I have a party of 3 level 1 characters (a Fighter, a Ranger and a Druid) played by newcomers to the RPG world and I want to create some easy encounters for their first session. I've decided to loosely follow the adventure published in the First Edition Beginner's Box and convert some of the elements to the Second Edition rules.
The very first encounter of the adventure is with a pair of Goblins. Looking on page 489 of the Core Rulebook, I've decided that this encounter should be a Trivial one, giving me an XP budget of 40 (I will not lower the budget because I have 3 players instead of 4). The Goblins' description on page 180 of the Bestiary give them as Creatures of Level -1.
That's where I'm wondering what to do. Do I count the Goblins as being 2 levels lower than the players (since they're Creatures -1)? If so, 2 Goblins would nicely fit within my XP budget?
Extrapolating from that assumption, if my players are Level 3 and I want them to tackle a bunch of Goblins in a Low encounter (60 XP budget), I would need to throw 6 Goblins at them (for Creatures -1, the Goblins are at Party Level -4)… is that right?
That sounds right, but I don't know if there is a 'zero' level for encounter building; without the GMG, there's nothing explaining that yet.
I'm having the same problem building level 1 encounters by the numbers, there are no -2 threats in the Bestiary.
You could start with 2, and if they are getting shellacked, have one retreat, or if they are doing well, bring in a 3rd as a reinforcement.