u/Evereal01

I’m not sure if it’s my group, or if there is a hiccup in the system, but it feels like estimating the difficulty of encounters around 5^(th) to 7^(th) level becomes unreliable.

As in it’s either trivial or dangerous with little in-between, irrespective of the XP budget/encounter design guidelines.

It feels like party level+1/+2 enemies at this level get very few turns to act if the melee strikers close in (usually only 1 or 2 rounds), while some hazards or enemies can wipe out low-health party members like the casters with just one failed save. It really depends on initiative, and who gets the crit first.

Is this just a me issue, or do others notice this as well? Is this just the pattern beyond 7th level? If so, how to do you manage that as a GM?

https://preview.redd.it/1y8svn8xo34h1.png?width=1766&format=png&auto=webp&s=fec6e3a0c176085eda8b77f0be70e414652fae86

"You come here, demand I give you my treasure, only because you declared that it's 'the law'? Well I have a declaration of my own to make—dragons are hereby exempt from your stupid taxes, failure to comply will result in incineration."

This week I decided I had enough of AI, and decided to put my own hand to drawing. So I picked up drawing tablet, and this is what I came up with.

At it turns out, drawing dragons is so much fun!

If you'd like, post a ref of your OC below and I will do my best job at assembling a headshot/bust for you! I'm looking for practice.