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D&D 5e Encounter Difficulty Calculator
Calculate D&D 5e encounter difficulty by adding monsters and party members. Get XP thresholds, adjusted XP, and a difficulty rating instantly.
Party (4)
Character 1
Character 2
Character 3
Character 4
Monsters (1)
Monster 1
XP
Enter the XP value from each monster's stat block (not CR).
Encounter difficulty
Trivial
Adjusted XP
700
700 XP × 1 multiplier
Party XP thresholds
Easy
1,000+
Medium
2,000+
Hard
3,000+
Deadly
4,400+
How D&D 5e encounter difficulty works
- 1. Party XP thresholds — Each character has Easy/Medium/Hard/Deadly thresholds by level (2014 DMG table). The party total is the sum of all character thresholds.
- 2. Monster XP — Total the raw XP values from each monster's stat block (not the CR number itself).
- 3. Encounter multiplier — More monsters = more actions per round. Apply × 1 (1 monster), × 1.5 (2), × 2 (3–6), × 2.5 (7–10), × 3 (11–14), or × 4 (15+). Adjusted for party of fewer than 3 or 6+ players.
- 4. Compare adjusted XP — The nearest threshold below the adjusted XP determines difficulty.
Based on the D&D 5e 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide encounter building rules. The 2024 DMG uses a simplified version without multipliers; this tool uses the original system most DMs still reference.
Common monster XP by CR
CR 010 XP
CR 1/825 XP
CR 1/450 XP
CR 1/2100 XP
CR 1200 XP
CR 2450 XP
CR 3700 XP
CR 41,100 XP
CR 51,800 XP
CR 62,300 XP
CR 72,900 XP
CR 83,900 XP
CR 95,000 XP
CR 105,900 XP
CR 117,200 XP
CR 128,400 XP
CR 1310,000 XP
CR 1411,500 XP
CR 1513,000 XP
CR 1615,000 XP
CR 1718,000 XP
CR 1820,000 XP
CR 1922,000 XP
CR 2025,000 XP