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AngryRussian16
2008-07-10, 03:26 PM
Alright, so through a series of events, I am now my groups DM for 4e

We already have done the adventure in the DMG, so Im having to make out a new adventure myself

Basically, all the fluff is done with, they are going to be sent to a prison/island after a series of mistakes and they will have to break out

Im planning three encounters, only one of them is done.

The first encounter, will be a group of guards in the prison, Im thinking 4 L1 fighters with 28 point buy stats

The second encounter is in a sewer system, one of the ways they can get out of the prison, but not the island, this one is done (2 dire rats and 4 giant rats)

The final encounter may be three L1 fighters and a L3 Warlord (The warden)

The main problem is, I dont know how to find the CR appropriatness of the first or second encounter! Can any one offer some advice?

Might need the parties info :

All level one

Dragonborn Warlord
Dragonborn Paladin
Human Fighter
Eladrin Wizard
Elf Rogue

Human Paragon 3
2008-07-10, 03:34 PM
CR is gone. What you're going to want to do is total up their XP values and then check the XP table in the DMG to figure out the level of encounter. The level of the encounter can be up to 4 levels above your party level before it's considered impossible or too deadly to attempt.

Right off the bat, I'd have to say your encounters seem a little tame and may not challenge your players, though I haven't done the math.

Besides racheting up the danger, I would include some skill challenges for the PCs to complete in order to escape the jail (maybe one version leads to the dire rat encounter in the sewer and if you fail you end up in a harder encounter w/ aligators or some such for example).

Consider adding templates to the warden to toughen him up and give him more options in combat.


Edit: I see the problem now, you are making NPCs from scratch instead of using monster stats. 4e makes broad use of "monster" versions of characters. Check out the MM entry on humans (if the guards are human) and then add fighter and warlord templates to them in order to get the tactics you need. Level up or down as appropriate.

AngryRussian16
2008-07-10, 03:56 PM
I was just using CR as a term, for instance the dire rats are 200xp each and the giant rats are 25xp each

Thanks for the advice though

Edit : Alright, I think Im going to take your advice and add in a crocodile as penalty for failing a skill challenge

Im taking the human guard and decreasing it to 1st level and giving one guard, level 2 or 3, the battle champion template