At lower levels stats make a huge difference for pre made material. Most material is made considering something like a 15 point stat buy.
Not that CR isn't a bit off at times, but chances are you shot yourself in the foot with rolls. Good stats, party buffs via bard, using remote intelligent tactics and some optimization, swing things way wide unfortunately. At this point the only thing you can do is improvise. Each party is different and what works for some, may not do jack all for others. The idea is you know your party, strengths and weaknesses, and so have the best information on how to handle (and challenge) them. CR has never been anything but a guideline for 15 Point Buy, and not a very exact one at that.
In my experience, you also have to be careful not to include too many creatures in an encounter that are just too low on the CR scale. For example, I tend to only go as low as APL -3 for the minimum CR creature in an encounter. As an example, 4th level PCs really don’t get a challenge at all from skeletons. At CR 1/3 they really are just a speed bump.
In other words, I look to fill encounters with opponents that are at least APL -3 and up to APL +3. If the individual opponent’s CR is APL -4 or worse, the encounters tend to be less than fun.
Looking closer at the example you gave (4 skeletons, 2 ghouls, and 1 ghast cleric 4), I’m calling the ghast a CR 4, which really makes the entire encounter a CR6. One may think that is a tough fight. However, the skeletons should be discounted as they fall too far under the CR range. They may not have any chance at really hurting the party.
I also don’t remember where I read this but an appropriate CR encounter tends to use up 1/4 of the parties resources. In other words, four CR4 encounters for your group should be it before they need rest. With that said, try throwing three CR 4 encounters at them at once or in short waves.
Using the same example as above, the PCs could run into a 4th level ghast cleric (CR4) who rouses his troops and the group is hit with two waves of ghouls (3 in each wave for CR4 each). And if they still steamroll that, maybe a 3rd waves comes to the cleric’s aid.
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The classic 'fight on a rickety bridge' can always be fun. You probably don't want to have lava or some such below at this level, but you could have some alligators down below. Then have the foes try to bull-rush them off of the bridge, or perhaps sucker them all onto it and cut the supporting ropes.
etc
Many of us have stopped using XP to decide leveling. We pick a point in the campaign where we decide they should level and tell them. I try to use a point where the party has accomplished a goal and is ready to follow the next lead.
One thing I like to do is surround the big bad guys with minions who are tough enough to be a nuisance but not a threat to party survival in their own right. This lets the big bad get in his shots and not be overwhelmed quickly.
Another tactic is having the PCs face a balanced party only slightly weaker than their own.
As you can tell, I don't rely on the CR too much.
Morag
This, and the other posts, are very helpful to me. The idea of waves sounds great. My biggest issue with this is the XP it grants, but maybe, like My Self mentioned, the XP could instead be based on number of encounters, plot "points", etc.
Also, the group tends to trail off into boredom when the encounter gets beyond roughly 5 rounds. I have used dangerous map elements, "timers", and other things to make combat less of a straight-up hack-n'-slash, and while it has helped I think, can you suggest other ideas to make combat more...
I use the slow advancement schedule, however I don't strictly stick to XP totals. If it would make more sense to finish off an encounter with more or less XP, then I do so. If, for example, the PC's abandon the pursuit of an enemy compound, I may add some reinforcements for when they return, and don't add in the extra XP (mostly cause it may throw the story off to have them too high a level too soon).
As for excitement, my group tends to like the 5 to 10 round encounter. To me, the excitement is keeping some legitimate and various threats alive on the battlefield. I try to play the encounters intelligently (if they opponents are intelligent). Read some of the optimization guides on the various classes or group tactics, then use tactics that the PCs may use. For example, that ghast cleric could cause headaches for the PCs with Obscuring Mist spells while waves of his ghoul friends stalk the PCs through the mist (and limiting ranged attacks), and while the PCs should easily make the paralysis save, the threat increases with the sheer numbers. Things get more interesting if anyone fails their save.
I also run a homebrew, which is kind of like a military campaign, so I usually think of how a particular group would defend their territory, and what tactics they may use.
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How did the Paladin get a griffin mount at 4th level? Paladins generally don't even get mounts until 5th level.
Regardless, it sounds like your group ended up with pretty high point buys, so I'd treat their APL as 1 higher when determining the CR and experience of the challenges you put them up against.
Another thing to look out for is ensuring proper use of both the monsters you select, and the terrain. For example, a young black dragon would be an appropriate challenge for your group. A black dragon is expected to be found in swampy terrain and has both swamp stride and water breathing, so an appropriate encounter would involve the dragon using this terrain to its advantage (See the Marsh Terrain section of the environment chapter for some handy tools to use here). Note that bogs increase the DC of Acrobatics and Stealth checks, are treated as difficult terrain, may contain hazards like quicksand, and drastically limit the effectiveness of Perception checks, making it easier for a perfectly still black dragon hiding under the water to avoid notice and get a surprise round.
Swamps also contain aquatic terrain, which in addition to the possibility of drowning contains some other dangerous hazards and obstacles.
Say that our CR 7 young black dragon was hiding in a deep pool in the swamp before catching the party in a surprise round and spitting acid at them before diving down into the pool. If the party tries to shoot at the dragon while it's submerged, not only does it have improved cover (+8 bonus to AC, +4 bonus on Reflex saves), but any thrown weapons they may use are completely ineffective and any other ranged weapons suffer a -2 penalty on attack rolls for every 5 feet the dragon has submerged itself. If they try going in after the dragon, they're faced with an aquatic reptile that can breathe underwater, sense them if they come within 60 feet no matter how murky the water is, and which has a swim speed of 60 feet. Not only that, unless they're wielding a piercing weapon, the adventurers will be taking a -2 to attack and damage with all attacks while in the water.
Every monster has an ecology note that mentions where it can be found. That ecology is actually part of the creature's estimated CR, and fighting creatures outside of that environment means they won't pose the challenge they're expected to.
While the black dragon describe above probably has the potential for some of the most difficult and dangerous terrain you can find at the level your party currently is, I think it does a good job of illustrating the ways you can amp the difficulty of an encounter without actually changing the CR or "fudging" the numbers to increase the challenge. When used appropriately, terrain can do more to increase the challenge of an encounter than adding half a dozen lower level mook monsters.
There are a lot of good ideas here that I will start implementing next session. I like the idea of incorporating the usage of skills during combat, but should that figure in any way in the XP calculations, especially if they are particularly challenging?
I also have some difficulty with evaluating the intelligence of monsters and whatnot from their Int/WIs scores. There doesn't seem to be a definitive source for how those two scores interact, although they both heavily affect their performance on the battlefield. Are there any handy sources that I am missing, and how do you judge whether a certain level of tactics is appropriate/possible for a creature?
Use your best judgment, that is what you are there for/your role in the game.
I think you might benefit from reading an AP through, to see how the Paizo designers use things like terrain, skills, etc. to make encounters more challenging. They often have tactics for meaningful encounters as well. I don't know that I would run your current party through it, for obvious reasons. But maybe your next attempt at running, it would be a good idea.
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There are a lot of good ideas here that I will start implementing next session. I like the idea of incorporating the usage of skills during combat, but should that figure in any way in the XP calculations, especially if they are particularly challenging?
It depends on the monster, honestly. Like I mentioned in the black dragon example above, his ecology notes that he is assumed to be encountered in a swamp, so the various skill checks and hazards native to those terrains are part of his listed CR. Something like a ghoul, whose environment is "any land" doesn't make as many assumptions, but a general rule of thumb you can use is that 1 or 2 skill checks per encounter are generally expected and shouldn't change the CR. For example, if the ghoul was in a partially submerged tomb that required an Acrobatics check to avoid falling prone on a section of that map that's slippery from algae, created difficult terrain in the lowest portion where the water had pooled, and which required a level appropriate Climb check to surmount some fallen rubble, that would be an appropriate encounter and shouldn't change the CR. If, however, the terrain is both unexpected for the monster and provides such a severe challenge that the results of failing one of the skill checks would be equivalent to triggering a dangerous trap, you may want to treat the encounter as a CR higher when awarding the party xp.
I also have some difficulty with evaluating the intelligence of monsters and whatnot from their Int/WIs scores. There doesn't seem to be a definitive source for how those two scores interact, although they both heavily affect their performance on the battlefield. Are there any handy sources that I am missing, and how do you judge whether a certain level of tactics is appropriate/possible for a creature?
Use your best judgement. Some helpful guidelines-
1)Unless the monster completely lacks an Intelligence score, like an ooze or mindless insect, it should at the very least know how to take advantage of the terrain it's found in, avoiding hazards and using favorable positioning. Even animals will take advantage of natural cover and avoid hazards like quicksand.
2)Even if the monster's Wisdom is on the low side, it can still probably recognize things like "the guy in the full plate might be hard to bite" or "the guy in a vest and pants looks weaker and squishier" (with the exception of creatures with extremely low Wisdom scores, like oozes).
2a) Creatures too dumb to use magic generally don't recognize spellcasters. A hungry wolf is going to assume that the guy covered in metal is the most dangerous opponent, and may try for the frail guy in the robes. When a low INT/WIS monster sees magic used, it may be so startled by the display that it tries for another opponent that it can actually comprehend, even if doing so isn't the best tactic.
3)Eating machines don't use tactics. Creatures like oozes or giant worms probably don't have any natural predators, and they're not really smart enough to adapt to changing circumstances, so they're just going to continue to try and eat whatever's in front of them.
4) Creatures know how to use their own feats and abilities. A wolf will try to trigger its trip ability and is a natural flanker, a creature with the powerful charge ability is going to do its best to charge, a monster with Vital Strike will try to use it with its strongest natural attack in any round it can't take a full attack, etc.
5)INT/WIS 10 is average. So if your monster has an INT or WIS score between 7 and 10, it's not an idiot, it's just a bit on the slow side. It should still react and reason about as well as you would expect from an average human being in real life.