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So, some friends of mine want to try a little experiment, just an adventure or two. I said sure. They picked their class/race separately.
Dwarven Star-pact Warlock, and Eladrin TWF Ranger. I'm thinking of setting it at level 2, just to see how that goes.
So I'm sitting here thinking, what kind've encounters do I use now? They're damage hogs. They can clearly blow the crap out of one monster if they focus on it. On the flip side, they're fairly brittle. Yet just an array of minions doesn't seem very challenging either (especially with a TWF ranger).
It's easy to go up the level ladder with monsters. The eventual threat though, is that the critter might have AC/Defenses too high for them, or a damage output that's going to shatter them. And I don't know where that is.
Last edited by Rechan; 29th May 2008 at 08:25 AM..
Eh. It's online. I think that would really muddy the waters really quickly if they're juggling two character sheets. I like the idea of a two-man group. I actually want to do it to see if the system can handle it.
We're running a small group of two in our playtest. I use a lot of minions and try to keep it close to 2 monsters of their level or just a bit higher (2.5 to 3 x exp value).
Its worked well so far and they have leveled 3 times.
Hope it helps
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The issue is that fights are going to be swingy. If they get a bad streak of luck, or the monsters a good one, they'll get torn to shreds. This is what happens with glass cannons.
To balance that out, I'd go with more monsters of somewhat lower level than them, or with minions. Elites are probably the wrong way to go. Solos might work--for example, a level 4 solo is worth 875 XP, so that's about right for, what, level 10, for a party of 2? That seems reasonable, I think.
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The issue is that fights are going to be swingy. If they get a bad streak of luck, or the monsters a good one, they'll get torn to shreds. This is what happens with glass cannons.
To balance that out, I'd go with more monsters of somewhat lower level than them, or with minions. Elites are probably the wrong way to go. Solos might work--for example, a level 4 solo is worth 875 XP, so that's about right for, what, level 10, for a party of 2? That seems reasonable, I think.
The problem is that you need to stick within a few levels of your PCs. If you want to do a 2 on one then I suggest using an elite of the PCs level by itself. Remember, an Elite is the same as two monsters of comparable level, which is also your XP budget if the Elite is the same level as the PCs.
A thought just occurred to me. The Curse and Quarry mechanics require "Closest enemy to you". And the ranger ain't a ranged guy.
So some weak artillery in an elevated position or to the Side of a mess of minions or one or two heavy hitters should do the job, at least in some situations.
From what we've seen, there is little evidence that strikers will be able to do much more damage than the other classes. Every class (maybe not leaders) are heavy damage dealers, the difference is that strikers have a lot more versatility as to who they get to dish out their damage to.
So a party of predominately strikers will be able to drop the controller on the first round, but will probably get themselves cut down when the defender's initiative comes up.
I would say just build encounters the same as you would any normal party, and just leave the players to suffer the consequences for not having a well-balanced party.
Dwarven Star-pact Warlock, and Eladrin TWF Ranger. I'm thinking of setting it at level 2, just to see how that goes.
So I'm sitting here thinking, what kind've encounters do I use now?
<snip some other stuff>
They're Strikers, so have them strike. By which I mean make them ambush things and be on the offensive.
Simply blundering into lair after lair is going to get these guys killed. But a methodical hunt could be just the thing to highlight their abilities, both in and out of combat.
I would say just build encounters the same as you would any normal party, and just leave the players to suffer the consequences for not having a well-balanced party.
This is... Spartaaaa!
Now that I have that out of my system, I couldn't disagree more. You want to play with a party of two, go for it. Throw more minions and lower level opponents at them, give them some gear that boosts their defenses a little earlier on, and you should be good to go.
The only problem you will have is that when one of them goes down to a few lucky hits or a lucky crit, their effectiveness will be down 50% (instead of being down 20% for a regular group). So I'd implement a special rule for this group that the first time they are reduced to 0 wounds or less, they may as a free action trigger their second wind if they haven't used it yet. I'd also be a little more generous with healing potions.
It should be okay, if they play smart. Both should go for stealth and ambush tactics. You might also want to encourage them to MC into warlord or cleric -- 1 healing word/day would help these guys a lot.
Also, use plenty of minions. First, that lets you put more bad guys on the battlefield and second, they should make the fight a little less swingy.
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