Frequently Asked Questions
Questions about the tools themselves. For the rules behind them, the GM guide covers encounter building end to end.
How accurate is the encounter builder?
It uses the XP budget system from the Pathfinder 2e GM Core, and every value matches the rules: the party-of-four budgets, the per-player adjustments, and the relative-level creature costs. What it cannot know is your table. A Severe encounter against a party with three healers and a wall of terrain plays like a Moderate one, and no calculator fixes that.
Where does the data come from?
Archives of Nethys, the official Pathfinder 2e reference, checked against the GM Core and Player Core. That covers XP budgets, DC tables, creature building statistics, and the condition list. When a rule is ambiguous the tool follows the printed text rather than a popular house ruling.
Does the toolkit save my data?
Yes, in your browser. The initiative tracker, XP tracker, and encounter tools use localStorage, so your data survives reloads and restarts on the same browser and device. Nothing is uploaded, which also means clearing site data or switching browsers loses it.
Can I use this for Pathfinder 1e?
No. PF1e uses Challenge Rating and a completely different encounter budget, so none of the numbers here transfer. Starfinder 2e is a different story: it shares Pathfinder 2e's XP budgets and creature values, so the encounter tools work for SF2e as they are.
How do I adjust for party size?
Set the player count and the tools handle it. Budgets shift for each character above or below four: 10 XP at Trivial, 20 at Low, 20 at Moderate, 30 at Severe, and 40 at Extreme. Forgetting this adjustment is the most common reason a planned fight lands soft against a party of six.
What's the difference between creatures and hazards?
Cost, mainly. A complex hazard rolls initiative and acts every round, so it costs the same XP as a creature of its level. A simple hazard fires once and costs one fifth as much. Use the encounter builder for creature-only fights and the hazard calculator to mix the two on one budget.
How many encounters should I plan per session?
Three or four Moderate encounters, or one Severe plus a couple of lighter ones, fills a typical session without exhausting anyone. Extreme encounters should be genuine climaxes and rare. The XP tracker shows how fast that pace carries the party toward 1,000 XP.
Can I export or share my encounters?
Not yet. Everything lives in your browser, so sharing means copying the details out or taking a screenshot. Export is a fair request and one of the more commonly asked for; the contact page is the place to add your voice to it.
Is this toolkit free?
Yes. All twelve tools, no account, no premium tier, no paywalled features. Ads cover the hosting. It started as a tool built for one Thursday game and stayed free because that is the point.
I found a bug or a wrong rule. How do I report it?
Email through the contact page, and say which tool and which number looked wrong. Rules corrections get fixed first, because a calculator that quietly returns the wrong value is worse than no calculator.