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<blockquote data-quote="Stormrunner" data-source="post: 2105004" data-attributes="member: 13471">So you have a CR 5 necromancer (wizard or cleric? cleric is tougher as they can bolster the undead, which forces the PC cleric to use more than one turning attempt to nuke all of them), and a handful of zombies (too low-CR to affect the EL) for an EL of 5.&nbsp; Versus a party of 6 3-4th level characters, which is roughly equivalent to CR 5.&nbsp; Seems to me this makes it an &quot;average&quot; encounter, not &quot;very difficult&quot;.&nbsp; Very Difficult would be a 7-8th level caster with a mix of living guards and undead.As for &quot;add more undead&quot;, the module is correct that a 5th level caster can only control 10 HD of critters, which is 5 zombies, or 10 skeletons.&nbsp; I would have swapped out 2 zombies for 4 skeletons, since (as you found out) zombies are too slow to intercept moving PCs.&nbsp; Adding a guard on the door, or simply locking the door so the party can't just waltz in, helps a lot too, allowing the LBEG at least one round of buffing before combat.Spellcasters in general are weaker than their CR if caught unprepared with no buffs up (which was the case here), and tougher if they have enough time to buff up as much as they want.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Stormrunner, post: 2105004, member: 13471"] So you have a CR 5 necromancer (wizard or cleric? cleric is tougher as they can bolster the undead, which forces the PC cleric to use more than one turning attempt to nuke all of them), and a handful of zombies (too low-CR to affect the EL) for an EL of 5. Versus a party of 6 3-4th level characters, which is roughly equivalent to CR 5. Seems to me this makes it an "average" encounter, not "very difficult". Very Difficult would be a 7-8th level caster with a mix of living guards and undead. As for "add more undead", the module is correct that a 5th level caster can only control 10 HD of critters, which is 5 zombies, or 10 skeletons. I would have swapped out 2 zombies for 4 skeletons, since (as you found out) zombies are too slow to intercept moving PCs. Adding a guard on the door, or simply locking the door so the party can't just waltz in, helps a lot too, allowing the LBEG at least one round of buffing before combat. Spellcasters in general are weaker than their CR if caught unprepared with no buffs up (which was the case here), and tougher if they have enough time to buff up as much as they want. [/QUOTE]

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