Help... What to do with a lot of players [Archive] - Wizards Community

Help... What to do with a lot of players [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
dracox
09-18-05, 12:17 PM I hope this is ok that I post this question here instead of the normal D&D question forum but since I am running an Eberron campaign I figured what the heck.

Here is my question. I have found that most adventures, creature CR, etc. are intented for 4 players of a certain level. My problem is that I have 7 players who are all 3rd level which is almost double the explaination for CRs on creatures and mods. Does that effectively make my party 6th level for determining encounters/CRs?

So how does the math work and what would you suggest I do?

So far what I have read and seen is something along the lines of dealing with a party that is a higher or lower level then said adventure but nothing if you have more then 4 players...

I checked the DMG but I haven't seen anything on this and maybe I just missed it but I would to know how to formulate and create encounters that will be fun and a challenge for a large group of players.

Can be as simple as add more bad guys? I guess so. Should I look at CRs of a 6th level party?

How would you do it?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Dracox
MysticTheurge
09-18-05, 12:23 PM According to this calculator (http://www.d20srd.org/encounterCalculator.htm) your party level is 4.6, meaning it's similar to 4 4.6th level characters.

So you might consider using EL 4s and 5s in place of EL 3s, though that might make for some challenging encounters, but I suspect you'll find EL 3 to be just too easy.
dracox
09-18-05, 12:30 PM Very cool! Thanks for sending me that page. You know I have that d20 web page bookmarked and did not see that page before.

So around a CR 4 or 5 would probably work out.
Karrg
09-18-05, 01:20 PM One note on increasing the CRs of their encounters, most the time you probably should increase the number of opponents rather then using a single higher CR. Seeing as a single higher CR can dish out notably more damage on a full round attack or spell(like) ability then a single character can survive.

I've had that problem in my game, with upwards of 8 players. Raising the CR to offset the numbers has gotten nonfrontline classes deaded in one round when they strayed into full attack range.
zambuka
09-18-05, 08:19 PM The best bet is to find encounters that have higher CR because of some special ability.

eg. My group has 7 players. I looked around for something to challenge them without being too dangerous. The solution was the grick. A CR3 creature that only has 9 hit points and an AC of 16. The main reason for it's higher CR is the DR10/magic. The low BAB of the creature (+3 on a full attack) meant the the main fighter (a Str 18 Warforged with Adamantine body feat) was never in serious danger. With a good mix of magic and psionics as back up I could easily throw 2 of those at my 7 member group.

DR, magic resistance and other things that make the CR higher are a good place to look because these creatures often have lower HP and AC than similar CR encounters that don't have DR or MR.

Also make use of environmental modifiers. A CR3 encounter can easily challenge the party if they encounter it in a narrow (1 person at a time) corridor. Or if the creatures are using ranged attacks and have hard to reach cover.

The best trick however, as mentioned already, is to increase encounter numbers rather than increase the CR of individual creatures.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
dracox 09-18-05, 12:17 PM	I hope this is ok that I post this question here instead of the normal D&D question forum but since I am running an Eberron campaign I figured what the heck. Here is my question. I have found that most adventures, creature CR, etc. are intented for 4 players of a certain level. My problem is that I have 7 players who are all 3rd level which is almost double the explaination for CRs on creatures and mods. Does that effectively make my party 6th level for determining encounters/CRs? So how does the math work and what would you suggest I do? So far what I have read and seen is something along the lines of dealing with a party that is a higher or lower level then said adventure but nothing if you have more then 4 players... I checked the DMG but I haven't seen anything on this and maybe I just missed it but I would to know how to formulate and create encounters that will be fun and a challenge for a large group of players. Can be as simple as add more bad guys? I guess so. Should I look at CRs of a 6th level party? How would you do it? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks, Dracox
MysticTheurge 09-18-05, 12:23 PM	According to this calculator (http://www.d20srd.org/encounterCalculator.htm) your party level is 4.6, meaning it's similar to 4 4.6th level characters. So you might consider using EL 4s and 5s in place of EL 3s, though that might make for some challenging encounters, but I suspect you'll find EL 3 to be just too easy.
dracox 09-18-05, 12:30 PM	Very cool! Thanks for sending me that page. You know I have that d20 web page bookmarked and did not see that page before. So around a CR 4 or 5 would probably work out.
Karrg 09-18-05, 01:20 PM	One note on increasing the CRs of their encounters, most the time you probably should increase the number of opponents rather then using a single higher CR. Seeing as a single higher CR can dish out notably more damage on a full round attack or spell(like) ability then a single character can survive. I've had that problem in my game, with upwards of 8 players. Raising the CR to offset the numbers has gotten nonfrontline classes deaded in one round when they strayed into full attack range.
zambuka 09-18-05, 08:19 PM	The best bet is to find encounters that have higher CR because of some special ability. eg. My group has 7 players. I looked around for something to challenge them without being too dangerous. The solution was the grick. A CR3 creature that only has 9 hit points and an AC of 16. The main reason for it's higher CR is the DR10/magic. The low BAB of the creature (+3 on a full attack) meant the the main fighter (a Str 18 Warforged with Adamantine body feat) was never in serious danger. With a good mix of magic and psionics as back up I could easily throw 2 of those at my 7 member group. DR, magic resistance and other things that make the CR higher are a good place to look because these creatures often have lower HP and AC than similar CR encounters that don't have DR or MR. Also make use of environmental modifiers. A CR3 encounter can easily challenge the party if they encounter it in a narrow (1 person at a time) corridor. Or if the creatures are using ranged attacks and have hard to reach cover. The best trick however, as mentioned already, is to increase encounter numbers rather than increase the CR of individual creatures.