How to stop your level one DnD adventure becoming a dull death fest

Level-one Dungeons and Dragons games are something of a paradox. They represent the start of a character’s journey, and they’re often used to onboard total D&D newbies. It makes sense, then, that characters have low stats and next-to-no distinctive abilities. That same design choice, however, makes level one uber-deadly. One dice roll can spell disaster for these puny characters – which isn’t the first impression most DMs want to make.

In a quest for balance, may D&D DMs commit another cardinal sin at this level. Instead of deadly, they make level-one combat dull. Simple monsters with no punching power will eventually bore new players, and they’ll definitely turn off anyone with experience. Unless you lean into the deadliness of level-one, things get same-y quickly.

Level-one D&D doesn’t have to be a nightmare, though. And you don’t need homebrew to make it feel satisfying. With a few tweaks and tactics, level one can be varied and survivable, regardless of the DnD classes and DnD races your party picked. Here are a few tips from our resident Forever DM, who has killed plenty of level-one adventurers – but kept more than a few alive, too.

Deal average damage rather than rolling

Critical hits are the number-one killer in low-level adventures. In a world where it’s perfectly possible for a character to have eight hit points or less, double damage is guaranteed to end their career (and life).

Luckily, Dungeons and Dragons has a built-in alternative to trusting fate and rolling dice. Each monster stat block shows the average damage that an attack can deal, and you’re allowed (and, at this level, encouraged) to use this rather than rolling for a result.

Pay close attention to action economy

For anyone who isn’t aware, action economy refers to the number of actions a player or party can take per turn, as well as the steps you can take to optimize this number. Every creature has an action, a bonus action, a reaction, and movement to use on their turn, and effectively using them all is good action economy.

In combat, the side with a stronger action economy tends to come out on top. Four adventurers can face a single monster of the appropriate Challenge Rating and absolutely decimate them, purely because they get to take more actions per round. Conversely, adventurers can be overwhelmed by large numbers of enemies – or foes who can reduce the party’s overall action economy.

At level one, it’s best to steer clear of enemies who can inflict the incapacitated condition (whether that be through paralysis, knocking the target unconscious, or some other method). A four-person party with an incapacitated member is temporarily a three-person party, and that makes the encounter you originally planned much more deadly.

If you want to throw something more dangerous at a low-level party, consider adding a friendly NPC into the mix. More actions mean more survivability, after all. We’d recommend keeping their stat block simple and letting a player control them – as it’s never much fun when the DM gets to take more turns than everyone else at the table.

One alternative is to split a combat encounter into waves. As well as spreading out the action economy of the opposition, this is a nice way to add variety to an encounter. Plus, players get the power fantasy of fending off large numbers of enemies – without the danger of facing them as a mob.

Choose your monsters carefully

In level-one adventures, there’s a fine line between ‘deadly’ and ‘boring’. The lower end of the Monster Manual is populated by DnD monsters from both camps.

Many, like the basic ol’ Bandit, are as simple as a monster can be. They have a low armor class, no special abilities, and they perform single attacks. They inflict no conditions, and they have very little impact on the world around them. Throw too many of these at a party, and gameplay is going to get dull.

At best, these creatures might have the Pack Tactics trait, which means they hit more consistently when among friends. This gives the DM more strategy to think about, but on the player’s end, all they see is a creature that can attack more consistently. Yawn.

There are, however, plenty of creatures with a Challenge Rating of 1 or below that are the total opposite. They might deal enough damage to down a level-one character in a single blow or get to attack multiple times to achieve the same effect. They might put a party member to sleep, removing them from the action economy equation. Perhaps their armor class is so high that they can survive long enough to wipe out multiple party members.

Here are a few offenders, as examples:

• Aarakocra Skirmisher – Has an attack that can deal 5 – 14 damage in a single strike (with some fairly easy setup). That’s enough to down all but the beefiest level-one adventurers, even if you use the average of 9. According to the Challenge Rating, a level-one party can apparently take on four of these at once. God help you if the Aarakocra get to go first.
• Shadow – A truly evil low-level enemy. Has an attack that reduces a target’s Strength score by 1d4, killing them instantly once it reaches zero. The Challenge Rating system recommends throwing two of these at a level-one party. Anyone who dumped their Strength stat is in serious danger.
• Dust Mephit – The Challenge Rating reckons that a level-one party could safely face two of these. That’s two creatures that, if they get lucky on their first turn, can put two characters to sleep (possibly for the entire fight). Action economy can get quite dicey.

Facing a single enemy from this camp is a fair fight, given the party’s advantageous action economy. But group combat will get sticky quickly.

To help you out, here are a few low-level monsters from the 2025 Monster Manual that we’re fond of. They aren’t an insurmountable challenge for level-one adventurers, but they have abilities and conditions that can spice up a fight without tanking the party’s chances.

Most of these are still capable of seriously harming a fragile party. However, with the rest of the advice offered here, that’s less likely to happen.

Offer items and support to help survivability

This is a simple one. Every DM has the power to add a conveniently placed Potion of Healing to their dungeon, or even a +1 weapon if the party needs some extra help. We’d recommend doing this if there are any particular skill gaps that need plugging (maybe there’s no DnD Cleric on hand to heal, for example).

Embrace death, but have a backup plan

Regardless of what level your DnD campaign or one shot starts at, you should have a session zero to set expectations with your adventurers. In particular, players about to embark on a level-one adventure should establish how comfortable they are with (in-game) death.

Character death is an essential part of D&D; without it, the stakes of your heroic fantasy are far lower. However, some players are more comfortable with their characters dying than others – and all feelings on the subject are valid.

Some players have rich narratives they wish to pursue with a character beyond level one, and sudden death would seriously disappoint them. These characters shouldn’t be immune from death saves, but a DM should consider pulling their punches slightly more often or working resurrection into the narrative.

On the other hand, some players relish death. It’s a chance to test a new DnD character build, and the drama can make for great storytelling. With a party full of these players, you can feel free to add critical hits and dangerous beasties back into the mix of a level-one encounter.

You’ll likely end up with a party that is a mix of different kinds of players, so a compromise will be necessary. Asking the right questions and making suggestions during session zero can be useful. We like to ask players to choose their preferences from a list like this:

• Character death is unfun and should be avoided
• Character death should be a real but infrequent threat
• Character death should be common
• Resurrection should be easy to achieve
• Resurrection should be possible but challenging
• Resurrection shouldn’t be allowed

Only run a single session at level one

If you’re running a level-one adventure, there are two likely scenarios: either you’re guiding a group of beginners through their first adventure, or you’ve set up a punishing meat grinder for experienced players looking for a challenge. Either way, level one doesn’t need to last more than a single session (or two, at a push).

After a few hours, even the newest Dungeons and Dragons play should have a grasp on how skill checks, attacks, and combat rounds work. All classes lack complexity at this early stage, and players will quickly be ready to face the challenge of their first DnD level up.

On the other end of the spectrum, experienced players are expecting to die a lot. Unless your players are particularly masochistic (looking at you, OSR lovers), this is a gimmick that’s best suited to DnD one shots. Otherwise, the constant deaths can get old quickly.

For players who want to survive more than a single session, be sure to check out our guide to DnD 2024 backgrounds – the origin feats on offer here could save you at level one. Or, if you want to keep up with the latest books, here’s all you need to know about this year’s DnD release schedule.

Source: Wargamer