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Message: <blockquote data-quote="eriktheguy" data-source="post: 5156520" data-attributes="member: 83662">I think with 7 players your main issue is going to be lag, er, um... grind! With 5 players/monsters the fight goes fast while with 7 it will take longer even if balanced. I think your objective here is that you need to present the players with the same challenge and risk while not forcing combat to take much longer.The players have more encounter and daily powers. If they are not presented with multiple fights daily, their nova's are going to be devastating and time consuming, so I would recommend1: multiple fights per dayWith all that monster out there, communication is going to be a bitch. Trying to communicate defenses to players every turn will be messy as well, so try to offload things like tracking which attacks hit from the DM to the players.2: Invest in a white-board and record monster/player defenses on it3: Clearly label which monster's are minions, players can remove dead minions themselvesAlong with that, minions do not present much threat to PCs in such large groups as areas from all those encounter powers will overlap, so I suggest4: use 8 minions as a single monster5: Use 4 bloodied minions as a single monster, bloodied minions; - use same stats as minions - are bloodied by a single hit/damage effect - die from any hit/damage effect while bloodied - die if they take their FORT in damage from a hit/damage effectMore stunning and dazing is going to be thrown out there, and it will effect Solo's a ton. For this reason:6: Solo monster's may save against one stun, daze or blind effect at the beginning of their turn, even if it is not a condition they could save againstIn addition, there will be much more stunning going around in general, so to help prevent people losing half their turns:7: Stunned creatures lose one standard action each turn, dazed targets lose one move action each turn, they may spend other actions and action points normallyFinally, some tips on building combats8: More minions will help the combat seem bigger, help add damage, without making the fight too long.9: Traps help add threat and damage to the enemy team without adding HP and grind to the enemy team. Choose traps that are - One shot: only attack once or can be avoided easily once players see them - Easy to disarm: Can be avoided or ignored after triggering, or disarmed with a single successful standard actionAs for monster choices10: Only one controller, controller turns take a long time11: Do not use soldiers, they add too much grind12: For extra monsters choose artillery, they add damage and threat but are quickly cut down once in melee, or can retreat once the melee forces are gone for an even quicker combatIn general, you still need to make combats larger (7 or 8 monsters large) for good balance, but try to make up the extra monsters in the form of minions, artillery, traps. Remember to use an array of terrain and hazards. A solo that only 5 of your party members can reach, see, or target will only get stunned as much as a solo fighting against a regular party. Terrain can help you 'split up the party' while keeping them in the same fight.Split up the party as a last resort, because then a bunch of players get to sit there and do nothing, which is no fun. A better option than this would be splitting up the table into separate groups.Edit: I think +0.5 damage per monster level is a good idea, as the players need something to challenge them extra in addition to 7 monsters per combat.</blockquote>

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