Encounter balancing for 2-3 players - DMG's Kobold Hall Adventure

[fujaiwei]

Hi,

Anyone have tips for a new DM? I have two or three players depending on the day, and we're working on the Kobold Hall adventure in the 4.0 DMG.

It's taking a long time, and we average 2 encounters per 6 hour gaming session. It just feels slow. Part of it is the players don't have their powers memorized, but part of it is the HP of monsters seem high, plus it's designed for 5 players.

Any tips?

Make the monsters half or 3/4 HPs? Take out a monster or two? I'm loath to modify rules but it just isn't working now.

We played 3 games over 6 weeks and could tell they were sick of not leveling up (they were at 700 xp or so) and so I threw them 500 xp to get them to level 2... plus I don't think they'll live to make it through the large white dragon at the end. That concerns me a lot.

Is there not a small or medium sized dragon?

 

[Wurm1234]

Hi,

Anyone have tips for a new DM? I have two or three players depending on the day, and we're working on the Kobold Hall adventure in the 4.0 DMG.

It's taking a long time, and we average 2 encounters per 6 hour gaming session. It just feels slow. Part of it is the players don't have their powers memorized, but part of it is the HP of monsters seem high, plus it's designed for 5 players.

Any tips?

Make the monsters half or 3/4 HPs? Take out a monster or two? I'm loath to modify rules but it just isn't working now.

We played 3 games over 6 weeks and could tell they were sick of not leveling up (they were at 700 xp or so) and so I threw them 500 xp to get them to level 2... plus I don't think they'll live to make it through the large white dragon at the end. That concerns me a lot.

Is there not a small or medium sized dragon?

I would take out a kobold or two per encounter. Try to have a similar number of creatures to the number of PCs. The dragon is a killer, even with full 5 players. You may want to consider switching out the dragon for something else appropriate...like a dragonborn fighter or something. Have the players use power cards to help with moving things along more quickly. Remind them to be planning ahead, so they are ready to go with it comes their initiative. You may also want to consider having an NPC along to help with combat...

 

[fujaiwei]

I would take out a kobold or two per encounter. Try to have a similar number of creatures to the number of PCs. The dragon is a killer, even with full 5 players. You may want to consider switching out the dragon for something else appropriate...like a dragonborn fighter or something. Have the players use power cards to help with moving things along more quickly. Remind them to be planning ahead, so they are ready to go with it comes their initiative. You may also want to consider having an NPC along to help with combat...

OK, I'll drop the number of kobolds down, thanks. And then I'll either drop the dragon and switch out to a dragon born or maybe make the dragon significantly weaker. Thanks.

 

[Gort]

I think what I'd do is make heavy use of minions to maintain the feel of being "heroically outnumbered". However, I'd also cut down the amount of XP per encounter to the recommended level, and then I'd delevel the dragon to make it a viable encounter.

I wouldn't run an NPC though - as DM I've enough to do running the monsters, and I feel like running DMPCs devalues the real players.

To address your final point, no, there is not a small or medium sized dragon. Thank goodness. Losing to a dragon the size of a housecat does not make you feel heroic. But you might find smaller dragons (drakes, actually) in the monster manual under "drake". None are solo though, more for the "pack of dragons" feel.

Oh, one more thing, I'd make sure your players understand that since there are only 3 of them, that they've all got to play important roles in the party. There should be a defender, a striker, and a leader. I think controller's the most disposable role.

 

[Chadwick]

I just started out with my friends as well and ran that dungeon. We got through all but 1 room in 1 night and 2 of the PCs died at the dragon. So I'm currently trying to figure out how to make him a bit easier as well, but since we've already seen him I don't really want to swap him out for something else.

One thing I did that definitely seemed to speed things up is make index cards for everyone's powers with all the information that I need, then they throw the card at me when they want to use it and off we go. Saves looking things up and helps me start to memorize everyone's information. Another helpful card is one with the person's HP / defenses / etc on it that I have paper-clipped to the DM screen. So I definitely suggest making some of those, or having everyone make their own after you show them what to put. Could help them learn their character's abilities better.

 

[SlyFlourish]

Speed up

Yeah, everyone should have their powers figured out. Controllers slow things down so see if you can convince people to play the other three types. Push initiative and get people to have their moves already planned out when their turn comes up. Do the same thing for the monsters.

4e is an excellent system but it isn't exactly fast. Battles still take about 45 minutes to an hour for a group of five players and a DM.

 

[Gort]

Yeah, I'd definitely use power cards - they speed play up immensely. They're great because everyone has their options right in front of them at all times, they have the rules for said options right in front of them, and you can just turn the cards over when you've used up an encounter or daily power. Perfect.