Hey, im just getting started on my first campaign as DM. 

I had a mini session with the two new players (never played d&d before, first time making characters.) so they could get a feel for the game without many distractions. They made the best stat rolls I've ever seen- both of them. They're insane. I told them how well they rolled and at the end of the short dungeon encounter I set up I told them I may need to nerf them somehow- then I doubled back and said "well, that's how you rolled so I can't really fault you for that."

It's my first time DMing and I have a larger group of players. I'm already wondering how I'm going to balance encounters to make it challenging enough for them (7 players). All of their skills have modifiers, most of which are 3's and 4's, and I don't want them to feel like it's too easy (or robbed if I somehow nerf them.) 

Do I fudge DC's for these characters? How do I keep it fair? The other players haven't rolled characters yet but if the pattern continues I'll be having a tough task as a first time DM. Any advice is helpful, I just want these guys to have fun and I feel like being challenged is key to that. Nobody wants a walk in the park, they want to earn their victories! Thanks for your advice in advance!

-S

If the rolled stats seem too high for too many characters, you might want to ask them to use the point buy system.

If changing the stats at this point of the adventure feels wrong, the first thing I can suggest is to boost the monsters' HP. Set those to the maximum stated in the stat block and set the encounter challenge (if you use the tables in the DMG or XGtE) to 'deadly'.

The game is skewed to letting the players win. That's the first thing to remember, and accept. 

How to challenge the players? As many other people, and I, have said: use the environment, and make tactical decisions for your monsters. 

Most living creatures have a desire to live. So the idea that a band of almost smart goblins may rush in head first into combat isn't wrong. However, when they see 5 of their brethren fall, they're going to scatter like roaches. Are you fighting in the forest? Have the baddies take cover behind trees. Is this a kobold cave? Have other kobolds hear the sound of fighting and join in on the fray. Creatures can show up and trap the players by blocking any chance to run. As well, like filcat said, increase their HP to max, bump the ac by 1, and/or add a couple more creatures than is suggested.

The more you play with the group, the more you'll be able to gauge what they're capable of handling and what is deadly.

I'll echo the sentiments of others.  The DM has a lot of tools at his/her disposal to maintain an entertaining game.  Nerfing PCs because of something they couldn't control seems punitive, especially for new players; they might feel like they've done something wrong, which is the wrong message to send.

Never be afraid to toss in a couple more opponents, or buff them up a little.  A smarter, more tactical approach to combat would not go amiss here.

Also, don't be afraid to let them thoroughly trounce some of their early encounters.  It builds up a confidence that you can later exploit. :)

I have a 7 man crew as well, and I ran into this problem as well. One of the methods I used to even the odds (this was when we first started playing so I wasn't throwing hoards at them all at once), but I would try to encourage them to split up. Once again, there are seven of them (I swear I only started with four and more and more kept joining) so they have enough offense and enough defense to go their separate ways and still find themselves in a bit of a challenge. I always try to extend one of the cave halls (I don't know how they haven't caught on yet), so even in dark vision, they cant really make out more detail so they are enticed by curiosity. 

It might not work for everyone (It might not even be a great idea), but I find it works for me. 

Thanks so much for the feedback guys!

I definitely didn't want to dissuade them right out of the gate by nerfing their characters- after all, I watched them roll all of their stats and it was completely natural. I've never had such luck on my personal rolls and to have them both roll such crazy numbers on my first ever night of DMing had me panicking inside.

I'll toy around with buffing enemies but this is all totally new to me, im always on the other side of the screen so I may have to allow time for the learning curve. I would love to switch to the point buy system and in hindsight this would have been a much more balanced approach, but I would be upset if my DM stole those stats from me so I think I'll let them have it. This could be an opportunity to throw some harder monsters their way and have fun with it!

I'll incorporate a more tactical approach with my minions, that's good advice. I think I'm just caught up in being a green DM and I'm unsure what will be a good balance. What I'm hearing is just fudge to make it work which I assume will come together after a few sessions.

Yeah I started with a couple friends who I currently play with in another campaign and the next thing I knew I had every member of that campaign plus two new players on board!

Thanks again guys!

Any other new DM tips are appreciated  (though I'm sure there's a better thread than here..)

One thing I don't see mentioned above - I would make sure the other characters end up with similarly boosted stats, otherwise you might end up with a power imbalance among party members, which may aggrieve the players who didn't roll so lucky on their character's ability scores.

Having PCs who are essentially superheroes isn't necessarily a problem, you just need to treat them like superheroes by scaling challenges accordingly. Planning deadlier encounters with more tactially-minded foes is a start, but don't be afraid to improvise by changing a monster's AC, hit points, or other statistics during a battle, depending on how things are going for your PCs. As long as you're judicious about doing so, your players probably won't know the difference.

I might be a minority in this opinion, but I wouldn't worry too much about balance (at least not preemptively), so long as people are having fun.  Sure, plan out the encounters for the session, but also recognize-- and embrace-- the fact that things are going to end up different than planned.  Relax, have fun, and roll with the punches.  Fudge is tasty, but not always the right tool for the job.  Sometimes in-game explanations can better suit the tone of the game, and lead to less problems if the players suddenly feel cheated when you're not letting the dice fall where they may.

If, for example, you plan for a bunch of goblins to sneak up and steal some significant item from the party, who then start to handily defeat the posse that you thought would challenge them.  You could hide/fudge die rolls to stretch out the encounter to be more satisfying, with the players none the wiser.  Or you could scale up some of the remaining enemies (even explaining it away by them suddenly drinking vials of flubber or gummi berry juice) magically maxing out their HP (which you don't even necessarily have to explain mechanically).  Or you could have one of the goblins whip out a gnarly looking horn and blow it, summoning more friends.  Reinforcements are nice for when we find out that the encounter isn't doing what it should.

You also throw in encounters in which the players aren’t the ones being directly threatened. Save the village, rescue your sister, the bad guy is your brother, do you really want to kill him?

I'm not one for reinventing the wheel, and all the above responses have pretty well spelled out a number of great options. But I love to talk and I love to type, so here are my 2 cents ;)

1) Everyone is vulnerable to something, regardless of how many other areas they excel in. 

2) Early level encounters are almost always "easy" regardless of party strength. Your basic kobold has an AC of 12 and a Max HP of 10. Your basic goblin has an AC of 15 and Max HP of 12. I just picked 2 vanilla, early game foes. So it's not a big deal that your PC's are OP, since even a generic level 1 Fighter with a Str of 14 is going to have a +4 to hit, thereby connecting approximately 65% of the time and deal 1d8+2 (Average 6 dmg). This will 1-shot a kobold just as easily as the OP PC with a 20 Str that has a +7 to hit (80% hit rate).

3) Building on that point, balance among the other PC's is also not that tricky. In the beginning, everyone is going to get 1 attack/action per turn, generally granting all the PCs a chance to contribute.

4) Rolling obscene stats is far from the norm, but generally something cool for beginning players to enjoy. For in-game purposes it can lead to overconfidence, or a healthy level of self-confidence (both for the player and the character). Don't forget to also challenge the RP side of the game. Obviously D&D is geared somewhat heavily towards combat (not trying to instigate anything with hardcore RP purists lol but the vast majority of class abilities are aimed at combat) and that's fine. But you can use mental puzzles and social interactions to challenge your players in other ways. As players gain experience they can actually learn to appreciate *not* having a ton of high stats in future campaigns, allowing for the reality of character growth via adventuring.

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Keep in mind that more monsters in the battle will present a greater challenge. You can get creative with events that somehow separates the group with difficult-to-move-in terrain, making it harder for them to gang up on enemies. Or maybe a battle where they have to protect a weak NPC that starts far away, so they need to dangerously dash into the fray. You can also challenge your PCs outside of battle too by putting them in difficult situations. Frame them for a crime, cause political tension, exploit their character flaws. You can do a lot of things outside of battles that make them have to think and work that can provide a different sort of challenge.

It may not be a bad idea to watch how Matt Mercer handles DMing for Critical Role if you're concerned about balance for a 7-player campaign. They have 7 players and are often teetering between destroying some enemies and almost dying to others, so I'd say he's figured out how to give them a reasonable challenge without being overwhelming or having to nerf anyone (some of their chars are REALLY good).

You can keep it challenging, you'll just have to brainstorm a bit more, and prepare story, environment, encounters, traps in advance so you can ensure a smooth, yet entertaining adventure.

You can always change stats of any encounter(s), add more to, else change up encounters' skills and/or abilities. For example, consider other attributes that make a monster encounter unique: eyesight, vision, hearing, sensing, reflexes, smell, scents, odors, movement, audible, sound, limbs, tentacles, appendages, camouflage, etc.

You have a Dungeon Master screen that will allow you to pivot accordingly (keep decisions, story, maps, etc. secret). There are a host of ways of keeping it interesting and challenging.

[REDACTED]

J

After 3 years, I would like to hope that the OP has this sorted out.

Ah, didn't notice the date.