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General Tabletop Discussion
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Where did the 6-8 encounter standard come from?
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<blockquote data-quote="Lord_Blacksteel" data-source="post: 7277322" data-attributes="member: 53082"><p>No, 4E was ten encounters <em>per level</em> so it didn't come from there. That was intended to be a mix of combat encounters, skill challenges, and quest rewards so it was typically 5-8 combat encounters per level in practice. Combat could take a while, but from an "encounters" perspective you leveled up faster. </p><p></p><p>From a design perspective if you balance the game by having some abilities available all of the time, some available with an easy recharge (a short rest), and some available with a more difficult recharge (long rest) then you need enough encounters to make those a meaningful difference. As others have pointed out if you're doing a lot of cross-country travel and going with one encounter per day then those differences largely disappear. To a degree that means a DM can explore the upper limits of the enemy CR range and challenge the PC's a little harder. </p><p></p><p>I'm sure it does stem from the dungeon as "peak environment" for the game. Pretty much every adventure has at least one significant dungeon and that's traditionally the most challenging piece - where your character is the most in danger of dying - and the heart of the game so that's where balance comes into play the most. It's not the only part we play, but it's the part that requires the finest degree of balance. Even there, the DM can moderate it with wandering encounters, reinforcements, and morale considerations.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lord_Blacksteel, post: 7277322, member: 53082"] No, 4E was ten encounters [I]per level[/I] so it didn't come from there. That was intended to be a mix of combat encounters, skill challenges, and quest rewards so it was typically 5-8 combat encounters per level in practice. Combat could take a while, but from an "encounters" perspective you leveled up faster. From a design perspective if you balance the game by having some abilities available all of the time, some available with an easy recharge (a short rest), and some available with a more difficult recharge (long rest) then you need enough encounters to make those a meaningful difference. As others have pointed out if you're doing a lot of cross-country travel and going with one encounter per day then those differences largely disappear. To a degree that means a DM can explore the upper limits of the enemy CR range and challenge the PC's a little harder. I'm sure it does stem from the dungeon as "peak environment" for the game. Pretty much every adventure has at least one significant dungeon and that's traditionally the most challenging piece - where your character is the most in danger of dying - and the heart of the game so that's where balance comes into play the most. It's not the only part we play, but it's the part that requires the finest degree of balance. Even there, the DM can moderate it with wandering encounters, reinforcements, and morale considerations. [/QUOTE]
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Where did the 6-8 encounter standard come from?
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