I am having a blast being a DM again, as I am finding that, unlike in 3.5, adjusting the encounters for 6 players is kinda fun! However, it took me a while to get to the fun point. I had to see my players in action first. What do they react to, and what tended to freak them out? What left them abuzz after the battle, and what left them saying a collective meh?
As it turns out, they know how to handle brutes and soldiers, but throw an artillery or a controller into the mix, and they really perk up. So you will see these encounters adjusted to add some of these monster roles. Keep that in mind if you use these encounters, and watch how your players react.
A little on the logic used here:
According to the DMG adding a player means you need to increase the total XP of the encounter by 1.2 (that is because the std party size is 5.) I am using the Encounter builder for some of these adjustments, others I am just running through the DMG. In some cases I even advanced numbers, or re-skinned some baddies. If I did so this was noted in the encounter. I am not reposting the entire encounter here, just the baddies I added, and any that I might have deleted from the encounter.
A little on the structure of these posts:
A post is reserved for each module, with each encounter from the module listed in order they appear in the module within spoiler blocks. As I work ahead of the players, I will post my "proposed encounters". As my players complete the encounter, and if they have a significant reaction to the encounter, I am gonna post it here. (Note: I don't want to bug them by requiring constant feedback, so only some of them will be direct feedback from the players.) If there is no player reaction posted, it is because I got no comments or significant details from the players.
Feel free to add any feedback to these encounters, especially ones that I have not yet run. This is a tool designed for DMs to learn how to build a better encounter, so all constructive feedback is most welcome.
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ON THE ROAD: KOBOLD BRIGANDS
Encounter Level: 2; Original XP Amt: 625; Target XP Amt: 750 - 900
Changes Made: I was still learning here, so I threw in one of the Vermin Handlers from the Kobolds Article. That put the XP total at 875, still within our budget. I placed him on top of the rocks where he could get a line of sight on anyone approaching from either direction.
The Players said: It was a hard fight, but it worked out famously, and proved to be a cool introduction to 4th Ed for me and the players. They were really energized by the kobolds, the immediately latched onto their "shiftiness", and the Kobold Vermin Handler received much hate. When one of the Kobolds got away they vowed vengeance on him. So all in all, a good reaction from them.
Encounter Level: 2; Original XP Amt: 625; Target XP Amt: 750 - 900
Changes Made: I was still learning here, so I threw in one of the Vermin Handlers from the Kobolds Article. That put the XP total at 875, still within our budget. I placed him on top of the rocks where he could get a line of sight on anyone approaching from either direction.
The Players said: It was a hard fight, but it worked out famously, and proved to be a cool introduction to 4th Ed for me and the players. They were really energized by the kobolds, the immediately latched onto their "shiftiness", and the Kobold Vermin Handler received much hate. When one of the Kobolds got away they vowed vengeance on him. So all in all, a good reaction from them.
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A1–1: INTO THE MOUNTAIN
Changes Made:
The Players said:
Changes Made:
The Players said:
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A1: THE CLEARING IN THE FOREST
Changes Made:
The Players said:
Changes Made:
The Players said:
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Shadow of Kalarel
Wagon Ambush
Changes Made:
The Players said:
Changes Made:
The Players said:
Finished KoTS.
Entered Player reaction up to (but not including) KoTS, Encounter A13
Here there be spoilers
Blue Slime
Based off the Young Black Dragon.
Based off the Young Black Dragon.
Thanks!
Loyd
Swapping out some critters though - that's a good thing either way. Even if your players don't know the adventures (and many will), it can put a new twist on things, and you can even thread more plot elements into it. (One example is a play-by-web game that I'm a player in, where the occasional kobold is replaced by a dire rat. I suspect that "eliminate the rats' nest" will be a separate objective from "eliminate Irontooth".)
I ran the H1: Keep on the Shadowfell A3: Kobold Lair: Inside (Irontooth) encounter against 4 PCs - 3rd level Paladin, 4th level Ranger, 2nd level Warlord and 1st level Wizard. The party could have had much better tactics, however, they really got overwhelmed.
QUESTION(s):
Is there a known mismatch in this encounter? Is there a critical class, skill, spell or tactic that needs to be used masterfully to make this encounter more trivial?
I am just seeking to hear folks say that the encounter is a little stacked for this adventure (this is supposed to be for 5 1st level characters, by the way). I just wanted to see what others had to say.
Common ones:
The kobold from outside made it inside and set off the countdown. This all but assures that venturing inside will be a deathtrap for the PCs. Unfortunately, stopping the kobold can be difficult to impossible.
The DM places Irontooth and the rest of his second wave at the outset. That's *not* supposed to happen - they're presumed to be somewhere deeper inside until arriving at their marked positions in the later round. Placing them early almost always results in them getting drawn in before they're supposed to.
The PCs don't (or can't) clear away the minions and skirmishers fast enough. If they aren't all (or almost all) gone by the time Irontooth arrives, things are going to get ugly fast.
The addition of the wyrmpriest makes a bad situation worse, given the circumstances. Removing him from the encounter is a good way to nudge it back towards sanity.
The party is level 2 rather than level 1, presumably because they went to the dragon graveyard and/or a bit of the keep first. This really improves the PCs' odds of survival.
The PCs can't take Irontooth down quickly once he hits Bloodied, whether because they just lack enough offensive punch or they have the misfortune to push him to Bloodied while there are still a bunch of other enemies around. This is another guaranteed way to cause a mess.
The PCs can't retreat. Hit and run is supposed to be a valid strategy here since the cave occupants should not follow them outside of the cave (the adventure mentions this), but a common problem is that the DM has the creatures chase the PCs when they retreat.
The luck of the dice. Even in the best of circumstances this is going to be a very swingy fight.
I'm running it with 3 regular characters and I'm only worried about the Irontooth encounter.
I ran it with four, but as I had read a lot of TPK stories on this one, I reduced it with -1 Dragon Shield, -1 Skirmisher, -3 Minions, totaling 975 XP if I remember correctly. It worked fine for the party. It was a tough challenge but nobody died. But I was rolling quite bad on Irontooth attacks (below average). Had I made some more hits, they would have been in a worse situation.
I ran it with four, but as I had read a lot of TPK stories on this one, I reduced it with -1 Dragon Shield, -1 Skirmisher, -3 Minions, totaling 975 XP if I remember correctly. It worked fine for the party. It was a tough challenge but nobody died. But I was rolling quite bad on Irontooth attacks (below average). Had I made some more hits, they would have been in a worse situation.
That could work. I was also considering just making sure they hit level 2 before running them into it.
As a player another group managed it pretty easily with 4 second-level PCs.
I will probably reduce it though.
Check out the changes made to the
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Blue Slime
My PCs were handling the encounter outside of the lair quite well: the wizard succeeded in minion sweeping and the group's cleric managed to bring down the kobold trying to get inside the lair before he reached the waterfall. I ruled that the noise from the waterfall is so loud that the guys inside the cave havn't noticed anything.
The group used three of the daily powers and one action point, so it will be a tough fight, indeed. The players are not champions of tactics, but at least the cleric will probably not charge Irontooth, elimiating the group's healing potential.
I guess the decisive point in this encounter will be the die rolls of the strikers (rogue and ranger). They can deliver some 50 HP of damage in one round, but will have problems to survive Irontooth's attacks for very long. Each round in which one of the strikers doesn't hit may spell doom for them.
well, I'm ready to fudge a bit at our next game night.:embarrass
Huldvoll
Baron von Bomberg
Check out the changes made to theShowBlue Slime
Based on a black dragon? Funny, that, I half expected a black dragon in that environment, I was relieved that it was 'only' an ooze. We did finally face a black dragon at level 3, on a side adventure in the Witchlight Fens, a pretty cool fight, actually.
I really enjoy the ease that monsters are reskinned. It is very easy for the DM, but not easily noticed by the players. I guess the medium is the message when it comes to monsters.