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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mal Malenkirk" data-source="post: 4655781" data-attributes="member: 834">If you feel cinematic, you could at some point in the fight decide that the adrenaline kicks in and encounter powers are refreshed.  You might even award an AP if appropriate (and recharge the possibility to use it).That way they have 2 encounters worth of ressource except for the opportunity to spend HS between the fights.This is only fair because typically you don't trigger two encounters at the same time unless the adventure was designed that way.  It's virtually never really the PCs fault and more the DM's or the adventure's design.If fleeing for reinforcement is a monster's option, it is natural they do it, it is extremely hard for the PC to prevent and is very much part of the adventure design.  Therefore, a raised alarm has to be seen as a normal occurence.  If the reinforcement ends up making survival virtually impossible, then that was poor design.  Simple as that.  Good design should simply make reinforcement a manageable but tough encounter while giving an advantage to the PC if they succeed in preventing the alarm from being raised.There is a problem with that; if the doors in question are in the same geographical area, the monsters within are all part of the same encounter.  And they'd have heard the sounds of battle even if the PCs hadn't opened the door anyway.  Most published adventures feature encounters that span several rooms; basically all the rooms from which one would reasonably expect monsters to hear the battle or be called to join the battle.  Sane design means that all these monsters be counted as one encounter and be balanced accordingly.Now,  if PCs actually ran deep in the dungeon to trigger two different encounters from two distinct area...  That's a bad decision on their part.  That's also a looney toon scenario; I have never seen actual players do it.  Usually, when in a fight, they finish it before exploring further!And that should only bring one encounter on their head.  I have a hard time imagining the catastrophic stealth failure that would trigger two encounters!  Again a looney toon scenario.  That's more likely!But that's more along the line of unfair than rat bastard.  If you want the encounter to appear simple but then escalate it with reinforcement to create a gauntlet feel, calculate all of it at once.Present a level +0 fight but then the alarm is triggered and more monsters keep arriving, balancing out to a level +4 or even +5 encounter.  This is really only as hard as level +2 or +3 because all the monsters weren't present at the same time; this is even more true if you use minions (PCs should be able to put them down as they arrive) and completely false if you use elites (PCs won't be able to put them down fast enough and reinforcement will soon overwhelm the PCs).</blockquote>

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