KotS with 4 PCs
- Thread starter Crymson
- Start date
This is one contest that can't be solved witha dance off, so I gotta take my "game" to the next level. 
I'm also in the 4 PC boat and plan on doing it exactly the way you mention - 4/5ths of the encounter's total xp. While the 100xp * # PCs gives you the standard encounter strength, I want to maintain the feel of the encounters. As an example, there's one level 6 encounter there that could be stumbled upon by level 1 PCs... so in order for that combat to feel as nasty as it should, % is probably better than the standard encounter xp numbers.
When it comes to who I'm going to remove, I'm going to try and maintain as much variety as possible. If there is 1 leader, 1 artillery, and 4 minions, I'll nuke 2 minions. If there's 1 leader, 2 brutes, and 4 minions, I'll probably nuke 1 brute. I think this will be the tricker part -- figuring out who goes and who stays.
I won't be starting my game for two weeks (shout out to Fiery Dragon for the free counters!), and if no one has posted revised encounters by then, I'll post mine - and I'll update it with how it worked out as I play. Of course if someone beats me to it, that'd be grand
When it comes to who I'm going to remove, I'm going to try and maintain as much variety as possible. If there is 1 leader, 1 artillery, and 4 minions, I'll nuke 2 minions. If there's 1 leader, 2 brutes, and 4 minions, I'll probably nuke 1 brute. I think this will be the tricker part -- figuring out who goes and who stays.
I won't be starting my game for two weeks (shout out to Fiery Dragon for the free counters!), and if no one has posted revised encounters by then, I'll post mine - and I'll update it with how it worked out as I play. Of course if someone beats me to it, that'd be grand
I've thought of an alternative approach.
Since my players have been playing the old pregens from Scalegloom Hall, and they've pretty much done enough to qualify them for 2nd level, I may wait until the books come out and start KotS with 4 2nd level PCs. Since there's less difference between levels now (I think?) this may be about right.
Since my players have been playing the old pregens from Scalegloom Hall, and they've pretty much done enough to qualify them for 2nd level, I may wait until the books come out and start KotS with 4 2nd level PCs. Since there's less difference between levels now (I think?) this may be about right.
JoeGKushner
Adventurer
Heselbine said:
It's less work for me to run a DM-controlled NPC, especially as it's going to be the half-elf cleric no one wanted to run.
Crymson said:
This looks like how I understand the scaling system is supposed to work. And I'm in the same boat - I'm running this as a "4e demo" for my group on a day that one of my regular players can't be there. But I might not bother tinkering with the first two encounters. Eyeballing them they look like they wouldn't be too bad for a 4-person party to handle even without tinkering, and you'll probably want the PCs to level up a little bit faster than a 5-person party would anyway so that they're a little more powerful when they get to some of the later parts of the adventure.
TacoSupreme
First Post
I had a TPK in a 4 player group that did not use the mage, that I ran yesterday, details in the spoiler.
[sblock]For the first fight I removed a Dragonshield Kobold, they could have taken this fight fine with no changes. Still it is an entry to D&D combat, since they will get an extended rest before the next fight they can safely use dailys and learn all their abilities.
In the road ambush I removed 1 Dragonshield Kobold. They wasted a daily or two, but had no real problems.
Outside the kobold lair I removed 4 minions, they took some damage here but managed to get through. The slinger easily escaped to warn the rest after his friends died.
In the cave I removed 1 skirmisher and 6 minions as they were pretty beat up. In the opening rounds the skirmishers and minions did a lot of damage with mob attack/combat advantage. They got thinned out just in time for the dragonshield, wyrmpriest and irontooth to show up. Irontooth was really brutal and they were already low on surges from the first few fights of the day. The defenders totally ran out of surges but it was perfectly timed with them running out of abilities that let them use surges too. I'd be careful with this fight, it is very brutal. And is a whole class more difficult than anything they had fought yet. Maybe remove the wyrmpriest too and they might have killed a few more kobolds. I can't imagine them winning it though.[/sblock]
[sblock]For the first fight I removed a Dragonshield Kobold, they could have taken this fight fine with no changes. Still it is an entry to D&D combat, since they will get an extended rest before the next fight they can safely use dailys and learn all their abilities.
In the road ambush I removed 1 Dragonshield Kobold. They wasted a daily or two, but had no real problems.
Outside the kobold lair I removed 4 minions, they took some damage here but managed to get through. The slinger easily escaped to warn the rest after his friends died.
In the cave I removed 1 skirmisher and 6 minions as they were pretty beat up. In the opening rounds the skirmishers and minions did a lot of damage with mob attack/combat advantage. They got thinned out just in time for the dragonshield, wyrmpriest and irontooth to show up. Irontooth was really brutal and they were already low on surges from the first few fights of the day. The defenders totally ran out of surges but it was perfectly timed with them running out of abilities that let them use surges too. I'd be careful with this fight, it is very brutal. And is a whole class more difficult than anything they had fought yet. Maybe remove the wyrmpriest too and they might have killed a few more kobolds. I can't imagine them winning it though.[/sblock]
