# Encounter calculator 5e

Rates a 5e combat encounter as Low, Moderate or High difficulty: the party’s XP budget from each character’s level against the total XP of the monsters by challenge rating.

- Page: https://www.acalculator.org/game/dnd-encounter-calculator
- JSON spec: https://www.acalculator.org/game/dnd-encounter-calculator.json
- Version: 08add6c7e187

## Default answer

Example with the default inputs (Party [Characters 4, Level 3], Monsters [How many 1, Challenge rating CR 3 (700 XP); How many 4, Challenge rating CR 1/4 (50 XP)]): Monsters worth 900 XP make a Moderate encounter for 4 characters.

## Inputs

| Key | Label | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| p | Party | One row per group of characters at the same level: how many, and their level. |
| m | Monsters | One row per kind of monster: how many, and their challenge rating. |

## Outputs

| Key | Label | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| difficulty | Difficulty | Low, Moderate or High: the smallest budget the monsters’ XP fits within; Above High when it is over the High budget. |
| xp | Monster XP | The XP of every monster added up. |
| low | Low budget | The Low XP budget: each character’s Low budget for their level, added up. |
| moderate | Moderate budget | The Moderate XP budget, added up over the characters. |
| high | High budget | The High XP budget, added up over the characters. |
| left | XP left in the budget | The budget of this difficulty minus the monsters’ XP: what you could still add without going over. |
| characters | Characters | How many characters are in the party. |
| creatures | Creatures | How many monsters are in the encounter. |
| note | Note | A warning when there are more than two creatures per character. |

## Method

Budget = Σ characters × XP Budget per Character (Low, Moderate, High) for their level; monster XP = Σ monsters × XP for their CR; difficulty = the lowest budget the monster XP does not go over.

## Assumptions

- The budgets and XP values are those of the 5e System Reference Document 5.2.1 (the 2024 rules), which uses no encounter multiplier for groups of monsters.
- For a party of mixed levels, each character adds the budget for their own level (the SRD table is per character).
- XP is a guide, not a guarantee: terrain, tactics, rest and luck all change how hard a fight is.
- Includes material from the System Reference Document 5.2.1 by Wizards of the Coast LLC, licensed under CC BY 4.0 (see Sources).

## Worked examples

1. p = {"count":4,"level":1} or undefined, m = {"count":6,"cr":"1-8"} or undefined gives low = 200, moderate = 300, high = 400, xp = 150, difficulty = Low, left = 50, creatures = 6. Source: System Reference Document 5.2.1 by Wizards of the Coast LLC (CC BY 4.0), Gameplay Toolbox, Combat Encounter Difficulty: XP Budget per Character table and its steps, https://www.dndbeyond.com/srd (Example 1); System Reference Document 5.1 by Wizards of the Coast LLC (CC BY 4.0), Monsters, Experience Points by Challenge Rating, https://www.dndbeyond.com/srd (CR 1/8 = 25 XP).
2. p = {"count":5,"level":3} or undefined, m = {"count":2,"cr":"2"} or {"count":9,"cr":"1-8"} gives moderate = 1,125, xp = 1,125, difficulty = Moderate, left = 0, low = 750, creatures = 11. Source: System Reference Document 5.2.1 by Wizards of the Coast LLC (CC BY 4.0), Gameplay Toolbox, Combat Encounter Difficulty: XP Budget per Character table and its steps, https://www.dndbeyond.com/srd (Example 2); System Reference Document 5.1 by Wizards of the Coast LLC (CC BY 4.0), Monsters, Experience Points by Challenge Rating, https://www.dndbeyond.com/srd (CR 2 = 450 XP).
3. p = {"count":6,"level":15} or undefined, m = {"count":2,"cr":"17"} or {"count":2,"cr":"9"} gives high = 46,800, xp = 46,000, difficulty = High, left = 800. Source: System Reference Document 5.2.1 by Wizards of the Coast LLC (CC BY 4.0), Gameplay Toolbox, Combat Encounter Difficulty: XP Budget per Character table and its steps, https://www.dndbeyond.com/srd (Example 3); System Reference Document 5.1 by Wizards of the Coast LLC (CC BY 4.0), Monsters, Experience Points by Challenge Rating, https://www.dndbeyond.com/srd (CR 17 = 18,000 XP, CR 9 = 5,000 XP).
4. p = {"count":2,"level":5} or {"count":1,"level":4}, m = {"count":1,"cr":"8"} or undefined gives low = 1,250, moderate = 1,875, high = 2,700, xp = 3,900, difficulty = Above High, characters = 3. Source: System Reference Document 5.2.1 by Wizards of the Coast LLC (CC BY 4.0), Gameplay Toolbox, Combat Encounter Difficulty: XP Budget per Character table and its steps, https://www.dndbeyond.com/srd; System Reference Document 5.1 by Wizards of the Coast LLC (CC BY 4.0), Monsters, Experience Points by Challenge Rating, https://www.dndbeyond.com/srd.

## FAQ

### How do I work out encounter difficulty in 5e?

Look up each character’s XP budget for the difficulty you want, add them up, then add the XP of every monster. Four level 1 characters have a Low budget of 4 × 50 = 200 XP; six creatures worth 25 XP each (150 XP) fit within it.

### What are the Low, Moderate and High budgets?

The SRD 5.2.1 table gives an XP budget per character for each level. At level 3 it is 150 (Low), 225 (Moderate) and 400 (High); at level 15 it is 3,300, 5,400 and 7,800.

### How much XP is each challenge rating worth?

CR 1/8 is 25 XP, CR 1/4 is 50, CR 1/2 is 100, CR 1 is 200, CR 2 is 450, CR 5 is 1,800 and CR 10 is 5,900. A CR 0 creature is 0 XP, or 10 XP if it has an effective attack.

### Are there encounter multipliers for groups of monsters?

Not in the 2024 rules in SRD 5.2.1, which this page follows: you add the monsters’ XP as it is. The SRD instead warns that more than two creatures per character can be riskier than the XP suggests.

### How do I handle a party of mixed levels?

Add a row for each level. The budget table is per character, so the page adds each character’s own budget: two level 5 characters and one level 4 have a High budget of 2 × 1,100 + 500 = 2,700 XP.

### What does Above High mean?

The monsters are worth more XP than the High budget. Such a fight could be lethal for some characters; remove creatures to bring it within a budget.

## Sources

- System Reference Document 5.2.1 by Wizards of the Coast LLC (CC BY 4.0), Gameplay Toolbox, Combat Encounter Difficulty: choose a difficulty, multiply the XP Budget per Character by the number of characters, spend it on creatures by their XP; Examples 1 to 3. https://www.dndbeyond.com/srd (retrieved 2026-10-02; table read in the Markdown copy https://github.com/downfallx/dnd-5e-srd-markdown, gameplay-toolbox.md)
- System Reference Document 5.1 by Wizards of the Coast LLC (CC BY 4.0), Monsters, Experience Points by Challenge Rating (the same values as SRD 5.2.1). https://www.dndbeyond.com/srd (retrieved 2026-10-02; read on https://api.open5e.com/v1/sections/monsters/)