this post was submitted on 15 Jul 2023
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Ask Game Masters

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So, this is an area I've been struggling to figure out. How do I balance a combat encounter?

I obviously know you can't trust CR, but I'm struggling to figure out how I should plan or balance a combat encounter when that's not an option.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Back when I ran D&D 5e (we are talking about that right?) I made heavy use of (Kobold Fight Club)[https://koboldplus.club/]. But not straight party size and level. I found that if I overleved the party in the calculator by 2-3 levels I got reasonably balanced encounters. That number will of course depend on your players and their characters. If I were you I would start keeping short encounter notes for a while. The encounter budget, difficulty, #foes or actual foes. This way I bet you can after 3-5 sessions (assuming about 2 combat encounters per session) have a decently good idea of how to over/under level your party in calculators.