Numbers next to creatures and hazards, etc

[Kanyath]

I cannot for the life of me find an explanation anywhere of what these things mean and how they are to be used - the final number on each row:

A3. Consumed Hallway Low 1
FLASH BEETLES (4) CREATURE –1
PRECARIOUS PILE HAZARD 2

I thought maybe it was number of actions, but then I saw the -1. I'm just stumped. Is there a place I can find this information? Thanks.

[Guntermench]

It's the creature/hazard/encounter level. Encounters also have Trivial/Low/Moderate/Severe/Extreme to denote the danger level of the encounter.

So that's a Low threat level 1 encounter with 4x level -1 creatures and a level 2 hazard.

[Kanyath]

Thanks! That makes more sense. Does it relate to party level somehow?

Guntermench wrote:

It's the creature/hazard/encounter level. Encounters also have Trivial/Low/Moderate/Severe/Extreme to denote the danger level of the encounter.

So that's a Low threat level 1 encounter with 4x level -1 creatures and a level 2 hazard.

[nephandys]

Kanyath wrote:

Thanks! That makes more sense. Does it relate to party level somehow?

Guntermench wrote:

It's the creature/hazard/encounter level. Encounters also have Trivial/Low/Moderate/Severe/Extreme to denote the danger level of the encounter.

So that's a Low threat level 1 encounter with 4x level -1 creatures and a level 2 hazard.

The level numbers are specific to the hazard/enemy/etc. So the 4 creatures in this encounter will always be Level -1 even when the party is level 20. The threat rating (Low/Moderate/Sever/etc) and xp values are determined by comparing to the party's level and would vary over time.

[breithauptclan]

To try and clarify this a bit more - this first one is different than the other two.

Kanyath wrote:

A3. Consumed Hallway Low 1

"Low 1" is the encounter's threat rating. It means that this is a low threat for a party of four level 1 characters.

Kanyath wrote:

FLASH BEETLES (4) CREATURE –1

PRECARIOUS PILE HAZARD 2

These ones are the creature and hazard levels of the threats included in the encounter.

So four level -1 creatures,
and one level 2 hazard.

[Fumarole]

Kanyath wrote:

I thought maybe it was number of actions, but then I saw the -1.

Assume all creatures get three actions unless their stat block says otherwise (exceptions are rare). This is not true for complex hazards, and their stat blocks will indicate how many actions they get (anything from one action to three or more is possible).