How do I create and balance encounters?

Encounters are challenges for the party including combat, social confrontations, puzzles, and exploration challenges. SwiftPrep helps you prepare encounters with clear setup, track which ones you have used, and link them to your sessions.

Creating an Encounter

1. Click Encounters in the sidebar
2. Click Create Encounter
3. Enter a name (required)
4. Fill in additional fields as needed
5. Click Save

Encounter Fields

Basic Information

Setup and Details

Resolution

DM Tools

Tracking

Organization

Encounter Types

Combat

Traditional fights with creatures or enemies.

Key fields to fill:

• Creatures involved (with stats or references)
• Environmental factors (terrain, cover, hazards)
• Tactics (how enemies fight)
• Difficulty rating
• Rewards (XP, loot)

Social

Negotiations, confrontations, and tense conversations with stakes.

Key fields to fill:

• Participants (NPCs involved)
• Stakes (what each side wants)
• Resolution options (ways it can go)
• Consequences (outcomes of different resolutions)

Puzzle

Mental challenges requiring player cleverness.

Key fields to fill:

• The puzzle itself (riddle, mechanism, pattern)
• Clues available
• Solution
• Consequences of failure
• Alternative approaches

Exploration

Environmental challenges, discoveries, and investigation.

Key fields to fill:

• What they are exploring
• What they can find
• Hazards or challenges
• Environmental factors
• Discovery rewards

Mixed

Encounters that combine multiple types, such as a negotiation that might turn violent or a combat with puzzle elements.

Key fields to fill:

• Setup for each element
• Triggers that change encounter type
• Resolution options for different paths

Difficulty Guidelines

[!INFO] Balance difficulty across a session. Multiple Hard encounters exhaust resources. A single Deadly encounter might be the session's climax.

Writing Good Encounter Descriptions

What to Include

The situation: What is happening when the encounter begins?

"The party opens the door to find six goblins arguing over a chest of stolen goods. They have not noticed the party yet."

The stakes: Why does this matter?

"The chest contains evidence of the merchant's involvement with the smuggling ring."

The environment: What affects the encounter?

"The room is cluttered with crates (half cover), a chandelier hangs above (can be dropped), and a back door leads to the alley."

What to Skip

• Obvious details (goblins will fight if attacked)
• Excessive backstory (save it for NPC entries)
• Railroaded outcomes (let players surprise you)

Environmental Factors

Good encounters use the environment:

Terrain Elements

Hazards

Dynamic Elements

Using AI to Create Encounters

Field-by-Field Generation

1. Click the AI Generate button next to any text field
2. Provide guidance: "ambush in a narrow canyon" or "tense negotiation with a desperate criminal"
3. Select tone preset
4. Generate

Quick Generation with Super Swift

1. Open Super Swift from the sidebar
2. Click Quick Encounter
3. Select type and difficulty
4. Add guidance if desired
5. Generate

This creates a complete encounter with setup, participants, and resolution options. Promote it if you want to keep it.

Tracking Encounter Usage

Why Track?

• Avoid reusing encounters by accident
• Know which prepared content you have deployed
• Review what worked for future reference

How to Track

When you run an encounter:

1. Open the encounter
2. Check Is used
3. Select the session in Session used
4. Optionally add notes about how it went

Filtering by Status

Use filters to see:

• Unused encounters - Content waiting to be deployed
• Used encounters - Your encounter history
• Encounters by session - What you ran when

Tips for Better Encounters

Make Combat Dynamic

Static fights where everyone stands and attacks are boring. Add:

• Terrain to use tactically
• Objectives beyond "kill everything"
• Time pressure or escalation
• Enemies with interesting behaviors

Give Social Encounters Stakes

Both sides should want something. Conflict without stakes is just conversation.

• What does the party want?
• What does the NPC want?
• What happens if neither gets it?

Prepare Multiple Resolutions

Players rarely do what you expect. Prepare for:

• The "obvious" solution
• The violent alternative
• The clever workaround
• The unexpected ally

Link to Sessions

Connect encounters to session plans:

1. Create the encounter
2. Link it to your session plan
3. Access it easily during play
4. Mark it used afterward

Example: Creating a Combat Encounter

Name: The Warehouse Ambush

Type: Combat

Difficulty: Hard

Description: The party has tracked the smugglers to their warehouse hideout. Unknown to them, the smugglers were warned and have prepared an ambush.

Creatures:

• 1 Smuggler Boss (use Bandit Captain stats, add Cunning Action)
• 4 Smugglers (Bandit stats)
• 1 Guard Dog (Mastiff stats)

Location: Dockside Warehouse (linked)

Environmental factors:

• Crates throughout provide half cover
• Cargo net above can be dropped (Dex save or restrained)
• Oil barrels near east wall (fire hazard)
• Back door leads to docks (escape route)
• Dim light from high windows

Setup: Party enters through main door. Smugglers are hidden behind crates (Stealth vs. Perception). Boss is on the catwalk above. Dog is leashed near the boss.

Tactics:

• Smugglers attack from cover, focus fire on spellcasters
• Boss uses crossbow from catwalk, releases dog round 2
• If losing, boss attempts to flee via back door
• Smugglers surrender if boss flees or is captured

Objectives:

• Capture or defeat smugglers
• Recover stolen goods (in crates)
• Learn who they work for

Rewards:

• 450 XP
• 120 gp in stolen goods
• Ledger revealing merchant involvement (if they search)

Resolution options:

• Combat victory (standard)
• Capture boss for interrogation
• Boss escapes (plot continues)
• Negotiation (unlikely but possible if party offers something valuable)

DM notes: If players struggle, have the dog focus on the wrong target. If too easy, reinforcements arrive (2 more smugglers from back room).

Tags: combat, smugglers, docks, arc-1

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