So my players are level nine going in what is the best way to make the enemies stronger so they don’t notice how strong they are compared to the cultists. Would doubling encounters, max health, or what be best?
My players were walking through combats by the time they reached level 9, so doubling the encounters or giving them max health probably isn't going to do the trick. I think you'd have to retool all the monsters so that they're higher level and that's a pretty tall order. My advice would be to start them over at level 1 and play the module as written.
I believe in "more monsters", especially "more varied monsters".
Support the cultists with some trained animals (use dire wolf stats for trained attack dogs) or elementals (a swarm of mephits can ruin anyone's day).
Give some of the cultists ranged weapons (bows, crossbows, slings, cantrips) and have them hang back behind cover.
Give a couple of cultists a feat. Even having just one cultist use Sentinel on a PC will really surprise and shock players, making them sit up and take more notice of the combat. Even though the combat will not be that much harder, it will still feel different and exciting.
Absolutely have monsters use consumables. Every time a monster quaffs a potion of healing or barkskin or gaseous form, it will annoy players (arrgghh the monster is drinking our loot!).
So my players are level nine going in what is the best way to make the enemies stronger so they don’t notice how strong they are compared to the cultists. Would doubling encounters, max health, or what be best?
My players were walking through combats by the time they reached level 9, so doubling the encounters or giving them max health probably isn't going to do the trick. I think you'd have to retool all the monsters so that they're higher level and that's a pretty tall order. My advice would be to start them over at level 1 and play the module as written.
I believe in "more monsters", especially "more varied monsters".
Support the cultists with some trained animals (use dire wolf stats for trained attack dogs) or elementals (a swarm of mephits can ruin anyone's day).
Give some of the cultists ranged weapons (bows, crossbows, slings, cantrips) and have them hang back behind cover.
Give a couple of cultists a feat. Even having just one cultist use Sentinel on a PC will really surprise and shock players, making them sit up and take more notice of the combat. Even though the combat will not be that much harder, it will still feel different and exciting.
Absolutely have monsters use consumables. Every time a monster quaffs a potion of healing or barkskin or gaseous form, it will annoy players (arrgghh the monster is drinking our loot!).
You can also increase the number of attacks that each monster has.