Let me clarify when I say that they just need to use proper D&D 5e stats and a party of 6 would work just fine:
Here is a breakdown of the encounters:
3 Imps in Prologue with Lae'zel - Party of 4 custom + Lae'zel. Add Us if you want, still works with a party of 6. What doesn't work is 3 imps with only 1 custom character + Lae'zel and/or Us, so they had to nerf the imps.
3 imps on deck and any fight with an intellect devourer. A single Intellect Devourer is a challenge for a party of 5 or 6 Level 1 characters using standard 5e rules and stats, but not too hard for a tutorial. Again, they nerfed these fights to make them work for party of 4.
2 imps + hellsboar. Same. 3 Intellect Devourers on the beach with party of 4 + Shadowheart. Same. All nerfed for party of 1 custom + Lae'zel and/or Shadowheart.
Fishermen with Mind Flayer in nautiloid. Lame fight regardless. Whether you use any kind of 5e stats or not, this fight will be super easy for 4 or 6 party size. Makes no difference. Then again, it doesn't seem like it's supposed to be hard, so good either way.
Gimblebock, Mari and Barton and mercenaries using Bandit and Bandit Captain stats (Gimblebock, Mari and Barton being Captains). Using 5e stats would work just fine with a party of 6 for these fights. Again, what doesn't work is party of 4. In the beginning, these characters were really hard to defeat in like Patch 1 and 2. Why? I think it's because they were originally created for a party of 6, and they had to nerf them too in order to make them work with party of 4.
Dank Crypt skeletons - These are all homebrew anyway. So this battle is fine whether you have 4 or 6. Spellcasting skeletons that hurl magic missiles and put characters to sleep, etc. is tough. The battle would certainly be easier with 6, but since this is early game, an easier battle at this point wouldn't be so bad. Keep in mind, at this point in the game, beginner players will think they should sleep as little as possible, so battles should be easier until they learn that it's okay to sleep. The tadpole is dormant... for now.
At the grove gate, battle becomes more interesting when using Bugbear Chieftain stats as opposed to what they're using. This coupled with actual Goblin Boss stats with an AI that uses Redirect Attack would make either a party of 4 or party of 6 more challenging here. I think the homebrew booyahg works well. That said, frankly, this battle need more goblins because it's too easy regardless of 4 or 6 party size. Your ally to enemy ratio is too high right now. You have Zevlor, several tieflings, Wyll, Aradin and his two cronies and your party all teaming up against only five goblins, a worg and a bugbear. You have more on your side than they do! Why is everyone acting like you just saved the grove from some huge army of goblins? So, regardless, this fight needs a rebalancing anyway. We need maybe twice as many goblins, and if you don't use a bugbear chief, we need another bugbear and maybe even another worg. This should be a tough fight, but Zevlor and his people on the wall have the advantage because the goblins have to only use ranged to hit them. Aradin and his two goons should be hard to save based on the reactions everyone gives you. So that you, the player, aren't overwhelmed, enemy AI should focus archers and booyahg on tieflings on the wall. The goblin boss, bugbears and worgs should focus on Aradin and his two minions. You basically attack from behind, so only those you attack should turn and start fighting you. In this way, you can lure enemies away from killing the NPC's you're trying to save. Having a party of 6 would certainly allow the player more of an opportunity to really feel like they are saving the grove from a large goblin raiding party with 10 goblins (including 1 boss and 1 booyahg), 2 bugbears and 2 worgs.
Harpy fight is just fine whether party of 4 or 6. This is actually probably one of the most 5e battles in the game.
Owlbear fight. Party of 6 would probably be too much for the owlbear and cub. Probably would have to add a second owlbear for a party of 6. Enter, the Papa.
Goblins in Blighted Village. Party of 4 or 6, doesn't really matter. They're ambushing you on the rooftops. Therefore, ranged is supreme here. It takes a bit for melee characters to get to the goblins to even attack them, especially now that they have Nimble Escape. So, a party of 6 would make this fight easier, but this is a minor fight. Should it really be super hard? Remember, the less difficult the fights are, the less a player should long rest, which goes along more with the story. This fight, as is, whether party of 4 or 6, should chip away at the party enough to be a decent encounter but not leave the party in a position that they need to long rest immediately after. A party of 6 ensures this idea more than a party of 4.
Same is true for every encounter in the Blighted Village. They're pretty much fine as is. Party of 6 would just make them far less volatile. For example, the battle at the windmill can go VERY poorly with a party of 4 if you roll badly on initiative. You can find your entire party dead before you even get a chance to go. It's happened to me. Party of 6 increases your chances of at least standing a chance in this fight; especially if you don't know the trick about how to end it quickly. Bugbears and ogres are the same. Party of 6 only gives you, the player, a better chance of surviving without having to practically die with each fight and then long rest immediately after.
Hag and Bog. Same scenario. Proper stats for wood woads and mud mephits work well with a party of 6. They are nerfed for party of 4 and don't act like proper wood woads and mud mephits. Redcaps wouldn't be such a brutal fight with 6 party members (keeping in mind I'm talking about new player experience as well... not just people who have played the game for 100+ hours and know all the tricks to beating them). The hag herself would not be such a volatile fight where I feel like I'm probably going to have to reload at least a couple of times just to beat her. Same with her 4 mask minions. THAT fight can be truly brutal, especially with Vengeance.
The Gith Patrol. I don't need to say anything further, but I will. Party of 4, I've been taken out in just a turn or two before and had to reload simply because of bad RNG. Party of 6 stabilizes this encounter and allows for some room for bad RNG. Party of 4 leave literally no room for mistakes or bad RNG. You make a mistake or have bad RNG, and you're reloading. Guaranteed.
Same is true for the gnolls, though that fight is a bit more forgiving. The Tyrites, if you fight them, are also fine as is whether party of 4 or 6. Certainly easier with party of 6, but the fights would be more stabilized and less RNG.
And they absolutely killed the skeleton battle outside the necromancer's lair. They need to put it back the way it was in like Patch 1 and let us have a party of 6. Then the encounter would be fun, unique and challenging. The necromancer's journal makes it sound like he's got some tough guardians to face the zulkiers with should they show up, but from experience, this fight is so not scary even in the remotest sense for a party of 4. It's baby mode now. Again, put it back to the skeletons running to like 9 different caskets and springing up all those skeletons against you. Then give us a party of 6 so we can fight them all successfully without nerfing them. That was a tough fight, but I enjoyed it was it was. It was quite unique and made a lot more sense once upon a time.
The phase spiders I've talked about at length. Party of 6 would work fine with proper phase spider stats. Of course, mama would be a homebrewed nightmare, and her babies would be homebrewed as well because there are no stats for those. However, the 2 phase spider minions in the lair and the 2 with the ettercaps should be ninja melee assassins popping up out of nowhere unexpectedly and attacking at close range. This would be a fun set of encounters with a party of 6 especially if they went back to having mama hatch ALL her 18 baby eggs in the lair. Party of 6, hatch all 18 eggs, phase spiders with proper stats. This would be awesome.
The massive goblin fights including fights against the bosses. Again, so much less volatile with a party of 6. They'd still be hard, especially if you upped the levels on the bosses. Let's face it, Larian is going to have to up their levels when EA is over because they are going to be too baby once you're not capped at level 5. Right now, I can reach level 5 by doing all the missions in the game BEFORE I face the goblin leaders. So, imagine fighting the goblin leaders and the entire camp at level 5 instead of 4. Yeah. Gut, Ragzlin and Minthara are going to need level boosts or those fights are going to be way too easy.
If you lure Minthara to the grove to fight here there, too easy as is. There needs to be a rebalance. The last several times I did this fight, I slaughtered everything including Minthara without the gate even so much as losing half its health. We just kept pegging enemies and blowing them up from a distance. They never even got close.
And once you reach the Underdark, the current imbalances are even worse. Party of 6 with proper stats would balance those out, but they'd still need tweaking. For example, the duergar in Blighted Village. There's only 4. A party of 4 level 2's could probably take them if you're strategic enough. Throw a party of 4 level 5's at them, which you will likely be level 5 by that point, and this battle will be so easy you'll hardly even know you fought it.
Are you seeing what I'm getting at here? Regardless, most of the fights need to be rebalanced whether it is a party of 4 or 6. In fact, the balance of most of their encounters would only be benefited from a party of 6 and proper 5e stats.
