Help a new dm :D

[drvavylis]

Hello guys.
I will be a dm for my first time in dnd.
I have a party of 6 pcs. 2 of them are 7 lvl and the rest 6.
I have in mind to play the ''white plume mountain'' adventure. The bad thing is that the adventure is for 4 pcs not 6. So here is the question. How do i convert the encounters?
For example, if i have an encounter of a a single monster of 7CR for 4 pcs, what do i convert it for my 6 pcs?
And the next question, if i dont want to add more creatures, in order to increase the cr of the encounter, but only to change my initial monster how do i do it??

Thanks in advance guys. I have prepared everything of the story except that.

 

[Herzog]

First off: WHY do you not want to increase the number of monsters?

My advise is to increase the EL (encounter level) of the encounters by increasing the number of creatures as long as the number of monsters is lower than the number of PC's.

A lot of monsters have 'advancement' entries in the MM (monster manual). They either increase by HD or by class.

If they increase by HD, look up their creature type in the back of the MM, and add hp, saves, etc. according to creature type.

The DMG(dungeon master guide) has information on EL calculations with multiple creatures.

Alternatively, you could try to find a template that matches the CR increase you are looking for and apply it to all your creatures....

 

[FEADIN]

Congratulations
Know that two creatures are more challenging that one advanced, they can make at least 2 actions in a round, even if the lone creature is tougher he will receive all the attacks from the group.
The risk with a lone tougher creature is that it can be too tough, even with a group of 6 they still have 7th level powers, beware of AC and melee attack and damage bonuses and also spellcasting.
Better give a CR4 or CR5 creature with the CR7 to make things more fun.
The more the merrier

 

[Dandu]

You want more creatures so that larger parties don't take advantage of the fact that they have more actions to swamp a single creature.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

Agree with others here: simplest way is to add monsters to the encounter.

It's harder to gauge, but you can also make the terrain more difficult, put in some hazards, or otherwise change the conditions of the encounter to work in the badguy's favor or negate PC advantages:
- Give the badguys a high-ground advantage or cover, or give them some "surprise" equipment to use, like caltrops or thunderstones.
- Add a pool of green slime, weak floors concealing pits, piercers, random geysers of steam, dense fog, a swarm of bats, low ceilings to negate PC flight, etc.

 

[irdeggman]

I am surprised that the adventure itself doesn't ahve a section addressing scaling of the adventure for different sizes of parties. Most seem to have them with suggested adjustments to specific encounters to make them more appropriate for the size of the party. Usually adding or subtracting some creatures.

 

[jawill121]

I too am a starting DM. The best thing is to make it gradually more difficult for you and your self.

For instance.
In my game i made the party fight a bodak they tore it to peices. bodak didn't even really do anything. so i brought in 2 more and like 10 zombies for fluff.
Adding smaller HD creatures like zombies and ecl2 creatures makes it a littlebit more challenging.

also.

if you do make little hourds of anything. spread em out. Magic users will kill em off easy.

Also one thing. if you are jus starting off like me. know that some classes are slightly[if not totally] more advanced and powerful. Somethings to look at is not allowing Duskblades and Warblades. These Two can kill monsters all by their lonesome.

your DM if they killed something off make plans to bring in more if YOU think they need some punishment. It's fun to watch people find a way out of things.

 

[jawill121]

also try to dominating your first campaign with a common enemy.
i chose undead.

Know your enemies.
undead are immune to crits

and finally TRY TO KILL OFF THE PC!
but do this reasonalbly and make it hard for your self. just dont coup de grace everyone. like "a dragon comes down and eats you."

 

[ValhallaGH]

In my game i made the party fight a bodak they tore it to peices.

That's normal.
Bodak's are weak, except that they have a decent chance of consuming 1/4 party resources in one action. By successfully using their death gaze on a PC. For the standard 4-man party, that's 1/4 of their hp, actions, magic items, prepared spells, and such, in one action.


To the OP:
To up the Encounter Level, adding more foes is better. Also, knowing the "Party EL" is useful.
Party EL ~ Level + (2 for each doubling of party size: 2 for two, 4 for four, 6 for eight, and 8 for sixteen PCs). For six PCs, their Encounter Level is about Level + 5. Which means that they should have a slightly better than 50% chance against any encounter of the party level + 5.
So, feel free to use up to EL 10 when challenging them. For fights that you want to be really mean, EL 11 or more has a good chance of killing one or more PCs (assuming the foes are at all threatening; an EL 11 because you're using 64 CR 1/2 orc warriors should be a [long] cake walk).

So, add critters to make it more interesting, and help the main bad guy have time to be cool and fun.

In addition to knowing your monsters, know your PCs. Don't run an undead campaign if the Rogue is supposed to be a combat character, because anything immune to critical hits is immune to sneak attack; and that makes an entire PC useless in most combats. Being useless is unfun, and unfun is bad.
You're the Dungeon Master. Your jobs are 1) be in charge of everything except the PCs, 2) keep the peace amongst the players so that you can, 3) ensure everyone (including you) has fun.


Good luck.

 

[jawill121]

valhalla is right.
I was just giving a exsample.
make grunts.

It's always nice to see the fighter in your group cleave through all of em. makes you happy and makes them happy.