Level 1 hard encounter: white or black young dragon?

[Dice4Hire]

If I were you, running the game for the first time, I would use lots of minions. Loads of minions makes a fun fight for everyone and gives everyone a chance to feel good. Maybe back hem up with a couple leaders to boost them up a bit

 

[AngryPurpleCyclops]

If I were you, running the game for the first time, I would use lots of minions. Loads of minions makes a fun fight for everyone and gives everyone a chance to feel good. Maybe back hem up with a couple leaders to boost them up a bit

right, everyone will have a lot more fun if you stick to level 3 and below and no elites or solos. Be careful with soldiers as too many soldiers can make an encounter very rough.

we're very experienced dnd'ers in our gaming group(over 120 years) and a pack of goblin slavers tpk'd us the very first encounter in 4e because we didn't understand our roles yet. A pair of hobgoblin archer on top of a large rocky outcropping was way too much for us to handle with the melee types jumping us from the get go. It was probably an N+3 encounter before we knew what we were doing (just learning marks, powers, effects) and it turned out too hard. I think it would probably work out better if we tried it now but you need to be careful what you present the pc's with.

Kobolds and Goblins make great early encounters. Orc's are a little swingy because a critical hit can kill a level 1 pc in a single roll. 4 orc raiders is a level 1-2 encounter for 5 pc's but if your cleric gets his melon caved in by a 27hp crit on round 1, you're very apt to wind up dead. If the orcs are using "focus fire" 2 hits on any pc is potentially deadly.

 

[adam_antio]

yeah

I was working on the adventure when I realized that the "perfect 1st level dungeon" is filled with minion, skirmisher, slinger and wyrmpriest kobolds, along with some drakes, a young white dragon and various traps.

But... this is the basic adventure in the DMG! So, I will use it, a little twisted to make it more flavourful and attinent to the campaign world.

Another little question wich answer I could'nt find: do 2-handed weapons deal extra damage, as 1-handed versatile weapons do when used 2-handed?

Thank you very much

 

[Mithreinmaethor]

yeah

I was working on the adventure when I realized that the "perfect 1st level dungeon" is filled with minion, skirmisher, slinger and wyrmpriest kobolds, along with some drakes, a young white dragon and various traps.

But... this is the basic adventure in the DMG! So, I will use it, a little twisted to make it more flavourful and attinent to the campaign world.

Another little question wich answer I could'nt find: do 2-handed weapons deal extra damage, as 1-handed versatile weapons do when used 2-handed?

Thank you very much

I think that they printed some additional stuff to use with that adventure in one of the 1st free Dungeon magazines. Not sure and could be confused here but its a good yet tough adventure for your 1st levels. Wouldnt change it much

 

[Oldtimer]

Another little question wich answer I could'nt find: do 2-handed weapons deal extra damage, as 1-handed versatile weapons do when used 2-handed?

Since they are always used 2-handed, that is already factored into their damage dice. So if you're looking for an extra +1, the answer is no.

 

[DreadArchon]

Use a White Dragon, call it Black, and change all references from "Cold" to "Acid." If anyone questions its tactics, say "this one just isn't very smart" or somesuch.