D&D Encounter Balance Calculator

Build CR-appropriate encounters for your party using D&D 5e XP thresholds and encounter multipliers.

Party Size

Party Level

Difficulty

Number of Monsters

Tab to move between fields

Suggested CR per Monster

XP Budget per Monster333 XP

Total XP Budget2,000 XP

Encounter Multiplier2x

Easy Threshold1,000 XP

Medium Threshold2,000 XP

Hard Threshold3,000 XP

Deadly Threshold4,400 XP

How to Use This Calculator

Enter the party size and the level of each character.
Add each monster's Challenge Rating (CR) and the number appearing.
Set the encounter multiplier based on the number of monsters (2-6 monsters multiply XP by 1.5).
Review the Total Adjusted XP and the Encounter Difficulty: Easy, Medium, Hard, or Deadly.
Adjust monster count or CR until the difficulty matches your session's intended challenge.

How the result changes with Number of Monsters

Party Size: Number of player characters.
Party Level: Average character level.
Difficulty: Easy = low risk, Deadly = possible TPK.
Number of Monsters: More monsters increase effective difficulty via encounter multiplier.

Identify Input Parameters
4 parameters
Party Size = 4, Party Level = 5, Difficulty = 1, Number of Monsters = 3 = 4 input(s) provided
Calculate Suggested CR per Monster
Suggested CR per Monster
2 = 2
Calculate XP Budget per Monster
XP Budget per Monster
333 = 333
Calculate Total XP Budget
Total XP Budget
2000 = 2000

The questions that sit next to this one — chosen by subject, including calculators filed under a different category.

Calculate XP needed per session to reach your target level based on encounter frequency and pacing.

Generate appropriate treasure hoard value from CR tier and party composition following D&D 5e guidelines.

Allocate ability scores using the D&D 5e point buy system with automatic cost and modifier calculation.