If they are casual gamers it should be okay. For more optimized charakters it will be too low, better make that two then.
Singles aren't the best opponents with larger groups, as the action economy is on the side with more bodies.
That thing will get crushed, it's a 1v8 fight.
It's a problem with the game, but the only way to safely and meaningfully challenge a larger group is with with a larger group of enemies. But this can lead to combat that take hours, so a lot of DMs try to throw high CRs at the party and hope it works out.
Time for some CR math. A group of 4 level 2 characters is itself CR 6. So If they fought a CR 6 enemy, they would have about a 50/50 chance of winning. A CR 2 foe would consume about 25% of their resources.
A group of 8 level 2 characters is CR 8. So, they would have about a 50% chance of beating a CR 8 enemy, and a CR 4 enemy would consume about 25% of their resources.
This mostly works out. Consider a bunch of low-level sorcerers hunting a CR 8 green dragon. If they all cast magic missile at it every round, they would kill the dragon after about 4 rounds. Though probably half or more of them would die.
This is, itself, the problem. When your group gets big, anything that is a challenge to them as a group is able to kill them individually. Your best bet is to make encounters consist of many low-level foes.
You could assemble the same CR 8 encounter with 24 goblins. A party of 8 will still have lots of trouble there, but it is more likely that they will be able to use tactics to win.
Coming back to your main question, you could pretty safely take whatever you would use if your party only had 4 people and double the number of creatures. The yeth hound in particular is not very threatening to larger groups. In a small group, the hound's bay will likely scare off the group's more melee-oriented characters and let the hound have a chance, in a larger group, more people are likely to make their saves so the hound will get torn apart. Consider adding 3 fiendish dogs to help protect the hound and prevent the party's heavy hitters from focusing too easily.
This would push the CR to 4, which is the 'easy but not cake' mark. You could add another hound, but aoe fear effects are quite dangerous in multiples, so I would recommend some other demon if you want to make the fight harder.
A match for a party of 4 level 2 PC adventurers is literally the definition of a CR 2 monster. That said, a CR=APL monster is not a HARD fight, just a fair/routine one. For bigger parties, it's better to increase the number of the same monster than it is to use one stronger monster.
A match for a party of 4 level 2 PC adventurers is literally the definition of a CR 2 monster. That said, a CR=APL monster is not a HARD fight, just a fair/routine one. For bigger parties, it's better to increase the number of the same monster than it is to use one stronger monster.
I would not call it a "match." It is more like a "non-trivial guaranteed win."
In theory, doubling the amount of creatures is +2 CR. This can be applied to players also, meaning that party has an effective APL of 4. But don't throw CR 4+ creatures at them - likely such a creature will kill one or two PCs before getting surrounded and neutralized. A barghest (CR 4) is a good example for that - three attacks with +10 bonus, resulting in 20.5 average damage if everything hits. This example was actually brought up in Game Mastery Guide, I won't take the credits for it.
So you are better off with many low CR creatures. At big battles I put packs of some of them onto a common initiative count and roll several d20 for their attacks. Works out ok...
Its a rustic setting so decided to go with 10 wolves and 2 advanced template wolves (Alpha male and Alpha female.
Action economy is on the side of the wolves. The terrain is open but with a bridge nearby that they can make it to in order to avoid being flanked.
According to herolab 12 wolves is a CR8 encounter. The party is CR8 - have I balanced this right?
You've balanced it right if you are happy with a 50/50 chance of totally wiping out the party. Remember that the game is designed around the assumption that the party generally wins, which is why most encounters are (on paper) less powerful than the party.
Bearing in mind both that the party may already be hit-point depleted, may already have expended its spells, and may have used a lot of daily powers in previous encounters -- and also that the party may not want to use all of its abilities in this fight (in case there's another fight or they get attacked in the night while resting) -- while the wolves have no such restriction, I'd say this is actually overpowering.
Nope, if you play your wolves right you may just kill the entire party.
8 characters lvl 2 is imo APL 4 (maybe 5 is they are optimized).
so a CR8 encounter would be really really tough. Dont forget wolves trip on their attack, and prone is a real bad condition for your PC.
I would go for 6 wolves and an alpha male for a tough encounter, and maybe get the wolves to flee if 4 get killed.
Nope, if you play your wolves right you may just kill the entire party.
8 characters lvl 2 is imo APL 4 (maybe 5 is they are optimized).
That's right, but remember that there's a difference between APL and CR.
Specifically, an APL X group would be a CR X+4 encounter, because there are four people of that level in the party.
CR == APL is a baseline for a fight the party is expected to win, but perhaps use some resources on.
CR == APL+3 is a fight the party is expected to win, but to take serious damage on, possibly even some deaths.
CR == APL+4 is a fight the party is not expected to win.
Or to put it another way, a fifth level fighter is expected to be able to fight a cyclopes (CR 5) to a draw, where either one could win. A fifth level cleric is also expected to be able to fight a cyclopes to a draw, as is a fifth level summoner, as is a fifth level bard.
The fighter, cleric, summoner, and bard together would swarm a single cyclopes. Any of them might win, but all of them together will overpower him.