ETA: Math is hard! I forgot the XP value of an encounter was to be multiplied by the number of PCs, so my whole thesis is wrong. Hooray!
I was looking over the encounter building and XP rules in order to figure out how to build equivalent XP rewards for completing an adventure (as opposed to awarding XP per encounter; sort of half-way to milestones). What a mess this is.
It takes 10 Hard encounters to accumulate enough XP to level up. And you have to multiply that by the number of PCs getting awarded XP. So that is 40 or 50 encounters per level. But, that assumes fighting singular enemies. As soon as you make those Hard encounters involve multiple enemies, you start reducing the XP reward for the encounter in half or quarters. Now you are looking at 75 or 100 Hard encounters to level up the 5 person party.
For example, it takes 7500 XP to go from 5th to 6th level. A Hard encounter for 5th level is 750 XP. That is a CR 3 monster plus a 1/4 CR minion. Except it is not, because a Hard encounter with 2 enemies has a real XP cap of 500 XP (which is a CR 2 and a CR 1/4). But looking at that encounter, is a single wererat and a swarm of rats really a Hard encounter for 5th level PCs? I don't think so. Or A Hobgoblin and 5 goblin lackeys?
Has anyone built encounters and awarded XP strictly by the book for an extended period of time? Does it work? In my experience, there are a lot more "deadly" encounters in 5E modules and it does nto take dozens or more encounters to level characters.
I was looking over the encounter building and XP rules in order to figure out how to build equivalent XP rewards for completing an adventure (as opposed to awarding XP per encounter; sort of half-way to milestones). What a mess this is.
It takes 10 Hard encounters to accumulate enough XP to level up. And you have to multiply that by the number of PCs getting awarded XP. So that is 40 or 50 encounters per level. But, that assumes fighting singular enemies. As soon as you make those Hard encounters involve multiple enemies, you start reducing the XP reward for the encounter in half or quarters. Now you are looking at 75 or 100 Hard encounters to level up the 5 person party.
For example, it takes 7500 XP to go from 5th to 6th level. A Hard encounter for 5th level is 750 XP. That is a CR 3 monster plus a 1/4 CR minion. Except it is not, because a Hard encounter with 2 enemies has a real XP cap of 500 XP (which is a CR 2 and a CR 1/4). But looking at that encounter, is a single wererat and a swarm of rats really a Hard encounter for 5th level PCs? I don't think so. Or A Hobgoblin and 5 goblin lackeys?
Has anyone built encounters and awarded XP strictly by the book for an extended period of time? Does it work? In my experience, there are a lot more "deadly" encounters in 5E modules and it does nto take dozens or more encounters to level characters.
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