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[+] How do you make 5E more challenging?
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<blockquote data-quote="SlyFlourish" data-source="post: 9300725" data-attributes="member: 54840"><p>A topic near and dear to my heart. I have a few things to suggest.</p><p></p><p>Work with the <a href="https://slyflourish.com/dials_of_monster_difficulty.html" target="_blank">dials of monster difficulty</a> and tweak to suit. Add monsters, add attacks, add damage, add hit points.</p><p></p><p>Use monsters from the <a href="https://enpublishingrpg.com/products/level-up-monstrous-menagerie-a5e" target="_blank">Level Up Advanced 5e Monstrous Menagerie</a>. Paul did an outstanding job making sure they stay on par. It's way better than the 2014 Monster Manual.</p><p></p><p>I humbly submit <a href="https://shop.slyflourish.com/collections/the-lazy-dungeon-master-series/products/forge-of-foes" target="_blank"><em>Forge of Foes</em></a> for your perusal. You can download a<a href="https://slyflourish_content.s3.amazonaws.com/forge_of_foes_preview.pdf" target="_blank"> free sample</a> that includes a "monsters by CR" chart with better math than most monsters or you can look at the <a href="https://slyflourish.com/lazy_5e_monster_building_resource_document.html" target="_blank">5e Monster Builder reference document</a> to gauge your interest. The book has tons of advice for building better encounters as well.</p><p></p><p>Jack up your encounter building baseline using the <a href="https://slyflourish.com/the_lazy_encounter_benchmark.html" target="_blank">Lazy Encounter Benchmark</a>.</p><p></p><p>Here's a new angle I'm toying with for figuring out a simple loose benchmark for a hard / edge of deadly encounter at each tier of play:</p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Level 1 – 1 CR's worth of monsters with no monster higher than CR 1/2</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Level 2 to 4 – 5 CRs worth of monsters with no monster higher than CR 4</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Level 5 to 10 – 20 CRs worth of monsters with no monster higher than CR 15</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Level 11 to 16 – 40 CRs worth of monsters with no monster higher than CR 20</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Level 17 to 20 – 80 CRs worth of monsters with no CR upper limit<br /> <br /> This is obviously an extremely loose gauge. Tweak to suit based on:</li> </ul><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">the number of characters</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">how well rested they are</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">their magic items</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">the experience of the players</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">the synergy of character classes</li> </ul></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="SlyFlourish, post: 9300725, member: 54840"] A topic near and dear to my heart. I have a few things to suggest. Work with the [URL='https://slyflourish.com/dials_of_monster_difficulty.html']dials of monster difficulty[/URL] and tweak to suit. Add monsters, add attacks, add damage, add hit points. Use monsters from the [URL='https://enpublishingrpg.com/products/level-up-monstrous-menagerie-a5e']Level Up Advanced 5e Monstrous Menagerie[/URL]. Paul did an outstanding job making sure they stay on par. It's way better than the 2014 Monster Manual. I humbly submit [URL='https://shop.slyflourish.com/collections/the-lazy-dungeon-master-series/products/forge-of-foes'][I]Forge of Foes[/I][/URL] for your perusal. You can download a[URL='https://slyflourish_content.s3.amazonaws.com/forge_of_foes_preview.pdf'] free sample[/URL] that includes a "monsters by CR" chart with better math than most monsters or you can look at the [URL='https://slyflourish.com/lazy_5e_monster_building_resource_document.html']5e Monster Builder reference document[/URL] to gauge your interest. The book has tons of advice for building better encounters as well. Jack up your encounter building baseline using the [URL='https://slyflourish.com/the_lazy_encounter_benchmark.html']Lazy Encounter Benchmark[/URL]. Here's a new angle I'm toying with for figuring out a simple loose benchmark for a hard / edge of deadly encounter at each tier of play: [LIST] [*]Level 1 – 1 CR's worth of monsters with no monster higher than CR 1/2 [*]Level 2 to 4 – 5 CRs worth of monsters with no monster higher than CR 4 [*]Level 5 to 10 – 20 CRs worth of monsters with no monster higher than CR 15 [*]Level 11 to 16 – 40 CRs worth of monsters with no monster higher than CR 20 [*]Level 17 to 20 – 80 CRs worth of monsters with no CR upper limit This is obviously an extremely loose gauge. Tweak to suit based on: [/LIST] [LIST] [*]the number of characters [*]how well rested they are [*]their magic items [*]the experience of the players [*]the synergy of character classes [/LIST] [/QUOTE]
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