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<blockquote data-quote="ValhallaGH" data-source="post: 5159421" data-attributes="member: 41187"><p>That's normal.</p><p>Bodak's are weak, except that they have a decent chance of consuming 1/4 party resources in one action. By successfully using their death gaze on a PC. For the standard 4-man party, that's 1/4 of their hp, actions, magic items, prepared spells, and such, in one action.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>To the OP:</strong></p><p>To up the Encounter Level, adding more foes is better. Also, knowing the "Party EL" is useful.</p><p>Party EL ~ Level + (2 for each doubling of party size: 2 for two, 4 for four, 6 for eight, and 8 for sixteen PCs). For six PCs, their Encounter Level is about Level + 5. Which means that they should have a slightly better than 50% chance against any encounter of the party level + 5.</p><p>So, feel free to use up to EL 10 when challenging them. For fights that you want to be really mean, EL 11 or more has a good chance of killing one or more PCs (assuming the foes are at all threatening; an EL 11 because you're using 64 CR 1/2 orc warriors should be a [long] cake walk).</p><p></p><p>So, add critters to make it more interesting, and help the main bad guy have time to be cool and fun.</p><p></p><p>In addition to knowing your monsters, know your PCs. Don't run an undead campaign if the Rogue is supposed to be a combat character, because anything immune to critical hits is immune to sneak attack; and that makes an entire PC useless in most combats. Being useless is unfun, and unfun is bad.</p><p>You're the Dungeon Master. Your jobs are 1) be in charge of everything except the PCs, 2) keep the peace amongst the players so that you can, 3) ensure everyone (including you) has fun.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Good luck.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="ValhallaGH, post: 5159421, member: 41187"] That's normal. Bodak's are weak, except that they have a decent chance of consuming 1/4 party resources in one action. By successfully using their death gaze on a PC. For the standard 4-man party, that's 1/4 of their hp, actions, magic items, prepared spells, and such, in one action. [B]To the OP:[/B] To up the Encounter Level, adding more foes is better. Also, knowing the "Party EL" is useful. Party EL ~ Level + (2 for each doubling of party size: 2 for two, 4 for four, 6 for eight, and 8 for sixteen PCs). For six PCs, their Encounter Level is about Level + 5. Which means that they should have a slightly better than 50% chance against any encounter of the party level + 5. So, feel free to use up to EL 10 when challenging them. For fights that you want to be really mean, EL 11 or more has a good chance of killing one or more PCs (assuming the foes are at all threatening; an EL 11 because you're using 64 CR 1/2 orc warriors should be a [long] cake walk). So, add critters to make it more interesting, and help the main bad guy have time to be cool and fun. In addition to knowing your monsters, know your PCs. Don't run an undead campaign if the Rogue is supposed to be a combat character, because anything immune to critical hits is immune to sneak attack; and that makes an entire PC useless in most combats. Being useless is unfun, and unfun is bad. You're the Dungeon Master. Your jobs are 1) be in charge of everything except the PCs, 2) keep the peace amongst the players so that you can, 3) ensure everyone (including you) has fun. Good luck. [/QUOTE]
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