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<blockquote data-quote="Solvarn" data-source="post: 5283900" data-attributes="member: 59666">Damage expressions have recently been errata'd, and fights tend to be more deadly to the PC's it seems. Check that out for sure.&nbsp;The mistake that many people make when building &quot;difficult&quot; encounters is that they increase level. More so than previous editions, increasing the levels of the monsters just increases the length of the encounter. This can be great with like one monster maybe, but the way to increase the difficulty of the encounter is to increase the number of combatants involved and keep them within one level of the PC's, if not the same level. If it is difficult to manage the size of the encounter use waves or stagger their introduction. A lurker added to an encounter late is a great idea to use against the party's ranged people.&nbsp;Try introducing something in the plot that is time sensitive, so they won't want to rest all the time.&nbsp;Sandboxing in general is a really hard thing to do sometimes. I advise people to look at a game like Dragon Age Origins or Fallout 3. In a game, even one as expansive as D&amp;D, you are really only presenting the illusion of choice, like these games do. &nbsp;My suggestion is to prepare several different areas or encounters and let the PC's choose to do what they wish. Also, prepare encounters at areas that PC's are likely to occupy. A tavern encounter, a market encounter, etc. These can be scaled easily later to the level of the party. Monsters are easy, terrain is hard as far as preparation goes. Good terrain makes or breaks encounters in 4E and in my experience is that terrain is the most underrated and oft ignored part of adventure prep.&nbsp;Take good notes. Listen to your party before and after play starts. See what they talk about. Some of my best ideas have come from a seed I plucked from a player discussing events with another player.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Solvarn, post: 5283900, member: 59666"] Damage expressions have recently been errata'd, and fights tend to be more deadly to the PC's it seems. Check that out for sure. The mistake that many people make when building "difficult" encounters is that they increase level. More so than previous editions, increasing the levels of the monsters just increases the length of the encounter. This can be great with like one monster maybe, but the way to increase the difficulty of the encounter is to increase the number of combatants involved and keep them within one level of the PC's, if not the same level. If it is difficult to manage the size of the encounter use waves or stagger their introduction. A lurker added to an encounter late is a great idea to use against the party's ranged people. Try introducing something in the plot that is time sensitive, so they won't want to rest all the time. Sandboxing in general is a really hard thing to do sometimes. I advise people to look at a game like Dragon Age Origins or Fallout 3. In a game, even one as expansive as D&D, you are really only presenting the illusion of choice, like these games do. My suggestion is to prepare several different areas or encounters and let the PC's choose to do what they wish. Also, prepare encounters at areas that PC's are likely to occupy. A tavern encounter, a market encounter, etc. These can be scaled easily later to the level of the party. Monsters are easy, terrain is hard as far as preparation goes. Good terrain makes or breaks encounters in 4E and in my experience is that terrain is the most underrated and oft ignored part of adventure prep. Take good notes. Listen to your party before and after play starts. See what they talk about. Some of my best ideas have come from a seed I plucked from a player discussing events with another player. [/QUOTE]

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