Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Scaling for a large group
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="5ekyu" data-source="post: 7520965" data-attributes="member: 6919838"><p>One of the more solid bits of advice from the CR system is that the CR are a threshold based system and throwing higher CR at parties risks unexpected results due to the adversaries being able to do things the PCs cannot counter. this can be from spells that they cannot cope with or from just a high level of damage in single turns. </p><p></p><p>Consider what a few counterspells from an 8th level caster would do to the primary caster of a 5th level group. if it managed to eliminate those two (maybe four if there are two arcanists) 3rd level attacks then that is a lot of offense from the party just gone and no chance of it failing as the PCs have no 4th level spells. </p><p></p><p>Consider how things will go if even one CR7-8 monster scores a crit on one of its big attacks in a turn and hits with others as well.</p><p></p><p>You can get away with it but you have to be quite selective with the choices you make and the circumstances. </p><p></p><p>My experience says against double the number of PCs, use three to five times the usual numbers of same CR foes is a more balanced event - three if its all at once and four to five if its an "extended encounter aka "waves". If you throw in some higher CR varmints (by one or two), cut back a wave.</p><p></p><p>Unfortunately, that seems to be a model of combat that some want to avoid because it is slow to run through even though it can produce a lot of dramatic moments, shifts and opportunities for PCs to make choices that can really make a difference such as flee or engage the next wave.</p><p></p><p>its also very interesting to see where the "bigger" waves aka the boss part comes into play. having it hit early or in the middle can produce a very different fight than the more typical waves waves then boss.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="5ekyu, post: 7520965, member: 6919838"] One of the more solid bits of advice from the CR system is that the CR are a threshold based system and throwing higher CR at parties risks unexpected results due to the adversaries being able to do things the PCs cannot counter. this can be from spells that they cannot cope with or from just a high level of damage in single turns. Consider what a few counterspells from an 8th level caster would do to the primary caster of a 5th level group. if it managed to eliminate those two (maybe four if there are two arcanists) 3rd level attacks then that is a lot of offense from the party just gone and no chance of it failing as the PCs have no 4th level spells. Consider how things will go if even one CR7-8 monster scores a crit on one of its big attacks in a turn and hits with others as well. You can get away with it but you have to be quite selective with the choices you make and the circumstances. My experience says against double the number of PCs, use three to five times the usual numbers of same CR foes is a more balanced event - three if its all at once and four to five if its an "extended encounter aka "waves". If you throw in some higher CR varmints (by one or two), cut back a wave. Unfortunately, that seems to be a model of combat that some want to avoid because it is slow to run through even though it can produce a lot of dramatic moments, shifts and opportunities for PCs to make choices that can really make a difference such as flee or engage the next wave. its also very interesting to see where the "bigger" waves aka the boss part comes into play. having it hit early or in the middle can produce a very different fight than the more typical waves waves then boss. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Scaling for a large group
Top