D&D 5E Finally switching my campaign from 4th to 5th Edition.

[Flamestrike]

Encounter 1: (cultist, thugs and bandits) AD 1400xp (hard) XP to award 700
Encounter 2: (3 ghouls) AD 1200xp (hard) XP to award 600
Encounter 3: (trap) Milestone xp to award 600 (medium)
Encounter 4: (Animated armor) AD 600xp (medium), Xp to award 400
Encounter 5: (Ochre jelly) 700xp (medium)
Encounter 6: (Mummy) 700xp (medium)
Encounter 7: (Skeletons) AD 600xp (easy), XP to award 300 XP
Encounter 8: (Wight and zombies) Adjusted difficulty 2600 xp (deadly). XP to award 1300xp

Total XP to award: 5300. Around 1300 each. Slightly more than the 4,800 (1,200 each) theyre expected to earn (the last fight is a doozy).

 

[Flamestrike]

Don't see any issue with it ill give it a go when I next get chance. As my games just been a stand in session so it could be a while but I will try it when I get back from work ill copy paste em to word and flesh it out a bit more. Should fit in well with where there going. If I can just get the PC's to play nice.

The plot hook is really [the weapon] - dealing an extra 1d6 lightning damage is pretty nice [and ties in with the both the champion and the tempest cleric]... but it comes with a price.

Make sure you make it a weapon they will both want to use [theyre both martial weapon proficient so a greatsword has a nice synergy].

They could re-bury it in the grave and [at your option] avoid the adventure. I included this option as its much less railroady than 'accept this hook or die'. You dont want to totally force hooks on the PC's if you can avoid it as a general rule.

The curse happeneing [and the lady in samite] is to ensure they dont get the weapon for nothing. Its a deadly encounter so make sure you foreshadow it [via the curse] if they decide to ignore the curse, take the weapon and run in true murderhobo style.

If they're mercenary enough to steal the ladies wedding ring, they pay for that greed later on in the adventure when they encounter her [mummified] husband. Bad actions have consequences, and doing the right thing gets them rewarded...

The final encounter is 'deadly', so try and ensure the party gets a short rest in before tackling it (suggest they rest up as subtly as you can). If they stumble into the 'black knight' low on HP, theyre going to be in some serious trouble.

 

[Azurewraith]

The plot hook is really [the weapon] - dealing an extra 1d6 lightning damage is pretty nice [and ties in with the both the champion and the tempest cleric]... but it comes with a price.

Make sure you make it a weapon they will both want to use [theyre both martial weapon proficient so a greatsword has a nice synergy].

They could re-bury it in the grave and [at your option] avoid the adventure. I included this option as its much less railroady than 'accept this hook or die'. You dont want to totally force hooks on the PC's if you can avoid it as a general rule.

The curse happeneing [and the lady in samite] is to ensure they dont get the weapon for nothing. Its a deadly encounter so make sure you foreshadow it [via the curse] if they decide to ignore the curse, take the weapon and run in true murderhobo style.

If they're mercenary enough to steal the ladies wedding ring, they pay for that greed later on in the adventure when they encounter her [mummified] husband. Bad actions have consequences, and doing the right thing gets them rewarded...

The final encounter is 'deadly', so try and ensure the party gets a short rest in before tackling it (suggest they rest up as subtly as you can). If they stumble into the 'black knight' low on HP, theyre going to be in some serious trouble.

I had it planned as a great sword and Aslong as they put it back before leaving the room thing's are cool honest mistake n all. I was going to tie the bandits in by making the cultist a thrall to a mindflayer searching for artifacts( the players them selves are just escaping this fate) so it will keep a sense of continuity. Ill let you know how it goes could be a month or so though

 

[Flamestrike]

I had it planned as a great sword and Aslong as they put it back before leaving the room thing's are cool honest mistake n all. I was going to tie the bandits in by making the cultist a thrall to a mindflayer searching for artifacts( the players them selves are just escaping this fate) so it will keep a sense of continuity. Ill let you know how it goes could be a month or so though

Works well man.

Maybe have a clue to the mind flayer in the well (the horde). A mysterious map in the form of a crystal that psychically imprints the location of the illithids lair in the minds of the peroson that picks it up.

The PCs will advance to level 4 in this adventure. You could easily get them to level 5 with random encounters on the way to confront the illithid. Whack in a three level megadungeon full of umber hulks and other abominations to gain them two or three levls before confronting him...then have him plane shift away leaving them to fight his githyanki knight thrall and some dominated githyanki warriors.

 

[Rhenny]

But XP budgets don't give any advice on the HOW.

I understand that you make it work. What you don't seem to acknowledge that it isn't enough for many many other DMs.

Take me, for instance. I am perfectly cognizant of how "the dragon will eat the princess at midnight, hurry" would solve the problem.

But what if I consider that a trite solution? What if I consider such story-based time constraints to get old fast? What if my players immediately see through the reasons for having them, turning them into bad jokes?

And the DMG and you have offered EXACTLY ZILCH advice on how to make a travel adventure work.

Yes, you can say "use the DMG variant with slower resting", but nobody is touching the real issue: which is, that kind of pacing would then wreck the intense dungeon-clearing adventure.

The true solution would, of course, be for the DMG to let the adventure decide how often long rests can happen: in the extreme case, importing Jonathan Tweet's rule on resting, which solves the issue once and for all.

http://www.runagame.net/2015/08/the-best-solution-to-players-resting.html

What frustrates me is 1) how people like you offer "advice" without even seeing the problems 2) how people downplay the difficulties other DMs have, and 3) how people react with horror at suggesting that the rules actually solves the issue!

Regards

Interesting article. Thanks for linking it. Basically, Tweet's advice is what a number of people already suggested; if the pcs take too many short rests and it bothers the DM then the DM needs to make time constraints.
[MENTION=6788736]Flamestrike[/MENTION] - your adventure example is terrific.

Also note, not all time constraints need to be made so finite. When a DM engenders a sense of urgency, even subtly, players make different decisions and tension is created. Creating tension is key.

 

[Azurewraith]

Works well man.

Maybe have a clue to the mind flayer in the well (the horde). A mysterious map in the form of a crystal that psychically imprints the location of the illithids lair in the minds of the peroson that picks it up.

The PCs will advance to level 4 in this adventure. You could easily get them to level 5 with random encounters on the way to confront the illithid. Whack in a three level megadungeon full of umber hulks and other abominations to gain them two or three levls before confronting him...then have him plane shift away leaving them to fight his githyanki knight thrall and some dominated githyanki warriors.

That sounds like a good plan gives them an excuse to go back and means I haven't wasted the 3 pages of a ruined ilithid city as that's what the he enslaved them to find... now to wait out my time as a PC

 

[Flamestrike]

@Flamestrike - your adventure example is terrific.

Also note, not all time constraints need to be made so finite. When a DM engenders a sense of urgency, even subtly, players make different decisions and tension is created. Creating tension is key.

Thanks mate.

Agree re time constraints. The illusion of a time constraint is often enough, and the best time constrains are the ones the players place on themselves.

I find that once you throw a few in (and I do like ones that reward the PCs with a boon for completing the mission in a certain time frame over ones that punish them if they dont) the players start to naturally conform to that expectation. It becomes a self policing thing. If you do it subtly enough, and dont overdo it, it becomes very natural and self regulated by the players. Casters in particular will keep those higher level slots for when absolutely needed, not wanting to drag through a few encounters with only cantrips to spare.

 

[Rhenny]

I find that once you throw a few in (and I do like ones that reward the PCs with a boon for completing the mission in a certain time frame over ones that punish them if they dont) the players start to naturally conform to that expectation. It becomes a self policing thing. If you do it subtly enough, and dont overdo it, it becomes very natural and self regulated by the players. Casters in particular will keep those higher level slots for when absolutely needed, not wanting to drag through a few encounters with only cantrips to spare.

Yes. Yes. For DMs, we need to remember that players don't know what will happen next, so the best way to keep casters from nova-ing (and to keep them from needing to rest so often because they nova) is to make sure that encounters have a wide variety of difficulties. I love when my players clean house on 2 or 3 encounters and then continue to press on only to find a more difficult encounter that really tests their skills, or sometimes I hit them with a tough encounter and then a few easy ones. It is amazing how an easy encounter when the PCs are already in bad shape can become much more challenging.

In the Tweet article, I really like how he makes it pretty clear that the time to rest should be story driven rather than mechanics driven. The DM has the power to influence this completely. Sometimes, all it takes is the DM telling the players that the area they are in does not seem hidden enough and there seems to be enemy activity nearby...not a good place to rest (unless you use Rope Trick, which is awesome because the spellcaster who prepares Rope Trick should be rewarded with the opportunity to use it when necessary - the same goes for Leomund's Tiny Hut). DMs need to revel in PC successes rather than always attempt to shut them down...but I guess that's another issue.

 

[Azurewraith]

[MENTION=6788736]Flamestrike[/MENTION] this adventure you shot me you ran it before or is it a new egg. The different ways people approach things interests me a bit to much

 

[Flamestrike]

@Flamestrike this adventure you shot me you ran it before or is it a new egg. The different ways people approach things interests me a bit to much

I made it up on the spot mate (and I dont know the exact ins and outs of your party), so tread with care. There was some inspiration from the movie the Ring there obviously!

I figure the cleric should be able to handle some of the undead (skeletons, mummy, ghouls, wight, zombies) with channel divinity (recharges on a short rest; he should have time to take around three short rests in this adventure) and I was banking on your Champion being a GWM type. The Sorcerer probably spams sleep as his go-to (so an ambush of the bandits should bring down those mooks, leaving just the cultist and the thug to fight). He hopefully has somethign else up his sleeve, as the rest of the monsters are oozes, constructs and undead - so sleep wont help! Hopefully he also has a decent at will 1st level attack spell like magic missile he can spam with sorcery points. Even then, your casters have around 5 spells each at 3rd level. Between 8 encounters, theyre going to be relying on cantrips more ofthen than not.

Bard + Cleric covers healing for the party also. With 3 short rests allowed, that means the fighter gets an extra 4d10+12 HP to play with from second wind, and hopefully they have a healing potions or two (or someone with the healer feat).

Its a very long rest resource heavy party (bardic inspiration, three spell casters) with short rests only being needed for spending HD and healing, the fighters action surge and second wind, and the clerics channel divinity. The encounters were based around that paradigm; hopefully the party cottons on pretty fast that they need to conserve resources and dont go spamming everyting they have on the first few encounters and wind up confronting the BBEG wounded, and relying on cantrips. Encourage them to short rest from time to time [I banked on around three; one before descending the well, one before the BBEG and another one when needed]- and when they go to drop a big boom spell, remind them that they may need to conserve those big booms for more encounters before they all turn into pumpkins at midnight.

This is important to bear in mind as this party advances in level also. If you dont police the 'six encounter/ 2 short rest' adventuring day, the three primary casters will dominate, and your champion fighter will suck badly and get left behind. He's more or less entirely dependent on short rests. The other three; not at all barring the Bard from 5th level when inspiration recharges on a short rest, and the cleric channel divinity (situationally useful).