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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Nullzone" data-source="post: 5537232" data-attributes="member: 97538">When it comes to tuning, try not to exploit player weaknesses; the players will often see through this and realize they're just being taken advantage of. Instead, exploit monster strengths:-Make the combat area (most of it, at least) difficult terrain but use monsters that fly or have terrainwalk/phasing.- Include some kind of terrain CA granting mechanism and use skirmishers that get extra damage dice when they have CA. This works nicely because it's impartial and the players may get an edge out of it as well, but it's much easier than trying to flank all the time.- Use a synergy of monsters like ghouls+zombies; the zombies go in and hit stuff to daze or immobilize it, then the ghouls come in and bite for big damage (and stun, but be careful with that too).- Get some kind of effect rolling that turns a no-big-deal element into a whoa-crap one; 5 fire damage reflected from a red dragon's burning blood is one thing, vulnerable 5 fire on top of that now makes a serious threat.Here's one you wouldn't  necessarily expect at first glance: make your monsters as aggressive as  possible, even at the expense of defensive tactics. If your best  attacks are ranged but you're in the defender's face and can't get away,  who cares? Fire them anyway! If you get extra damage from charging but  you're going to run by 3 people to do it, who cares? Charge!The OAs make players feel empowered and creates a tension at the table  in case of misses. The result, especially as you level up and an MBA  isn't taking out half a monster's hit points, is that monster becomes a  lot more dangerous and the players can no longer simply look at one  monster at a time as the only "threatening" creature in the combat. This  goes for ignoring marks, too; the defender can enforce his mark and  feel like he's providing some real contribution to the party. This does  take a certain amount of instinctive experience to know when to apply  different circumstances (ex: a mindless creature isn't necessarily going  to ignore a mark if the PC that marked it is in its face), but just  experiment a bit, see what feels right.It's all in the combined applications of the encounter as a whole. Adding another monster or two helps smooth out edges but it's not really a good solution to increasing difficulty. Usually the only time I add more monsters is when they seem to be blowing through an encounter and feel they could put a little more effort into it (though you have to mind your player resources when doing this; adding monsters that will just be subject to an at-will fest is not a good use of anyone's time).</blockquote>

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