D&D 5E Bounded Accuracy and Starting HotDQ after LMoP

[Mercule]

My players have become quite attached to the characters they played in Lost Mine of Phandelver, but are also very intrigued by Hoard of the Dragon Queen. I've been trying to figure out how to make it all work out and realized this sounds like exactly the sort of thing "Bounded Accuracy" is supposed to help with.

I'm thinking that boosting the level/CR on all unique NPCs by 5 or so would make the lieutenants and BBEGs work out well enough. Mooks can just come in larger hoards -- which actually seems like it would be more "realistic" for an army sacking a town.

Has anyone tried this sort of thing? Have feedback or opinions on whether it'll work?

 

[Iosue]

My players have become quite attached to the characters they played in Lost Mine of Phandelver, but are also very intrigued by Hoard of the Dragon Queen. I've been trying to figure out how to make it all work out and realized this sounds like exactly the sort of thing "Bounded Accuracy" is supposed to help with.

I'm thinking that boosting the level/CR on all unique NPCs by 5 or so would make the lieutenants and BBEGs work out well enough. Mooks can just come in larger hoards -- which actually seems like it would be more "realistic" for an army sacking a town.

Has anyone tried this sort of thing? Have feedback or opinions on whether it'll work?

It should work in theory. One thing to keep in mind is that HotDQ is designed so that generally players will go up a level at the end of each episode. However, since advancement slows once you get past level 4, I'm not sure even increasing the number of mooks to fight in early levels will be enough to maintain that pace. You might have to add other higher CR challenges to get the needed XP. Of course this is not a problem if you're using milestone leveling.

Personally, I plan to run HotDQ for my LMoP group but without changing anything. The first few levels may be a cakewalk, but I figure after clawing and scratching their way up to Level 5 in Lost Mines, they can enjoy a few levels of being totally awesome. The game should catch up to their level pretty quick.

 

[Tony Vargas]

My players have become quite attached to the characters they played in Lost Mine of Phandelver, but are also very intrigued by Hoard of the Dragon Queen. I've been trying to figure out how to make it all work out and realized this sounds like exactly the sort of thing "Bounded Accuracy" is supposed to help with.

Has anyone tried this sort of thing? Have feedback or opinions on whether it'll work?

I ran the opening of HotDQ with a party of 4 third-level PCs, with virtually no modification, and it worked /much/ better than with any of the first level parties I've run through it (between encounters and a recent convention, I've run it multiple times).

I can't vouch for the "Building Combat Encounters" guidelines in the DM's basic pdf, beyond them saying that Seek the Keep is deadly and having several parties killed by it, but why not try 'em out?

 

[beej]

My gut feeling would be to run it as is. They would be stronger than what is expected, which could drive the story in interesting directions. But the threats are still threats, even if the levels are lower (specifically because of BAccuracy,) so they can still be wiped out if they're not careful.

Not having actually run either published module, I don't know how the xp's will tally, but it should mean that level increases are a little slower (as they start higher.)

 

[Thank Dog]

Honestly, I wouldn't change anything. The first episode alone is a meat-grinder even for higher level parties. They'll breeze through the module but the XP will also be significantly less. There is also an encounter in HotDQ that, unmodified, is essentially a TPK for an appropriate level party, so it should manage to be a challenge for your party and it's towards the end of the module.