What an adversary contributes to an encounter’s difficulty. At the party’s own tier a Minion is 0.5, a Rival 1 and a Boss 4. Each tier the adversary sits above the party doubles its value; each tier below halves it, rounded to the nearest quarter. Add the values up and match a target: half the party size for an easy scene, the party size for an average one, and one and a half times it for a hard one — which a party can rarely take more than once between long rests.

Summary

What an adversary contributes to an encounter’s difficulty. At the party’s own tier a Minion is 0.5, a Rival 1 and a Boss 4. Each tier the adversary sits above the party doubles its value; each tier below halves it, rounded to the nearest quarter. Add the values up and match a target: half the party size for an easy scene, the party size for an average one, and one and a half times it for a hard one — which a party can rarely take more than once between long rests.