Level up happens when the players accomplish goals that the DM finds are worthy of gaining a level. Whether you use Milestone or Encounter XP does not matter really. If you figure that each of your Medium encounters are going to be worth 50xp per character, that means six encounters will take them to 2nd level. Using a milestone system, set a goal, put 300xp of reward attached to it, and about that much challenge associated with it. I prefer a mix, so doing a typical 5 encounter "dungeon" would run something like this:
0. Character Intros to each other and the world. PC's approached by "quest giver" which will then lead them to: 1. Hook Event: Easy Encounter (25 xp per Character reward) (6-8 CR1/8 bandits. Have a 1-2 get away with something the party will want/need to recover) Intro to combat encounter 2. The Chase: Medium Encounter (50 xp per Character reward) 5 successes before 3 failures. Don't let Characters do a check in something they are not proficient in, have a different character make a check until all characters have had a check or until success/failure point. Do allow AID (+2 per other character proficient in same skill). Don't allow the same check to be made twice. (So Survival (tracking), Investigation (tracking), Nature (tracking), Athletics (Running), Acrobatics (Avoiding obstacles), History (local area), etc. can all be used. Have the player's THINK about their skill proficiencies and then describe HOW they are going to use it in this situation. Allow anything that sounds reasonable/plausible. Intro to skills encounter 3. The Pickets: Medium Encounter (50 xp per Character reward) These will know the PC's are coming and be prepared, use 3 CR1/2 (bandit) scout (can potentially be avoided with stealth, but would mean they are not "hot on the trail" anymore) 4. The Trap: Medium Encounter (50 xp per Character reward) This should be more of an obstacle than a surprise, no more than d6 damage potential, but have a split party and/or immobilize/capture potential. 5. Mini-Boss encounter (Hard Encounter (75 xp per Character reward) CR1 (bandit) spy with 3 CR 1/8 (include the ones which initially got away here) bandits, Milestone Award (50 xp per Character reward) This would be awarded when the party returns the "quest" to the "quest giver". If there was no "quest" (but really, for a first adventure/encounter, have a "quest") This also gets the party back to "town" and they will level when they finish the "quest".
All "monsters" are from SRD with the parenthesis being for descriptive unity of the "monsters". The xp awards given are not calculated "by the book" but rather for a simple opening to show a first level party the basic ropes and with the "Quest" complete, levelled up. Depending on playstyle the outline above is 4-12 hours worth of play, if you were to divide only it up into 3 sessions, it would be 0-1 taking ~4 hours, 2-3 ~2-3 hours, 4-5-M ~4-5 hours, that would be fairly good RP session and probably half that if the group runs more ROLL play instead of ROLE play. Nothing wrong with either, just expect for sessions to either take forever or fly by until the group dynamic is found and you will get the pacing down. Always try ending a session on either a CLIFFHANGER or a CONCLUSION.
@Pedroig I'm probably going to follow what you said so the party an I can understand how the game works 😅. I might skip the trap (or make it very fast) or something else so they can Roleplay more.
@Stoutstein yeah I know, I might make them level up earlier but since this game is really going to be a kind of tutorial, I'm probably going to follow @Pedroig instructions.
@CapoMostalda The trap is about the "teaching process", in essence it is another skill check, but it can be circumvented in other ways. You can simply make its discovery DC lower than the highest Passive Perception of you players, so they "see" the trap, but if they do something "wrong" they fall in, set off alarm, get divided, or a combination of those things just to start.
If you want to make the encounter "more exotic", well use the stat blocks for the bandit/scout/spy and simply reskin them into some monster you make up specific to your campaign. A forest tribe of humans, or maybe they are simply Bockins (you determine what those are. Avoid magic for a first encounter/mini-adventure. You can throw that in as "the plot thickens".
A "classic" adventure start is the PC's are on a "Delivery Quest" and the "Delivery" gets stolen/kidnapped on the way from point A to point B. PC's recover the "Delivery" and get to point B. End opening set-up. At point B the PC's find about more trouble, related to the "Delivery" or just in general (these parts have gone bad type of thing) and either the PC's will "volunteer" to find out what is up, or will get offered a reward to find out what is up. This will take them to point C which will be a FOB for the baddies. This will be a tougher test (and in continuing our intro will most likely take them through level 2 and maybe 3) and they will discover that point C has ties/leads to point D which is where they will find the local BBEG who is directing the commotions in the area. (and the local BBEG maybe a pawn in a greater scheme). Pretty standard fare, and if you do some digging you can find plenty of modules already set-up in this fashion, majority of the 5e "official" adventure lines, as well as plenty of classics (which conversions to 5e can be found in the DM Guild like Night Below, Temple of Elemental Evil, Cult of the Reptile God, Shadowfell Keep, and to a lesser extent Keep on the Borderlands. Phandelver is a great place to start, adventures for it can be found in the Starter's set and the Essentials set. There is also a pretty good "tutorial" module called Before Phandelver on the DM's Guild. It will make the first encounter in Lost Mines to be a tad less deadly, just by making it not the first encounter the Players face.
Good luck, have fun, and remember, Only the DM knows what is SUPPOSE to happen, the players determine what ACTUALLY happens, which of course makes it EXACTLY what is SUPPOSE to happen. ;)
In general, a medium encounter for a group of 6 would be a CR 2 monster, and a CR 3 would be a pretty tough fight. There's a bit of an issue that most low CR stuff isn't really built with the tools to be good as a solo; a druid with an altered spell list is possible, though a bit squishy (a moon druid version of that would probably be CR 3).
@Pedroig Wow thanks, I didn't expect so many tips, I'm totally going to follow them. The trap might be something that triggers an encounter like a trap set by bandits (like a player gets caught with a rope and the bandits attack the party while the player caught tries to escape)
Alternatively, if you’re budgeting three sessions for this adventure, you could follow the path of sessions 1and 2 are in town or on the road, being tormented by bandits or other enemies, who have taken, or eventually take depending on how you write your storyline, their plot hook (quest) with them into the forest. The characters will need to track them down in the forest, but plan to leave session 2 on that cliffhanger of being about to step into the forest. If using milestone advancement, they level up after session 2 when they’re about to step into the forest. So they take on the boss as level 2 characters in session 3 in the forest.
A fun little idea if you’re still looking for possible mini-boss monsters is a Guard Drake. I can picture a fun story where kobolds have been raiding towns and waylaying travelers to get food for this little red guard drake they’re trying to raise on their own, stupidly hoping it’ll grow into a mighty red dragon they can worship. They’re keeping it penned up in a shallow cave in the forest.When the characters track them to their lair, they have to fight the guard drake (CR2) and a couple of kobolds (CR1/8). I believe CRs are calculated as the level that 4 characters need to be to reasonably handle that monster, so with 6 players, one guard drake and a few kobolds should be challenging, but very beatable.
Other CR2 monsters suitable for a forest environment are an Ogre, a Cave Bear, a Goblin Chief, or for an undead flair, a Ghast. Each comes with different minions that might change the earlier encounters.
@Pedroig I'm probably going to follow what you said so the party an I can understand how the game works 😅. I might skip the trap (or make it very fast) or something else so they can Roleplay more.
You could consider a "shell game" of three doors that the party could go through. One of the doors is wide open, but there is a pit, trip wire, or other trap as described above. The once the trap is showing sprung, this way becomes impassable for X reason, or dead ends in a pantry or something.
Door 2 also leads to a dead end. There should be skills clues that this isn't the right way. Perhaps a DC 10-15 Athletics check to shove open the door, the DC set to 10 if the groups highest Athletics mod is +0 or lower and 15 otherwise. On a success, the door opens on squeaky hinges. Perhaps have a treasure chest with some inconsequential rewards, something like ~1 GP plus a map to something, a handful of daggers, and a trinket that had been stolen from a local that sets up a side quest. This quest should be able to be reached if they don't open the door or inconsequential enough that it doesn't matter if they don't take the quest (minor rewards but a pretty sweet story tidbit or perhaps an ally that provides help that isn't significant enough to matter).
Door three is shut tight, but opens easily. It's free of any sign of disuse such as cobwebs in the frame, dust on the ground and knob, etc. This path is the one to follow to be hot on the trail. The reward for taking this path should be time sensitive. If you swapped The Trap and The Pickets, the bandit encounter could be ready for you. Perhaps they all had readied attacks. Perhaps you can think of a reason why a surprise check would make sense though it probably shouldn't since this is a chase. The flip side could be that the warning to ready themselves wasn't fast enough for the bandits to all fully outfit themselves if the party is hot on the trail. 1 or 2 bandits were sleeping while the others were on watch. They've had enough time to don their armor, but still have to get their weapons.
Another possible difference here could be a bonus to the initiative roll of the bandits. They get a +5 bonus if they've had time to prepare and a -5 if the party is hot on the trail. That swing should help change the feel of the fight, but does leave the result somewhat up to the dice. The party may have the upper hand despite the "extra preparation" time or be at a disadvantage despite the relative surprise of the bandits. If that is not acceptable for you, choose one of the other options.
I like your idea of a rope trap. Perhaps that could be the preparation that the bandits were able to have given time. The idea here is to set up the notion that timing plays a factor. Some people come to D&D from video games and many video games only give a sense of urgency if there is a timer running. Otherwise, the player can level up for 20 hours of gameplay and yet the "urgency" will still be built into the script with no consequences for the delay. If your players might be of this type, setting a timer might be helpful. Pause the timer while you are describing scenes briefly and while determining the results of rolls (but not during the actual rolls, that time can represent the actual activity). During combat, let 6 seconds tick off between rounds (not individual turns) since that is the actual amount of time that a round is supposed to take. This will also help them to realize everything in combat is happening pretty quickly despite taking longer because of the rolls and such.
@kcbcollier I've already started to write the campaign so I think that I will stick with bandits but the Guard Drake idea is great! I might do something with it in the future or in the same campaign if we decide to continue it.
@Pedroig I'm probably going to follow what you said so the party an I can understand how the game works 😅. I might skip the trap (or make it very fast) or something else so they can Roleplay more.
You could consider a "shell game" of three doors that the party could go through. One of the doors is wide open, but there is a pit, trip wire, or other trap as described above. The once the trap is showing sprung, this way becomes impassable for X reason, or dead ends in a pantry or something.
Door 2 also leads to a dead end. There should be skills clues that this isn't the right way. Perhaps a DC 10-15 Athletics check to shove open the door, the DC set to 10 if the groups highest Athletics mod is +0 or lower and 15 otherwise. On a success, the door opens on squeaky hinges. Perhaps have a treasure chest with some inconsequential rewards, something like ~1 GP plus a map to something, a handful of daggers, and a trinket that had been stolen from a local that sets up a side quest. This quest should be able to be reached if they don't open the door or inconsequential enough that it doesn't matter if they don't take the quest (minor rewards but a pretty sweet story tidbit or perhaps an ally that provides help that isn't significant enough to matter).
Door three is shut tight, but opens easily. It's free of any sign of disuse such as cobwebs in the frame, dust on the ground and knob, etc. This path is the one to follow to be hot on the trail. The reward for taking this path should be time sensitive. If you swapped The Trap and The Pickets, the bandit encounter could be ready for you. Perhaps they all had readied attacks. Perhaps you can think of a reason why a surprise check would make sense though it probably shouldn't since this is a chase. The flip side could be that the warning to ready themselves wasn't fast enough for the bandits to all fully outfit themselves if the party is hot on the trail. 1 or 2 bandits were sleeping while the others were on watch. They've had enough time to don their armor, but still have to get their weapons.
Another possible difference here could be a bonus to the initiative roll of the bandits. They get a +5 bonus if they've had time to prepare and a -5 if the party is hot on the trail. That swing should help change the feel of the fight, but does leave the result somewhat up to the dice. The party may have the upper hand despite the "extra preparation" time or be at a disadvantage despite the relative surprise of the bandits. If that is not acceptable for you, choose one of the other options.
I like your idea of a rope trap. Perhaps that could be the preparation that the bandits were able to have given time. The idea here is to set up the notion that timing plays a factor. Some people come to D&D from video games and many video games only give a sense of urgency if there is a timer running. Otherwise, the player can level up for 20 hours of gameplay and yet the "urgency" will still be built into the script with no consequences for the delay. If your players might be of this type, setting a timer might be helpful. Pause the timer while you are describing scenes briefly and while determining the results of rolls (but not during the actual rolls, that time can represent the actual activity). During combat, let 6 seconds tick off between rounds (not individual turns) since that is the actual amount of time that a round is supposed to take. This will also help them to realize everything in combat is happening pretty quickly despite taking longer because of the rolls and such.
Yeah I think that I'm going with the rope trap an I might do something with the timer so they can understand how fast is the fight
The other importantthing is to make sure you include at least 3-6 fights per long rest. Any encounter becomes easy when the characters can throw everything at it.
The other importantthing is to make sure you include at least 3-6 fights per long rest. Any encounter becomes easy when the characters can throw everything at it.
The other importantthing is to make sure you include at least 3-6 fights per long rest. Any encounter becomes easy when the characters can throw everything at it.
Well, any encounter that isn't grossly overbudget; something that's more than half a daily budget will be a scare even for fully rested characters. Also, less true at level 1 than higher level. Still, six level 1 PCs will drop most CR 1 targets in 1-2 rounds, most CR 2s in 2 rounds. If you put six level 1 PCs up against a Owlbear, it will probably live long enough to get off two attack routines, but probably won't be able to get to the squishier targets. That could turn into a TPK with bad rolling, but the most likely result is one PC at 0, one PC wounded, everyone else fine.
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I'm making my first "campain" (probably 3 sessions) and I need a mini boss fight for a party of 6 liv 1 players (it should be in a forest).
And also when should they level up?
(We are all new players)
Reverse order answers:
Level up happens when the players accomplish goals that the DM finds are worthy of gaining a level. Whether you use Milestone or Encounter XP does not matter really. If you figure that each of your Medium encounters are going to be worth 50xp per character, that means six encounters will take them to 2nd level. Using a milestone system, set a goal, put 300xp of reward attached to it, and about that much challenge associated with it. I prefer a mix, so doing a typical 5 encounter "dungeon" would run something like this:
0. Character Intros to each other and the world. PC's approached by "quest giver" which will then lead them to:
1. Hook Event: Easy Encounter (25 xp per Character reward) (6-8 CR1/8 bandits. Have a 1-2 get away with something the party will want/need to recover) Intro to combat encounter
2. The Chase: Medium Encounter (50 xp per Character reward) 5 successes before 3 failures. Don't let Characters do a check in something they are not proficient in, have a different character make a check until all characters have had a check or until success/failure point. Do allow AID (+2 per other character proficient in same skill). Don't allow the same check to be made twice. (So Survival (tracking), Investigation (tracking), Nature (tracking), Athletics (Running), Acrobatics (Avoiding obstacles), History (local area), etc. can all be used. Have the player's THINK about their skill proficiencies and then describe HOW they are going to use it in this situation. Allow anything that sounds reasonable/plausible. Intro to skills encounter
3. The Pickets: Medium Encounter (50 xp per Character reward) These will know the PC's are coming and be prepared, use 3 CR1/2 (bandit) scout (can potentially be avoided with stealth, but would mean they are not "hot on the trail" anymore)
4. The Trap: Medium Encounter (50 xp per Character reward) This should be more of an obstacle than a surprise, no more than d6 damage potential, but have a split party and/or immobilize/capture potential.
5. Mini-Boss encounter (Hard Encounter (75 xp per Character reward) CR1 (bandit) spy with 3 CR 1/8 (include the ones which initially got away here) bandits,
Milestone Award (50 xp per Character reward) This would be awarded when the party returns the "quest" to the "quest giver". If there was no "quest" (but really, for a first adventure/encounter, have a "quest") This also gets the party back to "town" and they will level when they finish the "quest".
All "monsters" are from SRD with the parenthesis being for descriptive unity of the "monsters". The xp awards given are not calculated "by the book" but rather for a simple opening to show a first level party the basic ropes and with the "Quest" complete, levelled up. Depending on playstyle the outline above is 4-12 hours worth of play, if you were to divide only it up into 3 sessions, it would be 0-1 taking ~4 hours, 2-3 ~2-3 hours, 4-5-M ~4-5 hours, that would be fairly good RP session and probably half that if the group runs more ROLL play instead of ROLE play. Nothing wrong with either, just expect for sessions to either take forever or fly by until the group dynamic is found and you will get the pacing down. Always try ending a session on either a CLIFFHANGER or a CONCLUSION.
@Pedroig I'm probably going to follow what you said so the party an I can understand how the game works 😅. I might skip the trap (or make it very fast) or something else so they can Roleplay more.
@Stoutstein yeah I know, I might make them level up earlier but since this game is really going to be a kind of tutorial, I'm probably going to follow @Pedroig instructions.
@CapoMostalda The trap is about the "teaching process", in essence it is another skill check, but it can be circumvented in other ways. You can simply make its discovery DC lower than the highest Passive Perception of you players, so they "see" the trap, but if they do something "wrong" they fall in, set off alarm, get divided, or a combination of those things just to start.
If you want to make the encounter "more exotic", well use the stat blocks for the bandit/scout/spy and simply reskin them into some monster you make up specific to your campaign. A forest tribe of humans, or maybe they are simply Bockins (you determine what those are. Avoid magic for a first encounter/mini-adventure. You can throw that in as "the plot thickens".
A "classic" adventure start is the PC's are on a "Delivery Quest" and the "Delivery" gets stolen/kidnapped on the way from point A to point B. PC's recover the "Delivery" and get to point B. End opening set-up. At point B the PC's find about more trouble, related to the "Delivery" or just in general (these parts have gone bad type of thing) and either the PC's will "volunteer" to find out what is up, or will get offered a reward to find out what is up. This will take them to point C which will be a FOB for the baddies. This will be a tougher test (and in continuing our intro will most likely take them through level 2 and maybe 3) and they will discover that point C has ties/leads to point D which is where they will find the local BBEG who is directing the commotions in the area. (and the local BBEG maybe a pawn in a greater scheme). Pretty standard fare, and if you do some digging you can find plenty of modules already set-up in this fashion, majority of the 5e "official" adventure lines, as well as plenty of classics (which conversions to 5e can be found in the DM Guild like Night Below, Temple of Elemental Evil, Cult of the Reptile God, Shadowfell Keep, and to a lesser extent Keep on the Borderlands. Phandelver is a great place to start, adventures for it can be found in the Starter's set and the Essentials set. There is also a pretty good "tutorial" module called Before Phandelver on the DM's Guild. It will make the first encounter in Lost Mines to be a tad less deadly, just by making it not the first encounter the Players face.
Good luck, have fun, and remember, Only the DM knows what is SUPPOSE to happen, the players determine what ACTUALLY happens, which of course makes it EXACTLY what is SUPPOSE to happen. ;)
In general, a medium encounter for a group of 6 would be a CR 2 monster, and a CR 3 would be a pretty tough fight. There's a bit of an issue that most low CR stuff isn't really built with the tools to be good as a solo; a druid with an altered spell list is possible, though a bit squishy (a moon druid version of that would probably be CR 3).
@Pedroig Wow thanks, I didn't expect so many tips, I'm totally going to follow them. The trap might be something that triggers an encounter like a trap set by bandits (like a player gets caught with a rope and the bandits attack the party while the player caught tries to escape)
@Pantagruel666 since all the players are new I don't know how a cr3 fight would end up. I think that I will stick with some bandits.
Alternatively, if you’re budgeting three sessions for this adventure, you could follow the path of sessions 1and 2 are in town or on the road, being tormented by bandits or other enemies, who have taken, or eventually take depending on how you write your storyline, their plot hook (quest) with them into the forest. The characters will need to track them down in the forest, but plan to leave session 2 on that cliffhanger of being about to step into the forest. If using milestone advancement, they level up after session 2 when they’re about to step into the forest. So they take on the boss as level 2 characters in session 3 in the forest.
A fun little idea if you’re still looking for possible mini-boss monsters is a Guard Drake. I can picture a fun story where kobolds have been raiding towns and waylaying travelers to get food for this little red guard drake they’re trying to raise on their own, stupidly hoping it’ll grow into a mighty red dragon they can worship. They’re keeping it penned up in a shallow cave in the forest.When the characters track them to their lair, they have to fight the guard drake (CR2) and a couple of kobolds (CR1/8). I believe CRs are calculated as the level that 4 characters need to be to reasonably handle that monster, so with 6 players, one guard drake and a few kobolds should be challenging, but very beatable.
Other CR2 monsters suitable for a forest environment are an Ogre, a Cave Bear, a Goblin Chief, or for an undead flair, a Ghast. Each comes with different minions that might change the earlier encounters.
You could consider a "shell game" of three doors that the party could go through. One of the doors is wide open, but there is a pit, trip wire, or other trap as described above. The once the trap is showing sprung, this way becomes impassable for X reason, or dead ends in a pantry or something.
Door 2 also leads to a dead end. There should be skills clues that this isn't the right way. Perhaps a DC 10-15 Athletics check to shove open the door, the DC set to 10 if the groups highest Athletics mod is +0 or lower and 15 otherwise. On a success, the door opens on squeaky hinges. Perhaps have a treasure chest with some inconsequential rewards, something like ~1 GP plus a map to something, a handful of daggers, and a trinket that had been stolen from a local that sets up a side quest. This quest should be able to be reached if they don't open the door or inconsequential enough that it doesn't matter if they don't take the quest (minor rewards but a pretty sweet story tidbit or perhaps an ally that provides help that isn't significant enough to matter).
Door three is shut tight, but opens easily. It's free of any sign of disuse such as cobwebs in the frame, dust on the ground and knob, etc. This path is the one to follow to be hot on the trail. The reward for taking this path should be time sensitive. If you swapped The Trap and The Pickets, the bandit encounter could be ready for you. Perhaps they all had readied attacks. Perhaps you can think of a reason why a surprise check would make sense though it probably shouldn't since this is a chase. The flip side could be that the warning to ready themselves wasn't fast enough for the bandits to all fully outfit themselves if the party is hot on the trail. 1 or 2 bandits were sleeping while the others were on watch. They've had enough time to don their armor, but still have to get their weapons.
Another possible difference here could be a bonus to the initiative roll of the bandits. They get a +5 bonus if they've had time to prepare and a -5 if the party is hot on the trail. That swing should help change the feel of the fight, but does leave the result somewhat up to the dice. The party may have the upper hand despite the "extra preparation" time or be at a disadvantage despite the relative surprise of the bandits. If that is not acceptable for you, choose one of the other options.
I like your idea of a rope trap. Perhaps that could be the preparation that the bandits were able to have given time. The idea here is to set up the notion that timing plays a factor. Some people come to D&D from video games and many video games only give a sense of urgency if there is a timer running. Otherwise, the player can level up for 20 hours of gameplay and yet the "urgency" will still be built into the script with no consequences for the delay. If your players might be of this type, setting a timer might be helpful. Pause the timer while you are describing scenes briefly and while determining the results of rolls (but not during the actual rolls, that time can represent the actual activity). During combat, let 6 seconds tick off between rounds (not individual turns) since that is the actual amount of time that a round is supposed to take. This will also help them to realize everything in combat is happening pretty quickly despite taking longer because of the rolls and such.
@kcbcollier I've already started to write the campaign so I think that I will stick with bandits but the Guard Drake idea is great! I might do something with it in the future or in the same campaign if we decide to continue it.
Yeah I think that I'm going with the rope trap an I might do something with the timer so they can understand how fast is the fight
The other importantthing is to make sure you include at least 3-6 fights per long rest. Any encounter becomes easy when the characters can throw everything at it.
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
I'll keep it in mind
Well, any encounter that isn't grossly overbudget; something that's more than half a daily budget will be a scare even for fully rested characters. Also, less true at level 1 than higher level. Still, six level 1 PCs will drop most CR 1 targets in 1-2 rounds, most CR 2s in 2 rounds. If you put six level 1 PCs up against a Owlbear, it will probably live long enough to get off two attack routines, but probably won't be able to get to the squishier targets. That could turn into a TPK with bad rolling, but the most likely result is one PC at 0, one PC wounded, everyone else fine.