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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6022211" data-attributes="member: 42582">Three PCs is the smallest group for which I've run an encounter - once with an invoker, a fighter and a sorcerer (fighting rats, trolls and gargoyles in a belltower - the sorcerer flew and teleported, the fighter climbed, the invoker teleported the minimal distance up to get into range and then blasted), and once with a wizard, a sorcerer and a ranger. In the latter encounter, the lack of melee control was quite noticeable.A two-person party really needs a striker, I feel, but in virtue of that is likely to have one reasonably squishy member. But if you go ranged striker and (say) dwarf fighter, that fighter is going to be taking a lot of hurt!Three PCs certainly gives the players a much greater range of options in trying to take control of the situation.I remember your inn encounter, and agree that they are built along the same basic logic which is inherent to 4e's encounter build system.Yes. I was never able to do this sort of thing in Rolemaster or classic D&D, because they don't have the mechanical support (on either the player or GM side) for setting up and running this sort of situation.My take on 4e's support for this is that it has 4 key elements: (i) position and movement matter; (ii) it provides players with the resources to make and implement choices around position and movement; (iii) it gives the GM guidelines on how to build these situations in mechanical terms; and (iv) it has resolution mechanics that permit this stuff to be resolved without the GM having to take too much responsibility for whether or not the players' choices will be mechanically effective.Mechanically, the "10 hp" terrain features are built on the basic "5 hp per tier" principle for terrain. The 5 hp fumes were stuck in to add some extra flavour, toned down in damage because of the slow effect - that in turn is intended to favour the hydra, which has better melee than ranged attacks. The DC 17 checks are Easy Endurance checks - I know only one of my group's PCs (the dwarf fighter) is trained, so he will auto-succeed while the others have a bit over a 50% chance of doing so.The only mechanical complexity was designing the lava - I wanted it to matter, but not be instant death, so went for 10 per tier (ie 20 damage), and the daze and prone for obvious reasons both in terms of verismilitude and also dramatic impact (I mean, you should feel it if you end up on lava!). When the PCs pushed a salamander onto lava, and I described "20 ongoing fire and dazed, save ends once you get off the lava" the players were suitably shocked and impressed - especially by the "once you get off the lava" clause - which was the desired outcome.Narratively, I'm glad you can see how the set-up works - a safe space for the ranged strikers that's non-trivial to get to, and that has its own disadvantage (there's steam providing cover to the hydra and elementals), a river with forced movement for the hydra to push people into, difficult terrain to favour the (mostly) non-ranged attacking hydra and elementals, and some safer bits of terrain (the vented part of the cavern, the solid rock etc) that can potentially become contested.When I designed the encounter area, I actually expected the PCs to come in from the other end - I had a corridor into the big cavern drawn up, with ledges at multiple elevations with salamander archers and artillery archons on them, and lava pooling below them. So I envisaged the hydra as the culmination of the fight, and the river as something that may not come into play at all. But then, when the PCs failed the skill challenge, I decided to go for the river instead, and when they kept going down it ran the encounter from the opposite direction. (At the start of the first turn their Phantom Steeds evaporated as they took 10 hp fire damage, dropping the PCs one-by-one in the river - this in itself was a dramatic start, as the drow flew off using Dominant Winds and rescued the invoker also, the fighter swam to the hydra's shore, the paladin surfed in on his Floating Shield, and the ranger swam to the bottom of the river ledge and then flew up on his flying carpet.) So my lovely ledges and archers with clear fields of fire behind pools of lava didn't get used!, but the river became central instead, and the hydra is the start rather than the end, with the real challenge becoming how to survive the elemental riff-raff.But anyway, I'm glad the logic of the design is clear to you. It's all set out in the DMG and DMG 2 (mobility; hindering, blocking and obscuring terrain; etc): I'm just doing what they told me to do! And, I guess not too surprisingly, they knew their game! - when you follow their advice, it works!</blockquote>

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