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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 6203522" data-attributes="member: 6696971">I agree on all points here and the inclusion of the social skill challenge mentioned upthread.Agree here as well.  When synthesizing a proper Skill Challenge with combat (such as the closing the portal Skill Challenge mentioned here), considerations for balancing out the Skill Challenge action economy with the players' deployable resources within the combat action economy is absolutely paramount.  You want them to engage the challenge so, as mentioned, if the SC AE is too punitive with respect to the C AE, the players will (rightfully so) ignore engaging the Skill Challenge.  If you make the Skill Challenge an absolute must to defeat the encounter (and the AE balance is terribly askew), you risk a poorly paced, dynamic-empty, anti-climax.  To that end, I typically find Move Actions as the primary actions for a combat-synthesized SC to be the way to go.  What's more (as I do with most things), the action economy needs to be overt, explicit.  Don't make the players guess the SC AE.  Give it to them.  If they have to guess then your dynamic, fast-paced, action-packed, climactic combat becomes an exercise in rules-canvassing mid-stream...and then players considering the SC AE to their own C AE afterward.  No good.Your group is a minion-stomping machine due to the preponderance of controllers and secondary, auto-hit riders.  I don't know about @<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/member.php?6678017-Trit-One-Ear" target="_blank">Trit One-Ear</a>      's group makeup and I'm also uncertain what tier of play this is.  There is a Balor (which would typically default to low/mid tier Epic) but a succubus (which would typically default to low tier Paragon) as well.  One thing I know for certain with respect to minions.  As the game progresses, an n + 4 (or 5) encounter (which I presume its in this neighborhood if its BBEG) with a horde of minions and a powerful, Epic Tier Leader (force-multiplying them with a passive aura or an active minor) becomes considerably more difficult for a Striker/single target-heavy group without auto-hit riders.  Your group setup would have such an encounter play to its sweet spot.  Trit's, if its Striker-heavy, may be in trouble if he has a big force-multiplying effect.  If he is Striker-heavy and wants a lot of minions, I would advise going with an Elite Swarm and breaking it out into component Standard parts once the bloodied condition has been met (each bloodied and with same XP value as the Elite Swarm).</blockquote>

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