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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Oofta" data-source="post: 7935109" data-attributes="member: 6801845">There's plenty of advice above.  I would say that 2E may have had more random PC deaths, the number of PC deaths in my campaign is largely based on how lethal we want the game to be.My general advice<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Ignore the number multiplier when it comes to calculating encounter difficulty.  Heck, if I throw in monsters that have a CR of more than 4 below the PC's level I sometimes just throw in as many as I want and don't include them in the calculation.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If the encounters aren't a threat, increase your XP budget.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Take a look at how much people are resting, the game does generally work better with the 6-8 encounters between long rests.  <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I use the alternate rest rules (short rest overnight, long rest several days) because of story pacing.  I also multiply spell durations by 5 if they last an hour or more.  </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If you do more of a dungeon crawl style of game, just make it clear that there are risks to resting in hostile areas.  Don't let them just head back to town after a couple of encounters.</li> </ul></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Play monsters mean.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Hit PCs when they're down</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Drag unconscious PCs off to be eaten</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Target the guy in the back/flank</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Send in waves.  Avoid fireball formation</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Have low-level monsters (the kind I don't count in the XP budget) tackle/knock prone PCs so the "big guys" have advantage.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Give monsters the home team advantage, set up terrain in their favor.  For example in a recent game I had monsters that had blindsight and a climb speed so there was magical darkness and they were on the ceiling.  Oh, and tunnels to drag people off into.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Many monsters can see further in the dark than PCs, the PCs will frequently have a light source.  Use monsters such as drow that have ranged attack and ambush the party.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Have monsters coordinate attacks such as goblin spotters telling hill giants behind total cover where to target their throwing stones.</li> </ul></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If you're having trouble hitting, adjust your attack bonus.  I will sometimes add +2 to +4 to the monster's hit chance, I find that works better than just upping their HP.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Limit resources.  Make magic items rare and hard to come by. The PCs in my group just hit 6th and I think everybody now has a single uncommon magic item.  The melee types haven't gotten plate armor yet.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Make challenges something other than just "kill everything".</li> </ul>I'm sure I could go on.  But seriously, if the encounter guidelines aren't threatening your party, crank it up to 11.  If that doesn't work, crank it up to 15.</blockquote>

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