H1 and Party Size

[DimitriX]

I've been looking through the demo copy of Keep on the Shadowfell and I had a question about party size. There are 5 pregen characters in the adventure. Is the adventure designed to have 5 characters or a standard party of 4? Also, if the design is for 5 characters, how can we scale down encounters for 3 or 4 characters. My gaming group is small and we probably won't have 5 players and I hate asking my players to play more than one character. This is especially problematic because all of the options that characters have and that everything is new means that a player can get a bit overwhelmed by options and probably not play the characters as well as they could.

 

[arghost]

to scale encounters, simply remove some of the opponents. level-appropriate encounters for 1st level characters are 100*<number of characters>. You should be able to figure how much to remove (or add) based on that simple calculation.

 

[Logan_Bonner]

In 4E, the assumed party size is 5, so the encounters are built for 5 PCs. As arghost said, if you have a group of 4 you can remove 1 monster to make it about right, and if the party's larger you can duplicate a monster. Remember that an elite monster counts as two (and is usually important enough that you shouldn't remove it!), and a solo counts as 5 (if you have a smaller group, you'll have to just lump it, but you can add a monster from another encounter if you have a larger party).

 

[Nikosandros]

In 4E, the assumed party size is 5, so the encounters are built for 5 PCs. As arghost said, if you have a group of 4 you can remove 1 monster to make it about right, and if the party's larger you can duplicate a monster. Remember that an elite monster counts as two (and is usually important enough that you shouldn't remove it!), and a solo counts as 5 (if you have a smaller group, you'll have to just lump it, but you can add a monster from another encounter if you have a larger party).

I'm not sure about the meaning of the verb to lump in this context, but are there any suggestions (perhaps in the DMG) on how to "scale down" a solo monster for a smaller party?

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

I'm not sure about the meaning of the verb to lump in this context, but are there any suggestions (perhaps in the DMG) on how to "scale down" a solo monster for a smaller party?

It's short for "like it or lump it" indicating that, unfortunately, if you go up against a solo monster with less than five players there isn't anything in the rules that's going to make it easier!

Although I suppose you could just give it -1 to all attacks and damage, for a start.

 

[WyzardWhately]

It's short for "like it or lump it" indicating that, unfortunately, if you go up against a solo monster with less than five players there isn't anything in the rules that's going to make it easier!

Although I suppose you could just give it -1 to all attacks and damage, for a start.

That's pretty much what I'd do. Knock all its attacks, defenses, and MAYBE damage by two, and maybe shave off 20% of its HP.

 

[DimitriX]

In 4E, the assumed party size is 5, so the encounters are built for 5 PCs. As arghost said, if you have a group of 4 you can remove 1 monster to make it about right, and if the party's larger you can duplicate a monster. Remember that an elite monster counts as two (and is usually important enough that you shouldn't remove it!), and a solo counts as 5 (if you have a smaller group, you'll have to just lump it, but you can add a monster from another encounter if you have a larger party).

Thanks for the response. Though I have to say that this is my first complaint about 4e: its built more for groups with 6 or more people. I can't remember the last time I was in a good gaming group with that many people. It might be easy to round up that many folks at the WotC offices, but around here it can be difficult.

Also, I question the PR value of telling a customer to 'lump it'.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Also, I question the PR value of telling a customer to 'lump it'.

Seriously! Way to come off childish and petulant instead of professional, helpful or even, y'know decent by messageboard standards!

At least the other posters have some good suggestions. Cutting it's HP by 20% sounds like the best start, and lowering it's damage and ability to avoid damage sounds solid too, so long as it's done cautiously.

If the DMG and/or MM has nothing on scaling solo monsters, colour me disappointed.

 

[Mengu]

If the DMG and/or MM has nothing on scaling solo monsters, colour me disappointed.

There is a way to downgrade and upgrade any monster, as published in the preview article, deftly named, customizing monsters. This can be used to scale monsters easily to decrease or increase their experience, which is almost all that matters for balancing an encounter.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Also, I question the PR value of telling a customer to 'lump it'.

Gosh, don't take it personally. He was just using a common colloquialism!

Besides which, in most cases I don't think a solo monster against a party of 4 is going to be much different than against a party of 5. A little tougher perhaps, but just a matter of reducing the hit points a little if really worried. The kind of thing that I'd imagine any DM would happily do anyway.