Pathfinder 1E High level Pathfinder game + large group. Need help with APL/CR

Tovec said:

So, did you give it a go? How did it turn out?

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We had Session 0 two weeks ago; first session is this Sunday! It will take a few sessions for the party to get to their destination, and that's when I will spring the heavy combat on them ... until then we will get re-aquainted with the 3.5 ruleset.

I know I'm late to the party.

CRs become less and less meaningful at higher levels, because different players/builds have such a different efficiency at these levels. In a party that cooperates well and have synergies, adding players has much more effect than adding monsters. It takes twice the monsters to be CR +2, but a party that goes from 4 to 6 can take on +6 CR. So an 8-player party at level 12 should find a level 16 encounter fairly routine. This assuming they are on the ball.

In my groups, creatures with CR under the average party level tend to be much less effective. My players love AC and defensive buffs, making it basically impossible for such a creature to hit. When I throw weaker enemies at them, I generally double the number for +1 CR rather than the official +2. That can lead very large battles, which is how we like it.

Cool, thanks for your insights, they are very helpful. How many players do you have? And do you have any dedicated healers?

We ran Session 2 last night and I had my first pre-planned encounter. As the party hasn't fully formed in-game yet.

So, it ended up being two Level 12 characters and a squad of 4 groups of soldiers (each squad roughly Level 6 in total) vs 5 Clockwork Soldiers (CR 6 each) re-skinned as animated bunk beds.

The combat lasted just over 3 rounds and provided all sorts of useful metrics for me. The party didn't have too much trouble taking them down (as I expected) but did have to stop for healing once.

My groups are between 3-6 players, depending on attendance. That means I have to be ready to change the level of opposition on the spur of the moment. But I've not actually ever played in a group of 8 people.

My guess would be that a group of 8 has a harder time working together than a group of 6, but if they do, they would have an effective party level of their level +4. However, with this many creatures on the battlemap, the risk that a player will get isolated and chopped up adds to the risk. But as I said, these are guesses, not experiences.