By small party, I mean I only have two players, both first timers. They're both on the younger side (13&14 yrs.) with vastly different levels of experience in games in general.
I should note, I heavily involved Durnan as a meat shield during the Troll fight so that they wouldn't be slaughtered in a single turn. (I tried letting the Troll hit the Ranger. He was immediately rolling death saves.)
The first player is 13 and playing a ranger. He's done a few one-shots with me before and is a good player, but severely underpowered as the main source of damage dealing. I'm already looking into switching him over to the UA Ranger to help him out.
The seconed player is the one i'm more concerned about. She's 14 and, despite all intentions, is really lacking tact in just about anything. I can handle the rougher roleplay sections as a DM that come about since she tends to threaten or just ignore any NPCs who aren't just total kiss-ups. The problem really comes around in the combat. She's playing a druid but is tending towards being the group healer out of fear of loosing her character.
Since the action economy is going to ratchet up against them during later fights, I'd like some help finding a good way to keep them healthy enough to actually try and have more fun during these fights. They're both members of the Emerald Enclave, so any nature-themed suggestions would be appreciated.
If you have access to it, maybe use a sidekick or two out of dragon of icespire keep? You could also lower the number of bad guys they encounter per combat, or lower their hit points, depending on what you feel is the best call to sell the drama.
If the ranger goes beast master, then let them have a cr1/2 large beast. And let it have it's own turn, not taking up the rangers attack. Or add some sidekicks.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
One thing that I’ve done that works and doesn’t require any work is removing the damage bonuses from monsters. Instead of 1d6+2, when I’m running against a small group that monster only does 1d6. It’s quick and easy and it makes a huge difference.
Somebody on the dragon heist subreddit made a reference document with AL-style encounter scaling suggestions for the adventure, you might get some use out of that. It's been helpful for me in the opposite direction (DMing a large party of 6).
By small party, I mean I only have two players, both first timers. They're both on the younger side (13&14 yrs.) with vastly different levels of experience in games in general.
I should note, I heavily involved Durnan as a meat shield during the Troll fight so that they wouldn't be slaughtered in a single turn. (I tried letting the Troll hit the Ranger. He was immediately rolling death saves.)
The first player is 13 and playing a ranger. He's done a few one-shots with me before and is a good player, but severely underpowered as the main source of damage dealing. I'm already looking into switching him over to the UA Ranger to help him out.
The seconed player is the one i'm more concerned about. She's 14 and, despite all intentions, is really lacking tact in just about anything. I can handle the rougher roleplay sections as a DM that come about since she tends to threaten or just ignore any NPCs who aren't just total kiss-ups. The problem really comes around in the combat. She's playing a druid but is tending towards being the group healer out of fear of loosing her character.
Since the action economy is going to ratchet up against them during later fights, I'd like some help finding a good way to keep them healthy enough to actually try and have more fun during these fights. They're both members of the Emerald Enclave, so any nature-themed suggestions would be appreciated.
If you have access to it, maybe use a sidekick or two out of dragon of icespire keep? You could also lower the number of bad guys they encounter per combat, or lower their hit points, depending on what you feel is the best call to sell the drama.
If the ranger goes beast master, then let them have a cr1/2 large beast. And let it have it's own turn, not taking up the rangers attack. Or add some sidekicks.
'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
I'll worldbuild for your DnD games!
Just a D&D enjoyer, check out my fiverr page if you need any worldbuilding done for ya!
One thing that I’ve done that works and doesn’t require any work is removing the damage bonuses from monsters. Instead of 1d6+2, when I’m running against a small group that monster only does 1d6. It’s quick and easy and it makes a huge difference.
Professional computer geek
Somebody on the dragon heist subreddit made a reference document with AL-style encounter scaling suggestions for the adventure, you might get some use out of that. It's been helpful for me in the opposite direction (DMing a large party of 6).
https://www.reddit.com/r/WaterdeepDragonHeist/comments/9ldz7k/scaling_for_waterdeep_dragon_heist/