So I am running RotRL for 6 players one of them being a Summoner with eidelon. So seems like 7 players sometimes. I have a few questions because as a newer GM I am still learning myself and would like some advice from some of you vets that have been on the horse a lot longer. So two questions.
1) And this is the main question. What are any tips or tricks or things you do to help level up an encounter designed for 4ish up to 6ish. I am mainly talking about stats or monster numbers but any suggestions on how to up loot to balance are also welcome
2)Yes we have tried reducing the group but we are all close buddies and we all hang out together all the time so this is going to be it for future campaigns as well. So is there any adventure paths, campaigns, or runthroughs out there that are built for 6ish players. Something I could just dive into with them without having to do so much modification. Home brew is fine as well.
Thanks in advance
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I would do two things.
1. Keep the loot as is, so six characters have to share the loot of four characters.
2. Keep the characters one level lower than normal.
Doing it this way will save time because you won’t have to rework encounters.
The easiest way to beef up encounters for large parties is to simply add mooks that are either -3CR, -2CR, or -1CR from the CR of the encounter for every PC that you have above 4 PC's. RotRL, just like all AP's, is meant for 4 players. So, if you're running 6 players + 1 Eidolon and they're about to face a CR6 encounter designed for 4 players, you probably want to add 2-3 mooks that are CR4. And then use this as a gauge for generating future encounters to ensure your PC's are being adequately challenged. After a few combats, you should have enough data to figure: "ok generally for this group, 2 mooks that are -1CR and 1 mook that is -3CR are appropriate to add, but they're weak to ranged damage dealers, so when adding ranged mooks, adding two -2CR is appropriate".
Also, I would download the Combat Manager App and put it on your laptop/ipad, and you can generate entire encounters in 30-60 seconds, and either beef up or decrease the CR of a fight, even as an impromptu combat while being mid-sesh. It's super handy.
You are not the first with this problem, the Rise of the Runelords section has a dedicated thread about it.
In general it's about adding more weak targets, as Ryze Kuja wrote already. I'd try to work with the creatures already used in the book - if they normally had to battle 4 goblin warriors, now they have to fight 6. You don't want to beef up a single strong foe further, because then it might kill one or two PCs casually before going down.
If the area doesn't provide enough space, keep in mind reinforcements can arrive from adjacent areas. Having to defeat the same amount of monsters in waves instead facing them at once makes the encounter somewhat easier, though. On the other hand, the reinforcements concept allows you to adapt encounter difficulty on the fly: If your players' rolls are bad today or you underestimated their tools to deal with certain monsters, you can always send less or more reinforcements. Your players will never know.
I'd increase the loot by about 50%. Getting little loot tends to disadvantage the weaker classes, so it further skews the balance between classes. IMO Boomerang Nebula's suggestion still makes sense in the context of keeping them a level behind.
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Thanks SheepishEidolon, Boomerang Nebula, and Ryze Kuja for the advice. This will be a huge help and I will take a gander at the RotRL thread you linked SheepishEidolon. Much appreciated. Any other advice you and others can think of please don't hesitate to add
I often keep some reinforcements to arrive after a few rounds. That way i can “forget” them if the encounter is good as it is or I can have them circle around and ambush from behind if it is to easy.
^--- this is a great way to beef up an encounter as well, and should be #1 in the GM's playbook for on-the-fly encounter adjusting.
Aside from regular mooks showing up, a personal favorite of mine is to have whoever shows up in the middle of combat be a third party who acts like a story hook, such as a Drow Assassin. The Assassin isn't here to kill the party per se, but rather to kill the BBEG and grab the mcguffin and high tail out of there. Now it's a chase scene, and who doesn't love a good ol' fashioned Indiana Jones mcguffin chase scene. Hopefully the chase scene goes right through the middle of town and there's some property damage the PC's have to answer for too :)