Encounter Adjusting

[RisnDevil]

I have a small group (myself and two other players) and have decided to take on the task of DMing, but I have a problem. You see, I want my players to each only play one character. Is there a standard way to figure out what is a good encounter for this party since if I throw them up against a standard difficulty encounter for a party with their average level they will be slaughtered since the encounters are built for 4 person parties? (I know that was one h3ll of a run-on sentence...) Please help me out.

RisnDevil

 

[Thanee]

If the encounter involves multiple similar creatures, then you could multiply their number by the number of PCs and then divide by four, rounding to the nearest number.

To find out a reasonable EL in general, you could roughly go by -1 / +1 for a party of 3 / 5-6 PCs, and -2 / +2 for a party of 2 / 7-8 PCs (starting with the EL suitable for a party of four PCs). This is based on the general rough EL formula, which adds +2 EL for each doubling of the number of similar creatures in the encounter.

Bye
Thanee

 

[shilsen]

What Thanee said. A challenging encounter for a two-person party of X level is X-2.

Note: What is defined as a "challenge" is an encounter that the party can beat comfortably, with no fear of losing, and using about 20% of their resources. So two 4th lvl PCs, for example, taking on an EL 4 encounter, should still be able to win with some degree of ease.

 

[wocky]

The biggest problem you'll have when scaling encounters by using CR is that a party of two doesn't have a wide enough array of abilities to face certain challenges. Depending on the classes they choose to play some encounters might actually play as much bigger challenges that CR suggests. Take the monsters' abilities into careful consideration.

 

[jgsugden]

I'll give you the same advice that I give all DMs, regardless of party size or make-up: Don't use CR as a firm rule for planning a party - use it is a very rough guideline.

Instead, keep track of the PC abilities. Then, design encounters that are appropriate for them by running quick mock combats. After you've done this a few times, you'll begin to catch onto the specific strengths and weaknesses of your PCs. At this point, you'll be able to pick out foes for your PCs by looking at their AB, damage per attack, saving throws, special resistances, etc ... and not by CRs that are often very inappropriate for your party.

 

[Thanee]

With only two PCs present, it might also be a good idea to have an NPC adventure along with them. This way you can cover some areas lacking due to the small party size and also encounters won't be easier to plan.

With only two characters present, things can go ugly pretty fast.

Bye
Thanee