I've run into this a few times in the past. I will say its been much easier to account for an extra +1 boost to CR to make encounters more challenging for having six players. However, where this becomes more challenging is map scale.
Often boosting CR involves having, for example, four of a given monster instead of three, and with two more PCs in the party, that takes up a lot more room on the standard map.
This often results in a bottleneck that means that four good guys and maybe two bad guys are duking it out at the front end of the encounter area, and this means that the extra CR only really results in combat taking a bit longer as the extra bad guys roll up to take their punishment.
I've been wondering if there is a magic "expansion" of the maps that will work well to accommodate encounters such as this. Changing scale from 5 feet to 10 feet seems like it would work for a lot of maps, but I'm sure there are some instances where this will result in some pretty silly rooms.
Then again, part of the problem is that some encounters are cramped to begin with, even with the lower number of monsters and the assumed four PCs.
Anyone play with map scales in published adventures and come up with a golden conversion number for six PCs instead of four?
I change the map scale sometimes, but I still try to keep the same relative spacing.
I change the map scale sometimes, but I still try to keep the same relative spacing.
Oh, yeah, I would definitely keep the proportion in cases like this. One thing I do wonder about, however, is door scale. It becomes awkward for doors to suddenly all become double doors in all these buildings, but a 5 foot door can still be a pretty significant bottleneck with you have six players entering instead of four.
I change the map scale sometimes, but I still try to keep the same relative spacing.Oh, yeah, I would definitely keep the proportion in cases like this. One thing I do wonder about, however, is door scale. It becomes awkward for doors to suddenly all become double doors in all these buildings, but a 5 foot door can still be a pretty significant bottleneck with you have six players entering instead of four.
I have never change the door scale though, not unless I had more than six characters in the party.
I change the map scale sometimes, but I still try to keep the same relative spacing.Oh, yeah, I would definitely keep the proportion in cases like this. One thing I do wonder about, however, is door scale. It becomes awkward for doors to suddenly all become double doors in all these buildings, but a 5 foot door can still be a pretty significant bottleneck with you have six players entering instead of four.
I've run into this DMing Runelords for 7 PCs (that's right, seven!). I have been able to get away with fudging some maps, but soon we will be moving onto Skinsaw Murders, and I haven't quite figured out how to do that too.
I suppose I could just keep the proportions (we use homemade dungeon tiles) to effectively use 1 square = 10 ft, enabling more room to fight. So far it works, and the players are none the wiser (except for the ones who prowl these boards...you know who you are!
As for doors, I love to have bottlenecks from time-to-time, as it keeps them on their toes, and it forces them to really coordinate their tactics.