Level 1 to Level 2 One Shot, Pacing Check

[Nohal]

Essentially I'm trying to gauge how long things should take in a one shot. I'd also like to gauge how strong the monsters should be relative to the loot they should be dropping\have around them.

I want something I can refer to for a couple of friends who want to take multiple characters from level 1 to level 2, without dedicating to a long term campaign but also having the ability to continue to a level 2 one shot\longer campaign via a plot device at the end.

Here i've summarized the logistics of the attached one shot that I've planned for my group within that context. By the end I want it to feel like they've hit level 2, got their first magic item, and received enough loot to both maintain health throughout and acquire wealth. Gold can really only be spent on repairing items and buying booze\food so there isn't much need for it in this story but there are herbs\mushrooms in the boring walkways that if collected can be traded to certain individuals for healing potions, information, and a special plot condition. There are also 3 opportunities where its safe to store items \ loot for later play so there's an opportunity for continuing characters to amass a growing gold pile.

The setting is in Highforest, in the Silverwood of Northwest Faerûn. It is set in 1307 DR because the elf settlement Nordahaeril will be where whatever race any person would like would come from, as they sail to the beach leading to the village before the story anyway. Even though it is a primarily human settlement, magic and fey creatures are not suspicious to the townsfolk, but they are aware of the growing evil in their proximity.

The character(s) begin at level 1 on the coast swimming up to the path into the Silverwood at the top of a beach cliff. The captain they paid to take them heard about the mission and gave them back their money before floating their belongings to the shore in barrels out of paranoia.

There are 3 types of xp\loot gain over the course of two days:
Ravens -do\drop nothing but give 10 xp per- realistically these are just supposed to constantly reappear just outside the village for atmosphere but can be killed each time if truly wanted.

Cultists -there are 3 groups. all three are separated going down a hallway. the first two are in rooms that have 100 gp each. the last is a single one at the back down stairs, he has 100-300 gold worth of silver depending on whether the first and second are killed. If they are, he drops 1\3 of 300 per group of the ingots into the cauldron, and you need to have met conditions to have it refined or else that silver is worthless.

There is a time gate in the form of an anti-magic, anti-pick lock after the last cultist that forces a return to the village. An npc interaction will grant an ability to remove it the morning after the cultists.

Ghoul -there is a single ghoul in the dungeon beneath the summoning chamber, it drops a +1 unique ability score ring and a plot amulet.

It is written for one player currently, with the number of cultists increasing per player with loot item staying the same but each character receives equal non-quest loot quantity as listed above.

For example in a team of six: Searching the Forest gives everyone a mushroom, there is 600 gold per cultist room with the Silver ingots being larger to equal 1800 total, and searching the Dungeon after the ghoul yields 6 +1 unique ability score rings & a single plot amulet.

Please let me know what you think! Thanks!

[damned]

Hi Nohal,

Many GMs today assign XP at certain milestones.
You defeat the cultists you level up.
On returning to town you find the mayor has framed you for the cultists crimes. You clear your names but the mayor gets away. You level up again.
etc...

You might find that an easier way to manage both leveling and challenge levels.

[Nohal]

Hello Damned,

I appreciate the response, I hadn't thought about assigning the xp to milestones. In that way I could actually remove the ravens from the fight lists because I wouldn't have to necessarily worry about the specific amount of xp dropped. I can just say "and completing this part of the quest awarded the rest of the xp you needed to level 2" type deal.

Also, I had planned to have the apothecary get blamed for the cultist's crimes -unless the special conditions are met- with the priest being the true evil one. I will definitely consider adding a xp reward to both now considering, even though level 3 would be for the next campaign or story, it feels like a much better reward than dumping tons of low level\consumable loot.

Thank you!

[lostsanityreturned]

Seconding milestone XP personally, I find that world design works better if you just put things in places they would logically be and trust players to know how to handle the situation. (one of the strengths of bounded accuracy as 5e presents it)
It also stops people from feeling like they have to confront as many challenges as possible via combat.

A couple of other things to take note of.

- that is a lot of treasure in 5e, as in a really large amount... especially for the level. Remember how much 1gp can buy and what the system assumes, there is nothing wrong with ignoring what the system expects of course but it does lead to a lot of people feeling like gold is worthless in 5e if they get too much of it.
- magic items are generally assumed to be rarer and a little more flavourful in 5e. I would attach a side ability to anything you include to help make it appeal outside of the passive numerical bonus. (I like the idea of each ring being able to call upon a concentration free facet of enhance ability once per day, but that is just me liking active use items )

I would also probably beef the ghoul up to a ghast for a group of 6... or even 4 tbh. Actually even then I would probably give it a few weak allies or boost its health a little to avoid it being killed in one turn regardless.
I find it easier to fudge a creatures hits/damage down if I misjudge party strength than adjust a solo encounter up without players noticing it.

Sounds like a fun scenario though

[GavinRuneblade]

I use milestones exclusively and even the Adventurer's league is heading that direction. One issue I have with exp per enemy/encounter is that if you do the math (which several people have) it only takes 2 months (54 days if you use all "hard" encounters) of 4-5 appropriate encounters per day to level from 1 to 20.

So to go from Harry Potter in book 1 to him being able to defeat gods in one-on-one combat takes 2 months. I'm not ok with that rate of progression narratively.

[Nohal]

Thank you for the response!

- that is a lot of treasure in 5e, as in a really large amount... especially for the level. Remember how much 1gp can buy and what the system assumes, there is nothing wrong with ignoring what the system expects of course but it does lead to a lot of people feeling like gold is worthless in 5e if they get too much of it.

-In terms of the gold, I set my standard at 1 Health potion = 50 Gold because the only other way to acquire health potions in this encounter is to wander about in the forest-which some people may not do.

In a 6 person group, it is possible for the Cultist to award them (100), (100), and for the ritual to yield (100-300) of Silver Ingots. The expense for the ingots is important because it costs 100 gold to silver an item essentially making 1-3 free silvered items, however,

They cannot sell the Silver in this encounter. Just as well, only speaking with both the Priest and Smith before Day 2 will allow the Silver to be used at all in this encounter.

Say they choose the 200 gold, and don't meet condition, that person has a 100g Silver Ingot that is useless in this encounter.*

If they choose to go straight for the ritual and don't meet condition, that person has (3) 100g Silver ingots that are useless in this encounter.*

I would also probably beef the ghoul up to a ghast for a group of 6... or even 4 tbh. Actually even then I would probably give it a few weak allies or boost its health a little to avoid it being killed in one turn regardless.
I find it easier to fudge a creatures hits/damage down if I misjudge party strength than adjust a solo encounter up without players noticing it.

I actually wanted it to be a werewolf behind the door, which is why silvering was going to be extremely important, but not meeting the condition makes victory is impossible so* perhaps it will be in a future campaign.

Given your suggestion, however, for this encounter I think I'll start with a ghast\ghoul combination and 4 person group as that's probably who will be there as opposed to upscaling from 1. Similarly I looked up ghasts and that's actually what I was looking when I started with a ghoul. Its just strong enough to be really scary behind a couple of smaller ghouls but not immediately group ending.

- magic items are generally assumed to be rarer and a little more flavourful in 5e. I would attach a side ability to anything you include to help make it appeal outside of the passive numerical bonus. (I like the idea of each ring being able to call upon a concentration free facet of enhance ability once per day, but that is just me liking active use items )

Sounds like a fun scenario though

-I really like this idea! "This ring grants "Enhance Ability" to its own unique stat, once per day, at will, without concentration or components." Added!

Again, Thank you!

[Nohal]

I use milestones exclusively and even the Adventurer's league is heading that direction. One issue I have with exp per enemy/encounter is that if you do the math (which several people have) it only takes 2 months (54 days if you use all "hard" encounters) of 4-5 appropriate encounters per day to level from 1 to 20.

So to go from Harry Potter in book 1 to him being able to defeat gods in one-on-one combat takes 2 months. I'm not ok with that rate of progression narratively.

Thank you for the response!

I just wanted to say that this was a major problem with the werewolf I wanted in addition to the many number of cultists in the 6 person group tuning. It started feeling like I was stacking xp gained to justify granting level 2 on Day 1 so they could fight it then get damn near level 3 if they killed it.

I could push it back with milestone xp, but lostsanityreturned recommenced a ghoul\ghast combination that I think would work better. I'm trying for a level 1 encounter hard enough to warrant granting a level 2 milestone without feeling over burdening enough to warrant level 3 because I think you should have to experience the slaying of many minor minions of darkness before having the ability to challenge such a beast of raging chaos.

[GavinRuneblade]

I could push it back with milestone xp, but lostsanityreturned recommenced a ghoul\ghast combination that I think would work better. I'm trying for a level 1 encounter hard enough to warrant granting a level 2 milestone without feeling over burdening enough to warrant level 3 because I think you should have to experience the slaying of many minor minions of darkness before having the ability to challenge such a beast of raging chaos.

That is a good idea. And it actually fits with 5e mechanics because generally 1 boss vs 4+ PCs is rarely fun. 6 PCs can pretty much kill any level appropriate boss in 1.5 rounds. So give bosses cannon fodder style troops, and/or hazards, traps, magic effects in the room, etc. to make the battle last 2-3 rounds and it can feel quite a lot more exciting. And if you have already had them slaying minor minions of darkness along the way, then a few more in the boss fight makes sense.

[Nohal]

...and/or hazards, traps, magic effects in the room, etc. ...

After looking it up for a few, I have come to discover that there are: Setback, Dangerous, and, Deadly Traps. There is also Contact, Injury, Inhaled, and, Ingested poisons. Up until this point I thought there was only one type of poison and that most of those types of items were essentially home brew exclusives, like my Plot amulet. Thanks to the wording you used I was able to find a whole new mechanic to mess around with!

Thanks!

[GavinRuneblade]

After looking it up for a few, I have come to discover that there are: Setback, Dangerous, and, Deadly Traps. There is also Contact, Injury, Inhaled, and, Ingested poisons. Up until this point I thought there was only one type of poison and that most of those types of items were essentially home brew exclusives, like my Plot amulet. Thanks to the wording you used I was able to find a whole new mechanic to mess around with!

Thanks!

^.^