Only a party of 3

[bfreakb999]

I'm running a group of 3 veteran players through a level 16 delve that i created, but the difference per 4/5/6 people in a group according to the DMG is 1400 XP.

Should i reduce the XP even further given there is only 3 of them? or does subtracting 1400 xp from the level N encounter seem sufficient?

 

[eamon]

Normally, your encounter budget for a level N encounter is the XP of a standard level N monster (being 1400 for level 16) times the number of PC's. Your encounters may well be higher level of course, and you're free to mix and match monsters of various levels to approximately that amount; it's just an accounting help for you. (See DMG p.56)

So, 3x 1400 XP is a fine standard encounter for a 16th level party, but standard encounters aren't that threatening, of course. In general, you may find that small parties (since they're missing roles and not filling all the niches) are a little less flexible and a little less resilient; they might need to run away more often when particularly unprepared or might not be able to handle the same number of encounters per day.

 

[Hedgemage]

When you get down to three people, things can get pretty swingy, depending on what roles are represented in the party.

I'm currently in a party of three and we lack a leader, which means that we don't have the endurance for longer fights. The HP of the defender determines the overall durability of my party, so the DM has compensated by throwing fewer minions at us. This means that there are fewer enemies overall, and the defender and striker can herd them easier and keep them away from the squishy controller.

You may have to experiment a bit with what mixture fits your group. Look at the party's powers - do they have the area attacks to take out large groups of minions, or the mobility to run circles around a few non-minion soldiers?

One major thing that can swing battles for a small group is terrain. If the group can bottle up enemies in a 10' wide dungeon corridor, they might survive much better than if they were fighting in an outdoor setting with lots of room for minions to flank them. Design your encounter areas with terrain that a smart group could use as chokepoints or strategic positions, such as a high platform where a ranged character could be fairly safe while the defender guards the ramp leading to it.

 

[ValhallaGH]

Design your encounter areas with terrain that a smart group could use as chokepoints or strategic positions, such as a high platform where a ranged character could be fairly safe while the defender guards the ramp leading to it.

And then give your PCs a chance to use said terrain before you move your monsters into it.

Neglecting such can quickly result in requests for new character sheets, especially at low levels.


Generally, as eamon said, the XP budget is [standard monster xp] times [# PCs]. In this case, you're looking at about 4200 xp of challenges for an equal level encounter. Higher levels are doable but get even swingier when you've only got 3 PCs. Suddenly, the economy of actions is much against them and they start dropping, fast.
Encounter challenge comes down to action economy. Which side has the largest number of effective actions per round? That's the side that will win.
So 40 level N-8 minions lose because they need an 18+ to cause damage, thus having Zero effective actions per round. 4 level N+1 monsters will be really tough since they generally have as many effective actions per round as the 3 PCs. 3 level N+5 monsters will probably win because almost all their actions are effective and only one-third of PC actions will be effective.

*Effective, in this context, is an action that can be reliably used (natural 13 or less) to either cause harm to the opposition (attacks) or increase that side's ability to cause harm to the opposition (healing, buffs, moving to flank, etc.).

Good luck and have fun.

 

[babinro]

or does subtracting 1400 xp from the level N encounter seem sufficient?

This should do the job just fine from my experience.

As mentioned above the battles can be more swingy based on your party composition. If your party has no leader role, the battles will be quite challenging.

On the other hand, a single cleric can maintain a party of 3 at paragon very effectively, and you may find the party to be extremely difficult to challenge (seeing as one leader is designed to support a party of 5).

Your party composition may well lead you to using standard 4-5 player encounters depending on how well they play and their party composition.

 

[ghearus]

My group routinely plays with 3 out of four players present. Usually the role that is missing is our defender, or our leader. Things can get pretty crazy, but the party has acknowledged this, so everyone has healing powers of some kind through multiclassing. Even our swordmage/warlock does his part by handing out temporary hitpoints all over the place