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Message: <blockquote data-quote="hastur_nz" data-source="post: 7198562" data-attributes="member: 40592">I'd be very wary of adding more resilience to monsters (increase AC, hp etc), as you found when adding larger numbers, that will just add to the grind i.e. prolong the agony.  Personally, I find that the 'monster maths' is off in 5e, as monsters get proficiency bonus based on their CR not their HD, which means your typical fight has monsters that are hitting WAY LESS than the PC's are hitting.  Add to that, typical monsters don't have enough damage output (mostly due to higher-level PC's ability to 'nova' through extra abilities).  As the PC's get higher level, these problems get worse, especially as you dole out the magic items, so if you don't up your game...So your best solution it simply to even the playing field a bit - increase your monsters attack bonuses, maybe their saves for good measure, and maybe even their damage output (extra attacks, base damage, or whatever).  Also try and incorporate some environmental effects that damage PC's, from time to time, if the PC's are infiltrating the bad-guys lair.  This way, your damage per round should increase, hence the fights will be more threatening to the PC's without taking any more time.  Only experience will tell you how much to buff your monsters, but off the top of my head (it's been a long time since I DM'd over level 10), I'd say at level 12 you'll want an average of at least +3 to hit, and quite possibly an average of 1.5-2x damage.p.s. crikey, yes, do read the spells and think hard about them prior - make some brief notes in your book / on a copy / on a sticky note, highlighting the best spells and the basic uses you might want.  I used to do this all the time in 3.5 days, and towards level 20 in 5e, where stat blocks were huge / complicated, I'd actually number the most likely actions, by round, to help me out, e.g. round 1 = forcecage, round 2 = maxed fireball, etc. and I'd also note any pre-buffs that were already cast (freedom of movement, heroes feast, false life, etc).</blockquote>

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