Calculating EL/CR for large parties

[MaxKaladin]

We all know that CR and EL are balanced for parties with four individuals. We all also know that larger parties can handle bigger challenges. Unfortunatly, the DMG does not seem to say anything about calculating the CR or EL of an encounter if your party has, say, 6 or 7 people in it as opposed to four.

Is there a solution to this anywhere?

 

[dcollins]

EL goes up by +2 for each doubling of the group (DMG p. 101).

Therefore 6 PC's are balanced against EL of average level +1.
8 PC's are balanced against EL of average level +2.
12 PC's would be balanced against EL of average level +3.

Or thereabouts.

 

[AuraSeer]

EL goes up by +2 for each doubling of the group (DMG p. 101).

Theoretically, yah. But in an actual game it's not that easy.

A single big character is tougher than multiple low-level characters. Say a single Ftr5 kills a monster and ends up with 1 hit point left. If the pair of of Ftr3s attacks the same monster, one of them will end up dead halfway through the fight, because of his lower total hp. That cuts the party's damage-dealing ability, which means the fight will go on longer, and even more characters may get dropped.

Also, low-level characters don't have access to appropriately powerful spells. For instance, if an adventure includes a wall of force, it might assume the characters have access to disintegrate to bypass it. A party of lower-level PCs may not have their 6th-level slots yet, so they'll be unfairly stuck or detoured.

One more thing: lower-level characters have weaker magic items. Be especially careful with monsters who have DR; make sure there's at least one character who can actually hurt the beastie.

 

[Zarthon]

Sean Reynolds has an article on Encounter levels for Large Groups on his Web Site. Hope it helps