Advice on DMing a huge party

[Voadam]

If you want to make legal critters with more defense and not so much increased offense by the rules then advance monsters by monster type HD. Just do not change them enough to change their size. This gives more HD, only a little more BAB, no damage incease and doesn't change CR much.

I would also second the idea of disposable items such as potions of endurance, protection from arrows, or wands of cat's grace for a small hoard. These can boost a monster's defense legally, but can be overdone if every monster is buffed.

Or you can adopt Hackmasters 20 hp kicker, everything (PCs and monsters both) gain an extra 20 hit points so that hacking takes a little longer and low level characters can survive a longer fight (it also means blowing through hoards of little guys is not so easy).

 

[Voadam]

If you want to make legal critters with more defense and not so much increased offense by the rules then advance monsters by monster type HD. Just do not change them enough to change their size. This gives more HD, only a little more BAB, no damage incease and doesn't change CR much.

I would also second the idea of disposable items such as potions of endurance, protection from arrows, or wands of cat's grace for a small hoard. These can boost a monster's defense legally, but can be overdone if every monster is buffed.

Or you can adopt Hackmasters 20 hp kicker, everything (PCs and monsters both) gain an extra 20 hit points so that hacking takes a little longer and low level characters can survive a longer fight (it also means blowing through hoards of little guys is not so easy).

 

[mmu1]

Glad to hear you finally got a decent game going: I would have applied after seeing your post in "Gamers Seeking Gamers", but I couldn't do the Saturday thing

We actually ended up playing on Sundays, it seemed to work best for everyone but me...

What day is the game you're interviewing for? Are they still looking for anyone? The current game is going well, but I'd really like to find one to play in...

 

[jmucchiello]

If you want to make legal critters with more defense and not so much increased offense by the rules then advance monsters by monster type HD. Just do not change them enough to change their size. This gives more HD, only a little more BAB, no damage incease and doesn't change CR much.

Be careful with this, increasing their HD also increases the DC of their supernatural and spell-like abilies.

 

[Default Name Player]

What day is the game you're interviewing for? Are they still looking for anyone? The current game is going well, but I'd really like to find one to play in...

It's a sunday game

 

[Duvall]

Monsters

I run a campaign that has 7-9 people and have been doing it for a couple years now....more or less successfully.

I totally understand the monster problem. Single (or small groups) of monsters that can really challenge the group are so powerful that they can kill players effortlessly.

I tend to run smaller groups of enemies and try to use npcs/monsters they are not familar with. Not knowing what it is you are fighting, or better yet having the wrong ideas about what you are fighting, is a great equalizer for the DM. Players tend to see kobolds and think "push over"...until they find out that the kobolds have multiple barbarian levels.

Another thing I do is take powerful monsters the players wouldn't ordinarily fight and "downgrade" them a bit by changing stats or removing abilities...basically a "lesser" version of a creature. This further confuses players regarding what they think they know about monsters in my campaign.

A few npcs or monsters, used intelligently in the right location/scenario and given time to prepare for battle, can soundly trounce a superior force. Create situations where the group's size is a detriment or they can't bring their entire force to bear on an enemy.

You just have to mix it up a lot and keep them guessing. If you become predictable, their sheer numbers will just steamroller anything you throw at them.

 

[Piratecat]

Someone had to ask. Whats the pig system?

Explained here!

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=26019

 

[cerberus2112]

Try this for balance

A group of eight 4th level characters should be able to handle a pair of CR 4 creatures as a basic single encounter. However, this would give the heroes an opportunity to gang up on one monster, and quickly turn to their advantage. You might try a CR 5, paired with a CR 4, or even two CR 5 critters. Since two CR 4 creatures make for an Encounter Level 6 encounter, it seems reasonable to place the heroes up against a single CR 6 creature for some of their encounters, but I wouldn't go as far as CR 8 creature unless it was a very basic tough thing (as opposed to a tricky thing; anything like damage resistance, spell resistance, spell-like abilities, improved grab, rend, or other special abilities would probably make a creature too difficult to face without the appropriate levels of magic/magic items). Basically, I'd be willing to go with any creature with a CR 2 greater than the average party level for a party of double size. It may need some playtested, but my intuition tells me this is how it would work based on the way Encounter Level math is done.

 

[S'mon]

Re: Try this for balance

A group of eight 4th level characters should be able to handle a pair of CR 4 creatures as a basic single encounter. However, this would give the heroes an opportunity to gang up on one monster, and quickly turn to their advantage. You might try a CR 5, paired with a CR 4, or even two CR 5 critters. Since two CR 4 creatures make for an Encounter Level 6 encounter, it seems reasonable to place the heroes up against a single CR 6 creature for some of their encounters, but I wouldn't go as far as CR 8 creature unless it was a very basic tough thing (as opposed to a tricky thing; anything like damage resistance, spell resistance, spell-like abilities, improved grab, rend, or other special abilities would probably make a creature too difficult to face without the appropriate levels of magic/magic items). Basically, I'd be willing to go with any creature with a CR 2 greater than the average party level for a party of double size. It may need some playtested, but my intuition tells me this is how it would work based on the way Encounter Level math is done.

I've had a lot of experience with this over the past year or so. I can state that plenty of 'simple' CR 5 monsters are likely to kill several 4th level PCs if they can get a full attack action - trolls, obviously, and ettins, are the ones that spring to mind, IMC they've killed 6th level PCs, never mind 4th! I recall a 4th level dwarf fighter did last a couple of rounds vs a troll before dying (his 6th level pals letting him take the brunt of it), but really it's a horrible mismatch. Any of the big dumb uglies like trolls, ettins, giants, even ogres, are a deadly threat to low-level PCs. I'd advise against using monsters of CR= party level (or higher), unless it's a climactic battle and you want some dead PCs.