Using XP to create appropriate challenges?

[pwykersotz]

So, here's where I find myself. I have a party of 5 experienced gamers. One of them is a Moon Druid, so he can soak a tremendous amount of damage.

They just hit level 3, and I'm weighing how to build encounters for them. Specifically, the guide says to lower the multiplier for xp if the group has 6 or more people, and to increase it if the group has 2 or fewer. 3-5 is considered a standard group. I'm building the encounters by the book for now. Trouble is, 5 players with a Moon Druid and a good smattering of casters is pretty high power.

The question: would any of you consider lowering the xp multiplier as if the group had 6 members if the group is decently optimized, and why or why not?

[Beleriphon]

The question: would any of you consider lowering the xp multiplier as if the group had 6 members if the group is decently optimized, and why or why not?


PRobably not, the reason being that I think the game kind of assumes a certain level of optimization (which for 5th seems to amount to not being stupid). Five player is the top end of "normal" so I'd leave it unless you feel that the players are overly curb stomping what should be challenging encounters, or seem to be leveling faster than you really think they should based on the encounters presented.

[pwykersotz]

They aren't really curb stomping anything yet, but I project that they will. Another thought I had is moving the threshold up by 1. So 1-2 monsters is no multiplier, 3 is x 1.5, 4-7 is x2, etc.

Again, I'm not wedded to these changes, I'm just tossing ideas against the wall.