I was wondering if my group's experience is a lot more different than others due to number of players. We've got two active campaigns, and we either have 6 or 7 players weekly besides the DM.
I've been reading some other threads where someone commented that with heavy type armor for a medium battle usage cleric (so not hiding like a typical wizard, but not in the front like a fighter/barbarian) the Magic Initiative feat (and Shield) would likely be very adequate.
My thinking is that one casting of Shield is almost useless for our cleric, who always has foes up in his face. Our magical gear is typically better than Xanther's or the DMG would suggest. So the group hits very hard, but the return retribution is extreme. For example last week, our 7 party members (levels 11 or 12) had to fight a CR 19-20, two CR 10-11, 8 CR 5-6 foes at the same time. We can dish out the pain, but the amount of damage and effects coming back at us makes one Shield seem completely insignificant.
I realize the game is theoretically set up for 4 players with DMG/Xanther's item progression. Logically a group of 4 players that has someone go down is in worse shape than a group of 6 or 7 which has a character drop. Often that is the case for us; however when the extreme groups of foes come at our characters, I'm finding a much larger swing than what I read in the forums (I'm assuming most groups are 3-5 characters). We're at the outer extremes - we can handle foes if our tactics/first turns/decisions are fortuitous but often we're in real bad shape if there is one bad player choice.
Using the formulas in Xanthers, our "normal" easy fights are in the lethal range and our tough fights are 2-3 times greater than lethal, with me factoring in tougher battles for good gear.
Oh, our DMs frequently use the non-Monster Manual supplements put out there, and those monsters seem tougher CR vs CR than the Monster Manual itself.
I was wondering what the opinions are for those who have a lot of experience with both 4 person and 6-7 person parties.
I've been reading some other threads where someone commented that with heavy type armor for a medium battle usage cleric (so not hiding like a typical wizard, but not in the front like a fighter/barbarian) the Magic Initiative feat (and Shield) would likely be very adequate.
My thinking is that one casting of Shield is almost useless for our cleric, who always has foes up in his face. Our magical gear is typically better than Xanther's or the DMG would suggest. So the group hits very hard, but the return retribution is extreme. For example last week, our 7 party members (levels 11 or 12) had to fight a CR 19-20, two CR 10-11, 8 CR 5-6 foes at the same time. We can dish out the pain, but the amount of damage and effects coming back at us makes one Shield seem completely insignificant.
I realize the game is theoretically set up for 4 players with DMG/Xanther's item progression. Logically a group of 4 players that has someone go down is in worse shape than a group of 6 or 7 which has a character drop. Often that is the case for us; however when the extreme groups of foes come at our characters, I'm finding a much larger swing than what I read in the forums (I'm assuming most groups are 3-5 characters). We're at the outer extremes - we can handle foes if our tactics/first turns/decisions are fortuitous but often we're in real bad shape if there is one bad player choice.
Using the formulas in Xanthers, our "normal" easy fights are in the lethal range and our tough fights are 2-3 times greater than lethal, with me factoring in tougher battles for good gear.
Oh, our DMs frequently use the non-Monster Manual supplements put out there, and those monsters seem tougher CR vs CR than the Monster Manual itself.
I was wondering what the opinions are for those who have a lot of experience with both 4 person and 6-7 person parties.
