Questions tagged [encounter-design]
For questions about designing challenging and engaging situations in which player characters come into contact (and often conflict with) NPCs, monsters, or other potential opponents.
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Multilevel party. Balancing encounters
I have a party of heroes at level 10. The party itself is composed of 4 players and in that sense balancing encounters is pretty easy.
Recently however they have been joined by another character at ...
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What level should a party of 10 be in order to defeat a lich?
I'm running a homebrew campaign for a party of 10 players in DnD 5e (bard, druid, rogue x2, paladin x3, warlock, monk, cleric). I'm planning for a lich to be one of the major encounters before they ...
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In Princes of the Apocalypse, is this monster “supposed to” kill a player character?
In Princes of the Apocalypse Ch. 6,
has plenty of time and warning to prepare for his encounter with the party, along with the spells to do so:
He is also in possession of a powerful magic item,
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How can I make a single level 20 Warlock/Paladin a climactic challenge for a party of 4 level 12 PCs?
So, I know this question seems silly on face because of the level disparity (and I'd even be willing to adjust the character level down if necessary) but what I'm most concerned about are action ...
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What is the damage output of an average level 20 character in dnd 5e? [closed]
I would like to know how much an average level 20 character is capable of doing per turn and per ten turns, and how much a level 20 party is capable of doing per turn and per ten turns. I intend on ...
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How to fix Orm Shieldbreaker's build? [closed]
Spoilers for Giantslayer book 5: if you suspect you're one of my players, don't read further!
Preamble ramble
Anvil of Fire, the fifth installment of the Giantslayer original Adventure Path for ...
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How should the encounter level calculated for creatures with Summon abilities?
When I write a campaign, I see most people will give an EL for every encounter they write. Basically, it would be equal to the encountered creature if that's an encounter with just one creature.
And ...
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How should I adjust CR if the monsters I introduce are fighting each other?
I'm planning a long one-shot, the setting of which is a large island with half of it sectioned off in an area where massive wild beasts roam and battle each other, through which the party must trek.
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What CR should my party of 9 be facing at level 16? [closed]
My party grew from four players to nine who are all level 16. I have taken over the campaign from the previous DM and need some pointers.
I love all my player's dedication but they blew through an ...
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At what level for a 4/5-player party would a CR 2-3 monster be considered a "miniboss"?
I'm working on a dungeon and I want to have a solo encounter with a single basilisk in the hallway. It isn't the last monster in the dungeon; that I'm going with a surprise, however it shouldn't be a ...
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Looking for a DM solution to a Squishy group
I've been playing tabletop RPGs for a while off and on, only a little as a DM, but I get the basics of it. I've convinced some of my immediate and extended family (most of whom are NOT gamers, let ...
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What could attract the attention of hostile creatures? [closed]
So in my game of D&D 4e, the PCs are going to travel through the woods and the swamps, and an idea I have for this section, is that there's a type of creature in there that is more agressive than ...
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How do I deal with an Umbral Sight Ranger's enormous advantages in Curse of Strahd? [closed]
I'm playing the module Curse of Strahd. The Tabaxi Ranger with the Umbral Sight ability causes a lot of problems.
Fights take place in dark rooms or at night. Almost all undead have darkvision, but ...
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Balancing a combat around the surprised condition
I'm a new DM trying to put encounters together. My players are often either surprised by monsters (eg: mimics) or surprise the monsters (because they stealth into the lair) and I've noticed surpise ...
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How to properly boost monster damage?
So here's the situation:
In D&D 4e, I have began to reduce monster's HP by a lot (at least by half or even more than that).
The reason for this, is that I realized the combat encounters can take ...
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