I have been dming a group of new players for a couple months now with us playing almost very single week. I brought up the question of someone else maybe wanting to dm a one-shot later on this summer and one of my players responded positive to this. They have been asking me various questions about how to dm and I have been able to answer most but then he asked me what level characters he should make the one-shot for.
So my question is: What level do you think would be easiest for a new dm to do a one-shot for? Not necessarily writing it himself, but just dming in general. Or do you think it even really matters what level the players are as long as they have some experience with dnd?
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Moved to: Dungeon Masters Only
Because it is a one shot, level one is really out of the question (IMO). PCs are squishy, most encounters have to end within one round (two at most) or risk many of the PCs dying at the start. Not to mention they might need to rest more than usual. Also the way 5th edition is, classes get really cool things starting at third level that help distinguish them from other classes and even their own class. So I'd say at least start at third. For a new DM, I'd avoid 5th, as a lot of classes start getting multiple attacks and the higher levels you go, the more you risk spellcasters ending your final boss in 2 seconds flat. (Polymorph him into a rat, put rat in cage, cast fly 300 ft. up, drop rat) You can also give everyone max. hp for every level. (Its just a one shot, so this can help you make encounters a little more epic and difficult).
So I'd say 4th level. (Spellcasters get like one more 2nd level spell than if you went third level. Everyone gets a bonus to ability scores, other than that I don't believe any class gains anything and you get one more level of hp. More hp, the better!.
Probably 3rd-6th. Lots of game balance is designed around those levels, so lots of cool enemies. But it's also not SUPER high level where players have a hard time remembering what all they can even do (because they didn't slowly acquire it over time).
I'd go 5th - all the players have enough stuff on their characters to fiddle with that it's not a huge deal they won't be getting further progress, plus the characters are durable enough to survive the event of the DM unintentionally putting a deadly challenge in front of them without conveying its deadliness.
Much higher in level and the characters might have more fiddly bits to them than the players are really going to grasp on the short term, or so many resources that they can basically spend them as fast as they have opportunity and still have enough for the entire one-shot. Much lower in level and there is bigger risk of character death and less stuff for a player to actually do with the character.
Though what I think is actually the best way to help a one-shot have best chances at success is to either pre-build the characters to ensure they are the right characters to be playing during this particular scenario, or at least make note of a few things that would be best if chosen by the players so that if their character doesn't have the right tool for the task it is because you said "Make sure you bring your fishing pole" and they said "Nah, I don't wanna." rather than because they had no idea so much fishing was on the agenda.
Ah yes, the typical we need to catch a fish but none of us are a fisherman scenario lol
Thanks for the input so far guys. I was thinking along the same lines but wanted some additional input as I've only been playing for a few months myself. I'll be sure to relay this to my buddy and see what he wants to do with the one-shot. Personally I'd like to have it at 5th because thats where stuff tends to take off for many classes that I've seen.
In a lot of ways that was only bad in previous editions where there was some checks that were trained only, which resulted in having to take one point in the skill just to be able to use it. I feel like if you use the starting equipment, 5th edition really has everything that you would need.
My Primarily the reason I would start at 4th over 5th is
(1) 3rd level spells. Yeah they might not be so bad, but Tiny Hut can ruin any random encounters you have accounted for and make the night go by. Not a problem if your one shot is going to last a day. Spells aren't end of the world, but can make the night more interesting or less required.
(2) Everyone gets a new ability. Its just one more thing the Players have to remember and the DM might have to account for.
(3) We are talking about a new DM, so it helps to keep things simple and manageable and the few surprises the better. I think 4th level has a good mix. Decent level, plus the classes can go their own way, but no one is gaining anything huge that might alter gameplay and require the DM to account for prior to the adventure.
As a first time DM, I seemed to personally have picked it up pretty quickly, and I think I would actually *want* my 1-shot players to have acsess to afew tyr-2 abillitys, such as 3rd level spells, because they are cool.
Fly, fireball, hase, hipnotic pattern are all fine,
However I may want to ban or nurf things like revivify, and tiny-hut, and maybe say "no long-rests in-general, for this one-shot." (Perhalps by having a 24 in-game-hour time-limit on the quest.)
I have not yet tryed this, but plan to do so over Easter. I will get back to you on how it turns out.
I have been dming a group of new players for a couple months now with us playing almost very single week. I brought up the question of someone else maybe wanting to dm a one-shot later on this summer and one of my players responded positive to this. They have been asking me various questions about how to dm and I have been able to answer most but then he asked me what level characters he should make the one-shot for.
So my question is: What level do you think would be easiest for a new dm to do a one-shot for? Not necessarily writing it himself, but just dming in general. Or do you think it even really matters what level the players are as long as they have some experience with dnd?
Because it is a one shot, level one is really out of the question (IMO). PCs are squishy, most encounters have to end within one round (two at most) or risk many of the PCs dying at the start. Not to mention they might need to rest more than usual. Also the way 5th edition is, classes get really cool things starting at third level that help distinguish them from other classes and even their own class. So I'd say at least start at third. For a new DM, I'd avoid 5th, as a lot of classes start getting multiple attacks and the higher levels you go, the more you risk spellcasters ending your final boss in 2 seconds flat. (Polymorph him into a rat, put rat in cage, cast fly 300 ft. up, drop rat) You can also give everyone max. hp for every level. (Its just a one shot, so this can help you make encounters a little more epic and difficult).
So I'd say 4th level. (Spellcasters get like one more 2nd level spell than if you went third level. Everyone gets a bonus to ability scores, other than that I don't believe any class gains anything and you get one more level of hp. More hp, the better!.
Probably 3rd-6th. Lots of game balance is designed around those levels, so lots of cool enemies. But it's also not SUPER high level where players have a hard time remembering what all they can even do (because they didn't slowly acquire it over time).
I'd go 5th - all the players have enough stuff on their characters to fiddle with that it's not a huge deal they won't be getting further progress, plus the characters are durable enough to survive the event of the DM unintentionally putting a deadly challenge in front of them without conveying its deadliness.
Much higher in level and the characters might have more fiddly bits to them than the players are really going to grasp on the short term, or so many resources that they can basically spend them as fast as they have opportunity and still have enough for the entire one-shot. Much lower in level and there is bigger risk of character death and less stuff for a player to actually do with the character.
Though what I think is actually the best way to help a one-shot have best chances at success is to either pre-build the characters to ensure they are the right characters to be playing during this particular scenario, or at least make note of a few things that would be best if chosen by the players so that if their character doesn't have the right tool for the task it is because you said "Make sure you bring your fishing pole" and they said "Nah, I don't wanna." rather than because they had no idea so much fishing was on the agenda.
Ah yes, the typical we need to catch a fish but none of us are a fisherman scenario lol
Thanks for the input so far guys. I was thinking along the same lines but wanted some additional input as I've only been playing for a few months myself. I'll be sure to relay this to my buddy and see what he wants to do with the one-shot. Personally I'd like to have it at 5th because thats where stuff tends to take off for many classes that I've seen.
In a lot of ways that was only bad in previous editions where there was some checks that were trained only, which resulted in having to take one point in the skill just to be able to use it. I feel like if you use the starting equipment, 5th edition really has everything that you would need.
My Primarily the reason I would start at 4th over 5th is
(1) 3rd level spells. Yeah they might not be so bad, but Tiny Hut can ruin any random encounters you have accounted for and make the night go by. Not a problem if your one shot is going to last a day. Spells aren't end of the world, but can make the night more interesting or less required.
(2) Everyone gets a new ability. Its just one more thing the Players have to remember and the DM might have to account for.
(3) We are talking about a new DM, so it helps to keep things simple and manageable and the few surprises the better. I think 4th level has a good mix. Decent level, plus the classes can go their own way, but no one is gaining anything huge that might alter gameplay and require the DM to account for prior to the adventure.
As a first time DM, I seemed to personally have picked it up pretty quickly, and I think I would actually *want* my 1-shot players to have acsess to afew tyr-2 abillitys, such as 3rd level spells, because they are cool.
Fly, fireball, hase, hipnotic pattern are all fine,
However I may want to ban or nurf things like revivify, and tiny-hut, and maybe say "no long-rests in-general, for this one-shot." (Perhalps by having a 24 in-game-hour time-limit on the quest.)
I have not yet tryed this, but plan to do so over Easter. I will get back to you on how it turns out.