Introduction
This is a lookup page, not a narrative guide - every cross-chapter table a DM reaches for mid-session, pulled from across the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide and organized by what you're trying to do rather than by chapter. Pair it with a session in progress; the other Dungeon Master Guides cover the reasoning behind each table.
For the reasoning behind D20 Tests and combat pacing, see the Running the Game guide. For encounter and adventure design beyond the XP math below, see the Creating Adventures guide. Return to the Dungeon Master Guides hub for the full chapter map.
D20 Test DCs
| Task | DC |
|---|---|
| Very easy | 5 |
| Easy | 10 |
| Moderate | 15 |
| Hard | 20 |
| Very hard | 25 |
| Nearly impossible | 30 |
Easy, Moderate, and Hard cover most checks - the DMG itself notes a DM can run an entire game using just those three. Keep saving throw DCs you set yourself between 10 and 20.
Calculated DC (creature-sourced effects): DC = 8 + ability modifier + Proficiency Bonus. Use this whenever a creature is the source of an effect forcing a save (a spell, poison, or special ability), or to set the DC for an ability-check contest between two creatures.
Combat Encounter Building: XP Budget per Character
Cross-reference the party's level against the target difficulty to get an XP-per-character value, then multiply by party size for the encounter's total XP budget. Spend that budget on monsters using each one's stat-block XP value, aiming to use as much of the budget as possible without going over.
| Party 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 |
What each difficulty tier means:
- Low. One or two scary moments, but the party should come out without casualties, possibly burning some healing resources. A single monster with a Challenge Rating equal to the party's level is a rough proxy for a low-difficulty fight against four characters.
- Moderate. Could go badly without healing and other resources in reserve - weaker characters might get knocked out of the fight, with a slim chance of a character death.
- High. Potentially lethal for one or more characters without smart tactics, quick thinking, and some luck.
Worked example: A moderate-difficulty encounter for five level 3 characters draws a budget of 225 x 5 = 1,125 XP. Two Nothics (450 XP each) plus nine Stirges (25 XP each) spends 1,125 XP exactly; a Wight (700 XP), a Warhorse Skeleton (100 XP), and six Skeletons (50 XP each) spends 1,100 and leaves a small unspent margin, which is fine.
Troubleshooting thresholds:
- More than two monsters per character raises the risk of a lucky streak dealing more damage than the XP math implies - mix in fragile, fast-to-defeat creatures once you cross that ratio, especially against a level 1-2 party.
- A monster with a higher Challenge Rating than the party's level can end a character in one hit even in an otherwise-reasonable encounter (a CR 2 Ogre can kill a level 1 Wizard outright).
- Referencing more than two or three distinct stat blocks in one encounter gets hard to run at the table, particularly for complex creatures.
Build Your D&D 2024 Character
The D&D 2024 character builder is live - build a Beastkin, a Kobold, or whatever your table is missing, free, right now.
Start BuildingInitial Attitude
For an unscripted creature's starting disposition toward the party:
| d12 Roll | Initial Attitude |
|---|---|
| 4 or lower | Hostile |
| 5-8 | Indifferent |
| 9 or higher | Friendly |
Travel Pace
| Value | Formula |
|---|---|
| Miles per hour | Speed + 10 |
| Miles per day (Normal pace) | Miles per hour x hours traveled |
| Fast pace | Normal-pace miles per day x 4/3 (round down) |
| Slow pace | Normal-pace miles per day x 2/3 (round down) |
Terrain caps the maximum pace a group can sustain on a given journey stage - rougher terrain (Mountain, Swamp) forces a Slow pace regardless of what the party would otherwise prefer, while easier terrain (Grassland, Arctic) permits a Fast one. Vehicles use their own miles-per-hour speed instead of a character-based pace.
Extended travel. Pushing past 8 hours of travel in a day risks Exhaustion: at the end of each additional hour, each character makes a Constitution save (DC 10, +1 per hour past the eighth) or gains 1 Exhaustion level.
Foraging. A foraging character makes a Wisdom (Survival) check once per journey stage (or once per day on a stage shorter than a day), with the DC set by how abundant food and water are in that terrain. On a success, roll 1d6 plus the character's Wisdom modifier for pounds of food found, then roll again for gallons of water. Each foraging character rolls separately.
Encounter Pacing: Uncertainty and Rests
The 2024 DMG frames rest access as a pacing lever. Scattering small, defensible rooms in a dungeon lets a cautious party rest safely and lower the tension, while occasionally interrupting a rest raises urgency without changing the rest rules. Use it as a narrative dial rather than a new subsystem.
Related Guides
For the reasoning behind these numbers - D20 Tests, combat pacing, exploration - see the Running the Game guide. For encounter design beyond the raw XP math, see the Creating Adventures guide. For on-the-fly rules referenced at the table (hazards, traps, environmental effects, doors), see the DM's Toolbox guide. Return to the Dungeon Master Guides hub for the full chapter map.
