How much CR for only three characters, and is a level 7 equal to two level 5s?

[Noumenon]

I have only three players in my group, level 5, level 5, level 7. The module I want to run is for "4-6 characters of level 3-5 -- suggest a total of 20 character levels." But, just guessing, it's going to be too easy for them. Level 5 is a lot higher than level three, in actual play.

I was wondering if I should use the rule of thumb that two monsters of CR 5 equals one of CR 7 and treat my party as four fifth-level characters. From the last adventure or two it certainly seems like the level 6 favored soul was as strong as both the level 4 fighter and level 4 rogue together.

In general, what difficulty adjustment would you make for a party with three characters instead of four?

[AllisterH]

Originally Posted by Noumenon

I have only three players in my group, level 5, level 5, level 7. The module I want to run is for "4-6 characters of level 3-5 -- suggest a total of 20 character levels." But, just guessing, it's going to be too easy for them. Level 5 is a lot higher than level three, in actual play.

I was wondering if I should use the rule of thumb that two monsters of CR 5 equals one of CR 7 and treat my party as four fifth-level characters. From the last adventure or two it certainly seems like the level 6 favored soul was as strong as both the level 4 fighter and level 4 rogue together.

In general, what difficulty adjustment would you make for a party with three characters instead of four?

This actually will depend on the type of characters involved AND the levels involved.

In your example, you have a favoured soul, fighter and a rogue and an adventure module for 4-6 characters of levels 3-5...I actually suspect that this module can be used as is based on what you have...

Sorry for not being more helpful but the only suggestion I can give is that you are going to have to feel it out when you observe your players..There's no one size fits all rule unfortunately.

[roguerouge]

Try this encounter calculator: Legion of Geeks :: Encounter Calculator

Or this one: d20 Encounter Calculator :: Pen, Paper, & Pixel

Generally, one thing to be concerned about is economy of actions. Think about it from your perspective: how many times has your lone big bad gone down, simply because he was outnumbered?

In addition, it depends on the level and class of the characters 3 1st level mages are a very different party from 3 druids, for example. Your party, for example, has a flanking team for your rogue, but weak divine powers and no arcane powers and thus little ability to change the battlefield. I'd put your party on the weak end of the scale right now.

Also, if they have leadership, you can start recalculating everything.

[Noumenon]

That encounter calculator is a good rule of thumb machine. Thank you very much. I never thought of it because the Goodman Games modules I'm using talk in general terms: "This is for 4-6 characters level 4-6. For weaker parties (less than four characters, or less than fourth level), remove one monster in each of area 3, 5, and 7, and remove the choker's rogue levels." So that got me thinking too generally about the challenge.

FWIW, the calculator says two 5's and a 7 is the same as four level 5s, and three 5's would equal a 4.2. That's good enough for me, and I'll use the calculator to decide if the important boss encounters will be tough or not.

[Noumenon]

By the way, roguerouge, this is the third time I've tried to give you XP but only one went through because of the 50-person limit. You're just going to have to accept good karma instead.

[the Jester]

Originally Posted by Noumenon

By the way, roguerouge, this is the third time I've tried to give you XP but only one went through because of the 50-person limit. You're just going to have to accept good karma instead.

I covered this for you, at least for one time.

Us gamers, we gotta stick together.

[pawsplay]

In general, what difficulty adjustment would you make for a party with three characters instead of four?

You can eyeball it by using encounters 1/2 to 1 EL beyond their average level. In this case, as you have surmised, they are roughly equivalent to a group of four level 5 characters, which makes things easier... until the lower level guys catch up.

The danger is that relatively large numbers of monsters might be more dangerous than suggested by their EL, while lone opponents or just two opponents might be surprisingly overmatched if the PCs concentrate their firepower. If you have a strong grappler, caster-heavy groups will be outmatched, whereas if you have a gazer/paralyzer, heavy fighters are in trouble. With rogue, fighter, and favored soul, you will want to watch out for tough melee opponents who are immune to crits and have defenses against magic. For instance, if you run a death knight encounter, be conservative, since the Death Knight has a tough DR to beat, can do Con damage to the fighter, can't be sneak attacked, and has SR agains the favored soul's spells. On the other hand, the group should be able to handle many demon and devil encounters fine, since the fighter can attack, the rogue can flank, and the favored soul can heal and use magic supportively or may pepper it with offensive spells.

[StreamOfTheSky]

It's always better to try and adapt numbers of foes than the CR of the opponents you choose when dealing with odd party sizes. Beyond that, all I'll say is with less bodies, any effects that incapacitate one or more PCs become significantly more powerful than a simple 3/4 reduction in "party survivability." If they face a mind flayer, they are MUCH more likely to have the entire lot of them fail their saves and basically get TPKed. That's the nastiest example I can think of, but it applies to basically any effect that tends to affect most or all of a party; relies on a saving throw or other mechanic to possibly not harm some of those affected; and if it does affect a PC, tends to make them useless or nearly powerless in a fight. Be very careful using any such spells or monster abilities against them.

You could also try letting the 3 players make gestalt characters, which would give them roughly the strength of 4-5 normal PCs. Obviously with lots of exceptions and situational oddities, but overall. Or if 2 or all 3 of them took leadership and got cohorts. Cohorts are weaker than a PC, so just 1 cohort would not be enough to make a party of 3 comparable to an expected party of 4-6, IMO.

[roguerouge]

Originally Posted by the Jester

I covered this for you, at least for one time.

Us gamers, we gotta stick together.

And the good karma pays off!