How should I make the encounters tougher?

[Marus]

I own: Core Rule Book, Bestiary, Beginner's Box.

I know about: The PRD and D20PFSRD.COM

My experience: I GM'd Deathwatch briefly, but otherwise have no GM experience. However, I have played AD&D 2e, 3e, 3.5, 4e (Don't judge me too harshly), and many other non-D&D rpgs.

My players: Five of them. One has played D&D 3.5 in the past and has played some Final Fantasy. Another has extensive experience with World of Warcraft. Yet another has played many Final Fantasy games. And finally, two of them played 1st ed D&D so long ago they don't even remember how it worked.

I list all of this to give you good sages as much info as possible that might be needed to answer the topic's question.

I know how the effective challenge level works according to the Core Rule Book. I plan on using the adventure provided withe the Beginner's Box as the first for my players. However, I do want to allow them to play any of the races AND classes from the Core book. Considering all these factors: Should I simply throw more enemies at the per encounter, and/or make the enemies tougher at each encounter? I bow to experience here

[John Spalding]

Honestly, since everyone is new and system mastery will be low, just run it by the book. If they mop things up, the change the future encounters.

Anything with 3+ creatures - add 1 extra creature.
Solo bosses - add +2 to everything (hit/damage/saves) and +2hp/Hit dice (the advanced template)

[Marus]

Seems simple enough. And effective. Thank you, very much. Very excited to run this next month.

[Denim N Leather]

Another quick fix is to add 20-50hp to single creatures or up their AC a couple of notches. This will make them harder to hit/kill without going overboard.

[George Velez]

The above is good advice, start with something basic. If they kill them to fast, gradually scale up the numbers and types of enemies (don’t forget that class levels and templates are very useful) until you find the right balance (which is different for each gaming group).

Let us know how it goes for you!

(PS: NEVER forget that the simple addition of terrain and weather can make a run of the mill encounter into really memorable encounter).