Mike Shea

It's because the lazy encounter benchmark, one of the nice things that the lazy encounter benchmark does is it accounts for the number of characters, right? It accounts for four, there are four variables that are all included in in the Lazy Encounter benchmark. And it accounts for all four variables with one math equation. I think that's one reason why it's so valuable.

And that's the number of characters, the level of the characters, the number of monsters, and the CRs of those monsters. And a cool thing is all of those can be mixed up. You could have different level characters. You can have different CRs of monsters.

And that's the number of characters, the level of the characters, the number of monsters, and the CRs of those monsters. And a cool thing is all of those can be mixed up. You could have different level characters. You can have different CRs of monsters.

And that's the number of characters, the level of the characters, the number of monsters, and the CRs of those monsters. And a cool thing is all of those can be mixed up. You could have different level characters. You can have different CRs of monsters.

and it's and ahead of different of you know different ranges of the number of monsters compared to the number of characters and the lazy encounter benchmark accounts for all that the lazy encounter benchmark is of course that in order to figure out whether or not an encounter might be deadly you add up all of the character levels all the levels of all the characters that are going to be in your game you divide that number by four if there are if they if they're level four or below or you divide it by two if they are fifth level or above and

and it's and ahead of different of you know different ranges of the number of monsters compared to the number of characters and the lazy encounter benchmark accounts for all that the lazy encounter benchmark is of course that in order to figure out whether or not an encounter might be deadly you add up all of the character levels all the levels of all the characters that are going to be in your game you divide that number by four if there are if they if they're level four or below or you divide it by two if they are fifth level or above and

and it's and ahead of different of you know different ranges of the number of monsters compared to the number of characters and the lazy encounter benchmark accounts for all that the lazy encounter benchmark is of course that in order to figure out whether or not an encounter might be deadly you add up all of the character levels all the levels of all the characters that are going to be in your game you divide that number by four if there are if they if they're level four or below or you divide it by two if they are fifth level or above and

And that gives you a benchmark. And that benchmark CR, that tells you what's the maximum CR before encounters might become deadly, right? And it's not a budget. I don't treat it the same way like the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide does. It's a gauge. It's a loose gauge, not a hard line.

And that gives you a benchmark. And that benchmark CR, that tells you what's the maximum CR before encounters might become deadly, right? And it's not a budget. I don't treat it the same way like the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide does. It's a gauge. It's a loose gauge, not a hard line.

And that gives you a benchmark. And that benchmark CR, that tells you what's the maximum CR before encounters might become deadly, right? And it's not a budget. I don't treat it the same way like the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide does. It's a gauge. It's a loose gauge, not a hard line.

So it gives you a general idea of how many CRs you think the characters might be able to deal with before things could get rough. You get to define what rough means for you, different systems, different characters, different characters, different players, stuff, all sorts of other variables can affect how rough that is. But it works pretty well.

So it gives you a general idea of how many CRs you think the characters might be able to deal with before things could get rough. You get to define what rough means for you, different systems, different characters, different characters, different players, stuff, all sorts of other variables can affect how rough that is. But it works pretty well.

So it gives you a general idea of how many CRs you think the characters might be able to deal with before things could get rough. You get to define what rough means for you, different systems, different characters, different characters, different players, stuff, all sorts of other variables can affect how rough that is. But it works pretty well.

And what I was thinking of is you can almost remove the divide by four and just say the lazy encounter benchmark is the average of character levels. level one to four or twice the average character levels, five and above. And that would assume you have four characters, right? If you assume you have four characters, then it's equal to their character level.

And what I was thinking of is you can almost remove the divide by four and just say the lazy encounter benchmark is the average of character levels. level one to four or twice the average character levels, five and above. And that would assume you have four characters, right? If you assume you have four characters, then it's equal to their character level.

And what I was thinking of is you can almost remove the divide by four and just say the lazy encounter benchmark is the average of character levels. level one to four or twice the average character levels, five and above. And that would assume you have four characters, right? If you assume you have four characters, then it's equal to their character level.

Yes, it's equal to their character level or twice their character level if they're fifth level or above. That's not bad, right? But that doesn't account for the number of characters. So that would be the same number, whether you have three characters or five characters or seven or six characters.

Yes, it's equal to their character level or twice their character level if they're fifth level or above. That's not bad, right? But that doesn't account for the number of characters. So that would be the same number, whether you have three characters or five characters or seven or six characters.

Yes, it's equal to their character level or twice their character level if they're fifth level or above. That's not bad, right? But that doesn't account for the number of characters. So that would be the same number, whether you have three characters or five characters or seven or six characters.

So there's so much variance in the number of characters because the number of characters you have has a, not a quadratic, has a triangular, I forget what they call it. Math has a term. It's not exactly an exponential boost. It's not a quadratic boost.