Upgrading encounters difficulty

[killbydeath]

Hi

I am running the scale of war adventure ''Rescue at Rivenroar''. I did the Kobold hall prior to that advenure. Now the PCs are all level 2 and they are 4. It's a well balanced group (I think), they got 1 fighter, 1 rogue, 1 warlock and 1 cleric. They juste kicked out the hobgoblins and the ogre in the first two fight. Does the adventure will be too easy for the PC or will it be ok? Anyone run tha adventure and got in the same situation?

Thanks

 

[James McMurray]

If you want it to match their level, bump all the monsters by a level. You could pour through the books to make sure they're all exactly upgraded, or just give them all a flat +1 to attacks, defenses, and damage plus an extra 7 hit points. It's not perfect, but for just one level it'll likely be close enough.

If you don't bump it, the adventure path will eventually catch up to them, as they'll be gaining less XP than their level anticiapates, so won't gain them as quickly. Someone more fascinated with math could probably tell you exactly when it would happen given the standard 10 encounters per level.

 

[killbydeath]

If I do get the monsters up by 1 level. Should I get them more Exp?? How do you determine that? If I do so, wouldn't it be easier to just get like 1 or 2 monsters?

 

[Nail]

If I do get the monsters up by 1 level. Should I get them more Exp?? How do you determine that? If I do so, wouldn't it be easier to just get like 1 or 2 monsters?

(Warning: I've not DMed or read the Scales of War adventures.)

IMO, your best bet is to simply add a lower level monster or two to a few of the encounters (and give them the extra XP for the extra monsters). Otherwise, leave it as is.

 

[James McMurray]

XP is in the DMG. You'd have to give them the extra XP for the monsters. However, if you do up the challenge level, you'll have to up it for every encounter for the rest of the campaign unless they skip a large portion of it at some point, because they'll always be one level ahead.

You may want to finish out this adventure without changing anything, then see what level they're at and jump ahead to the appropriate point in the series, giving them the information they would have acquired in the interim. It's the least work, they'll be badasses for only a little while longer, and you'll quickly be back on track for the campaign.

 

[Nail]

You may want to finish out this adventure without changing anything, then see what level they're at and jump ahead to the appropriate point in the series, giving them the information they would have acquired in the interim. It's the least work, they'll be badasses for only a little while longer, and you'll quickly be back on track for the campaign.

That's a good idea too. Of course, given an adventure path, you might not want to skip a module.

Another option you could try is to be very careful and clever with monster tactics. Read through the monster stats carefully, and plot out the monster's tactics for maximum effect. You can have much more difficult encounters without changing the monsters or terain one whit.

 

[James McMurray]

Also, keep in mind that the PCs are intended to waffle stomp most encounters. An encounter of the PCs' level is pretty easy, and not intended to eat a lot of resources. The difference between 1st and 2nd level isn't that great from a balance perspective, so what you're see may be partially because of the way 4e is meant to work. If you're looking to challenge the PCs in most encounters, you'll have to do more than just add a level to the opposition.

 

[Griogre]

Take a close look at the Target Ecounter XP Totals on pg 57 in the DMG. Loosely speaking, because you are running a 4 man party instead of the expected 5 man party - using the encounters for a 5 man party of one level lower *is* roughly equal to what you are suppose to run for a 4 man party of one higher level.

In other words you should be able to run the Adventure path without modifications. The only real issue is the magic treasure will be one level lower than suggested but they will have more of it. I haven't read the adventure path so I don't know how close they follow the Treasure Parcels anyway.

 

[James McMurray]

I didn't even realize there are only 4 of them. Griogre is right, you should be fine running it as is. IF they continue to destroy everything in front of them, it's because they've got two strikers, but that will come back to haunt them eventually, as strikers are pretty squishy.

 

[James McMurray]

I didn't even realize there are only 4 of them. Griogre is right, you should be fine running it as is. IF they continue to destroy everything in front of them, it's because they've got two strikers, but that will come back to haunt them eventually, as strikers are pretty squishy.