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<blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 7284585" data-attributes="member: 82106">Well, DMG1 considers the 'standard' party to be 5 PCs. The XP budget chart thus shows 500XP as the budget for a level 1 encounter (5 standard level 1 monsters). It also shows XP budgets for 4 and 6 PC parties. The XP budget roughly doubles every 4 levels from then on. That means a level 5 monster is worth 2 level 1s, and a level 5 encounter is 2x the XP of a level 1 encounter. I think you could bend the curve a little for small parties based on their lesser synergies. This is probably why they don't list XP budgets for 3 or fewer, or 7 or more, PCs. The scaling just isn't all that linear with party size.In other words, at higher levels, you might want to include a fraction less XP in the budget, maybe replacing a standard with a minion of a couple levels higher, or reducing an elite to a Level+2 Standard. I think at levels 1-5 you can just go with the standard budget though. Overall I think the key is going to be to provide scenarios that make sense for a couple of characters working together as a two-being team to handle. Perhaps most combats are telegraphed more and happen in less out-of-the-way places. Or you focus a little more on a type of challenges the PCs are well-suited for. If you have a pair of rangers that scout for the army, well, then let them take on wilderness survival, tracking, and trapping sorts of missions. You can always throw in 'off' elements here and there that push outside their core skill set. As with combat encounters, the complexity of challenges for this group to face should be a bit lower, so that they are likely to have enough skills to pull off the number of secondary checks that will usually bring success.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="AbdulAlhazred, post: 7284585, member: 82106"] Well, DMG1 considers the 'standard' party to be 5 PCs. The XP budget chart thus shows 500XP as the budget for a level 1 encounter (5 standard level 1 monsters). It also shows XP budgets for 4 and 6 PC parties. The XP budget roughly doubles every 4 levels from then on. That means a level 5 monster is worth 2 level 1s, and a level 5 encounter is 2x the XP of a level 1 encounter. I think you could bend the curve a little for small parties based on their lesser synergies. This is probably why they don't list XP budgets for 3 or fewer, or 7 or more, PCs. The scaling just isn't all that linear with party size. In other words, at higher levels, you might want to include a fraction less XP in the budget, maybe replacing a standard with a minion of a couple levels higher, or reducing an elite to a Level+2 Standard. I think at levels 1-5 you can just go with the standard budget though. Overall I think the key is going to be to provide scenarios that make sense for a couple of characters working together as a two-being team to handle. Perhaps most combats are telegraphed more and happen in less out-of-the-way places. Or you focus a little more on a type of challenges the PCs are well-suited for. If you have a pair of rangers that scout for the army, well, then let them take on wilderness survival, tracking, and trapping sorts of missions. You can always throw in 'off' elements here and there that push outside their core skill set. As with combat encounters, the complexity of challenges for this group to face should be a bit lower, so that they are likely to have enough skills to pull off the number of secondary checks that will usually bring success. [/QUOTE]

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