Did I lay these encounters out right?

[SurfMonkey01]

I'm writing a small adventure for my group for play on Sunday, and I'm not sure I'm doing the encounters right. The first time we played, I just used the adventure from the back of the DMG. This time I'm writing my own, and I wanted to make sure I'm doing these right. Would anyone mind checking me over and see if I'm on the right track?

Party: 3-4 characters of 2nd level

E1: Outdoor encounter - level 3
1 Kobold slyblade (175 xp)
1 Kobold dragonshield (125 xp)
3 Kobold skirmishers (3 x 100 xp)
600 xp total

E2: Distractionary encounter - level 2
2 Human guard (2 x 150 xp)
2 Human lackey (2 x 75 xp)
450 xp total

E3: Guards before "boss room" encounter - level 1
2 Human berserker (2 x 175 xp)
350 xp total

E4: "Boss room" encounter - level 4
6 Hobgoblin grunts (6 x 38 xp)
3 Human rabble (3 x 31 xp)
1 Level 4 Human elite rogue (350 xp)
671 xp total

I know you don't have the adventure details and stuff to go with this, but I just wanted to see if all my math and matchups were sound. Then I can go from there, y'know?

 

[cdrcjsn]

You wrote 3-4 PCs. If you're not sure how many players you're gonna have, be ready to have a player play a second PC or have an appropriately reduced encounter list in case of fewer players.

If you want combats to last under an hour each, it's best to stick to an xp budget equal to the PCs. A 2nd level character is worth 125xp. Three of them should face a 375XP encounter. Four should face a 500xp encounter.

You can stray from that, but expect combats to take longer and be more lethal.

 

[Tervin]

A couple of tips:

If I write an adventure without knowing 100% how many players there will be, I will write for the max amount of players, and have made notes in each encounter what to take out if there are fewer party members. Not much extra work if you get used to it, and you shouldn't ever have to worry.

Also, with every encounter I write simple "stage directions" for the enemies. Who shows up where and when? What are their plans from the start? Does anything happen during the combat that will change things around? This take a bit more time to do, but in my experience it helps the encounters run smoother and be less repetitive than they risk being otherwise.

One more thing to consider is how these encounters are timed. Are they meant to all happen on the same day? Will the story or the characters dictate when an extended rest can happen? With four experienced players I think this adventure could be run without any extended rest inbetween. With an extended rest (between E1 and E2 or E2 and E3) it should not be hard for four players, but still looks a bit hard if they are only three.

 

[SurfMonkey01]

Okay, taking suggestions into mind, I've re-worked E2 to be a trap encounter instead. So, here's what it looks like now:

E2: Trap encounter - level 2
1 False-floor pit (100 xp)
1 Elite Pendulum scythes (350 xp)
450 xp total

The more noticeable pit trap is located at the entrance of the room, with the harder-to-spot trigger for the scythes surrounding it (therefore making it more likely to trigger the scythes by dodging the pit)

Is this better?

 

[Starbuck_II]

Okay, taking suggestions into mind, I've re-worked E2 to be a trap encounter instead. So, here's what it looks like now:

E2: Trap encounter - level 2
1 False-floor pit (100 xp)
1 Elite Pendulum scythes (350 xp)
450 xp total

The more noticeable pit trap is located at the entrance of the room, with the harder-to-spot trigger for the scythes surrounding it (therefore making it more likely to trigger the scythes by dodging the pit)

Is this better?

Looks pretty good. Would help if I know the story (why they trapped that area so much), but looks good.

 

[SurfMonkey01]

~~~~

Well, here's the general idea -- I'm using the city of Fallcrest from the DMG. The Lord Warden's wife approaches the party, saying that her husband has apparently been kidnapped. She doesn't want to alarm anyone, so that rules out using normal investigative channels. After they investigate the scene, they'll learn he's been taken by the bandits of Raven Roost. The encounters are ordered for when they get to the bandit hideout: E1 is the outside guards, E2 is the main entrance, then there's some dead space, E3 is the guards outside the main chamber, then E4 is the actual room where the LW is. The reason for the varying difficulties is: the LW has actually been replaced with a changeling, who they of course want to go back to Fallcrest. So by bookending things with actual believably tough encounters, it looks more real. But, it can't be too difficult, because then they'd die without getting him.

And if some of the encounters seem too tough to you, trust me, that's how I have to make them with my group. If I don't outright try my hardest to purposely kill them, no one even gets hurt. It's just one of the more interesting traits of my players.