“Encounter Building” (pp.88-91) has more guidelines. There we’d see that for level 3 characters I should provide CR1/4 enemies in a 2:1 ratio. So XGtE recommends 10 of them. I say throw anywhere between six and ten at them, depending on what makes sense in the fiction. Then use your gameplay and game-time decisions to adjust difficulty as it goes.
Are there more monsters than characters at 1st level?
If there are more monsters than characters, regardless of their challenge rating, the battle will be very hard for 1st level characters. In general, choose fewer monsters than characters at 1st level. Include monsters of challenge rating of 1/4 or less. Even a challenge 1/2 thug is a serious problem for 1st level characters.
How many CR 1 / 4 does it take to challenge a level?
For example, a “medium” encounter for a party of 5 level 3 PCs would have an adjusted XP budget of 750–1125. A CR 1/4 creature is valued at 50XP (MM. p.9), so we can fiddle with numbers and encounter multipliers (DMG p.82) to see that 6 creatures would be too few, 9 would verge on “hard.” So your answer’s 7 or 8, possibly 9.
What are the rules for 1st level combat encounters?
Here are some basic rules of thumb to help us design combat encounters for 1st level characters. Include fewer monsters than characters. If there are more monsters than characters, regardless of their challenge rating, the battle will be very hard for 1st level characters. In general, choose fewer monsters than characters at 1st level.
What should the player level be for monsters?
The 6-8 figure like CR is a guideline. Adjust it along with running more hard and deadly encounters (maybe 3-4) and your players should be having some trouble by the end. Also it’s worth noting, there’s a lot more to an encounter than just the monsters and the number of xp.
How many HP does a 20th level Barbarian have?
A 20th level barbarian would technically only be CR 9 or so by hp, but by AC they’re off the chart. You’re supposed to basically average all these together to get final CR, which will tend to be around the PCs level (maybe plus a few).
How many characters do you need for a party of 4?
There are also guidelines for adjusting this multiplier based on the party size, but 4 characters is the standard for D&D party sizes, so no adjustment is necessary. Refer to the DMG yourself if you end up DMing for a party of 2, or for a party of 6+. Finally, you need to consider the strength of the creatures themselves.
