So, encounter balancing for a party of two players is proving super challenging. Most of my DMing history is for parties of four to six players, but with COVID and y'know, everything, I'm working on a homebrew campaign for my partner and our roommate. But I feel like all the encounters I'm designing might be overwhelming in a combat sense. I've been working on cutting down the number of opponents per encounter, but I still want them to feel fulfilling as like, battles. I've tried to include noncombat solutions to some of them, but I know that fighting is kind of a fundamental part of the game, and something people enjoy. My partner has brought up the idea of me having an NPC that travels with the party, but I'm kind of afraid of accidentally narratively taking over the game if I do that. Does anyone have any experience DMing for smaller parties and could share some tips? I really appreciate it.
If you feel that balancing for a party of two, is too difficult, I might suggest using a sidekickfor each PC. This allows for the player to choose what type of help they get, keeps the player in control of their half of combat, and works better to keep the DM objective about the outcome of combat. If you don't have access to TCoE, the UA Sidekick is found here and is pretty close to the one in Tasha's. Other options are to let them take and keep animal companions, a la Beastmaster Rangeror the UA version for the Ranger here.
If you are hesitant of interjecting too much of your DM knowledge into the game, I would advise that you listen to your own intuition.
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“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
I have been a DM for two parties of just two people. The encounter builder on DDB is a big help - although it can't take into account your party's composition and features.
Tips:
NPCs: There is a difference between an NPC that travels with the party and a DMPC. A DMPC often has a character sheet and the DM plans for them to stay with the party all of the time. They also level up with the party. You can have different NPCs travel with the party at different times. That way you and the party don't get attached. Making them support helps. I send bards and clerics with my parties and arm them with healing and defense spells. I only have them talk if the party talks to them first or if I need to give them information, drop lore, whatever. You can make them a lower level than the party so you don't steal their thunder.
Sidekicks: Check out the sidekick rules in Tasha's. That can be a really good solution for small parties, especially if you are worried about taking over the story with a DMPC.
Combat: I think balancing combat is difficult whatever the party size. Or maybe I'm just terrible at it :-) I use the DDB encounter builder or you can try Kobold Fight Club. It's a good starting point. Don't worry if the encounters are too easy to start. Players like to feel that they are kicking butt. If they start complaining you can make changes. If you don't open roll, it's easy to add add or subtract HP, up or lower AC and add or subtract enemies. I set things up with the usual, "these are the enemies in front of you" and then a note to myself that if the party dispatches them too easily, another couple of low level creatures will show up on round 3, 4 or 5.
With my current party I'm running Adventurers League modules I bought on DMs Guild. They tell you what to do if you have a weak or strong party then offer recommendations. Usually a party of two or three is weak so you subtract certain creatures. I've learned a lot from that.
Other Things: One thing I've noticed is that after a while two players get tired of role playing with just each other so provide a lot of NPCs for them to interact with.
I'm sure there are other people on the forum with other and possibly better ideas :-)
Lately, when I'm playing with just a small group, I've just been saying every weapon does 3d6 damage and every unnamed mob has 11 hp. Obviously that's so simple, it's hardly D&D anymore, but if you can live with that and your partner and roommate can live with that, then nobody's getting hurt. It speeds things up while still letting people throw dice.
but I know that fighting is kind of a fundamental part of the game, and something people enjoy.
Don't worry about what people in general enjoy, do what your players enjoy. If they aren't into combat, you don't have to put a heavy emphasis on it. With only two players you can really tailor the experience and focus on what they're interested in playing.
However if your players really enjoy combat, here is my experience:
I ran a game for two players for awhile and really struggled with the combat. There were also non-combat areas where they had problems because they didn't have a complete range of available skills. What I ended up doing was having them both roll an additional character. It made combat balancing easier, gave them both more to do during battle since their turns came up more often, and it allowed for a few interesting sessions where they ran into their new characters.
The downside to this is that it makes roleplaying really awkward. One of my players made their character introverted to explain away why they never engaged in conversation.
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So, encounter balancing for a party of two players is proving super challenging. Most of my DMing history is for parties of four to six players, but with COVID and y'know, everything, I'm working on a homebrew campaign for my partner and our roommate. But I feel like all the encounters I'm designing might be overwhelming in a combat sense. I've been working on cutting down the number of opponents per encounter, but I still want them to feel fulfilling as like, battles. I've tried to include noncombat solutions to some of them, but I know that fighting is kind of a fundamental part of the game, and something people enjoy. My partner has brought up the idea of me having an NPC that travels with the party, but I'm kind of afraid of accidentally narratively taking over the game if I do that. Does anyone have any experience DMing for smaller parties and could share some tips? I really appreciate it.
If you feel that balancing for a party of two, is too difficult, I might suggest using a sidekick for each PC. This allows for the player to choose what type of help they get, keeps the player in control of their half of combat, and works better to keep the DM objective about the outcome of combat. If you don't have access to TCoE, the UA Sidekick is found here and is pretty close to the one in Tasha's. Other options are to let them take and keep animal companions, a la Beastmaster Ranger or the UA version for the Ranger here.
If you are hesitant of interjecting too much of your DM knowledge into the game, I would advise that you listen to your own intuition.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
I have been a DM for two parties of just two people. The encounter builder on DDB is a big help - although it can't take into account your party's composition and features.
Tips:
NPCs: There is a difference between an NPC that travels with the party and a DMPC. A DMPC often has a character sheet and the DM plans for them to stay with the party all of the time. They also level up with the party. You can have different NPCs travel with the party at different times. That way you and the party don't get attached. Making them support helps. I send bards and clerics with my parties and arm them with healing and defense spells. I only have them talk if the party talks to them first or if I need to give them information, drop lore, whatever. You can make them a lower level than the party so you don't steal their thunder.
Sidekicks: Check out the sidekick rules in Tasha's. That can be a really good solution for small parties, especially if you are worried about taking over the story with a DMPC.
Combat: I think balancing combat is difficult whatever the party size. Or maybe I'm just terrible at it :-) I use the DDB encounter builder or you can try Kobold Fight Club. It's a good starting point. Don't worry if the encounters are too easy to start. Players like to feel that they are kicking butt. If they start complaining you can make changes. If you don't open roll, it's easy to add add or subtract HP, up or lower AC and add or subtract enemies. I set things up with the usual, "these are the enemies in front of you" and then a note to myself that if the party dispatches them too easily, another couple of low level creatures will show up on round 3, 4 or 5.
With my current party I'm running Adventurers League modules I bought on DMs Guild. They tell you what to do if you have a weak or strong party then offer recommendations. Usually a party of two or three is weak so you subtract certain creatures. I've learned a lot from that.
Other Things: One thing I've noticed is that after a while two players get tired of role playing with just each other so provide a lot of NPCs for them to interact with.
I'm sure there are other people on the forum with other and possibly better ideas :-)
Lately, when I'm playing with just a small group, I've just been saying every weapon does 3d6 damage and every unnamed mob has 11 hp. Obviously that's so simple, it's hardly D&D anymore, but if you can live with that and your partner and roommate can live with that, then nobody's getting hurt. It speeds things up while still letting people throw dice.
Don't worry about what people in general enjoy, do what your players enjoy. If they aren't into combat, you don't have to put a heavy emphasis on it. With only two players you can really tailor the experience and focus on what they're interested in playing.
However if your players really enjoy combat, here is my experience:
I ran a game for two players for awhile and really struggled with the combat. There were also non-combat areas where they had problems because they didn't have a complete range of available skills. What I ended up doing was having them both roll an additional character. It made combat balancing easier, gave them both more to do during battle since their turns came up more often, and it allowed for a few interesting sessions where they ran into their new characters.
The downside to this is that it makes roleplaying really awkward. One of my players made their character introverted to explain away why they never engaged in conversation.