Session Zero Free tools
Set your party and add monsters by challenge rating. You'll see the 2024 XP budget for low, moderate and high difficulty and where your encounter lands.
Uses the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide method: an XP budget per character with no group multiplier. Check each monster's CR in its stat block. Terrain, hazards and action economy matter as much as the numbers.
Turns your notes into a read-aloud recap inside Claude.
Everything in the free skill, plus a campaign bible, session prep sheets, Pathfinder 2e and Daggerheart budgets, NPCs and arc planning.
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Pick a difficulty (low, moderate or high), look up the XP budget per character for your party's level, and multiply by the number of characters. Then spend that budget on monsters using their XP values. Unlike 2014, there's no multiplier for groups.
One big monster against four or more characters tends to fall fast, because the party gets many more actions. Add minions, lair actions or a hazard. More than about two creatures per character slows the game, so keep those fragile.
Give every fight a reason beyond hit points: stop the ritual, protect the villagers, grab the relic and run. Give the enemies a reason to retreat or surrender, and the players a way to win without killing.
