Encounter Design

Encounters play a fundamental part in roleplaying games, but it can be tricky to know where to start when building them. It's important to follow the rules and guidelines, but creating a compelling encounter goes beyond that. Good encounters have a place in the story, compelling adversaries, interesting locations, and twists and turns to make them dynamic. Encounter design goes hand in hand with location, map, and adventure design. You might set an adventure in a futuristic cityscape and populate it with tech creatures and hazards. Or you might have a sentry robot in mind and structure a section of your complex to fit that creature. When you're starting out, straightforward encounters of low or moderate threat can let you get your bearings. Then, you can increase complexity as you get more confident and as the PCs collect more tools to use against their foes. The more encounters you build, the more comfortable you'll get with your own personal style. You can always come back here to get more ideas or advice on executing a certain type of encounter. Quick Adventure Groups If you want an easy framework for building an encounter, you can use one of the following basic structures and slot in monsters and NPCs. Boss and Lackeys (120 XP): One creature of party level + 2, four creatures of party level – 4 Boss and Lieutenant (120 XP): One creature of party level + 2, one creature of party level Elite Enemies (120 XP): Three creatures of party level Lieutenant and Lackeys (80 XP): One creature of party level, four creatures of party level – 4 Pair (80 XP): Two creatures of party level Troop (80 XP): One creature of party level, two creatures of party level – 2 Squad (60 XP): Six creatures of party level – 4