Finished the first half and have some filler going before the meeting with Bruenor. I’m not looking forward to the multiple NPCs who may head into the Underdark with them and was wondering if it was feasible to run the second part with just the PC party?...
Short answer, yes. The adventure is still balanced around an adventuring party with no help.
In fact, this makes the additional NPCs more difficult to handle because they are way too weak to significantly help in the encounters. You'll save a lot of headache keeping them out.
That said, if you want to put in a little work you can have fun with them. I ended up homebrewing a little "minigame" where players moved the group across the map. They had to pick leaders and deal with the random encounter events. Each player picked a group and came up with little stories and backgrounds.
The group could forge ahead clearing the characters path of random encounters. They could stop and build outposts so the PCs could resupply and rest (I allowed no long resting in the underdark unless completely safe, which outposts were designated as). Combat was simplified and abstract.
Those who stayed with the PCs were always at the perrifery and coyld help during combat. Things like as long as there are an equal number of NPCs to PCs, once per round a PC could get a help action, or an extra d8 damage, or negate a hit by having the NPC take it. They would then be removed from combat and there was a chance the wound was fatal. Things like that.
Just depends on if you really want to deal with it when the adventure gives no real use for the troops coming with.
Short answer, yes. The adventure is still balanced around an adventuring party with no help.
In fact, this makes the additional NPCs more difficult to handle because they are way too weak to significantly help in the encounters. You'll save a lot of headache keeping them out.
That said, if you want to put in a little work you can have fun with them. I ended up homebrewing a little "minigame" where players moved the group across the map. They had to pick leaders and deal with the random encounter events. Each player picked a group and came up with little stories and backgrounds.
The group could forge ahead clearing the characters path of random encounters. They could stop and build outposts so the PCs could resupply and rest (I allowed no long resting in the underdark unless completely safe, which outposts were designated as). Combat was simplified and abstract.
Those who stayed with the PCs were always at the perrifery and coyld help during combat. Things like as long as there are an equal number of NPCs to PCs, once per round a PC could get a help action, or an extra d8 damage, or negate a hit by having the NPC take it. They would then be removed from combat and there was a chance the wound was fatal. Things like that.
Just depends on if you really want to deal with it when the adventure gives no real use for the troops coming with.
That all sounds really cool. But since they found the beginning NPCs annoying and I feel like both they and I would prefer a small, cohesive group, I may just have them led to Mantol-Derith and left to their own devices from there...
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Finished the first half and have some filler going before the meeting with Bruenor. I’m not looking forward to the multiple NPCs who may head into the Underdark with them and was wondering if it was feasible to run the second part with just the PC party?...
Short answer, yes. The adventure is still balanced around an adventuring party with no help.
In fact, this makes the additional NPCs more difficult to handle because they are way too weak to significantly help in the encounters. You'll save a lot of headache keeping them out.
That said, if you want to put in a little work you can have fun with them. I ended up homebrewing a little "minigame" where players moved the group across the map. They had to pick leaders and deal with the random encounter events. Each player picked a group and came up with little stories and backgrounds.
The group could forge ahead clearing the characters path of random encounters. They could stop and build outposts so the PCs could resupply and rest (I allowed no long resting in the underdark unless completely safe, which outposts were designated as). Combat was simplified and abstract.
Those who stayed with the PCs were always at the perrifery and coyld help during combat. Things like as long as there are an equal number of NPCs to PCs, once per round a PC could get a help action, or an extra d8 damage, or negate a hit by having the NPC take it. They would then be removed from combat and there was a chance the wound was fatal. Things like that.
Just depends on if you really want to deal with it when the adventure gives no real use for the troops coming with.
That all sounds really cool. But since they found the beginning NPCs annoying and I feel like both they and I would prefer a small, cohesive group, I may just have them led to Mantol-Derith and left to their own devices from there...