Here's the deal.  My daughter has joined the D&D game I've been running on and off for my son.  I've been reading the GM's Guide on how to calculate encounters, but I'd like to see how others with a better handle on the matter deal with it.

I'm introducing my daughter's character to the adventure tonight.  Here's the situation:

• She's a 1st level halfling sorceress, and my son is a 1st Level gnome ranger (please, try to take this seriously).  
• They have poor standard equipment as they are escaped slaves from a shipwreck.
• They are currently wandering a series of water-filled limestone caves and sinkholes.  Depth from the surface is from 20 to 30 feet with occasional daylight at the sinkholes.
• The water is fresh and flowing, and, if followed, eventually exits at a cave at the coastline (in fact, I'm thinking this is where I'm introducing my daughter's character).
• Moving inland through the cave tunnels eventually leads to an old, old, buried temple complex (think The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan).
  
• The surface locale is largely populated by primitive goblins, but not far away is a large populace of Mesoamerican-esque lizardmen.
• The goblins don't know about the hidden temple, but the lizardmen might (but probably not).
• The next encounter should take place in the natural caves, not the temple yet.

So that's what I'm working with at the moment.  Give me your best.  It should be challenging, but not especially lethal.  They're very much looking forward to levelling up.

!i!

The ranger's favored enemy?

Lizard-kin.  Rather unfortunate given that there's a big tribe of lizardmen living nearby.  I was hoping he'd strike a deal with them against the gobs.

!i!

Any chance in changing the lizard men so they can make an alliance?

When you say goblin populace?  I was thinking something like catching a small group of goblins investigating the shipwreck/caves.  If the populace is such that it would miss the conquered investigators, it could stir the hornets nest...

Do they have any NPC's along for the ride? two small characters could be tough to tailor encounters for at this low level. You could always go with the GFS as a way to get experience.

Ach..I'm rambling...

Well, here's what I fell back on.  Kobolds.  You're right, James -- two small characters with no NPCs are hard to fit an encounter to, but kobolds, with their CR of one sixth make for pretty easy pickings.  So my plan at this point is to make the natural caverns strongly kobold-oriented, with other compatible encounters as well.

The way it went down is that the gnome ranger encountered five kobolds struggling and bickering over a large sack.  He managed to kill four of them unscathed, but the fifth got away.  Inside the sack was the halfling sorceress.  The two of them worked on getting out of one of the sinkholes by means of a rather ingenious use of Animate Rope, but before they could start climbing out, the survivor of the first encounter brought back reinforcements.  A firefight of magic missiles vs. light crossbows ensued, while the gnome charged opponents, killing three of them face-to-face and one attempting to flee.  Over all, two kobolds got away.

So, kobolds ain't stupid.  Well, okay, maybe...but they're cunning.  They're through with face-downs that leave them slaughtered.  It's time for some traps and ambushes.  Ideally, I'd like to drive the party farther inland toward the lost temple.

!i!

(P.S. "GFS"?)

Quote from: Ian AbsentiaWell, here's what I fell back on.  Kobolds.  You're right, James -- two small characters with no NPCs are hard to fit an encounter to, but kobolds, with their CR of one sixth make for pretty easy pickings.  So my plan at this point is to make the natural caverns strongly kobold-oriented, with other compatible encounters as well.

The way it went down is that the gnome ranger encountered five kobolds struggling and bickering over a large sack.  He managed to kill four of them unscathed, but the fifth got away.  Inside the sack was the halfling sorceress.  The two of them worked on getting out of one of the sinkholes by means of a rather ingenious use of Animate Rope, but before they could start climbing out, the survivor of the first encounter brought back reinforcements.  A firefight of magic missiles vs. light crossbows ensued, while the gnome charged opponents, killing three of them face-to-face and one attempting to flee.  Over all, two kobolds got away.

So, kobolds ain't stupid.  Well, okay, maybe...but they're cunning.  They're through with face-downs that leave them slaughtered.  It's time for some traps and ambushes.  Ideally, I'd like to drive the party farther inland toward the lost temple.

!i!

(P.S. "GFS"?)

Nicely done! Very nicely done!

GFS = Giant Fucking Spiders - which are nice because you can scale them nicely and they fit in really just about any locale. And it's a nice way to introduce things as there's not moral dilemma: It's a Giant Fucking Spider - Kill It!

Yep. The gnome ranger gets a +2 favored enemy bonus against reptilian humanoids and an additional +1 cultural enemy bonus against kobolds.  My son was very pleased at being offered a +3 mod right off the top of the encounter.  Oh, and he scored two natural criticals in a row -- scimitars, while not dealing great normal damage, make up for it on a crit.

With regard to the yet-unseen lizardmen tribe, the fact that he can take a +2 favored enemy bonus in combat doesn't mean that he's required to be an absolute douche to them.  I'm thinking he might take a bit of a penalty, though, if he deals with them socially, seeing how he's a trained reptile hunter.

Another encounter will be coming up soon, so if anyone is so inclined, please feel free to construct and post one.

!i!

If this is D&D 3, I think that favored enemy bonus also applies to knowing about them, doesn't it? So you could mention that he knows that this tribe/kind of lizardman isn't particularly autoaggresive towards people, and can be reasoned with fairly easily or whatnot.

That's what I was figuring, too.  The mod should be +2 to understanding the habits, behavior, and even social structure of the favored enemy, not just a combat mod.  The combat mod is more a reflection of the comprehensive understanding of a species, not necessarily being a hardened enemy of that species.

Oh, and yes, our books are 3.0 (we picked them up cheeeep!).  Is this handled differently in 3.5?

!i!

[Edit: Reading both the 3.0 PHB and the 3.5 SRD, I realise that the favored enemy bonus is only to damage, not to hit.  Also, I see the five specific skills to which it applies.  Thanks. :deflated: ]