How many monsters/encounter do you use in 3e?

[Psion]

I picked an average, but I don't think it's a mode, per se. Usually I find 4 to be a minimum to keep things challenging unless the opposition is really tough... but then, some fights are just show fights that aren't really meant to be much of a challenge or use up many resources.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

A prime example of the wonkiness of this system can be found in the Paizo Dungeon adventure Encounter at Blackwall Keep, where masses of Lizardmen prove little danger to the PCs (despite a high EL) due to their ineffective attacks (+1 bonus! woo!)

Amen brother! The group I was DM'ing took out 34 lizardfolk plus the leader with no losses (and not even the threat of a loss) of their own.

Even grappling didn't really help as the lizardfolk were usually cut down by the AoO. The abysmal attack bonus of the lizardfolk made them largely useless, except when they could get around to the wizard in the back.

I'm going to try to start mixing and matching the monsters in my encounters, more like 4E. Makes things more interesting and plays strengths off each other.

 

[Victim]

Once our group gets some levels, we tend to use probably around 3-7 monsters in encounters with ELs higher than ours. If monsters aren't unusually strong for their CR (either overall, or against our specific abilities), then just a few monsters with a CR = our level would be huge joke.

Playing 4e is a huge shock, since we're not blowing away monsters in short order - stuff around our level is actually dangerous. :O