4E Fridays episode 3: Let's Populate a Dungeon

[@trevorhanson6295]

I LOVE 4E encounter building. It is more streamlined than CR ratings and because of the way the math is, you don't have to deal with the volume number crunching adjustments that CR has. Great video!

[@ChrisOverby-k9t]

Love the new Friday vids. Keep it up for awhile.

[@DravenSwiftbow]

I hope to!

[@WithTheGrain]

never played 4e, enjoying this series

[@davidwasilewski]

Very old school and original - great stuff!

[@sketchasaurrex4087]

A second, more hidden entrance. I'd have a section of the dungeon the goblins stay out of and have a roper or some similar monster that doesn't move much but is very menacing. I'd change up the dragons to be a bigger dragon as the final boss with a few hexer goblins and minions. 🤷‍♂️

[@clarkside4493]

I wouldn't do too much differently. Maybe throw in a trap or two somewhere.

[@DravenSwiftbow]

In the original 2nd Edition adventure one of the caves was populated by Kobolds, and the first half of that cave was full of traps.

[@rokkkrinn2793]

Scorching Burst is an art-will area burst 1 within 10 that dies a d6 fire damage. That's minion destruction at- will. If the cube is in a pit, can't they just shoot it to death from above? Action economy can get tricky if the aoe attacks whiff. Minions never take damage on a miss. ❤

[@dmeep]

If you dislike the idea of the players managing to kill the cube without going down into the pit add a dockingstation cave for the dungeon roomba or just let it have been down there so long that there is a groove into the wall not by corrosion but by friction making attacks have disadvantage. If you go with a dockingstation perhaps replace the rat being chased by some kind of treasure luring them down to the bottom before the roomba awakens from sleep mode

[@DravenSwiftbow]

They could, though the cube could retreat behind some boulders that I didn't draw on the map, but did when I drew it up for use with minis

[@ObatongoSensei]

I think you have populated quite well those caves, although it looks more like a set of barracks than a tribe's living place. One thing that in my opinion 4e forgets about is "civilians", such as the workers, the families of the soldiers, and so on. For example, in BECMI, every entry for some tribal monster always took into account also the "non combatant" part of the population to be placed in a lair. Also, couldn't this supposed series of encounters just very easily turn into one single, gigantic, multi-wave battle? If the players do not suppress every enemy in every location very rapidly and without making any noise, all the enemies would rush over to them, overwhelming them with sheer number and without giving them time to rest or to heal. The problem I see is that the caves are all too near to each other, so it's rather impossible that the enemies in a room couldn't hear the noises of battle and the cries for help from the next room, especially underground. And what will the guards from other caves do if the players get caught in a prolonged battle with the goblin guards outside the cave? Will they too rise the alarm and rush over to fight? Aren't there any traps or alarms outside the cave?

[@DravenSwiftbow]

In the original adventure it was. It was a mining facility that a group of monstrous humanoids took over and the PC's were there to liberate.

[@ObatongoSensei]

@@DravenSwiftbow Mmm... That explain the internal structure of the caves to some extent, the lack of traps or alarms, and the absence of civilians at the moment, but my doubts that just four players could take those caves on by themselves still remain. If I had to DM that, it would surely end in either a TPK or a very embarrassing and pretty fast retreat. With how 4e's power system and skills work, it's pretty much impossible for a small group of adventurers to actually avoid having to fight all the enemies at once instead of one room at a time. It only takes one minion from the outer guards to rise the alarm and it's over. It's too little distance from one place to the other, so it takes very little time for reinforcements to start pouring out of the cave. In any other edition the players would have had a chance, given some preparation and the right resources, but in 4e they are very limited in the number and type of foes they can take on at any single time, even when fully rested.

[@joelpartee594]

@@ObatongoSenseiThat’s totally valid. If I were DMing it (and it occurred to me) I’d have a running skill challenge, mostly abstracted, with successes allowing the party to get their short rests, progress to the next room unmolested, maybe even get some surprises. I actually used to design 4e dungeons without large maps, just setting up encounter spaces and using descriptions and skill challenges to link them, so I wasn’t strict about how far away these rooms were from each other. Quick and easy to make, fun to play for my group, not for everyone.

[@ObatongoSensei]

@@joelpartee594 But yet, that is based upon foes that never move from one room to the other, that never go to the "toilet", that never switch the guards, and so on. And mostly, foes that are completely deaf and incredibly stupid. Definitely not my style.

[@joelpartee594]

@ One thing I usually enjoy is identifying characters as more careful and tactical than players because characters are living it in real time with high stakes and players are playing a game. It doesn’t so much mean that the enemies are stupid, but I don’t ask players to come up with the actual plan a Paragon Thief would think of.