Making even player/enemy groups....4E

[Godrednu]

I am going to start one of the premade campaigns, but it says it is made for 5 people. I may have seven now. How do I fix it so that the players don't have a huge advantage? Is there a table somewhere that converts enemy groups to an equal number of players to fight or something like that?

[tcrudisi]

Easy solution? Add in one monster of one of the types already in the encounter for each extra player. Have 2 extra players? Add in two extra normal (non-elite or solo) monsters. If some of the monsters are minions and you want to add in extra of those? Do 4 or 5 per player.

That'll balance 90% of your fights.

[Musco]

Also, if you're willing to go an extra mile, add in a monster whose role is not yer covered in that particular encounter. You can also play around their strenghts and weaknesses. It's an easy encounter? Add in monsters they're well equipped to deal with (minions for the controllers to shine, for example). It's a boss fight? Add in another brute to protect the artillery. Makes encounters balanced (by covering missing monster roles), tough fights tougher (but more memorable), and easy fights still easy (but fulfilling for everyone who get to see their build shine, even if the encounter did not take it into consideration at first).

[Gillric]

if you are looking strictly for the exp budget value for your group that can be found in the DMG or the Rules Compendium. You can then use that to calculate the increase in budget and add more monsters appropriately.