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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Imaculata" data-source="post: 7042210" data-attributes="member: 6801286">You just can't expect one Marilith to be much of a challenge when the party size is twice the normal size AND all the players are thoroughly prepared for the encounter AND they get a surprise round.That pretty much negates the point of the CR entirely.But regardless, it is always a good idea to have some backup for your boss monsters, and to make clever use of the terrain when setting up your encounters. If everyone can focus on the same foe and win, then obviously it's going to be easy. This is why I always give the players multiple goals.I often return to this example from one of my campaigns:The Forge GuardianThis powerful automaton was pretty much invincible, as long as four animated statues were still alive, which provided the Forge Guardian with buffs (damage reduction, miss chance, spell failure, regeneration). The Forge Guardian also controlled the terrain in which the players could fight him, by having an ability to pour molten steel into the arena. So the players were forced to divide their attention, and focus on multiple foes at the same time.</blockquote>