Help me figure out EL for a DCC2 (Tsathzar Rho) encounter

[stripes]

Warning: this is a spoiler for anyone who is intending to play DCC2 ([i]The Lost Vault of Tsathzar Rho[/i]), which is also part of the [i]Dragon Cult Saga[/i].

So after my players managed to get up to the hidden tunnel (1-7, attached to the giant cavern 1-2) they foolishly left the tunnel.

I decided when the kobolds went to "change the guard" they found the bodies of the former guard (3 bodies, the last was captured) they beefed up that guard outpost and used the rope the party left behind to "set a trap".

So when the players come back there are two new crossbow kobolds, and the previous two footman are now beefed up to four (to make it harder to punch through the footman and then kill off the crossbowman). Then there is one more footman who is on duty to cut the rope the players are climbing up (they put a quiet bell on it).

The old encounter was EL1. I have nearly doubled the number of kobolds, which I think would normally make it an EL2. I added a trap ("the rope you are climbing goes slack...then after what seems like a sickeningly long wait gravity takes over and you fall 30 feet, any last words? No more then six seconds worth please.")

Does the trap merely make it EL2, or would it be enough to make it an EL3?

(as it turns out the party went up with two grappling hooks and the original rope all at once and were roped together, so while the "trap" caused much stress and worry, it didn't end up damaging any of them -- but failure to be killed by a trap is a fine reason to assign XP for it!)

[Jack Spartan]

First of all, I love your DM'ing style. I wish I could find a DM like you instead of being the DM like you. (I never get to play . . . )

A kobold is a CR 1/4 (0.25) creature (MM page 161). Seven CR 1/4 creatures constitute an EL 2 encounter (DMG page 49).

(Hopefully my count is correct - two with crossbows, four footmen, and one at the rope.)

The plan to cut the rope isn't really a trap - at least not in the XP sense. It's simply good tactics on the part of the monsters (and bad tactics on the part of the players - they shouldn't have left it behind). I wouldn't give the players any "extra credit" for it - kobolds are supposed to be clever (which is included in the CR 1/4 rating).

However, you're the DM and you were there when the players succeeded in the encounter. If you feel they deserve more, then you're right and they do. Let's look at the DMG, page 39.

If an encounter is "significantly more difficult", then the recommendation is XP x 1.5. The XP for an EL 2 encounter is 600, times 1.5 is 900 (which happens to be the XP for an EL 3 encounter). Alternately, if you like to keep firm control over how quickly your players level up, but you still want to reward them, throw a trinket their way. Maybe one of the crossbows was actually masterwork or one of the kobolds had a potion of some useful sort.

If you really want to treat the rope as a trap, then an equivalent would be a camouflaged pit trap (20') which is CR 2 (DMG page 71). I say 20' instead of 30' because I don't think the kobolds would wait to cut the rope until the players were at the top - they'd do it around halfway up. I say camouflaged because the rope doesn't look like a trap - it looks safe to the characters who left it there.

Two EL / CR 2 encounters would be worth 1200 XP (600 each), or you could combine them. Depending on how you calculate it, two EL / CR 2 encounters would be an EL 3 or EL 4. The EL 3 is worth 900 XP and the EL 4 would be worth 1200 XP. I gotta be honest - the encounter you described was good, but it didn't sound like it was worth 1200 XP (unless your players are behind the curve and you're trying to catch them up).

Hope you found some part of that useful. In any event, it sounds like you're running a cool game!