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Most DMs want to have a vague idea of how difficult an encounter will be. Other times the characters might find themselves overwhelmed with two dozen hobgoblins and two captains riding on scarred worgs.

Sometimes the characters might corner off two hobgoblins who went to examine an old dwarven statue. How the characters decide to deal with a small patrol or approach the war party is up to them. This is the size of the war camp, the patrol, and the war party regardless of the characters. We don’t try to balance this war camp with the characters. A war party might consist of twenty goblins, twelve hobgoblins, two hobgoblin captains, and a hobgoblin warlord. A single hobgoblin patrol might consist of six hobgoblins and a captain. They might not all charge the characters at once but that’s the size of the war camp. A hobgoblin war camp might realistically have twenty-five hobgoblins and fifty goblins in it. Choose the monsters that fit the situation. The same is true when we select monsters. Choose Monsters that Fit the SituationĪs we described earlier, the story and situation drives what encounters takes place. Many times, however, we DMs can simply set the stage and let the players act within the scene as they want. When a horde of goblins attacks a wagon filled with friendly farming families (FFFs), the player characters are not going to go investigate rocks. Sure, some scenes lean one way or another. These situations have interesting things going on in them that the characters can get involved with, but we don’t have to know how they will interact with it. It’s common to break up our game into a set number of roleplay encounters, exploration encounters, and combat encounters but consider setting those categories aside and simply developing situations.

We don’t necessarily know what choices the players will make when they leap into an encounter and not knowing is half the fun. Maybe they sneak up the garbage chute and try to listen in to the bugbear’s plans. Maybe they attack the bugbear leader of the goblins directly.

#Dmg my chart how to#

Instead, we can set up the situation and let the players choose how to approach it. We don’t have to define any scene as being a roleplay scene, an exploration scene, or a combat scene ahead of time. In the vernacular of D&D, all of these types of scenes are considered 'encounters'. Develop Encounters from the Storyĭungeons & Dragons breaks down scenes into three different types of gameplay: NPC interaction and roleplaying, exploration, and combat. We're going to dig into all of these things throughout the article. Throw a mixture of easy and hard encounters at the characters. Add interesting terrain or fantastic features.

Mix up encounters to keep things fresh.

Vary hit points within the hit-dice range.

Adjust the encounter as needed during the game.

In particular, be nice to level 1 characters. Use a tool like the tables in Xanathar's Guide to Everythingif you're not sure. Remember that fewer monsters are generally easier than lots of monsters. Understand the loose relationship between monster challenge ratings and character levels. Keep an eye out for unexpectedly deadly encounters.Give the characters openings to take different approaches towards the scene. Other times it might be an entire hobgoblin warband.

Sometimes this might be two sleepy guards at a cave entrance.

Choose the type and number of monsters that make sense given the situation.

We only have to set up the situations and let the players decide how to interact with them. We don't have to pre-define encounters as 'combat', 'roleplaying', or 'exploration'.

Let encounters develop from the story, the situation, and the actions of the characters.

Here's a quick summary of this article's approach towards encounter building: In this article we're going to dig deep into one of the most challenging aspects of running a D&D game: building combat encounters. In previous articles we've covered how to find a group, how to run your first adventure, how to improve your improvisation skills, what tools you might use, and options for representing monsters on the table.

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This is the sixth in a series of articles intended to help new Dungeon Masters run great D&D games.