Propper EL's for 8, 16th level Characters?

[JDragon]

Ok, I'm prepping a game for a Con in February and need to make sure the challanges I'm setting up are not totally out of wack.

The group should consist of 8, 16th level characters of unknown race & Class, using 3.5 Core plus Complete Warrior and Draconomicon. My guess is most of the characters will not have worked together prior to this game.

So what would be a good EL for a normal fight (uses 20% of resources) for the above party?

What would be a good EL for a tought fight (uses 50% or more resources) for the above party?

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[the Jester]

Eight 16th level characters is roughly equal to four eighteenth level characters. Bear in mind, however, that a single CR 18 monster is going to be much tougher on them than an EL 18 encounter consisting of multiple lower-CR monsters.