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<blockquote data-quote="andargor" data-source="post: 2704534" data-attributes="member: 7231">We're about to start a new campaign, and the player count will reach anywhere from 4 to 8.My question is how to scale encounters depending on the number of players. There are two main ways I can see this:- Add more monsters per encounter- Increase the monster difficulty (higher CR monster, Advanced monster, add classes, etc..)I know about the CR formula in the DMG, but somehow, this &quot;cookie cutter&quot; approach doesn't work well in all situations.The problem is, they're starting at 1st level, and I see both methods vary in efficiency as the level goes up:- Adding more monsters is deadlier at lower levels, since there are more attacks per character. At high levels, it becomes irrelevant if spellcaster support is available (1,000 orcs, 10,000 orcs, etc., don't make much of a difference)- Adding tougher monsters can be deadlier at mid-to-high levels, since those higher CR critters usually pretty good defensive capabilities, and their attacks are concentrated on one or two players before they go down.So my thoughts are:- Tougher monsters at low level- More Monsters at mid level- A mix of tougher monsters and more monsters at high levelAnyone run simulations to prove/disprove my impression? I know that spellcasting skews everything, but perhaps a straight melee simulation could shed some light on this.Andargor</blockquote>

[QUOTE="andargor, post: 2704534, member: 7231"] We're about to start a new campaign, and the player count will reach anywhere from 4 to 8. My question is how to scale encounters depending on the number of players. There are two main ways I can see this: - Add more monsters per encounter - Increase the monster difficulty (higher CR monster, Advanced monster, add classes, etc..) I know about the CR formula in the DMG, but somehow, this "cookie cutter" approach doesn't work well in all situations. The problem is, they're starting at 1st level, and I see both methods vary in efficiency as the level goes up: - Adding more monsters is deadlier at lower levels, since there are more attacks per character. At high levels, it becomes irrelevant if spellcaster support is available (1,000 orcs, 10,000 orcs, etc., don't make much of a difference) - Adding tougher monsters can be deadlier at mid-to-high levels, since those higher CR critters usually pretty good defensive capabilities, and their attacks are concentrated on one or two players before they go down. So my thoughts are: - Tougher monsters at low level - More Monsters at mid level - A mix of tougher monsters and more monsters at high level Anyone run simulations to prove/disprove my impression? I know that spellcasting skews everything, but perhaps a straight melee simulation could shed some light on this. Andargor [/QUOTE]

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