Hi! I know published adventures are based on a 4-person party. My group has 5 players and have a more than average amount of magic weapons and items thanks to the 50,000 gp reward from Dragon Heist. We have just started Eve of Ruin and chapter 1 (at level 9) wasn't very difficult for them. What would be the better way to increase the difficulty: max out monster hit points, or adding an extra monster to each encounter?
I find maxing out monsters HP does help, since they last longer, but if you don't want to extend battle time, I recommend trying to increase damage, though it doesn't have to be by much or just let the monsters control the battlefield, with difficult terrain, AOE attacks that stay for a couple rounds, the battle can put up more of a fight against your powerful players. Also, how is Eve of Ruin? I wanted to try it out, but haven't had the time to read through my copy
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In the words of the great philosopher, Unicorse, "Aaaannnnd why should I care??"
It depends on specifically what aspects the party is overachieving at. If they are dominating through battlefield control (crippling enemies) then adding more monsters is better, if they are just deal lots more damage than normal increasing monster HP is better. If they have a bunch of magic armour that it making them hard to hit, then you need to give all enemies one action that relies on saving throws instead of attack rolls.
I'm coming in late, but Sly Flours has a nice article (dials of monster difficulty) on adjusting monster difficulty, which seems like it is your primary need.
Hi! I know published adventures are based on a 4-person party. My group has 5 players and have a more than average amount of magic weapons and items thanks to the 50,000 gp reward from Dragon Heist. We have just started Eve of Ruin and chapter 1 (at level 9) wasn't very difficult for them. What would be the better way to increase the difficulty: max out monster hit points, or adding an extra monster to each encounter?
Thanks!
-James
I find maxing out monsters HP does help, since they last longer, but if you don't want to extend battle time, I recommend trying to increase damage, though it doesn't have to be by much or just let the monsters control the battlefield, with difficult terrain, AOE attacks that stay for a couple rounds, the battle can put up more of a fight against your powerful players. Also, how is Eve of Ruin? I wanted to try it out, but haven't had the time to read through my copy
In the words of the great philosopher, Unicorse, "Aaaannnnd why should I care??"
It depends on specifically what aspects the party is overachieving at. If they are dominating through battlefield control (crippling enemies) then adding more monsters is better, if they are just deal lots more damage than normal increasing monster HP is better. If they have a bunch of magic armour that it making them hard to hit, then you need to give all enemies one action that relies on saving throws instead of attack rolls.
this is genius i'm definitely going to use this
Thanks!
Eve of Ruin is pretty good as-written. I'm changing some things around and adding side quests to break up the fetch quests.
Interesting! I'll take notice of that. Good advice. Thanks!
I'm coming in late, but Sly Flours has a nice article (dials of monster difficulty) on adjusting monster difficulty, which seems like it is your primary need.
Make sure to increase the XP if you increase the difficulty,
You are winning the game. Good job! Oh wait...
Cool. Thanks, guys