Hey guys, I've DM'd before but it's never lasted longer than a couple sessions and I'll be the first to admit I did a bad job of it at the time. With my new group we're heading into our 5th session and it's been going fantastically.
I'm running Curse of Strahd but I've been using a small tournament/adventurer's liscence arc to get them invested in their world before they're carted off to Barovia, so they have a tangible reason to want to get back home. But the reason I wanted to run a published adventure is I'm terrible at creating encounters.
They just got a quest to kill a winter wolf and I'm having it be with a group of bandits hired by a Vistani to test the pcs for Strahd. I know about the xp calculations but I wanted some help/ opinions on how I set up the enounter.
Party Composition: lvl 3
Eldritch Knight
Ghostslayer Bloodhunter
Light cleric
Wizard
I currently have the mouth of this cave guarded by 2 bandit archers behind barricades, a long 100ft tunnel guarded by another 2 bandits, with a room containing 3 more bandits and a bandit captain halfway down it for support. At the end is a blocked off section containing the Winter Wolf and 2 regular wolves(the Vistani's room that my PCs already killed through good planning even though I wanted him to get away, he was a swashbuckler with 2 dire wolves)
But I dont know if this is too easy, too hard if I should add traps ect. Any advice would be appreciated!
Use Kobold Fight Club to measure the encounters and remember not to go over your recommended group XP daily allotment as stated in the DMG that is 1,200 per level 3 player per day which for a group of 4 level threes is a total of 4,800 total over several encounters. That does consider giving the players time to have a short rest or two to recuperate. Also, remember to look at the adjusted XP on the left and nothing else as this shows a more realistic measurement of the difficulty. Traps should be considered only after the encounters are measured, but I would be all for them if the difficulty is appropriate.
Used Kobold and adjusted xp is at 2825 with the final encounter against the woves being "Deadly" at 1600
I guess my main concern is that this is by no means a large cave and I don't really think they'd be able to short rest in between but I want to stay consistent about the number of enemies (They and other teams of competitors were all attacked, and this is what the other teams reported as getting away) without making this a full dungeon that's going to take up more than most of a session
I agree with UsurperofNessus. I'd get rid of the trap. The action will be steady enough along the way in that small area to not need it.
I think this setup gives you options. The two archers at the cave mouth are a good opening skirmish because if they end up being a bigger challenge than expected, the party can back off and reassess the situation before going in for round two. If they end up being way too easy, you can have the last surviving archer call back to the two bandits inside the cave for support, thereby bringing in a second wave to the encounter. Your two melee hitters will likely rush in to close the distance with the cleric trailing them while ostensibly the wizard will pepper the enemy with ranged spells until melee can begin.
That initial encounter and what shape the party is in after it should tell you a lot about how the two follow-up encounters will go. I think you're in good shape.
Hey guys, I've DM'd before but it's never lasted longer than a couple sessions and I'll be the first to admit I did a bad job of it at the time. With my new group we're heading into our 5th session and it's been going fantastically.
I'm running Curse of Strahd but I've been using a small tournament/adventurer's liscence arc to get them invested in their world before they're carted off to Barovia, so they have a tangible reason to want to get back home. But the reason I wanted to run a published adventure is I'm terrible at creating encounters.
They just got a quest to kill a winter wolf and I'm having it be with a group of bandits hired by a Vistani to test the pcs for Strahd. I know about the xp calculations but I wanted some help/ opinions on how I set up the enounter.
Party Composition: lvl 3
Eldritch Knight
Ghostslayer Bloodhunter
Light cleric
Wizard
I currently have the mouth of this cave guarded by 2 bandit archers behind barricades, a long 100ft tunnel guarded by another 2 bandits, with a room containing 3 more bandits and a bandit captain halfway down it for support. At the end is a blocked off section containing the Winter Wolf and 2 regular wolves(the Vistani's room that my PCs already killed through good planning even though I wanted him to get away, he was a swashbuckler with 2 dire wolves)
But I dont know if this is too easy, too hard if I should add traps ect. Any advice would be appreciated!
Use Kobold Fight Club to measure the encounters and remember not to go over your recommended group XP daily allotment as stated in the DMG that is 1,200 per level 3 player per day which for a group of 4 level threes is a total of 4,800 total over several encounters. That does consider giving the players time to have a short rest or two to recuperate. Also, remember to look at the adjusted XP on the left and nothing else as this shows a more realistic measurement of the difficulty. Traps should be considered only after the encounters are measured, but I would be all for them if the difficulty is appropriate.
Used Kobold and adjusted xp is at 2825 with the final encounter against the woves being "Deadly" at 1600
I guess my main concern is that this is by no means a large cave and I don't really think they'd be able to short rest in between but I want to stay consistent about the number of enemies (They and other teams of competitors were all attacked, and this is what the other teams reported as getting away) without making this a full dungeon that's going to take up more than most of a session
https://imgur.com/a/QXcZNEO
Each hex is 10ft
That is a tiny dungeon. No traps necessary.
Remove the Winter Wolf possibly or have it on its own.
Also perhaps give the Swashbuckler only 1 dire Wolf as it is stronger than it seems with the advantage.
They already killed the Swashbuckler and 2 dire wolves in a previous session, this is them going to finish the job. But thanks for the advice!
I agree with UsurperofNessus. I'd get rid of the trap. The action will be steady enough along the way in that small area to not need it.
I think this setup gives you options. The two archers at the cave mouth are a good opening skirmish because if they end up being a bigger challenge than expected, the party can back off and reassess the situation before going in for round two. If they end up being way too easy, you can have the last surviving archer call back to the two bandits inside the cave for support, thereby bringing in a second wave to the encounter. Your two melee hitters will likely rush in to close the distance with the cleric trailing them while ostensibly the wizard will pepper the enemy with ranged spells until melee can begin.
That initial encounter and what shape the party is in after it should tell you a lot about how the two follow-up encounters will go. I think you're in good shape.
"Not all those who wander are lost"