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<blockquote data-quote="filthgrinder" data-source="post: 5528005" data-attributes="member: 64984">All good advice so far. I'll add in some of my thoughts. If you find the PC's clustering at doors use some ranged area attacks. Some archers that do a &quot;hail of arrows&quot; that is an area burst 1 within 10 or something can really dishearten them. I just use the gnolls from the Monster Vault on my PCs, and their encounter power that does that was good. In HS1: The Slaying Stone, there is an Orc wolf shaman who has a great power:Pop that out, and run it through the bunched up players.There is also an old favorite: Reinforcements!If the party is bunched at a choke point, defenders in front, have them rushed from behind by some nasty skirmishers. Whenever my players are clustered together, they refer to it as &quot;fireball formation&quot;.Also, as Nemesis said, put something in the room that they need to get to in order to finish the encounter. Maybe some crafty kobolds constructed a flame trap at the mouth of the cave. In the back there is a switch which turns it on and off. The players group up in the choke point, the kobolds pull the lever and as Mortal Kombat has taught us: TOASTY! Have automatic ballistas or other mechanic batteries trained on the PCs. I find PCs &quot;get the hint&quot; quickly once &quot;significant&quot; damage is dealt out, but you should also reward the players for breaking formation and rushing into the room. If a rogue jumps past the shield wall fighter and disables the trap in the middle of the room surrounded by orcs, maybe give him a bonus to disable the trap, and have some of the orcs miss him. The worst thing you want is to get the party moving about and then smack them down for it.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="filthgrinder, post: 5528005, member: 64984"] All good advice so far. I'll add in some of my thoughts. If you find the PC's clustering at doors use some ranged area attacks. Some archers that do a "hail of arrows" that is an area burst 1 within 10 or something can really dishearten them. I just use the gnolls from the Monster Vault on my PCs, and their encounter power that does that was good. In HS1: The Slaying Stone, there is an Orc wolf shaman who has a great power: Pop that out, and run it through the bunched up players. There is also an old favorite: Reinforcements! If the party is bunched at a choke point, defenders in front, have them rushed from behind by some nasty skirmishers. Whenever my players are clustered together, they refer to it as "fireball formation". Also, as Nemesis said, put something in the room that they need to get to in order to finish the encounter. Maybe some crafty kobolds constructed a flame trap at the mouth of the cave. In the back there is a switch which turns it on and off. The players group up in the choke point, the kobolds pull the lever and as Mortal Kombat has taught us: TOASTY! Have automatic ballistas or other mechanic batteries trained on the PCs. I find PCs "get the hint" quickly once "significant" damage is dealt out, but you should also reward the players for breaking formation and rushing into the room. If a rogue jumps past the shield wall fighter and disables the trap in the middle of the room surrounded by orcs, maybe give him a bonus to disable the trap, and have some of the orcs miss him. The worst thing you want is to get the party moving about and then smack them down for it. [/QUOTE]

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