Encounter Design

GM Reference

An encounter is any event that presents a specific problem the PCs must solve — combat, a treacherous crossing, a tense negotiation, or a devious puzzle. Combat encounters follow a three-step process to ensure the challenge is appropriate for the party.

①

Determine APL

Average Party Level — adjusted for group size

②

Set Difficulty

Pick Easy → Epic; look up target CR from APL

③

Build the Encounter

Add creatures whose XP totals stay within budget

APL & XP Budget Calculator

Add each group of characters at the same level.

Average Party Level: —

Difficulty	Target CR	XP Budget

XP budget = total XP value of the encounter's target CR. Add creatures whose combined XP stays within this budget.

Add at least one group above and click Calculate.

Step 1 — Average Party Level (APL)

Determine the average level of your player characters — this is their Average Party Level (APL). Round to the nearest whole number (one of the few exceptions to the round-down rule).

Party size adjustments:

6 or more players: add 1 to the average level before using it as APL.
3 or fewer players: subtract 1 from the average level before using it as APL.
4–5 players: use the raw average — no adjustment.

Example: Six players — two at 4th level and four at 5th level. Total levels = (2 × 4) + (4 × 5) = 28. Average = 28 ÷ 6 ≈ 4.67, rounded to 5. Six players → +1 adjustment. APL = 6.

Step 2 — Set Difficulty & Target CR

Choose how challenging you want the encounter to be, then look up the target Challenge Rating from the table below. That CR determines your XP budget.

Table: Encounter Design (Core Rulebook Table 12–1)
Difficulty	Challenge Rating Equals…	Description
Easy	APL −1	Unlikely to drain significant resources; good for warming up a session.
Average	APL	A standard encounter; the party should win but spend meaningful resources.
Challenging	APL +1	A tough fight; the party will likely use most of their daily resources.
Hard	APL +2	Very dangerous; defeat is a real possibility without good tactics.
Epic	APL +3	Near-impossible by the numbers — reserve for boss encounters and climaxes.

Step 3 — Build the Encounter

Look up the total XP for your target CR on the Experience Point Awards table below — that is your XP budget. Add creatures, traps, and hazards whose combined XP stays within the budget. Add the highest-CR threats first, then fill remaining budget with smaller challenges.

Example (APL 9, Challenging = CR 10, budget 9,600 XP): Stone giant (CR 8, 4,800 XP) + four gargoyles (CR 4, 1,200 XP each × 4 = 4,800 XP) = 9,600 XP total. ✓ Or swap four gargoyles for three gargoyles (3,600 XP) + three small earth elementals (CR 1, 400 XP each = 1,200 XP) = 9,600 XP.

Adding NPCs

Creatures whose Hit Dice come entirely from class levels (no racial HD) use a modified CR:

Player-class NPC (fighter, wizard, etc.): CR = class levels − 1
NPC-class NPC (warrior, adept, commoner, expert, aristocrat): CR = class levels − 2
If this would reduce CR below 1, step down: 1 → 1/2 → 1/3 → 1/4 → 1/6 → 1/8

Ad Hoc Adjustments

Situation	Adjustment
Favorable terrain for the PCs (monster out of its element)	Award XP as if encounter CR were 1 lower
Unfavorable terrain for PCs (monster in its favored element, significantly impacts encounter)	Award XP as if encounter CR were 1 higher
NPC classed foe with no gear (loss of gear hampers them)	Reduce NPC's CR by 1
NPC classed foe with PC-quality gear (per Wealth by Level table)	Increase NPC's CR by 1

CR Equivalencies for Groups

When using many identical creatures, use this table to find their combined effective CR without doing the full XP math.

Table: CR Equivalencies (Core Rulebook Table 12–3)
Number of Identical Creatures	Effective CR
1	CR (no change)
2	CR +2
3	CR +3
4	CR +4
6	CR +5
8	CR +6
12	CR +7
16	CR +8

Experience Point Awards

Total XP is the encounter budget for that CR. Individual XP columns give per-character awards (division already done) based on party size.

Table: Experience Point Awards (Core Rulebook Table 12–2)
CR	Total XP	Individual XP Award
CR	Total XP	1–3 PCs	4–5 PCs	6+ PCs
1/8	50	15	15	10
1/6	65	20	15	10
1/4	100	35	25	15
1/3	135	45	35	25
1/2	200	65	50	35
1	400	135	100	65
2	600	200	150	100
3	800	265	200	135
4	1,200	400	300	200
5	1,600	535	400	265
6	2,400	800	600	400
7	3,200	1,070	800	535
8	4,800	1,600	1,200	800
9	6,400	2,130	1,600	1,070
10	9,600	3,200	2,400	1,600
11	12,800	4,270	3,200	2,130
12	19,200	6,400	4,800	3,200
13	25,600	8,530	6,400	4,270
14	38,400	12,800	9,600	6,400
15	51,200	17,100	12,800	8,530
16	76,800	25,600	19,200	12,800
17	102,400	34,100	25,600	17,100
18	153,600	51,200	38,400	25,600
19	204,800	68,300	51,200	34,100
20	307,200	102,000	76,800	51,200
21	409,600	137,000	102,400	68,300
22	614,400	205,000	153,600	102,400
23	819,200	273,000	204,800	137,000
24	1,228,800	410,000	307,200	204,800
25	1,638,400	546,000	409,600	273,000

Awarding Experience

Track the CR of every monster, trap, obstacle, and roleplaying encounter the PCs overcome. Award XP at the end of each session — that way a character who gains a level doesn't disrupt play mid-session. Don't bother awarding XP for challenges with a CR 10 or more below the current APL.

Pure roleplaying encounters have a CR equal to the average party level (adjust ±1 for particularly easy or difficult scenes).

Exact XP

Look up the Total XP for each defeated CR. Sum all values, then divide by the number of characters. Each PC earns that amount.

Abstract XP

Use the Individual XP columns from the table above — pick the column matching your party size, sum all individual awards. Division is already done for you.

Story Awards

Award Story Awards when the party concludes a major storyline or achieves an important milestone. A Story Award is worth double the XP for a CR equal to the APL. Particularly long or difficult arcs may award more at the GM's discretion.

Placing Treasure

Treasure and magic items are the primary income source for PCs. Use the tables below to keep wealth appropriate for the party's level. These figures assume a standard-fantasy game — halve for low-fantasy, double for high-fantasy.

Treasure per encounter difficulty: Easy encounters award treasure as if the party were one level lower. Challenging, Hard, and Epic encounters award treasure as if the party were one, two, or three levels higher, respectively.

NPC encounters: NPCs typically award three times the treasure a monster-based encounter awards because of their gear. Balance this by including additional low-treasure encounters (animals, plants, constructs, mindless undead, oozes, traps) to compensate.

Table: Character Wealth by Level (Core Rulebook Table 12–4)
PC Level	Total Wealth
1	See Starting Wealth in Equipment
2	1,000 gp
3	3,000 gp
4	6,000 gp
5	10,500 gp
6	16,000 gp
7	23,500 gp
8	33,000 gp
9	46,000 gp
10	62,000 gp
11	82,000 gp
12	108,000 gp
13	140,000 gp
14	185,000 gp
15	240,000 gp
16	315,000 gp
17	410,000 gp
18	530,000 gp
19	685,000 gp
20	880,000 gp

No PC should own any single item worth more than half their total character wealth.

Table: Treasure Values per Encounter (Core Rulebook Table 12–5)
APL	Treasure per Encounter
APL	Slow	Medium	Fast
1	170 gp	260 gp	400 gp
2	350 gp	550 gp	800 gp
3	550 gp	800 gp	1,200 gp
4	750 gp	1,150 gp	1,700 gp
5	1,000 gp	1,550 gp	2,300 gp
6	1,350 gp	2,000 gp	3,000 gp
7	1,750 gp	2,600 gp	3,900 gp
8	2,200 gp	3,350 gp	5,000 gp
9	2,850 gp	4,250 gp	6,400 gp
10	3,650 gp	5,450 gp	8,200 gp
11	4,650 gp	7,000 gp	10,500 gp
12	6,000 gp	9,000 gp	13,500 gp
13	7,750 gp	11,600 gp	17,500 gp
14	10,000 gp	15,000 gp	22,000 gp
15	13,000 gp	19,500 gp	29,000 gp
16	16,500 gp	25,000 gp	38,000 gp
17	22,000 gp	32,000 gp	48,000 gp
18	28,000 gp	41,000 gp	62,000 gp
19	35,000 gp	53,000 gp	79,000 gp
20	44,000 gp	67,000 gp	100,000 gp

Slow/Medium/Fast correspond to your campaign's XP advancement track (see Advancement).

Encounter Forge

Browse Encounters