CR questions for a 2man team party

[Taislin]

Hi again guys, I've asked a lot of question lately and everyone has been very friendly.

This weekend I will be making an adventure for 2 of our party characters (kinda like a side quest) so that they can test their build.

But I am unsure on how to prepare the CR of combats since they are only 2. They are lvl 8, one ranger and one swashbuckler, can anyone give me some tips regarding the CR of enemies?

Ps: they don't have that much gear, maybe around 13k worth of gold each.

Thanks in advance :D

Edit : I just noticed I posted o the wrong part of the forums, how do I move this to 3.5?

[TuggyNE]

Hi again guys, I've asked a lot of question lately and everyone has been very friendly.

This weekend I will be making an adventure for 2 of our party characters (kinda like a side quest) so that they can test their build.

But I am unsure on how to prepare the CR of combats since they are only 2. They are lvl 8, one ranger and one swashbuckler, can anyone give me some tips regarding the CR of enemies?

Ps: they don't have that much gear, maybe around 13k worth of gold each.

Since they have half the usual party, they are effectively -2 APL and should face encounters of -2 CR/EL. Adjusting for wealth might knock it down another point.

I'd also suggest using multiple lower-CR foes to add up to the right EL, rather than single enemies; this is important in general to avoid swinginess, but especially when the party is smaller and inherently swingier.


Edit : I just noticed I posted o the wrong part of the forums, how do I move this to 3.5?

Use Report Post and say something about "Should be in 3.5 subforum", which I have already done in this case.

[Vaynor]

The Red Towel: Like TuggyNE said, just use the report function (in the bottom left corner of your post) to report it and notify a mod (like me) that it needs to be moved. I've gone ahead and moved it to the 3.x forum.

[Firechanter]

What Tuggy said, but for future reference you might also adjust for the individual power of the characters.

For example, your duo of lv 8 Swashbuckler and Ranger should manage about 4 EL5 encounters per day, assuming they can heal up.
At the same level, a Crusader and upscaled Ranger (with Druid pet) on WBL can handle the equivalent of 15 (sic) EL8 encounters before needing to rest. (However they have above-average HP to adjust for small party size)
On the other hand, if the Players don't have a lot of magic, a single spellcaster of their own level may turn out to be too much.