KoTS, too easy?

[knifie_sp00nie]

Stop being lazy and scale the encounters properly. Using the new guidelines in the DMG makes it ridiculously easy. The first time I did it it took about an hour to do a third of the module, including some treasure rearranging. Then I started running KotS for another group that needed scaling. It took just 30 minutes to scale the same third of the adventure plus treasure. Adding monsters or levels is no problem once you get the basic formula down.

 

[thecasualoblivion]

Stop being lazy and scale the encounters properly. Using the new guidelines in the DMG makes it ridiculously easy. The first time I did it it took about an hour to do a third of the module, including some treasure rearranging. Then I started running KotS for another group that needed scaling. It took just 30 minutes to scale the same third of the adventure plus treasure. Adding monsters or levels is no problem once you get the basic formula down.

I was scaling the adventure on the fly, without any preparation whatsoever. At first, I was just adding another monster(or three) out of one of the types present already in the encounter. By the end of Keep on the Shadowfell, I was increasing monster levels and giving things elite status, again, without any prepartation other than familiarizing myself with monster alteration rules from the DMG. Gottal love 4E DM tools.

 

[renau1g]

Stop being lazy and scale the encounters properly. Using the new guidelines in the DMG makes it ridiculously easy. The first time I did it it took about an hour to do a third of the module, including some treasure rearranging. Then I started running KotS for another group that needed scaling. It took just 30 minutes to scale the same third of the adventure plus treasure. Adding monsters or levels is no problem once you get the basic formula down.

Easy there killer... don't be putting people down as lazy or other derogatory remarks. Maybe said person didn't have the 1.5 hrs to scale the game that you did, maybe that's why they purchased the premade adventure?

 

[Fifth Element]

Easy there killer... don't be putting people down as lazy or other derogatory remarks. Maybe said person didn't have the 1.5 hrs to scale the game that you did, maybe that's why they purchased the premade adventure?

Derogatory remarks aside (where they belong), it doesn't take 1.5 hours to scale KotS. I scaled it for a 6 characters instead of 5, and it took me about 15 minutes tops. 4E scaling is remarkably easy. No judgment on whether it actually works as advertised, yet.

 

[renau1g]

I find it easy with more PC's, but a little more work when they're a higher level as you need to spend more time to grab higher level monsters to ensure that the challenge is there.

 

[Pickles JG]

I rescaled the first level of the Keep for my 3 PCs & they had such an easy time I scaled it back on the fly. I think they were just lucky though - next time I'll get 'em.

 

[knifie_sp00nie]

Easy there killer... don't be putting people down as lazy or other derogatory remarks. Maybe said person didn't have the 1.5 hrs to scale the game that you did, maybe that's why they purchased the premade adventure?

I forgot this was the internet for a second. It was meant to be a friendly remark about being lazy, not a flame from the depths of hell.

And it only took me an hour for the first 10 encounters the first time around. The second time took 30 minutes. And under pressure, a DM only needs to scale the 2-4 encounters that are likely to happen in one session.

I've scaled the adventure both up and down one level. Results have been very good so far for maintaining difficulty. Sadly, neither group has reached Irontooth yet so there's not enough encounters to draw a solid conclusion.

The only other advice I have is to consider the encounter as a whole and watch out for any power synergies that you may add or eliminate. More minions might work, but without some space they'll just go out in a single AOE attack. I removed one drake from the burial encounter and it was still plenty tough for the party, but afterward realized I had killed the fun pack tactics power that required a friend. In tight quarters it might be better to just level up monsters rather than add more to get stuck in bottlenecks.

 

[SlyFlourish]

Upgrading

I love it when people read a subject without reading the rest of the post.

I DID upgrade them to elites and I DID add in extra monsters. That helped the challenge level but it was still a little too easy.

I just wanted to see if other folks seemed to have an easier time. I guess level makes more of a difference than I thought.

In the last game, we had only four players of level 3 and they cut through the Sir Keegan zombies and skeletons quite easily.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback.

 

[malichai]

We actually found the first parts of KoTS to be pretty difficult. Perhaps that's because of terrible dice rolls, or a 3 first-time D&D players, but the combination resulted in an TPK at Irontooth with first level characters.

 

[firesnakearies]

For those who have actually run (or even played through) the module, when do you think the ideal times are for the group to take an extended rest? And how many extended rests do you think an appropriate party should or will need to take throughout the course of the adventure?