Quick question: How do I balance combat encounters for a bunch of newbies?
So, let me explain. I’m running something I call ”The Newbies Campaign”, my group has been continually expanding and decreasing since I started playing DnD. At first I was completely new with just some rudimentary knowledge I had from youtube vids and playing DnD with my family (though we never followed the rules then and none of us knew how to play). But then through the little over what like a year I’ve been playing I realised I was suddenly among one of the most veteran, experienced and knowledgeable players at my table. So when I noticed a lot of other new players struggling with the game and mechanics, along with some players who frankly has played longer than me but haven’t grasped the game yet, I decided to start the newbies campaign!
It’s basically just a series of one-shots with no over-arching plot except what the players decide to do, and I tailor make each session to what the players and I decide we need to improve upon.
Now here is the thing, I say ”we” because this is my first time DMing, and I am fumbling in the dark frantically googling stuff and making documents to prepare for a session, looking stuff up on dnd beyond and the like. I’ve got the hang of it thus far, although I still need to improve upon all my skills I have a baseline of know-how in most of the areas I need except for one. Balancing combat.
I got no clue what I’m doing. What is too easy? What is too hard? What CR should I use in response to their level? How should I distribute CR if I make multiple monsters?
It relates to the question that I’m running this ”Newbies Campaign” like a westmarch, letting it be one of those ”Those who show up can play” since it has no over-arching plot so it doesn’t matter if you miss a session or twelve. Due to this the group varies between 4-9 players, and I like having contingencies incase it changes last minute. Minions for a bigger monster or a group of smaller monster of which I can adjust the size of the group or amount of minions. If I have one single enemy I like having backups incase I need to scale it up or down. But trying to do so myself without knowing how from beforehand has been rough. So I would like maybe some tips and tricks on how to measure your players against enemies and CR?
Last newbies session I threw 4 goblin warriors and a goblin general against a party of 8 level 3 players and the combat took 2 hours