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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kaomera" data-source="post: 4915140" data-attributes="member: 38357">So, if a Hard encounter is 1 or 2 levels above the PCs then the Level+3 encounter suggested in the DMG as part of a standard "level's worth" of encounters is on the Extra-Hard side...Now Level is not the only factor in an encounter's difficulty. And even an encounter's level can be subject to change - especially if what would normally be a separate encounter gets "dragged in" to the fight...And then there's the matter of the party's current situation. An unexpected fight when they're low on surges, dailies, and action points could easily turn deadly, even if it wouldn't normally be a huge problem.Two examples I've seen of this are the final encounter in the adventure in the DMG, where the party may well end up facing a hard fight when they aren't expecting it, and a series of encounters in Keep on the Shadowfell that can easily end up with a lot of extra monsters joining the fight. (And I admit that I haven't played through either of these adventures - I'm just working from comments I've seen.) So, what I'm wondering is: How do you (or would you want to) deal with this in your games? Do you try to scale the encounter on the fly to what the PCs can handle, or do you simply let the PCs deal with the added adversity? Do you drop hints that now might be a good time to run for it? Would your players choose to retreat, anyway? And how difficult do you make it for them? Do you go out of your way to create situations where the danger of an encounter can escalate (does letting an enemy escape always mean he'll return with reinforcements?), or do you try to avoid it, or neither? Do you think the above examples are fair? Are there any specific encounters that you've seen that aren't fair, or which stretch the boundries?</blockquote>

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