Forum

[Badwe]

A single monster increase in XP value by 25 from levels 1 through 4. So a level 1 monster is 100 xp, a level 2 is 125 xp.

Take this to the next logical conclusion, a party of 5 monsters goes from being worth 500 to 625 XP.

One step farther, 8-10 encounters of this type would require 4,000 to 5,000 XP (total among 5 players), and for level 2 would require 5,000 to 6,250 XP.

Finally, if players were facing average level 1 encounters despite being level 2, we could surmise 5,000/500 - 6,250/500 means approximately 10-12.5 encounters required to go from level 2 to 3.

Just for posterity, consider going from 3 to 4 with level 1 encounters:
750 (XP for level 3 encounter) * 10 = 7,500; 7,500 / 500 = 15 encounters, 5 extra. This seems to be something of a predicament, so I might advise against dipping them directly into the mega dungeon from 1. at around level 4 or 5, it should be less of an issue.



For treasure parcels I recomend the following: Plan out treasure parcels independant of monsters. Plan them out for every level you plan to let the players progress through. For each encounter that would drop treasure, start with the appropriate parcel for it's level, then find other parcels of equal value and create a "back up" list. This is easiest for magic items since over the course of going from level 1 to level 4, there will be 4 level 4 magic items. After you have created enough of a back up list, use this list multiple times whenever it's appropriate for that encounter. If the first choice is taken, move on to the next until you come to a parcel you haven't given and check it off. If there are no parcels left to give out, the monsters drop either nothing or a cursory amount of gold.

Do the same for things like dragon hoards which contain multiple parcels, but create an independant list of equivalence for each parcel you would use. Then, go through the list for each parcel, and complete as many as you are able to. If some are already fully cleaned, the dragon simply drops less treasure. Naturally, flavoring such as these opposing delver's teams getting to it first (since your party was so busy dawdling around stomping level 1 encounters) will help to add to the sense of the dungeon being "bigger than the party".

Hope these suggestions help.