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<blockquote data-quote="Nightchilde-2" data-source="post: 1844293" data-attributes="member: 4109">There are a couple of tricks to pull.&nbsp; I have seven players in my group, and constantly have to up the EL ratings to keep 'em challenged.&nbsp; That said, I also give them a few &quot;easy&quot; encounters too, just to kind of even things out.Increasing the EL of encounters is one of the first things to do.&nbsp; Maybe they should be facing EL 6 or 7 on a more regular basis than EL 5 or lower.&nbsp; I wouldn't go more than 3 ELs above average party level though. Perhaps less obvious would be hit points.&nbsp; Jack up the hp on the beasties that are faced.&nbsp; An 11d8 creature with 88 hit points is going to be more challenging than one with average (44) hit points.&nbsp; I experienced just this in my game Friday night.&nbsp; The party was going against a Scaled Stalker, and I upped his hit points.&nbsp; It turned a pretty easy encounter into one that was a lot tougher.Another option is lower CR, but higher EL.&nbsp; By this, I mean that, say, four CR 3 creatures are going to be a little tougher to beat than one CR 7 creature.&nbsp; Why?&nbsp; Because the party almost has to split their resources up.&nbsp; When two fighters have to face two separate creatures, it makes it more challenging than if they both have to whack away at the same creature.&nbsp; If the creatures spread out, one fireball can't take 'em all out.&nbsp; Tactics definitely play a part here.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Nightchilde-2, post: 1844293, member: 4109"] There are a couple of tricks to pull. I have seven players in my group, and constantly have to up the EL ratings to keep 'em challenged. That said, I also give them a few "easy" encounters too, just to kind of even things out. Increasing the EL of encounters is one of the first things to do. Maybe they should be facing EL 6 or 7 on a more regular basis than EL 5 or lower. I wouldn't go more than 3 ELs above average party level though. Perhaps less obvious would be hit points. Jack up the hp on the beasties that are faced. An 11d8 creature with 88 hit points is going to be more challenging than one with average (44) hit points. I experienced just this in my game Friday night. The party was going against a Scaled Stalker, and I upped his hit points. It turned a pretty easy encounter into one that was a lot tougher. Another option is lower CR, but higher EL. By this, I mean that, say, four CR 3 creatures are going to be a little tougher to beat than one CR 7 creature. Why? Because the party almost [b]has[/b] to split their resources up. When two fighters have to face two separate creatures, it makes it more challenging than if they both have to whack away at the same creature. If the creatures spread out, one fireball can't take 'em all out. Tactics definitely play a part here. [/QUOTE]

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