Encounters & Experience for a 2 PC party

[lyle.spade]

Call me stupid, but does anyone have a simple, reliable way of converting the 3.0 encounter/challenge rating system for a 2-player party? I am a long-time player and recent 3E DM (no 3.5 books), and I'm having all manner of trouble reliably, consistently tailoring encounters (based on creature CRs) to my meager 2 player group. I am reading through the 3.0 DMG, but it just seems really stuck on the 4-PC party. Yeah, stupid, or maybe lazy? Dunno. Any suggestions would be great.

 

[Mistwell]

You can lower the average party level by one, and that will often adjust correctly. So, if you have two 5th level characters, treat them as if they were fourth level, and set the CR's accordingly. The experience point formula accounts for number of people in the party as well, so your players should not be hurt by reducing the CRs.

 

[Crothian]

Any advice would break down as a two person party is much more limited then 4 person; it realyl also depends on their level and classes. 2 low level fighters would be able to handle many encounters better then 2 low level wizards, but at higher levels with the right spells the casters can start to stand alone.

 

[lyle.spade]

More on the same question..

Thanks for the replies so far. My PCs are a paladin and a fighter, and we're playing in Eberron. They've overcome the lack of a cleric by stuffing one into a wand they bought, and keep getting recharged, from House Jorasco (or the "Halfling Healing Hut" as they call it). Any more advice?

 

[Crothian]

They should have an easy time of some tough encounters. They can do good damage, should have good ACs, and have some good HPS. I recently ran a game with 3 PCs. What I did was the first few encounters were there to test out their strength. The PCs really didn't catch on but the first encounter was of a group I felt they could easily defeat. Based on how that went, the second encounter was harder, but still good. Then the third encounter was tough, but they had an option to run away since i was testing what they could take and not trying to get a TPK. I did this for a while and as they gained a few levels I'd do it agin just to make sure I wasn't doing a TPK. IJust know what the PCs are cabilbie of and make sure that you don't accidnetly place them against an encounter they have no hope of winning (of course you can do that on purpose).

 

[FireLance]

Definitely know your PC's characters well. You can send them against opponents that are of higher CRs if they are strong against them. Since you have a paladin in the party, they should have an easier time against creatures that use fear or disease, for example.

 

[irdeggman]

I got this from Skip (Sage Advice) in an e-mail:

Add 1 for every two members more than 4 for the party EL.

Now applying that in reverse doesn't quite work out since it is increasingly more challenging with less PCs. So probably a -2 on the EL would put it more in line for this set up.

 

[Jack Simth]

Try the following link:

d20 Encounter Calculator

 

[S'mon]

The way CR works, a 2 PC party is roughly equivalent to a standard party 2 levels lower, except at very low levels:

2 1st - half a 1st level party
2 2nd - a 1st level party
2 3rd - a 1.5 level party.

Throw encounters at them with EL 2 less than party level should work.

 

[Shin Okada]

What is S'mon said. But you must realize that a party with less than 4 PCs tend to lack some essential abilities. For example, your party can't handle traps, can't dispel magics, can't remove certain conditions (blindness, paralysis, ability damage, energy drain, etc.). Also, a party starts become very fragile when they have less than 4 people. For example, if the paladin falls, the fighter cannot cure him.

So, I suggest you to tailor each encounters with those 2 adventurers in mind. Simple math may not work in most cases. IMHO, it is too dangerous to let them face published modules alone by themselves, even if they are 2 levels higher than the assumed party level.