D&D 5e Encounter Difficulty Calculator
Add the characters in your party and the creatures they will face. The calculator totals the XP, applies the right rules for your edition and tells you how hard the fight is likely to be.
Party
Monsters
Start typing a creature name to pick from the SRD list and fill in its CR, or just choose a CR.
| Difficulty | Party XP | Room left |
|---|
How encounter difficulty works in 5e
Every creature has a challenge rating (CR), and every CR is worth a fixed amount of experience points. Encounter building compares the XP of the monsters you plan to use with an XP allowance for your party. The bigger and higher-level the party, the more XP worth of monsters it can handle. The two rules editions do this a little differently, and this calculator supports both.
The 2014 method: thresholds and multipliers
- Find each character's thresholds. Every level has four XP thresholds: Easy, Medium, Hard and Deadly. Add up the thresholds of all characters to get the party's thresholds.
- Total the monsters' XP. Add the XP value of every monster in the fight.
- Apply the encounter multiplier. More monsters means more attacks per round, so the total is multiplied according to how many monsters there are (see the table below). Parties of one or two characters use the next higher multiplier; parties of six or more use the next lower one.
- Compare. The highest threshold the adjusted XP reaches is the encounter's difficulty.
The multiplier only measures difficulty. When the party wins, they share the monsters' unadjusted XP.
The 2024 method: a simple XP budget
- Choose a difficulty: Low, Moderate or High.
- Work out the budget: look up the XP per character for that difficulty and multiply by the number of characters (or add up each character's value in a mixed-level party).
- Spend it: add creatures whose total XP stays within the budget. There is no multiplier for the number of monsters.
The 2024 rules add one caution: if there are more than two creatures per character, use fragile creatures that can be defeated quickly, or the action economy can overwhelm the party.
XP thresholds by character level (2014)
| Level | Easy | Medium | Hard | Deadly |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 25 | 50 | 75 | 100 |
| 2 | 50 | 100 | 150 | 200 |
| 3 | 75 | 150 | 225 | 400 |
| 4 | 125 | 250 | 375 | 500 |
| 5 | 250 | 500 | 750 | 1,100 |
| 6 | 300 | 600 | 900 | 1,400 |
| 7 | 350 | 750 | 1,100 | 1,700 |
| 8 | 450 | 900 | 1,400 | 2,100 |
| 9 | 550 | 1,100 | 1,600 | 2,400 |
| 10 | 600 | 1,200 | 1,900 | 2,800 |
| 11 | 800 | 1,600 | 2,400 | 3,600 |
| 12 | 1,000 | 2,000 | 3,000 | 4,500 |
| 13 | 1,100 | 2,200 | 3,400 | 5,100 |
| 14 | 1,250 | 2,500 | 3,800 | 5,700 |
| 15 | 1,400 | 2,800 | 4,300 | 6,400 |
| 16 | 1,600 | 3,200 | 4,800 | 7,200 |
| 17 | 2,000 | 3,900 | 5,900 | 8,800 |
| 18 | 2,100 | 4,200 | 6,300 | 9,500 |
| 19 | 2,400 | 4,900 | 7,300 | 10,900 |
| 20 | 2,800 | 5,700 | 8,500 | 12,700 |
XP budget per character (2024)
| Level | Low | Moderate | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 50 | 75 | 100 |
| 2 | 100 | 150 | 200 |
| 3 | 150 | 225 | 400 |
| 4 | 250 | 375 | 500 |
| 5 | 500 | 750 | 1,100 |
| 6 | 600 | 1,000 | 1,400 |
| 7 | 750 | 1,300 | 1,700 |
| 8 | 1,000 | 1,700 | 2,100 |
| 9 | 1,300 | 2,000 | 2,600 |
| 10 | 1,600 | 2,300 | 3,100 |
| 11 | 1,900 | 2,900 | 4,100 |
| 12 | 2,200 | 3,700 | 4,700 |
| 13 | 2,600 | 4,200 | 5,400 |
| 14 | 2,900 | 4,900 | 6,200 |
| 15 | 3,300 | 5,400 | 7,800 |
| 16 | 3,800 | 6,100 | 9,800 |
| 17 | 4,500 | 7,200 | 11,700 |
| 18 | 5,000 | 8,700 | 14,200 |
| 19 | 5,500 | 10,700 | 17,200 |
| 20 | 6,400 | 13,200 | 22,000 |
Encounter multipliers (2014)
| Number of monsters | Multiplier |
|---|---|
| 1 | ×1 |
| 2 | ×1.5 |
| 3–6 | ×2 |
| 7–10 | ×2.5 |
| 11–14 | ×3 |
| 15 or more | ×4 |
Challenge rating to XP
The XP value of a creature depends only on its CR. Proficiency bonus by CR is included for reference.
| CR | XP | Proficiency bonus | CR | XP | Proficiency bonus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 10 | +2 | 14 | 11,500 | +5 |
| 1/8 | 25 | +2 | 15 | 13,000 | +5 |
| 1/4 | 50 | +2 | 16 | 15,000 | +5 |
| 1/2 | 100 | +2 | 17 | 18,000 | +6 |
| 1 | 200 | +2 | 18 | 20,000 | +6 |
| 2 | 450 | +2 | 19 | 22,000 | +6 |
| 3 | 700 | +2 | 20 | 25,000 | +6 |
| 4 | 1,100 | +2 | 21 | 33,000 | +7 |
| 5 | 1,800 | +3 | 22 | 41,000 | +7 |
| 6 | 2,300 | +3 | 23 | 50,000 | +7 |
| 7 | 2,900 | +3 | 24 | 62,000 | +7 |
| 8 | 3,900 | +3 | 25 | 75,000 | +8 |
| 9 | 5,000 | +4 | 26 | 90,000 | +8 |
| 10 | 5,900 | +4 | 27 | 105,000 | +8 |
| 11 | 7,200 | +4 | 28 | 120,000 | +8 |
| 12 | 8,400 | +4 | 29 | 135,000 | +9 |
| 13 | 10,000 | +5 | 30 | 155,000 | +9 |
Worked example
A party of four 3rd-level characters faces one ogre (CR 2, 450 XP) and three goblins (CR 1/4, 50 XP each). The monsters are worth 600 XP in total.
- 2014 rules: four monsters use a ×2 multiplier, for 1,200 adjusted XP. The party's thresholds are 300 / 600 / 900 / 1,600, so the fight is Hard.
- 2024 rules: the party's budgets are 600 (Low), 900 (Moderate) and 1,600 (High). At 600 XP the fight sits right at Low.
The difference is the multiplier: the 2014 rules treat groups of monsters as much more dangerous, while the 2024 rules rely on the higher per-character budgets instead. This is why the same fight can read differently under each edition.
Tips for balancing encounters
- Difficulty is a guide, not a guarantee. Terrain, surprise, ranged attackers and spellcasters can swing a fight more than raw XP.
- Watch the action economy. A single powerful monster often loses to a party because it acts once per round. Add minions or legendary actions to keep a boss fight tense.
- Plan the adventuring day. A Hard fight is far deadlier when the party has already spent its spell slots and hit dice.
- Award XP fairly. Split the monsters' total XP between the characters who took part. The XP & level calculator tracks it for you.