Regarding Dungeon Delve Encounter 8-1 (Spoiler Alert)

[Shin Okada]

I am planning to run this encounter tomorrow. Well, actually, already "this evening", in Japanese time. I have about 20 hours to the session.

The encounter 8-1 says there are 4 Shadar-Kai Warriors and a Shadar-kai Witch.

The "Setup" entry says that there are two Warriors at the beginning of the encounter, and the other two will enter later.

Then, the "Tactics" entry says,

1) Before the character descend the stairs, one warrior moves under the staircase ... while two others remain neat the table.

At this moment, there are 3 warriors in the room, one hiding under the staircase.

2) On round 2, a third Shadar-kai warrior (which was climbing up from the sewer below.

Hmm, isn't that the 4th warrior? There are 3 warriors already in the room.

3) As soon as all the PCs are in the room, the last Shadar-kai warrior (who had been tailing the PCs on their approach) shows up at the stairs and attacks whoever is in the back.

Now, isn't that the 5th warrior?


I guess the author made some mistake. The total XP shows that there should be only 4 warriors in the encounter.

Now, if you are a DM, how will you run this encounter? Do you use 5 warriors? Or do you eliminate some part of the Stip and Tactics section and remove one warrior? If so, which one?

 

[the Jester]

I change phase 1 to "...while the other one remains at the table."

 

[TDarien]

I would probably use 4, unless my party generally has an easy time with monsters of this level.

Just move one of the two warriors under the stairs before the party arrives, and leave two visible enemies: the other Warrior and Fatale. This could be what the author intended, as the text is vague, though it could also just be an editing error.

If the party can handle it, go ahead and add the fifth warrior. It shouldn't be much of an issue unless the party is much lower level than the delve.

 

[Shin Okada]

Thank you for the suggestions.

I will try using only 4 warriors (first 2, one hiding under the staircase, another from the ladder), then add another one if the encounter goes too easy for PCs.