Mike Shea

Likewise, if I'm worried that the characters are not particularly optimized, not particularly strong, or there are fewer of them and the threat is too high, I can reduce it. I can just say there's one fewer. I've had people that ask me, hey, what do I do if they have companion characters or the guy summons an elemental all the time?

Likewise, if I'm worried that the characters are not particularly optimized, not particularly strong, or there are fewer of them and the threat is too high, I can reduce it. I can just say there's one fewer. I've had people that ask me, hey, what do I do if they have companion characters or the guy summons an elemental all the time?

You just treat it like they have another character if you need to. Right. And that's the thing. It's a flexible benchmark. You get to decide whether it's working well for you. And if it's working, you can leave it as is. If it's not, you can either increase it or reduce it by pretending there is one extra character or one fewer character when you're doing the math. It works out really well.

You just treat it like they have another character if you need to. Right. And that's the thing. It's a flexible benchmark. You get to decide whether it's working well for you. And if it's working, you can leave it as is. If it's not, you can either increase it or reduce it by pretending there is one extra character or one fewer character when you're doing the math. It works out really well.

You just treat it like they have another character if you need to. Right. And that's the thing. It's a flexible benchmark. You get to decide whether it's working well for you. And if it's working, you can leave it as is. If it's not, you can either increase it or reduce it by pretending there is one extra character or one fewer character when you're doing the math. It works out really well.

So how about comparing this to the D&D 2024 encounter building guidelines? I really like the D&D 2024 encounter building guidelines. And if you're using them and they're working for you, I think it's great. But I challenge you to do them without looking at any table. And I bet you you can't because you almost absolutely have to.

So how about comparing this to the D&D 2024 encounter building guidelines? I really like the D&D 2024 encounter building guidelines. And if you're using them and they're working for you, I think it's great. But I challenge you to do them without looking at any table. And I bet you you can't because you almost absolutely have to.

So how about comparing this to the D&D 2024 encounter building guidelines? I really like the D&D 2024 encounter building guidelines. And if you're using them and they're working for you, I think it's great. But I challenge you to do them without looking at any table. And I bet you you can't because you almost absolutely have to.

They work really, really well, but they have a few different problems. One is that because they are exponential instead of linear, they undervalue low challenge rating monsters. You end up with many more lower challenge rating monsters than the lazy encounter benchmark would necessarily tell you.

They work really, really well, but they have a few different problems. One is that because they are exponential instead of linear, they undervalue low challenge rating monsters. You end up with many more lower challenge rating monsters than the lazy encounter benchmark would necessarily tell you.

They work really, really well, but they have a few different problems. One is that because they are exponential instead of linear, they undervalue low challenge rating monsters. You end up with many more lower challenge rating monsters than the lazy encounter benchmark would necessarily tell you.

it also overvalues high challenge rating monsters if you have great big monsters in there it's going to eat up most of your budget and you're not going to have any room for either people to protect those bosses or bosses that are particularly even even bigger but to me the real big problem is it's not a table you can keep in your head you can't just do this mine the lazy encounter benchmark is something you can do without looking at any table once you recognize i divide by four if you remember i divide by four if they're first to fourth level i divide by two if they're fifth to tenth level

it also overvalues high challenge rating monsters if you have great big monsters in there it's going to eat up most of your budget and you're not going to have any room for either people to protect those bosses or bosses that are particularly even even bigger but to me the real big problem is it's not a table you can keep in your head you can't just do this mine the lazy encounter benchmark is something you can do without looking at any table once you recognize i divide by four if you remember i divide by four if they're first to fourth level i divide by two if they're fifth to tenth level

it also overvalues high challenge rating monsters if you have great big monsters in there it's going to eat up most of your budget and you're not going to have any room for either people to protect those bosses or bosses that are particularly even even bigger but to me the real big problem is it's not a table you can keep in your head you can't just do this mine the lazy encounter benchmark is something you can do without looking at any table once you recognize i divide by four if you remember i divide by four if they're first to fourth level i divide by two if they're fifth to tenth level

And then if you want, you can do the multiply by 0.75 for tier three or they're one to one at tier four. If you even get to tier three and tier four, a lot of groups don't even get there. So you really don't need to worry about it. I can keep all that in my head. So if you can keep it all in your head, you don't need to look anything up. You can just do it. You can wing this stuff.

And then if you want, you can do the multiply by 0.75 for tier three or they're one to one at tier four. If you even get to tier three and tier four, a lot of groups don't even get there. So you really don't need to worry about it. I can keep all that in my head. So if you can keep it all in your head, you don't need to look anything up. You can just do it. You can wing this stuff.

And then if you want, you can do the multiply by 0.75 for tier three or they're one to one at tier four. If you even get to tier three and tier four, a lot of groups don't even get there. So you really don't need to worry about it. I can keep all that in my head. So if you can keep it all in your head, you don't need to look anything up. You can just do it. You can wing this stuff.

And what that means is because you don't have to, you can do it all in your head, and because you can keep it in your chart, it means that you can improvise combat encounters during your session and know what's going to happen. You can't do that with the encounter building guidelines in the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide. You would have to do all of the math at the moment

And what that means is because you don't have to, you can do it all in your head, and because you can keep it in your chart, it means that you can improvise combat encounters during your session and know what's going to happen. You can't do that with the encounter building guidelines in the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide. You would have to do all of the math at the moment

And what that means is because you don't have to, you can do it all in your head, and because you can keep it in your chart, it means that you can improvise combat encounters during your session and know what's going to happen. You can't do that with the encounter building guidelines in the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide. You would have to do all of the math at the moment