Unearthed Arcana Explanation of the encounter building rules in Unearthed Arcana

[LexStarwalker]

I've done some playtesting of the new encounter building guidelines in the Unearthed Arcana, and they've worked very well for me, definitely better than those in the DMG. However, they take a little unpacking, and they can seem a lot more confusing than they really are.

This week on my rpg podcast I break these rules down and explain how to use them. If you've had any difficulty wrapping your head around the new system, this episode's for you!

 

[alienux]

I agree, they've worked really well for me, and once you get the basics down, they're pretty easy to use on the fly.

 

[jbOKgamer]

I listened to podcast and would disagree that UA uses different math. The UA seems to match up to a hard encounter in the DMG.

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[LexStarwalker]

Thanks for listening!

To clarify, since posting the episode I've learned (due to a listener who loves to crunch numbers) that the solo monster table maps out to Hard encounters (from the DMG) and the Multiple Monsters tables map out to Medium encounters (from the DMG). So the math does match from the DMG to the UA. Apparent discrepancies among the UA tables (between solo & multiple monsters) are because one is using the Hard encounter numbers and the other is using the Medium numbers, while the wording of the document gives the impression they're all of the same difficulty.

However, I would still say the UA is disagreeing with what is in the DMG, because the DMG recommends against using a monster of a CR higher than the party level, and the UA is using LEGENDARY monsters with CRs higher than the party level.

 

[D_E]

I'm confused, the UA rules do seem to be using different math than the DMG rules. Specifically, they may lack the Encounter multiplier?

For example, Hobgoblins are CR 1/2, and worth 100XP. For a 2nd level party, the UA rules say to use 1 CR 1/2 per party member, ie 4 Hobgoblins in this case. According to the DMG, a medium 2nd level encounter (for a party of 4) is 400XP. 4 Hobgoblins is also 400 XP, BUT there is a 2x Encounter multiplier due to 4 monsters being in the encounter, making it 800 XP, which the DMG says is a Deadly encounter.

 

[LexStarwalker]

You're absolutely right. So the math isn't consistent between the DMG and this UA. Interesting.

 

[jbOKgamer]

UA is based on single PC at level 2 and CR 1/2 is hard encounter (100 xp, adjusted xp 150) so math does break down as you add more PCs because of the Encounter Multipliers table (for 2 through 5 players becomes deadly then 6 player back to hard , then 7 to 12 players it is deadly again)

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[jbOKgamer]

Lex you spoke in Episode 137 that DMG does not tell you how Legendary effect CR. But Lex the DMG does tell us how Legendary Resistance effects CR is in the DMG on page 280-281 in Monster Features Table. Step 13 in CR calculation tells you to look at the Monster Feature Table and apply effects.

It says adding Legendary Resistance will effect its effective hit points which may effect its Defensive CR.

Legendary Attacks would effect amount of damage in round and may change its Offensive CR; Step 11.

 

[LexStarwalker]

Yeah, I totally missed the legendary resistance entry in the Monster Features table. Thanks for pointing that out! That definitely gets us closer, although factoring the effect of non-damaging legendary and lair actions is still tricky and more "art" than "science", I think.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

I listened to podcast and would disagree that UA uses different math. The UA seems to match up to a hard encounter in the DMG.

They're clearly inspired by the same type of thinking, but the math is not the same as a DMG Hard encounter.

E.g. 4 10th level PCs vs. 28 Orcs is Deadly according to DMG guidelines (15-18 is Medium, and 19-27 is Hard), but the UA recommends 40 orcs in this case.

Edit: should have read the whole thread first. Someone else already made this point.