D&D General 6-8 encounters (combat?)

[FallenRX]

Just run 4 Hard encounters.

The 6 to 8 thing was mainly for just medium or a mix of medium and hard, the game is more around 4-5 if you just use hard encounters.

 

[Flamestrike]

I don't follow the 6-8 encounters guidelines and I find ways to make the 1-3 encounters a day relevant, fun and not too harsh to balance.

At that encounter frequency, your game would likely benefit from the Gritty rest variant.

At 1-3 encounters per day, with a short rest overnight, three such days with a weeks rest (a long rest) balances the classes nicely.

 

[Charlaquin]

The 6-8 medium encounter budget is based on combat encounters, but what really matters is the resources those encounters use up. If you go with, say, 3-4 combat and 1-2 exploration and 1-2 social, you will be behind that benchmark, unless those exploration and social encounters consume approximately as many resources as a Medium combat encounter would.

 

[Flamestrike]

Ultimately, I don't care at all about the number of encounters during an "adventuring day". IMO the concept is ludicrous. The narrative drives the number of encounters and when PCs can get in a rest.

You should care.

I get what you're saying about 'narrative' but the mechanical reality of 5E is that the classes are balanced around getting 2-3 short rests per long rest, and roughly 6 or so encounters per adventuring day (however long that may be, depending on which rest variant you're using).

The classes balance at roughly 2 encounters per short rest, and roughly 2-3 short rests per long rest. Some classes rely on (weaker) short rest resources, while some rely on (stronger) long rest resources. Wizards and Paladins rule on single encounter adventuring days, but Fighters and Warlocks rule on longer ones, with plenty of short rests thrown in.

You can always adjust the mechanics to fit the narrative remember (gritty rest variant etc).

 

[Flamestrike]

The 6-8 medium encounter budget is based on combat encounters, but what really matters is the resources those encounters use up. If you go with, say, 3-4 combat and 1-2 exploration and 1-2 social, you will be behind that benchmark, unless those exploration and social encounters consume approximately as many resources as a Medium encounter would.

It doesnt have to use resources to be an encounter (indeed, a player sidestepping an encounter with a social skill use, and good roleplaying is to be encouraged).

DnD is after all, mechanically speaking, a resource management game. HP, Ki points, Slots, HD, Rages, SP, Charges, Action surges, Second winds, sup dice, wild shapes etc etc etc.

A DM that doesnt accept that reality, and starts to notice some classes pull ahead of others, or has encounters frequently getting steamrolled, only has themselves to blame.

Players certainly accept this reality. Give them a chance and they'll abuse the 5MWD every chance they get.

 

[Charlaquin]

It doesnt have to use resources to be an encounter (indeed, a player sidestepping an encounter with a social skill use, and good roleplaying is to be encouraged).

The 6-8 encounter advice is based on the expected resources expended in a Medium combat encounter. No, an encounter doesn’t have to consume resources to count as an encounter, but resource expenditure is what this balance assumption is built around.

 

[Maxperson]

The 6-8 encounters the game is balanced around are all combat. That doesn't mean that you cannot also have social and exploration encounters. Nor does it mean that you cannot depart from it and substitute social and/or exploration encounters for the combat encounters. If you do substitute, though, you need to be able to figure out how many resources would have been lost in a medium or hard encounter and arrange for the social/exploration encounters to use up just as many, potentially including hit point loss.

 

[Maxperson]

Just run 4 Hard encounters.

The 6 to 8 thing was mainly for just medium or a mix of medium and hard, the game is more around 4-5 if you just use hard encounters.

That doesn't add up. A 6th level party is expected to get 24000xp over the adventuring day. That's 4.28 deadly encounters worth of experience. 5 hard encounters adds up to 18000xp, which is well short. 6 hard encounters and 1 medium encounter fits the 24000xp exactly.

 

[CleverNickName]

I'd forget that guidance. It seems like a bunch of internet theory-crafting to me.

 

[Iosue]

The 6-8 encounter advice is based on the expected resources expended in a Medium combat encounter. No, an encounter doesn’t have to consume resources to count as an encounter, but resource expenditure is what this balance assumption is built around.

Exactly.

Where I disagree with how people interpret that is 6-8 medium to hard encounters is not a necessary condition to maintain class balance, nor is it advice for designing an adventure. It's a guideline for how many encounters a party has the resources to handle in the course of a day, and serves primarily as a baseline from which to judge if and when they can handle a deadly encounter (which does not necessarily mean "possible TPK" encounter).

It's most applicable in a high-encounter frequency setting, i.e., a dungeon.