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<blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 6818396" data-attributes="member: 22779">See, there's another issue.&nbsp; You're designing fairly short adventuring days for high(ish) level groups.&nbsp; That means the group's daily recharge characters can blow through their biggest guns in most encounters, and high level magic really changes how encounters play out.&nbsp; Now you have groups that are almost always operating at peak power because of that.&nbsp; When the party can drop 5th and 6th level spells (and probably multiple spells) in most encounters, they just get such a huge power bump.&nbsp; -----Note, the idea of 6-8 encounters isn't really necessary.&nbsp; What is necessary though is the 3 encounters.&nbsp; Think about the OP's example.&nbsp; The wizard has blown through his third level spells (I think) and the cleric has used at least one (Daylight spell) and probably both by the end of the second encounter.&nbsp; It's not unreasonable to think that the group is going to spend 15-20 minutes mopping up this encounter - chasing down the fleeing baddies, stripping the treasure from the encounter, healing, perhaps spending a ritual on Identifying any magic items, that sort of thing.&nbsp; Not too much of a stretch.&nbsp; Now, this is a watch post, so, presumably there would be patrols out there using this watch post as a base.&nbsp; It's not a stretch, IMO, to have a patrol wander back to the post before the party leaves and before the party has a chance to short rest.Now, as a DM, I could have a medium difficulty Drow patrol - half a dozen CR 1/2 drow, and a couple of Elite drow come back and find the party.&nbsp; It's possible that the drow might ambush the party (thus strongly increasing difficulty) or just go with regular attacks.&nbsp; The drow open up at decent range - they do all have bows/hand crossbows, meaning they can get at least one volley of attacks into the party before the party gets into melee range.&nbsp; I don't know the exact layout of the encounter, so, I'm spitballing here.&nbsp; But, since the party has already blown through its big guns, you don't have fireballs wiping out the encounter.&nbsp; Plus, likely, the party won't have Action Surges left and the Battlemaster is likely either very low or out of Superiority Dice.&nbsp; The Warlock only has 2 daily spells, so, he's likely down to at will attacks.&nbsp; IOW, a fairly moderately difficult encounter now seriously challenges the party.&nbsp; That doesn't require any forcing the players to do anything.&nbsp; Just a bit more activity on the part of the bad guys.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Hussar, post: 6818396, member: 22779"] See, there's another issue. You're designing fairly short adventuring days for high(ish) level groups. That means the group's daily recharge characters can blow through their biggest guns in most encounters, and high level magic really changes how encounters play out. Now you have groups that are almost always operating at peak power because of that. When the party can drop 5th and 6th level spells (and probably multiple spells) in most encounters, they just get such a huge power bump. ----- Note, the idea of 6-8 encounters isn't really necessary. What is necessary though is the 3 encounters. Think about the OP's example. The wizard has blown through his third level spells (I think) and the cleric has used at least one (Daylight spell) and probably both by the end of the second encounter. It's not unreasonable to think that the group is going to spend 15-20 minutes mopping up this encounter - chasing down the fleeing baddies, stripping the treasure from the encounter, healing, perhaps spending a ritual on Identifying any magic items, that sort of thing. Not too much of a stretch. Now, this is a watch post, so, presumably there would be patrols out there using this watch post as a base. It's not a stretch, IMO, to have a patrol wander back to the post before the party leaves and before the party has a chance to short rest. Now, as a DM, I could have a medium difficulty Drow patrol - half a dozen CR 1/2 drow, and a couple of Elite drow come back and find the party. It's possible that the drow might ambush the party (thus strongly increasing difficulty) or just go with regular attacks. The drow open up at decent range - they do all have bows/hand crossbows, meaning they can get at least one volley of attacks into the party before the party gets into melee range. I don't know the exact layout of the encounter, so, I'm spitballing here. But, since the party has already blown through its big guns, you don't have fireballs wiping out the encounter. Plus, likely, the party won't have Action Surges left and the Battlemaster is likely either very low or out of Superiority Dice. The Warlock only has 2 daily spells, so, he's likely down to at will attacks. IOW, a fairly moderately difficult encounter now seriously challenges the party. That doesn't require any forcing the players to do anything. Just a bit more activity on the part of the bad guys. [/QUOTE]

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