Estimating difficulty of sequential encounters?

[c0r1nth14n]

I'm building a boss encounter right now, and having some trouble estimating the difficulty. I'd like to have the party engaged in combat, defeat the enemies, and then the boss shows up - essentially two back-to-back encounters.

This being a boss fight, I'm shooting for something in the Hard range overall. Will two Medium-ish combats roll up to Hard?

I was initially calculating difficulty by adding the two encounters together, but I think that overestimates the difficulty because of action economy. It's a lot harder to fight a boss with a handful of minions than to fight the minions first, then the boss alone.

The party will have had a short rest before these two sequential encounters, which may be relevant here. Any advice is appreciated!

[MaxWilson]

Just compute the encounters separately, and make sure you don't go over the total daily budget, and you should be fine. 5E is calibrated to be extremely easy so the main problem you're likely to have is a possible feeling of anticlimax if the boss is too easy, but you'll learn over time what your group is capable of--there's nothing wrong with trusting your instincts this time and adjusting upward next time if necessary.

The approach you described in the OP (two Medium encounters, short rest between) sounds fine.

[c0r1nth14n]

The approach you described in the OP (two Medium encounters, short rest between) sounds fine.

Ah, I worded that poorly - the party will have had a short rest shortly before these two sequential encounters, so it goes Short Rest -> Minions -> Immediate Boss Fight. But it still sounds like that should work!

[MaxWilson]

Ah, I worded that poorly - the party will have had a short rest shortly before these two sequential encounters, so it goes Short Rest -> Minions -> Immediate Boss Fight. But it still sounds like that should work!

Yep! Should work fine.