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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celtavian" data-source="post: 6657092" data-attributes="member: 5834">We don't use level+(x) or CR or any of that.I calculate damage to be lethal, unavoidably lethal, at high level. As in there is nothing you can do to prevent yourself from being hit by lethal damage at some point in the fight save pure luck. Our encounter calculations center around DPR for and DPR against. The DPR number must be able to deliver a similar amount of damage to the PCs in challenging encounters. The NPCs must be able counter the parties tactics to prevent damage mitigation and to mitigate damage at a similar level. Tactical equality where fights come down to a bit of luck and perhaps one or two abilities the party possesses that the other team does not, which the PCs must figure out during the fight, very quickly. Only very powerful healing counters this effect. I build encounters to kill the party. The only counter is a powerful, dedicated healer to keep them alive that is highly focused on survival. It's a different way of doing things. But we found CR and most of the encounter building systems woefully inadequate for use in our games. I use a system based on damage calculations and other common factors in a battle like AC and unique special abilities to specifically tailor extremely lethal encounters that push the PCs to the wall of death. I've become quite good at it after all these years of playing.Thus our groups over the years have needed a powerful healer. Most of the group considers it a chore to play a healer. I don't like games that aren't lethal. I don't find it very fun if the party doesn't feel on the verge of death, spent of resources, with a member or two unconscious. That's fun for us. Or maybe it's just fun for me. So far only 5E has allowed me to build as I like and somehow survive without a dedicated cleric healer. We'll see if it holds up over time.</blockquote>

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