Encounters for a 2 person party

[Robtheman]

Use Stunt cards (spend a action point or a couple healing surges) to do something really exciting at about the power level of an encounter power. This could let them find creative ways out of problems as you learn to tune the encounters to their level.

A single elite can be pretty challenging and fun for them. A solo is out of reach and would get really boring, imo. I ran a same level Kenku Assassin against two pc's yesterday and had it run half way through the encounter. They gave chase and tracked him via skill challenge, then finished the fight. They failed the skill challenge so the Kenku got a surprise round on them. Success would have avoided that.

Commanding troops in an improvised combat would be fun. Combast without battlemaps can also work well for 2 players. It lets you have fast, fluid combats with lots of cinematic descriptions from both sides of the table.

Encounters where they have to influence neutral NPCs to assist them might be fun as well. Minor actions to try to sway the observers to assist them? Then you could simply hand wave a few bad guys away if the observers join the PCs. It removes a threat without swapping dice rolls for a 3-4 more rounds.

 

[Mengu]

[MENTION=65726]Mengu[/MENTION] companion characters dont have to be DMPCs; they can be a cooperative effort by the DM and the players. you could lead them into finding a companion or two that is halfway designed by them. the DM should definitely not throw a random character into the party, as two-player groups seems to be a much more intimate affair. The companion(s) could be of the class of their choosing and shouldnt really stand out in most roleplaying situations.

Don't quite agree, but to each their own. If DM'ing for 2 players who are not familiar with the system, if I decided to make a permanent companion NPC, I certainly would be the one creating and controlling the companion. I know the system better, I probably know the player's characters better than the players themselves. New players have enough on their plates. If they were experienced players, I'd likely skip the companion altogether, and have an occasional NPC travel with them when and where appropriate, for some bigger or more crowded fights. I might be inclined to give the NPC to one of the players to control, to save myself the hassle.

And to be fair, I don't like the term "DMPC". You are either DM, or you are PC. You can't (or at least I can't) objectively be both. Any character I control as DM will be an NPC, with motives and secrets of their own. I don't get attached to them, I don't have any worries about them getting killed, and I am not likely to bring them back from death. They can leave the party at any time for reasons of their own. I find that this individuality makes for better and often more realistic story. That's probably why I like the idea of transient companions better than a permanent companion.

 

[Otterscrubber]

Well there will only be 2 PCs, both of them are into their character and have no desire to even rep another sidekick. So I'm stuck with just 2 of them for encounters. So I have 2 things to consider:

1) Making encounters challenging, but survivable. Either by getting them to roleplay themselves in a way where they rarely get caught off guard or just making a balanced fight. The one playing the wizard likes to prepare and seldom get surprised. If you read the Tales from Wyre he really likes Mostin and the effort he puts in to never entering an encounter unprepared. Obviously this is 4e and his powers are more limited than a 3e caster so this is where I might have trouble making his vision meet the realities of the campaign, but that is another issue.

2) Perhaps creating some house rules for a small party. Since there is no leader, perhaps allow them to use second wind more than 1/encounter? Allow them to burn healing surges as an action point to increase their damage output? Use actin point to provide some defensive capabilities or healing?

 

[Jhaelen]

They are going to be a lvl 15 essentials mage and a lvl 15 essentials fighter (knight).

Is there any particular reason they're starting at level 15? Are you taking over a game that's been going on for a while, or is there some specific adventure module you'd like to play?

I think, getting used to a two-player game would be a lot easier if the players started at level 1.

 

[Zaran]

I've done this for two PCs. I've actually altered modules to work for 2 PCs. Basically you change some monsters to minions. Reduce their damage down the minimum that could possibly do and give them 1 hit point. Basically an encounter would be 2 monsters of equal level to the party. or 1 standard monster and 4 minions. 2400 XP per encounter. You can use Elites for Bosses. You can vary the Encounter XP just like you would with a larger group.

A 15th level Adventure where they level at the end would look something like this. This is right out of the DMG.

8 Encounters
1 Encounter at 14th level (2000 XP)
3 Encounters at level 15 (2400 XP each or 7200 XP)
3 Encounters at Level 16 (2800 XP each or 8400 XP)
1 Encounter at Level 18 (4000 XP)
1 Adventure reward equal to a 15th level encounter (2400 XP)

This comes out to 24000 XP which is exactly what you need to go from 15th to 16th level.

Issues I had with a 2 PC party. Lack of skills. I gave my PCs feats at odd levels that I said could only be used for "Non-combat" type feats like Skill Training or Linguist or Ritualist. Another issue I had was the effect Crits have on a PC. I haven't come up with a good remedy for this, so far noone has died but it was close.

 

[Zaran]

Here is an example of turning an encounter for 5 PCs into one for 2 PCs. You have 2 Artillery 1 controller at 2 Skirmishers for the 5 PC group. I would do something like keep the controller as a standard monster and turn the other 4 into minions by minimizing their damage. I would still let them have kickers or recharge type attacks. Those sort of things make minions interesting. So this results in still a fight against 5 monsters. The fights don't take too long but they still seem epic as the two PCs cut through the minions to get to the standard monster.

 

[ffy]

Another issue I had was the effect Crits have on a PC. I haven't come up with a good remedy for this, so far noone has died but it was close.

the first thing that comes to mind is those items with powers/properties of the 'when you are hit by a critical attack' type. i can understand players not wishlisting those, because often they tend to be pretty underwhelming (compared to other items that activate much more often), but couldnt you houserule the properties or powers onto some different items? or perhaps offer those properties as enchantments that can be applied to a suitable piece of equipment?

 

[aco175]

I would make a few encounters a bit on the easy side and leave room to bring in reinforcements if you think you need it. This way you can guage how tough to make fights and modify them mid fight to keep up the fun.

 

[surfarcher]

OK it looks like there's a lot of wisdom in this thread and I dont have time to read it all today

My immediate gut reaction is - brutes and artillery in masterplan. That should get you very close to the right level of challenge for your 2 person party.

Please do realize that I haven't given a lot of thought to this but it's an approach that's worked quit well for me with 1, 2 and 3 person parties.

 

[Noctos]

"Wistfer" exit's her lips Turning her floatation disk into a mist she falls rapidly to the ground. The orange orb passes over her head traveling far in to the distant sky before disappearing. Clinching her staff she slows as she approaches the ground. The staff has a deep blue glow. Cilvia raises her right arm above her head pointing the palm up with fingers spread. " Dasinyt Gazssate Paudiag Levisaf Cillairt" As the words leave her lips a white beam eight inches round exits from the sky above and enters her arm giving it a white glow. Lowering her arm she directs it at the wizard releasing the white beam she just gain towards him. A hailing wind turns up as the magic is released blowing her hair and dress violently.