Scaling encounters with magic items

[Brother Ezra]

One of the players in my current group wishes to go on an item quest, preferably looking to obtain light magic armor. I'd like to design encounters and guardians scaled to the power of the item being sought. I want to give him an idea of roughly what CR of creature he would face if he sought items of differing power.

Can any of you suggest what EL or CR would be appropriate for different power levels of armor? i.e. what type of guardians would protect +1 elven chain, +2 celestial armor, +3 chain shirt, etc. Any ideas about how to properly scale the encounters with the power of the item to be gained would be really great.

One important piece of information to consider. This will likely be a solo quest, or at most two characters. Definitely a 4th level fighter, with possibly a 4th level barbarian.

 

[maddman75]

Scale both the treasure and the guardians to the PCs. If you have a suitable armor for your PC's level, then just come up with guardians of about the same CR. Since you only have two PCs you need to be extra careful. I would not go more than one or two CR about their level, even for major battles. A large party can take down a creature several CR above thier level - after it drops two or three of them. Try that with one or two PCs and you have a TPK.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

A mithral shirt is 1,100gp. +1 elven chain would be a pricy 5,150.
+1 studded leather would be 1,175. And your other stuff is just out of his league. I'm not saying you can't give it to him, I'm just saying it's against "da r00lz".

Now, let's go over to our handy on-line toolbox on everyone's favorite website: http://www.enworld.org/forums/news.php?page=toolbox

Hmm. Two level 4s. They're good for CR2 encounters. Very tricky. Even a humble orc can get a nasty crit in with his battle axe and potentially do over 40 points of damage. However a CR2 encounter should generate 600gp of treasure max. A CR4 encounter could get him the low-end +1 stuff, but a CR4 encounter is going to probably kill two level 4 guys. So here's what you do. You have enough CR2 encounters that yeild no treasure to "pay" for the final encounter.

For this, I suggest a barrow. Maybe one of a wicked bandit lord who was supposed to have been stripped of all his goods before he was laid to rest. The dangers in the barrow prevent anyone from going in there. Adventurers haven't cleaned it out because it's a high-risk low-pay situation. But your PC gets wind that the bandit lord had suspected such a thing and hidden his most precious armor (or his "backup" suit in case you want a follow-up adventure) in the lair that would become his tomb.

Throw some undead and vermin in there and you're good to go! Some CR1 encounters at first to get them warmed up, a couple of CR2 encounters with no treasure until the very end when they do battle with a CR3 Shadow. Then they score the armor!

That should do it.

 

[fafhrd]

Hmm. Two level 4s. They're good for CR2 encounters. Very tricky. Even a humble orc can get a nasty crit in with his battle axe and potentially do over 40 points of damage. However a CR2 encounter should generate 600gp of treasure max. A CR4 encounter could get him the low-end +1 stuff, but a CR4 encounter is going to probably kill two level 4 guys. So here's what you do. You have enough CR2 encounters that yeild no treasure to "pay" for the final encounter.

I think it might be a stretch to say that a CR4 creature is probably going to kill two level 4 characters. Remember, they themselves are each CR4 creatures. If it's the two of them, relatively fresh against a single opponent of equal skill, and they're not complete buffoons, they should be able to handle it.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Remember, they themselves are each CR4 creatures. If it's the two of them, relatively fresh against a single opponent of equal skill, and they're not complete buffoons, they should be able to handle it.

Yeah, but with no cleric, wizard, or rogue type it's a little more dicey. Unless it's one single CR4 encounter with no build up that they're going into fresh, then I'd agree (it would still be risky though). Now we don't know the characters but we're talking about two classes that have a low reflex and will save. So they have some big vulerabilities. They aren't sneaky classes so we're left with a strategy of running in and killing everything before they have any serious counter attack.

Heck, even a CR3 Ghast or Cockatrice with their powers based on Fortitude saves could get lucky and immobilize both guys. Even if that didn't result in a TPK one or both characters would be real low on hit points and exceptionally vulnerable for the next encounter.

You have a point. They can probably handle a CR4 with luck and planning. It's just not something I'd do.

 

[Malar's Cow]

Clarification

I'm not sure I understand the question. Are you looking for appropriate monsters for the two or appropriate treasure?

 

[Brother Ezra]

Clarification

I guess I'm looking to build an appropriate encounter based upon the treasure to be recovered. I know this is bass ackwards, but the player wants to quest for a specific item, in this case a suit of celestial armor.

How do you determine the appropriate types and CR of creatures to pit against a character based on the value or power of the treasure they guard?

 

[Destil]

By the rules, look up the value of the treasure in the DMG. Then look up the average treasure value for a given CR and find the clostest match.

You can of course short change someone short term too, so you could have 2 CR2 encounters and put an item worth twice the average value for a CR2 in the 2nd one.

Really it's all just a guideline anyway.