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Is there a consensus on how many combat encounters most players experience in a DnD 5E adventuring day?

From the DMG, pg 84:

Assuming typical adventuring conditions and average luck, most adventuring parties can handle about six to eight medium or hard encounters in a day.

However, this is more of a guideline, and doesn't tell us how real players really play.

Man_Over_Game
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    If there already is an aggregation (that's probably a word) then that would be an excellent answer to this, which is honestly what I thought this was looking for anyhow – Exempt-Medic Dec 19 '19 at 19:30
  • @Rykara I disagree. Someone can either find the existing statisics and present them or the answer is no. – NotArch Dec 19 '19 at 19:30
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    Is this also an X-Y problem? Wanting to know actual tableplay statistics is it's own question, but if you're asking with regard to the expected encounters and associated resource expenditure then I'm not quite sure what's behind this. – NotArch Dec 19 '19 at 19:33
  • @NautArch The DMG considers an "Encounter" as basically any scenario that costs resources. However, it seems most players consider an "Encounter" as something as strenuous as a combat scenario. I'm looking for an answer that is targeted towards the latter. For example, a locked chest with a dart trap probably isn't enough to be considered an "encounter". Making that chest also a mimic, or a portal into a trapped room, would be. – Man_Over_Game Dec 19 '19 at 19:39
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    I sitll don't really understand what you're trying to get out of this, And I think you should define 'encounter' if you're not defining it in the same way as WoTC. Or maybe start with asking and/or defining what 'encounter' means to you and being clear if it's different than the DMG (and how). BUt if your definition is different, than I highly doubt there's existing data out there that fits your particular definition - especially if it's different from the standard. – NotArch Dec 19 '19 at 19:45
  • @NautArch Honestly, I think most people naturally think of "Combat" when they hear the word "Encounter". I simply meant in the way that Players use the term. That is, the natural standard, as opposed to an unnatural one (defined in the DMG). Inevitably, if had asked "how many combat scenarios do people have", someone will redirect me to the DMG rules that tell me how "not all encounters are combat". – Man_Over_Game Dec 19 '19 at 19:52
  • In that case, I don't think you'll find a study about what the encounter usage is at a table if the definition is different from WoTC. And more importantly, if they're using a different definition, then the mechanics on why WoTC used it become less important, too. I don't disagree most people think 'combat', but that isn't what an encounter always is. – NotArch Dec 19 '19 at 19:54
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    Unfortunately, given what you've said, I don't think this is answerable here and voting to close :( – NotArch Dec 19 '19 at 19:54
  • Daniel, who do you think is administering surveys to collect this data? Also, each game table is its own instance of D&D. doesn't tell us how real players really play -- Beyond that, who is a real player: your table, my table, or some other table? How can we tell the difference? – KorvinStarmast Dec 19 '19 at 20:05
  • @NautArch actually "how many combat encounters" might exist. Combat to noncombat is pretty natural distinction. But if OP wants only combat ones, he should be clear about it. I wonder if organized play makes sucj surveys? – Mołot Dec 19 '19 at 20:06
  • @Mołot Sure, but then why have the bit about what the DMG says? If it's just asking "are there statistics out there about how many combat encounters are typically run per adventuring day", then it's a simple question of either finding or not finding those statistics. But i'm unclear how useful that is, but it doesn't matter really if that's not clear :) – NotArch Dec 19 '19 at 20:07
  • About the DMG citation: are there standard rules for determining the difficulty of a non-combat encounter? If not, a description of medium or hard encounters in a day strongly suggests that the citation is describing combat encounters, specifically, but I can't recall any method for determining encounter difficulty for anything other than combat. – Upper_Case Dec 19 '19 at 20:13
  • @KorvinStarmast Anybody that could? There are numerous communities that cater to tabletop players, like this one. It's not unreasonable for there to be one that answered this question, considering how often it comes up. – Man_Over_Game Dec 19 '19 at 20:14
  • @KorvinStarmast By 'Real Player', I just simply meant any instance where voting or tallying were used. There wasn't a specific goal that was meant, other than trying to express I'm looking for information not provided in the Handbooks. – Man_Over_Game Dec 19 '19 at 20:17
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    Another thing, you ask in the title for statistics and in the body whether there's a consensus. These are fundamentally different things and the existence of either does not require the existence of the other. For example: a poll of how many encounters GM's think an adventuring day should have might show a consensus, but a poll of how many encounters they actually have would show statistics – Exempt-Medic Dec 19 '19 at 20:17
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    It isn't as hard to take a survey as it is to design a useful and valid one. (I think we are both familiar with the "surveys" at GiTP 5e forums and the D&D Beyond "surveys" that tray to show what the most popular classes are ...) – KorvinStarmast Dec 19 '19 at 20:20
  • @Medix2 The term "Adventuring Day" is generally understood as "Per Long Rest". Long Rests can span multiple sessions, or even multiple in-game day-night cycles. – Man_Over_Game Dec 19 '19 at 20:44
  • @Medix2 It wouldn't have to account for every possible outlier. Most tables would use the default rules, of Long Rests matching the Day-Night cycle. – Man_Over_Game Dec 19 '19 at 21:02

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