Kobold Hall: Which encounters to remove?

[Jools]

I'm starting a campaign on the weekend with a bit of Kobold Hall (the encounters from the back of the DMG). I've got a nice setup to the encounters with the pcs getting shipwrecked on an island after the white dragon attacks their ship. However, there seems to be too many encounters for the PCs to vanquish in an evening alone so I'm going to remove a couple. What has the boards experiences of Kobold Hall been like? Which two do you think should get the chop?

 

[Korror]

The first encounter is good for a quick warmup as everyone gets used to playing their characters and the dragon fight and the encounter with the rolling stone are classics. I'd use those 3 and cut out the two in the middle.

 

[Oompa]

Indeed, cut down the middle two and you should be fine..

You could also lower the amount of kobolds in total..

 

[Jools]

Thanks guys, that sounds like sage advice. Is the final dragon encounter really a good one? Just hitting on the same monster with little or no tactical positioning sounds dull - I could be wrong though!

I was considering having the dragon attempt to negotiate with the heroes, and then flying off in cowardice when that fails, leaving the pcs to battle his baby wyrmling that he's coldly left behind. I thought I'd have a few kobolds run in to spice it up a bit further.

What do you think? Am I crazy?

 

[Oompa]

Maybe create some more space in the last encounter, add some spots where the dragon could fly to.. and also some spots the players could climb for advantage..

You could indeed add some kobolds to the last encounter, but keep them minions.. and.. let the dragon use his breath attack also on the kobolds.. dragons in the narrow can do weird stuff

 

[keterys]

Fwiw, Dungeon Delve effectively has a new version of that last fight that is probably a ton more interesting.

Brutal, possibly, though.

 

[le grand fromage]

Seriously you'd keep the dragon?!! I had the party over hear him talking to an NPC prior to flying off; the party was only 4 characters strong and I'm pretty sure that even if they'd been fully rested it would have wiped the floor with them.....

 

[NMcCoy]

Cut the dragon's HP in half at the very least. Also, I made the ice more interesting - any fire damage melts the ice, and then any cold attacks against a creature standing in the water immobilize it (save ends).

 

[keterys]

The revised encounter I mentioned has an Elite white dragon wyrmling instead of a full fledged white dragon and a whole bunch of follower kobolds with it. Not sure if you can get the stats in any other place and I've loaned my book out.

 

[Korror]

The appeal of the dragon is that your party has a chance to become dragonslayers at level 1. He is a tough fight and has a good chance of killing a PC or 2 but it makes for a memorable fight and shows the PCs that they are capable of fighting the iconic bad guys right from the start. You might want to make sure that the PCs always come into the fight fully rested but ending the evening on a really tough single opponent gives a sense of climax to the adventure.