are two things that might make an encounter too tough:* A really dangerous monster. This is why the Challenge Rating is so important - note that the definition of the CR isn't "this uses 20-25% of resources" but rather "this is what a well-rested party can face and not suffer any casualties". Big difference.* Lots of monsters. Parties can absolutely get swarmed, which is why the XP balancing works on the # of monsters used.So, 5E deals with the major problem of 3E combat (out-levelling monsters) with bounded accuracy, while maintaining part of 4E's "more monsters are fun" ethos. Personally, I think that the guidelines for encounter building aren't entirely accurate at the extremes, especially at very low levels, and we'll need to see a lot more play before we're sure what they are!Cheers!</blockquote>

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