Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 maddiemoon Aug 25, 2014 15:17:32	Hello All! Im running a game with some friends and we all started with the Starter Set adventure Lost Mine. We now have Horse of the Dragon Queen and no one is going to want to drop back to level 1 to start this - they will want to keep their currrent characters.  By the time we finish Lost Mine they will all be level 5   WHats the best way to approach this? I want to make sure they continue to level up as they play but I dont want to run the adventure incorrectly and end up with them leveling too high before Tiamat or alternately having a long spell at the end or mideel with no leveling. XP is important to this party. Any advice? Maddie
#2 Macv12 Aug 25, 2014 17:14:54	Edit: nvm, I see you've posted in both sections.   An easy way to adjust Tiamat's strength is to find another monster of the appropriate level, preferably one similar to the monster you're replacing, then swap out some of its abilities for the iconic abilities of the monster you want. This could be dicy, since you may replace the monster's features with ones that have much better synergy or stronger effects, skewing the monster's threat level, but it is a solution.   Or, I think there are enough demons and dragons that you can just switch out Tiamat for a stronger monster without too much trouble. The players shouldn't even notice if they didn't know what the original Tiamat's stat block was anyway.   Finally, if the default Tiamat is too weak, you could tweak the fight narratively. Let the party beat them up a bit, maybe make it clear that they're too strong for it, then have it retreat and transform into another form. Maybe an even bigger dragon form, or a human shape. Something that signals that they've powered up and have different tricks. Then you don't have to feel self-conscious about blatantly giving the party a different monster to fight.