Encounter XP Analysis

I think it would be very useful to analyze the encounters in The Keep on Shadowfell for difficulty as it relates to level.   I made certain assumptions about the order the players would have the encounters and when they would level.  Truthfully no matter what order they run the encounters in they will level at about the same place.  I haven’t noted which encounters are which below as I was more interested in encounter difficulty as relates to level.   Note: I am using the free pdf module on the WotC website not the original printed module for this analysis.

Total Encounters from level 1

1 Level 1 standard
2 Level 1 Standard
1 Level 1 Standard
6 Level 1 hard
2 Level 1 standard

Keep level 1

2 Level 1 Standard
2 Level 1 Standard
2 Level 1 Standard

Players hit level 2 here

4 Level 2 Hard
3 Level 2 Standard
1 Level 2 Standard
1 Level 2 Standard
4 Level 2 Hard
2 Level 2 Standard
5 Level 2 Hard
3 Level 2 Standard

Players hit level 3 here

4 Level 2 Hard

Keep level 2

4 Level 3 Standard
3 Level 3 Standard
3 Level 3 Standard
3 Level 3 Standard
2 Level 3 Standard
5 Level 3 Hard
4 Level 3 Standard
6 Level 3 Hard

Players hit Level 4

So to Summarize we have 8 encounters to get to level 2, 8 encounters to get to level 3, 9 encounters to get to level 4.  This is not counting any xp gained from major or minor quests or any additional encounters from optional web enhancements.   Clearly this adventure in this form provides far more xp than needed to get to level 4 and may in fact run the risk of placing the party at or close to level 5, especially if the optional web encounters are used, which is higher than the recommended starting level for the next adventure.

Also I did run some analysis on the xp from individual encounters and some of the encounters had some strange xp numbers especially as relates to the level of the encounter as printed.

As well the level 6 encounter at level is perhaps a bit much.  I’m not sure of that yet.  The original of that encounter was much discussed on the Internet.  I have not analyzed the encounter in the free pdf version yet but my hunch is that I will still find some problems with it.   I will likely be cutting some of the encounters out to bring the xp and encounter build more in line with what is in the DM guide and to help the plot and flow of the module.