Hey all,
So, in a fit of inspiration, I decided to locate the Ebon Triad's Headquarters (ET HQ) beneath a ziggurat out in the jungle, forcing my players to cut their way through trackless wilderness full of very wild, and often very hungry, critters. Keeping in mind that my party was a group of 5 4th lvl characters (bolstered somewhat by Shensen), I used the the monster filter on d20srd.org to bring up the appropriate animals for the climate and class level and had a blast.
Here's the rub; they will now be heading into ET HQ at 5th lvl. I've done some calculation around encounter level and a bunch of the combats still come out as "Very Challenging" but I just wanted to check this past some of you all on the board.
Will this be a cakewalk for my players? should I bolster some of the encounters in ET HQ?
Thanks,
Olodrin
I don't think you will notice a huge difference in combat difficulty with only one level of difference. But let's say, hypothetically, that you did... this is still a good thing. I have had Players complain that every fight is a challenge; they get more powerful but everything just scales up with them, so what is the point? Throwing in encounters with easier 'mooks' as the Dungeon staff is fond of referring to them as, lets the heroes bask a little in that glory. That is a good thing. The planned big encounters will be challenges, don't worry at all or even plan for random type encounters being less of a challenge and a place for them to flex a little.
Sean Mahoney