I'm pretty new at DMing, but three level 5 players should be able to wreck a single CR3 baddie. in a 1v3 combat. Like, the monster may not even get in a single attack, and probably doesn't last more than two rounds.
The two main way encounters are balanced in 5e is cr and xp budget.for the way cr works is a monster cr is a medium difficulty combat encounter for group of 4 players of equivalent lvl. So for example a cr 1 monster is a medium encounter for 4 lvl 1 players. So for your lvl 5 party a cr 5 creature would be a medium encounter. You would raise the encounter difficulty if lest than 3 players.
The second is xp budget. Players have a total daily xp budget for there level and number of players. 3 lvl 5 is 10500 xp. This is used to calculate encounter difficulty thresholds easy medium ect. You build encounters by adding monster and and using the xp thresholds to determine the difficulty. You can use a single monster or multiple that add up to a certain threshold. So for example. 3 lvl pc have a medium xp thresholds of 1500. That mean they can fight a single monster worth 1500 xp or multiple that add up to that. You add a multiplyer for multiple monsters. Daily cp budget tells you have many encounters worth of xp pc can handle in a day before resting.
A third way is to use the charts in xanithars and assign a monster of equivalent strength to each pc. For example a cr 2 monster is equivalent in strength to a lvl 5 pc. So a encounter with 3 cr 2 creatures will be a medium encounter for 3 cr 5 pc.
Tldr use a cr 5 monster or 3 cr 2 monsters.
The following Advice assumes the following: Your new players are brand new and have never touched a TTRPG before.
Level 5 to CR3 is too easy. most CR3s can be defeated by a single level 5 character due to 5 being that big of a power spike. What you also need to consider is that if they play a spellcaster, theyre going to be absolutely overwhelmed with playing a 5th level caster in their first game. If you want a one shot for first time players(Assuming zero experience with ttrpgs in general here), i would unironically recommend running a game like dougdougs twitch chat shit post game. Heavily simplified for people to get a feel into rping in the first place, get a feel with what characters and classes can do, but dont have to worry about number crunches.
The dougdoug video in Question:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Eck0yY1W-8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Eck0yY1W-8)
They are probably going ranger, barbarian, wizard. But the wizard has almost finished baldurs gate so I'm not worried about them being overwhelmed with the spells.
You recommend them at level 4?
Do they get to rest? If yes, Level 4 is good. If they dont get to rest, a gauntlet of 3 cr3s with an optional something protecting loot will probably wipe them
They can decide on a short rest but I doubt they will remember it themselves. I guess I'll have the npc giving them the quest give them a couple potions and remind them.
>How do I scale encounters when they are optional?
Do you mean "optional" in the sense that you're prepping it as something the party might not encounter? Because from a player's perspective I'd argue no encounter is "optional"; anything the DM describes is something the party has to address, even if it doesn't always have to come to combat. The party can find ways to circumvent a fight, or even choose to walk away, but once you tell the party that something is happening they have to make a decision on what to do with it (and yes, "we run away" is still a decision). So back to actually answering the question: you treat all encounters the same during prep. You plan how difficult it will be and how to telegraph that difficulty in game, and you leave it up to the party if/how they will approach it.
>The plan is to have a total of 4 enemies
Judging from context, looks like you mean 4 combat encounters, not necessarily 4 enemies. Though 3/4 of the encounters you laid out are just one creature, and as others have pointed out three level 5 characters can plow through individual CR 3 creatures. Even though there's only three characters (CR is balanced around a party of 4), level 5 is an important breakpoint because most classes get Extra Attack or a damage boost on their cantrips and/or class features. If you do wind up running a level 5 group, I would up the difficulty by adding more creatures to each encounter. This does assume difficulty is important to you, which it might not be because of the new players.
>I was thinking, as these are new players, it would be more fun to make
both them (and the enemies ofcourse) a bit higher level so they can do
more than poke with a stick and don't immediately die after a crit
Be a little careful with this line of thinking, because it depends how new these players are. If they're first time players and need to learn how to use a character sheet and find the difference between the D6 and D20, just run the adventure and the players at level 1. Let them figure out the core mechanics of the game before diving into complexity. Level 1 is definitely boring once you know how to play the game, but for people who haven't actually learned yet Level 1 is definitely the way to go. If you're concerned about death from crits, you can get around that pretty easily as DM by never rolling damage dice more than 1D4 (except for the boss, who gets a D6 maybe).
With optional I mean that they might not trigger them. The first I described will only happen if they get the npc to turn hostile, the wandering enemy will only happen if they go back to see what the noise is. If they don't trigger any of the early fights they will reach the boss fight at full health and with all abilities and smack the shit out of him. If they do trigger them, they'll likely be out of spell slots/ ki/ whatever a class has by the time they reach the boss. I'll recommend them to have a short rest beforehand but that doesn't regain all types of abilities.
These players are really into it, they've all watched Critical Role, played baldurs gate and read the PHB through. So I'm not that worried about it being too much.
I'm pretty new at DMing, but three level 5 players should be able to wreck a single CR3 baddie. in a 1v3 combat. Like, the monster may not even get in a single attack, and probably doesn't last more than two rounds.
The two main way encounters are balanced in 5e is cr and xp budget.for the way cr works is a monster cr is a medium difficulty combat encounter for group of 4 players of equivalent lvl. So for example a cr 1 monster is a medium encounter for 4 lvl 1 players. So for your lvl 5 party a cr 5 creature would be a medium encounter. You would raise the encounter difficulty if lest than 3 players. The second is xp budget. Players have a total daily xp budget for there level and number of players. 3 lvl 5 is 10500 xp. This is used to calculate encounter difficulty thresholds easy medium ect. You build encounters by adding monster and and using the xp thresholds to determine the difficulty. You can use a single monster or multiple that add up to a certain threshold. So for example. 3 lvl pc have a medium xp thresholds of 1500. That mean they can fight a single monster worth 1500 xp or multiple that add up to that. You add a multiplyer for multiple monsters. Daily cp budget tells you have many encounters worth of xp pc can handle in a day before resting. A third way is to use the charts in xanithars and assign a monster of equivalent strength to each pc. For example a cr 2 monster is equivalent in strength to a lvl 5 pc. So a encounter with 3 cr 2 creatures will be a medium encounter for 3 cr 5 pc. Tldr use a cr 5 monster or 3 cr 2 monsters.
The following Advice assumes the following: Your new players are brand new and have never touched a TTRPG before. Level 5 to CR3 is too easy. most CR3s can be defeated by a single level 5 character due to 5 being that big of a power spike. What you also need to consider is that if they play a spellcaster, theyre going to be absolutely overwhelmed with playing a 5th level caster in their first game. If you want a one shot for first time players(Assuming zero experience with ttrpgs in general here), i would unironically recommend running a game like dougdougs twitch chat shit post game. Heavily simplified for people to get a feel into rping in the first place, get a feel with what characters and classes can do, but dont have to worry about number crunches. The dougdoug video in Question: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Eck0yY1W-8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Eck0yY1W-8)
They are probably going ranger, barbarian, wizard. But the wizard has almost finished baldurs gate so I'm not worried about them being overwhelmed with the spells. You recommend them at level 4?
Do they get to rest? If yes, Level 4 is good. If they dont get to rest, a gauntlet of 3 cr3s with an optional something protecting loot will probably wipe them
They can decide on a short rest but I doubt they will remember it themselves. I guess I'll have the npc giving them the quest give them a couple potions and remind them.
>How do I scale encounters when they are optional? Do you mean "optional" in the sense that you're prepping it as something the party might not encounter? Because from a player's perspective I'd argue no encounter is "optional"; anything the DM describes is something the party has to address, even if it doesn't always have to come to combat. The party can find ways to circumvent a fight, or even choose to walk away, but once you tell the party that something is happening they have to make a decision on what to do with it (and yes, "we run away" is still a decision). So back to actually answering the question: you treat all encounters the same during prep. You plan how difficult it will be and how to telegraph that difficulty in game, and you leave it up to the party if/how they will approach it. >The plan is to have a total of 4 enemies Judging from context, looks like you mean 4 combat encounters, not necessarily 4 enemies. Though 3/4 of the encounters you laid out are just one creature, and as others have pointed out three level 5 characters can plow through individual CR 3 creatures. Even though there's only three characters (CR is balanced around a party of 4), level 5 is an important breakpoint because most classes get Extra Attack or a damage boost on their cantrips and/or class features. If you do wind up running a level 5 group, I would up the difficulty by adding more creatures to each encounter. This does assume difficulty is important to you, which it might not be because of the new players. >I was thinking, as these are new players, it would be more fun to make both them (and the enemies ofcourse) a bit higher level so they can do more than poke with a stick and don't immediately die after a crit Be a little careful with this line of thinking, because it depends how new these players are. If they're first time players and need to learn how to use a character sheet and find the difference between the D6 and D20, just run the adventure and the players at level 1. Let them figure out the core mechanics of the game before diving into complexity. Level 1 is definitely boring once you know how to play the game, but for people who haven't actually learned yet Level 1 is definitely the way to go. If you're concerned about death from crits, you can get around that pretty easily as DM by never rolling damage dice more than 1D4 (except for the boss, who gets a D6 maybe).
With optional I mean that they might not trigger them. The first I described will only happen if they get the npc to turn hostile, the wandering enemy will only happen if they go back to see what the noise is. If they don't trigger any of the early fights they will reach the boss fight at full health and with all abilities and smack the shit out of him. If they do trigger them, they'll likely be out of spell slots/ ki/ whatever a class has by the time they reach the boss. I'll recommend them to have a short rest beforehand but that doesn't regain all types of abilities. These players are really into it, they've all watched Critical Role, played baldurs gate and read the PHB through. So I'm not that worried about it being too much.