Nov 27, 2014 D&D balance is based on 6-8 encounters per DAY? Is XP to blame. DM Basic rules p.57 The Adventuring Day says 'Assuming typical adventuring conditions and average luck, most adventuring parties can handle about six to eight medium or hard encounters in a day.
5e Dmg Encounter Building Adventuring Day 2018
I am trying to wrap my mind around and internalize the 5e encounter building guidelines. The guidelines are broken down into three pieces, adventuring day, encounters, and waves, with an encounter implied to be everything that happens from one rest to another.Also the guidelines seem to say that two short rests per day is the normal adventure pacing.
So using four 1st level PCs as an example, the group should encounter 1,200 XP of monsters in a normal day and should take a short rest after around every 400 XP. Obviously these are just guidelines and not hard and fast rules.
Looking at the starter set adventure let's see how this pans out with the four 1st level PCs (warning spoilers ahead).
The ambush the party runs into is worth 200 XP. Even though it is much less than the 400 XP short rest threshold a short rest can easily be taken after this (single wave) encounter.
If the group goes right to the goblins caves and starts going into it they can take out the two goblins at the entrance, the one on the bridge, and the three in the flood room (total of 300 XP) before starting to get close to the 400 XP threshold. Assuming they went right this way and avoided the wolves and other goblin room then the next thing to do is take on the boss (the bugbear) and his cronies. The boss room is worth 350 XP (a 700 XP difficulty due to the number of monsters) alone and the PCs may or not need a short rest to tackle this room.
This is where I am trying to wrap my mind around things. I hate interrupting an interesting play session so that the PCs can retreat to a safe place and rest.
On the other hand it could be an interesting decision for the PCs to make. Press on and risk a TPK or retreat and return later to a more well prepared goblin group.
I may think of a way to allow a short rest without spending the hour but I don't want to make it easy enough to rest between each wave.
Maybe certain XP thresholds can trigger the opportunity for a quick short rest. Something like if you defeat 25% of the normal day's worth of XP you can take a quick short rest in just a few minutes. In the example above after the flood room encounter a quick rest could refresh the PCs and encourage them press on with a better chance of success.
Just some thoughts I am having right now. I am sure the DMG will explore this in more detail
Thought? Corrections?.
So using four 1st level PCs as an example, the group should encounter 1,200 XP of monsters in a normal day and should take a short rest after around every 400 XP. Obviously these are just guidelines and not hard and fast rules.
Looking at the starter set adventure let's see how this pans out with the four 1st level PCs (warning spoilers ahead).
The ambush the party runs into is worth 200 XP. Even though it is much less than the 400 XP short rest threshold a short rest can easily be taken after this (single wave) encounter.
If the group goes right to the goblins caves and starts going into it they can take out the two goblins at the entrance, the one on the bridge, and the three in the flood room (total of 300 XP) before starting to get close to the 400 XP threshold. Assuming they went right this way and avoided the wolves and other goblin room then the next thing to do is take on the boss (the bugbear) and his cronies. The boss room is worth 350 XP (a 700 XP difficulty due to the number of monsters) alone and the PCs may or not need a short rest to tackle this room.
This is where I am trying to wrap my mind around things. I hate interrupting an interesting play session so that the PCs can retreat to a safe place and rest.
On the other hand it could be an interesting decision for the PCs to make. Press on and risk a TPK or retreat and return later to a more well prepared goblin group.
I may think of a way to allow a short rest without spending the hour but I don't want to make it easy enough to rest between each wave.
Maybe certain XP thresholds can trigger the opportunity for a quick short rest. Something like if you defeat 25% of the normal day's worth of XP you can take a quick short rest in just a few minutes. In the example above after the flood room encounter a quick rest could refresh the PCs and encourage them press on with a better chance of success.
Just some thoughts I am having right now. I am sure the DMG will explore this in more detail
Thought? Corrections?.