Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 TenkayCrit Aug 20, 2015 20:59:43	Hi fellow DMs, So in my campaign my group seems to be blowing through encounters that they shouldn't be able to. Using the encounter creation budget in the DMG I have created fights that should be deadly (6,800 or more xp). For example, my four PCs took out one encounter in 3 rounds. That's 18 seconds. My four 7th level players, a monk, a rogue, a cleric, and a sorcerer took out 25 cultists, a cult fanatic, and a fire elemental. That's, according to the formulas on page 82 of the DMG, a fight that should equate to 11,500 xp. Thats nearly double the deadly level in 18 seconds. That seems extream. Is this normal or am I doing something wrong? Should I just give my players higher level encounters? If I stick to the same formula and xp levels, how can I make my encounters harder or last longer, or at least last a more reasonable amount of time?
#2 iserith Aug 20, 2015 21:11:27	Choose monsters with a higher CR.   Make sure you're doing six to eight challenges per adventuring day.   Create challenges that aren't necessarily about one side reducing the other side's hit points to zero.   Don't worry so much about how many rounds a combat encounter takes. As long as it's fun and a challenge, it's fine. Remember also that challenge and difficulty are different things. There must be some measure of difficulty for a challenge to be satisfying, but if the players can make good decisions to reduce the difficulty and overcome the challenge, that's the sign of a well-designed challenge, even if it takes just a few rounds to resolve.
#3 Barky Aug 21, 2015 2:05:21	Play deadly. The opening salvo of your monsters' attacks should be geared towards doing the most harm possible in the quickest time. Casters should start with their highest level spells, fighter types should burn their most deadly combo as soon as they are in range. Your monsters should be out for blood (remember they still have the option to knock players unconscious if you don't actually want to kill them).    Don't bunch up. Don't cluster enemies in tight groups so the players can obliterate them with AoE spells.   Use all combat maneuvers at your disposal. Remember Dash, to get melee types into the fray as quickly as possible. Use Disengage to get them out of tough spots. Monsters can Flank too, and get the advantages from doing so. Keep a list of all these combat options handy and learn how to use them.   Monsters should always equal or outnumber the players once they hit lvl 4-5 or so. Players can quickly gang up on single monsters and cut them to ribbons. Pad out those tough single monsters with various minions to even the odds.   Monsters usually have home-field advantage. They should know how to use their terrain most effectively. Set them up in ambushes, give them traps they can set off in combat, give them terrain that's easy for them but difficult for the players.   Develop collaborative tactics amongst the monsters. The cleric can hold a player attacking the fighter so the fighter can cut him to ribbons. The wizard can web the players in clear sight of the archers, who can pepper them with arrows. Dream up some strategies before game night. "The gnolls will charge from the right, attacking with arrows or Dashing to get the fighters into melee as fast as possible. The shaman will cast hold on the lead PC so the gnoll commander can cut him doen. The goblins will hide on the left and wait for the players to turn their backs on them, if discovered they'll use their nimbleness to escape and cut the rope holding up all those rocks." Note you may not get a chance to use those strategies, but you'll have a few in your pocket when combat comes up.   Finally, don't worry about it too much. In my opinion, one of the flaws with 4E was the long, drawn out battle. Making battles memorable and fun is more interesting thn making them long.   Good luck!
(Reply to #3) Meta4ic	Barky wrote:
#5 Rya.Reisender Aug 21, 2015 3:58:16	At lot of the difficulty comes down to how smart you play the monsters. It already starts with a goblin archer. If you make the goblin hide as a bonus action every turn, it's already double as hard as if you just make him shoot an arrow to attack every turn. PCs got AoE spells? Smart enemies wouldn't cluster together in that case. etc.   Anyway, deadly really only means "It is hard enough that it could in theory be deadly". It doesn't mean that the battle usually ends up with TPK. Though it usually means that at least a short rest is needed after the battle.   Generally the challenge is still a bit about conserving resources and not only with every single battle. Winning 8 deadly battles with only 2 short rests allowed in between is quite a feat! Winning a single deadly battle between long rests each time is not really all that hard.
#6 sleypy Aug 21, 2015 6:08:23	I like the answer!   I think that like Barkly said about home field advantage. The layout of the battle field can give monsters a huge advantage/disadvantage. If you set the battles on a infinity plain the monsters can't take advantage of their own territory. However, if the goblins are in twisty caves sized for goblins (with circular tunnels, escarpments, nooks, blind corners, etc.) then they can ambush and flank and gain advantage over the players without neccesarily being played very deadly. Plus having to deal with the battle field instead of just more damage prevents accidental TPK in the pursuit of a tougher fight.