Ok, so we all know about the 15-minute adventuring day and why it's bad.
On the other hand I don't want to chase my party through a dungeon full of monsters and not give them a chance to rest. If they have to go through 20 fights they'll not use any of their resources and just save them for the end. That's stupid too.
So, how many is a good number?
Depends on the level of the party (because high level battles tend to consume too much real life time).
4 - 6 should be an appropriate number of encounters per day. If you have classes that have no limited resources, it is probably better to stretch it to 6 (though feel it out of course) so that the classes that have no resources and do the same thing throghout the course of the day get their chance to shine at the end of the day when everyone else has run out of their shiny abilities.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
4-6 is the RAW answer. Personally I find 8-13 to be appropriate. Now not EVERY day, but the main event dungeons should push a parties resource management, and 8-13 levels the playing field really well amongst the players in my experience. Been running my "Main Events" (of which there are roughly 4-10 in a campaign) that way for almost 5 years now.
Now I do tend to play with and encourage optimization though, so less optimized parties should maybe stick to around 6.
I'd say 1-5, about. You don't want to get too predictable - if you always do 3/day, then your PCs will get to know that that's the pattern.
To keep things interesting, I'd say you want to keep a little mystery about whether they should conserve all their resources, or go nova. Obviously, the worst is when the GM tells you "this will be the last fight of the day" (yes, I've had a GM say that.)
It's a little hard for me to imagine fitting more than 5 combats into a single session. Although I guess you could stretch one day over multiple sessions, or if you have a small party or play long sessions something maybe you can fit more in.
|
The number is usually up to my players. If they use their heads they can usually spare themselves a few difficult encounters if not avoid a few completely. We play old school combat as war though so that is part of our training.
The CR system is wildy inaccurate so coming up with a reliable number of encouters the players are sure to face within their ability will be a crapshoot. I would give a number if I thought their was a standard but I do not think such exists. Answer is it depends on what you plan to have the PCs encoutner and the target will continually move as they level.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
If the party is still breathing, the answer is 'just one more'
Muhammad Ali said "I dont count pushups. I only start counting when they start hurting because those are the only ones that count.
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I typically do 2-4 combat encounters and 1-3 social/skill based encounters (sometimes those bleed together, especially at higher levels).
You'll have to adjust according to your group of course; if they take a really long time to wrap a single encounter I'd suggest trimming the number of encounters down while you work on implementing time conservation policies to keep things moving.
Four combat + as many others as your particular group enjoys. Once in a while have just one REALLY BIG Boss encounter or a series of eight or so smaller ones.
|
|
Four combat + as many others as your particular group enjoys. Once in a while have just one REALLY BIG Boss encounter or a series of eight or so smaller ones.
Sometimes you can kind of bleed the encounters together too. If a fight runs long enough or the party did a poor job of clearing things out before hitting a big fight, I'll sometimes have the critters they missed start trickling in in waves. Even if you're using a module or AP don't feel tied down to the idea that if the corbies are in room 2A, they'll stay in 2A waiting for the party.
I actually had one group that would intentionally pick a strong defensive position and then start setting up a clamor to lure the monsters into attacking them on their terms, which occasionally turned my 2-4 encounters into one big super encounter.
At first level I've seen a well-prepared group of players and their equally well-equipped PCs grind through 6-8 combats plus other assorted challenges. On the other hand I watched some "invincible" 5th level characters stride into a single melee with a hag and her ogre minions and get eviscerated and flee.
I guess it all comes down to the players. Their ability to recognize threats and manage resources is critical to success. Also their access to consumables factors in as well. Consider:
The PCs start off PFS style with 150 GP each at the beginning of the game. If the PCs have a wizard and he has Scribe Scroll they may begin the game with dozens of scrolls already at hand. If these are attack/defense scrolls this means the wizard can offer spell support to 12 combats.
This party then, after one adventure with 250 GP each could settle in for a long stretch, collaborate on a bunch more scrolls and gear, and walk into the next dungeon with everyone carrying a single alchemist weapon and a potion of CLW. The divine caster meanwhile is carrying a party-use wand of CLW and he and the wizard are slinging a few more scrolls beyond.
These resources get even more ridiculous if the GM is using Ultimate Campaign and the Downtime rules.
TL/DR. The players will answer this question for you.