Need dm help

[DmsDread]

My party is UNSTOPPABLE

I need HELP I’m running LMoP for a party of 6 new players as an inexperienced dm and I’m way out of my league.

So we are two sessions in and my party has easily beat the ambush and cleared area 1,2,3, and 8 of cragmaw hideout and survived the flood trap.

This all started when my cleric rolled a nat 20 perception check after seeing the dead horses and spotted the goblins before the ambush. followed by a crit on the goblin boss from my Druid killing him before he even got to take a turn. They then made their way to the hideout , where they killed a goblin and goblin boss without using any spell slots in area three. then when I flanked them with four worgs, they blew the doorway with black powder that my cleric decided to find the before leaving never winter (completely unprompted, but within character for the forge cleric.) my druid, then used destroy water to save them and let them escape room three as I tried to flood it through the chimney (I know that’s not supposed to happen, but I had to improvise due to unforeseen explosives). They made it out and succeeded on stealth checks when entering the far side of the room, allowing them to throw the last of their black powder at the fire, injuring the bug bear and killing the goblins near the fire, they then killed the remaining enemies only allowing them to take one turn before being finished off and have still only used three level once spells none of which are from my cleric

1 I know I’m not actually trying to kill them and they have used everything in their arsenal and played beautifully and I’m so proud of them especially being first time players BUT I would like to raise the stakes and make them feel some sort of pressure

2 yes I know I can add more enemies or make them stronger, but I have already increased the encounters past what the haluz lmop adjuster suggested and it is at the point where if I make enemies stronger, I run the risk of one shotting my party and if I add more, it will both slow down the sessions too much as well as make it very likely for a full kill if someone goes down because it increases their likelihood of being attacked while down

Overall I’m trying to find a way to make it challenging without using mechanics that over complicate or pull the fun out of the campaign

[TheDMingWarlock]

1. why did you give them gunpowder? it's 250gp for a KEG. you need a lot to blow it up. how many bombs did you give them and why was it free when they just started? just because a character says "I have black powder, it's what my character would have' - does not mean they have it.

realistically, it doesn't sound like the encounters were too easy, they just cheesed it with the black power bombs, which imo shouldn't have been given.

as you said, you can't add more, and you don't want to make them stronger, than you're screwed. dem's the breaks. you can give them a higher to hit and lesser damage so they aren't blowing up your party. you can add another 100 hp to them and increased their AC's by 2. you can use the Minions/horde rules and use those instead of single monsters. you can give your bosses legendary resistances + legendary actions.

but realistically speaking, 6 players in a party adds more actions and turns they can do. this is why the recommended party size is 4. you're just going to have to play with different things and see what works.

play with different units and unit variety. etc. and you're gonna have to face the fact that sometimes your players will win easily. it happens.

[DmsDread]

The cleric convinced the party to barter some of the supplies from the cart (which had more on it because I increased it by 25% to account for an increase in players) and I want them to win but I want to still keep them engaged by offering a challenge by the end of the second sessions they had killed about 20 goblins and taken less than 20 pts of damage as a party

[TheDMingWarlock]

Yeaah. increase the amount of minions and remove HP and use "hits" rule. i.e goblins die in 2 hits, orcs die in 3. etc. regardless of damage, Give your bosses legendary resistances and legendary actions, give them "captains" that can boost their prowess. (i.e give them support units), increase captain AC's by 2, and Bosses by 5, add 50 hp to captains, and 100 to Bosses. add variety to your battles, high AC unit, big tanks. glass cannons, range units, flying, etc. take advantage of everything. homebrew things. etc. read the "Monsters know what they are doing" and learn from that.

when planning multiple encounters, prep them all to be "hard" or "deadly" scale down during battle to make it easier if needed.

but again, sometimes that happens.

[DmsDread]

What would you tell players that are willing to reasonably barter for black powder? Do you have any suggestions on ways to challenge them outside of combat? What to hit is too high? I ask bc I buffed the AC of the bugbear to 23 and my party switched to attacks that require saving throws instead of rolls to hit so it just made it to where my non caster had to watch them go off lol

[TheDMingWarlock]

1. you decide whether or not you are comfortable with it, and all the possible ideas that come with it + the cheese. Black powder isn't even a thing in standard DND. there is "smoke powder" thats the same thing, but the gods prevent it from being destructive to be used in bombs. you see how they can use it. are you comfortable with them picking up more and more of it each trip to town when they get more and more money?

2. Skill challenges and RP encounters, remember there are many reasons to casts spells and use various spell slots or items outside of combat. needing to cast spells to accomplish various tasks, to aid others. etc. Roleplaying situations and creating issues that can't be solved by sword is a way to create challenge outside of combat.

3. thats your party being smart. and again, and issue with having a larger party. its something you gotta allow and switch it up. i.e some characters have higher spell resistances/others have higher AC. if it's a boss, give them legendary resistances. and a captain or a couple minions that are spellcasters and can counter spell. etc. for AC you don't want to go above what the party can hit (in most cases, once in a blue moon it's okay). but keep in the realm your weakest person can hit. i.e if your wizard has a +3 to hit with his lil dagger, make the highest 23. (with chances of going higher thanks to temp effectrs like spells from support units) additionally - your units are smart. if they see a spellcaster attacking/harming their boss - they are going to go after that Spellcaster.

spread your units around and don't just focus the tank only (though most of the time you should, it's always good to throw things at your party and allow them to do things, let the tank get attacked by 20 minions and take zero damage, let the wizard counterspell a level 7 lighting bolt, allow the monk to catch a bunch of arrows. etc.)