I often finding myself with small parties when RPGing. I found other games scaled better for smaller party size. Other game systems don't usually focus to much on balance etc... so I find encounters are easier to manage. DND however I find doesn't scale well to 2-3 player groups (1 player is almost completely out of the question). I wanted to run a published adventure but find it hard since a group of 4 goblins can be a TPK for 2-3 level 1 characters. I try to keep it simple by limiting npc attacks to same amount as players attacks, but this makes for pretty boring encounters. Anyone have any experience / ideas?
I would normally scale the mobs slightly by changing up what is in the group or if they are all low CR like goblins maybe remove the ability for a couple of them to use long ranged attacks allowing your melee members to engage with them faster and easier. You could also set up environmental objects that could sway combat a little more in their favor (if they are so inclined to look before they engage or during the engagement). Just put in some flavor speech to imply something is there.
You continue your way through the cave, as you look ahead you notice a large clearing. Asyouapproach the clearing you notice a distinctively pungent and oily smell fill the area. You see 5 goblins, 2 of them look like the are wrapping cloth around thicker sticks and dipping them into a barrel. (Add more or less depending on perception)
The hard part is not TPKing your smaller party at level 1 but once they get a couple level under their belt, scaling becomes much easier task as you can send a couple of larger enemies at them and a semi decent amount of smaller mobs at them as well.
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Self Righteous Paladin: "That much power corrupts a man."
Random Bard: "Power is just a tool. How you use it doesn't change that fact. It just shows the purest form of your desires."
The easiest thing to do is just add an NPC (or two, if you only have 2 players) so the action economy between players and monsters evens out without having to adjust every encounter.
As Terhonator noted, the most important thing is to make sure you're pitting the PCs against level-appropriate encounters. Some other tips:
If possible, start at 2nd level or higher. 1st level is iconic, but characters are so very fragile at this level. As with the goblins example, something as simple as losing initiative to a small group of low-level monsters could lead to a TPK.
Make sure the party has access to healing. Having a dedicated healer in the party isn't necessary, but for small parties especially, I'd try to provide them with some healing potions or a magic item like Restorative Ointment very early on.
Give your players the opportunity to avoid encounters. Ambushing a party of low-level characters is another recipe for a TPK. Try to telegraph your encounters more clearly, at least for the first few levels. Let the party avoid certain encounters by sneaking past them or through negotiation.
If all else fails, add an NPC party member. Make this NPC the same level as the PCs, but give them a very simple role (such as a cleric that focuses on healing) that isn't shared by anyone in the party. It's best not to let this NPC hog the spotlight in any way. You can roleplay the NPC, but they should almost always defer to the PCs when taking actions. Let your players run the PCs in combat unless they'd rather not, both because it's easier for you and so they can't blame you for any tactical errors or failed rolls by the NPC.
Probably the best way to handle small parties, though, is to do a full-scale revision of whatever adventure you're running. Make note of all the capabilities of a PCs and design an adventure that plays to their strengths without coddling them. Have a party of two sneaky characters? Design a stealth-based adventure or modify an existing one to allow for more sneaking. Have a couple spellcasters? Create an adventure where magical knowledge is very useful in dealing with certain challenges. And so on.
As mentioned earlier, adding NPCs is a good way to achieve this. I did that and a couple of other things in Bugbear Awakening ( https://www.dmsguild.com/m/product/419321 ) which is written for an ideal group size of 2-3.
Other things I did are:
Especially for 1st level use non-combat challenges, e.g. a race or some other competition that does not depend on many characters.
Introduce magic items that can be used to summon creatures.
Battles involving large groups, where the players can also take control of one or two allied NPCs.
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I often finding myself with small parties when RPGing. I found other games scaled better for smaller party size. Other game systems don't usually focus to much on balance etc... so I find encounters are easier to manage. DND however I find doesn't scale well to 2-3 player groups (1 player is almost completely out of the question). I wanted to run a published adventure but find it hard since a group of 4 goblins can be a TPK for 2-3 level 1 characters. I try to keep it simple by limiting npc attacks to same amount as players attacks, but this makes for pretty boring encounters. Anyone have any experience / ideas?
I would normally scale the mobs slightly by changing up what is in the group or if they are all low CR like goblins maybe remove the ability for a couple of them to use long ranged attacks allowing your melee members to engage with them faster and easier. You could also set up environmental objects that could sway combat a little more in their favor (if they are so inclined to look before they engage or during the engagement). Just put in some flavor speech to imply something is there.
You continue your way through the cave, as you look ahead you notice a large clearing. As you approach the clearing you notice a distinctively pungent and oily smell fill the area. You see 5 goblins, 2 of them look like the are wrapping cloth around thicker sticks and dipping them into a barrel. (Add more or less depending on perception)
The hard part is not TPKing your smaller party at level 1 but once they get a couple level under their belt, scaling becomes much easier task as you can send a couple of larger enemies at them and a semi decent amount of smaller mobs at them as well.
Self Righteous Paladin: "That much power corrupts a man."
Random Bard: "Power is just a tool. How you use it doesn't change that fact. It just shows the purest form of your desires."
The easiest thing to do is just add an NPC (or two, if you only have 2 players) so the action economy between players and monsters evens out without having to adjust every encounter.
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For actual encounter size calculations I have used this: http://donjon.bin.sh/5e/calc/enc_size.html
Thanks for the advice and @Terhonator thanks for the link it's super useful!
As Terhonator noted, the most important thing is to make sure you're pitting the PCs against level-appropriate encounters. Some other tips:
Probably the best way to handle small parties, though, is to do a full-scale revision of whatever adventure you're running. Make note of all the capabilities of a PCs and design an adventure that plays to their strengths without coddling them. Have a party of two sneaky characters? Design a stealth-based adventure or modify an existing one to allow for more sneaking. Have a couple spellcasters? Create an adventure where magical knowledge is very useful in dealing with certain challenges. And so on.
As mentioned earlier, adding NPCs is a good way to achieve this. I did that and a couple of other things in Bugbear Awakening ( https://www.dmsguild.com/m/product/419321 ) which is written for an ideal group size of 2-3.
Other things I did are:
Especially for 1st level use non-combat challenges, e.g. a race or some other competition that does not depend on many characters.
Introduce magic items that can be used to summon creatures.
Battles involving large groups, where the players can also take control of one or two allied NPCs.