Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 gazerrant Jun 12, 2008 7:14:02	So I'm doing a one-night 4e intro adventure for 7 friends (yes, it's a lot, but it's not too ridiculous). A few of them have zero RPG experience, and the rest have limited experience (about 7 sessions of 3.5 a couple years back). I want to build a great intro game for level one characters. I'm not really looking for story advice - I've got a few ideas brewing for that. Rather, I'm looking for encounter advice. What are your ideas for a few great 1st-level encounters for a party consisting of a Fighter, Paladin, Cleric, Warlord, Wizard, Rogue, and Warlock (just FYI, the cleric and rogue are the RPG newbies)? Any monsters are fine - my story ideas are fairly adaptable. I've considered Keep on the Shadowfell, but considering that I'd have to modify all the encounters anyway, I'd rather build my own. Thanks in advance, all.
#2 Kensan_Oni Jun 12, 2008 10:24:06	Hmm... budget of 700... 2 Hobgoblin Warcaster 6 Hobgoblin Grunts Gravehound Or 2 Guard Drakes 2 Human Bandits 2 Halflng Slingers OR Ochre Jelly 2 Fire Beetles Deathjump Spider Or 3 Stormclaw Scorpions 2 Kobold Skirmishers 2 Kobold Slingers ... and there's plenty more... but there you are.
#3 ramses_iii Jun 13, 2008 3:50:32	I just started running my homebrew campaign with 7 players tonight. Their first mission is to escort an allied noble through hostile woods back to his castle. The noble is not a noncombatant, so I actually needed to set up encounters for 8 characters. Here's what I've come up with, with the encounter I used and a version for 7 characters in parentheses. First encounter: Wolf Pack 7 wolves -- level 2 skirmisher (6 wolves or 7 spiretop drakes) I ran this encounter on the road map from KotS, with the players starting in the middle of one side basically surrounded by a semicircle of wolves. The wolves came in to flank the PCs that got the furthest out from the group, trying to pin down about 2 characters at a time and take them down. They did quite a number on the fighter and one of the paladins, taking the paladin negative twice during the encounter. My conclusion from this encounter is that having over 50% of your monsters higher level than your PCs makes an encounter pretty hard, but a wolf pack type encounter is fun to run and fun to play. Second encounter: Bottleneck [I re-imagined the kobolds in this encounter as lizardfolk and gave them swampwalk, but other than the terrain walk feature I used the stats as written] 6 kobold minions (4 kobold minions) 3 kobold dragonshields (2 kobold dragonshields) 2 kobold skirmishers (2 kobold skirmishers) 1 kobold wyrmpriest (1 kobold wyrmpriest) I ran this encounter on a custom map that I drew up myself. It's a bridge 4 squares wide crossing a river 4 squares wide, with a swath of swamp (difficult terrain) on both sides of the river. I didn't want it to be too straightforward (i.e. boring), visually or action-wise, so I had part of the bridge washed out -- a 1-square wide path of bridge remained, with a fallen tree forming an alternate path 2 squares wide on the other side. Basically the bridge and the tree form 2 easy bottlenecks crossing the river. The kobolds start the encounter hidden from view, lying in ambush. I had minions climb onto the bridge as the fight began to get into position for javelin attacks and draw the PCs forward. Meanwhile the skirmishers hid and waited at the edge of the map nearest the PCs while the rest of the enemies lay hidden up ahead on the bridge. This encounter played out almost exactly as I had imagined it: the PCs surged forward into the bottlenecked area to deal with the dragonshields while the minions peppered them with javelin attacks. Once the wizard was isolated at the back of the group, the skirmishers emerged to flank him and attack -- and both missed the lucky fool! The best part though was the Wyrmpriest, who was on a partially collapsed tower at the far end of the bridge and got two good attacks in before the warlock critted it with his daily, dealing all but 3 of its HP in damage -- then slid it to fall 20 feet off the platform it was standing on. Needless to say the kobold failed its saving throw and plummeted to its death. Conclusions: this encounter went really well. My biggest worry was that it would end in an anticlimax, with the PCs killing all of the melee enemies and having to climb the tower to take down the single artillery guy left up there, but the warlock totally vindicated me there. The third encounter will have to wait until next session because we ran out of time, but it will consist of a level 3 elite controller (leader) and 3 level 2 soldiers which are monsters that I created, 4-6 minions to tie up the field, and 2 skirmishers to circle around the main battle and take potshots. The best thing about having a lot of players is that you get to set up all those big cinematic combat scenes you always envision when you think about running a D&D campaign. The worst thing is that every combat needs to be one of those scenes -- you can't really do small encounters or they will just be a cakewalk. It's more work, but the work is worth it. I definitely recommend you use highly detailed maps whenever possible, with lots of terrain features to provide cover, block line of sight, or create difficult or hazardous (that is, interesting) terrain.
#4 holy_beholder Jun 13, 2008 8:13:48	Due to having two leaders, two defenders, and two strikers you can set up somewhere where people split up, possibly with both the fighter and the paladin holding a check point. Meaning that you can have an encounter with tons of melee people, since they can be held back. Meaning that in said encounter you can break it apart into several mini encounters, with the fighters killing people in front of them, while people that get past fight with other players, as ranged people hit in front of the fighter.
#5 wells Jun 13, 2008 8:18:34	Just make them some straight up fights. 2 Kobold Slingers 2 Dire Rats 1 Strige 4 Kobold Minions 1 Kobold Skirmisher 2 Guard Drakes 1 Stormclaw scorpian 2 Kobold Skirmishers 2 Kobold Minions 1 Kobold Slinger 3 Kobold Dragon Sheilds 6 Kobold Minions 1 Kobold Wyrm Priest 1 Needlefang Drake Swarm 1 Guard Drake 2 Kobold Slingers 2 Spiretop Drakes Stuff like that I guess.
#6 gazerrant Jun 13, 2008 12:09:34	Ahh, I'm really liking the bottleneck ideas. Perhaps a rescue of a caravan stuck in the widest part of a narrow mountain pass. Suddenly, enemies are advancing from both sides! Ranged strikers can get up in the rocks while the fighter and paladin hold the line at the two entrances...
#7 ramses_iii Jun 14, 2008 3:04:19	Sounds like a fun encounter! Bottlenecks create obvious focal points for a combat encounter, making the encounter easier to script. When you know where the main part of the fight is going to happen, it's easier to pick other areas to focus on for artillery or skirmishers. Bottlenecks do favor certain setups -- namely brutes or (especially) soldiers grouped with artillery. For encounters with a large number of skirmishers, it's better to have a lot of open ground for your PCs and monsters to maneuver in. Make sure to change up the layout and terrain from battle to battle so it doesn't get monotonous. In the layout you suggest, even a single lurker hiding in the middle area could jack up the level of excitement and intensity of the encounter, since it can emerge after the battle lines have been drawn to threaten a "soft target" PC who thought he/she was safe behind the battle lines.