Owlbear fight. Too easy with party of 6 especially with Andrick and Brynna.
Goblin fight inside Bogrot east entrance? Nice. Still didn't lose anyone or need a potion, but MOST of the party of 6 was at less than 10 HP by the time the battle was over. It's a good fight that COULD go worse for a party of 6 or WAY better, depending on RNG. The important thing to note, though, is that it isn't frustrating. I didn't even go first, and I didn't get surprise, and I triggered it so that they were on the rooftops with height bonus and everything, and I didn't feel like I was going to need to reload. I almost used a potion or two, but then I started turning the tide and winning. All in all, it was a good party of 6 fight that wasn't so hard that I feel like I need to long rest now. I can keep going with my adventure.
Keep in mind, I'm not using as many homebrews and gimicks as I can not use. So, no potion throwing, and I'm using drink potion as an action for most people, etc. I'm also not cheating with broken stealth mechanics and sniping the crap out of enemies before they even get to take a turn. I'm, for the most part, testing the game as if I'm a newby player to D&D and I don't really know all the tricks for stealth and height and so forth. So, if you do apply the expert, I know how to play the game super well with positioning everyone on high ground before a fight and stealthing around behind people to get extra attacks and just peg them off from a distance with Astarion who can keep hidden longer, etc., then yes. Party of 6 with current enemy stats and homebrew mechanics will make the game SUPER UBER BORING EASY. As much as I want party of 6, that's just the truth of it. Then again, that's true for Party of 4 too. When I start applying the game's gimicks, the game becomes SO SUPER EASY BORING. So, honestly, it really isn't much different in that regard. I still think they need to remove more of those gimicks, and especially with party of 6.
So yes, I'm still greatly in favor of party of 6, even IF they don't take out all the homebrew and they don't implement more 5e rules and stats. Why? Because I can actually adventure and defeat enemies and such without feeling like I have to long rest after just about every fight, etc. I left the grove after taking a long rest, visited the harper camp, met Andrick and Brynna, helped them kill the owlbear, met Scratch, fought the gobbos at the east gate of Blighted Village, and I can still keep adventuring with only having used a short rest. I don't need to go back to camp and long rest after only adventuring for maybe thirty minutes tops. It feels more like a genuine adventure instead of adventure for a tiny snippet, get my butt kicked, sleep for 23 1/2 hours, adventure again for 30 minutes, get my butt kicked, sleep for 23 1/2 hours... and all with a ticking time bomb tadpole in my head. It's more natural feeling.
And again, I can't stress this enough, SO much more party interaction. It's like super night and day. I'm receiving dialogue I've literally never heard before while just moving about the map. The party is really talking to one another, asking each other questions, bantering, etc. It's my favorite part of the party of 6. SO much more dialogue on the road. I can't even begin to tell you. It really makes the party feel more like a team and like they're alive and really getting to know one another.
Now, if they'd just remove major dialogue sequences from long rest camp, then we'd be set.
So, you know, you short rest, trigger Gale's Go to Hell dialogue as if you set up a camp right where you were to short rest; fire and all. Then, short rest a second time, Shadowheart asks if it's a good idea. You need a healer. Then you long rest and Gale triggers his mirror image dialogue... not that it's tied to camp but just that the next time you long or short rested it triggers one of the dialogues.
Anyway, whatever the case, party of 6 is now the ONLY way I'm going to be playing this game. If I absolutely must, I will mod it, but I REALLY hope I don't have to and they implement more 5e stats and rules so that it is a bit more challenging than current. Even if it isn't, though, it's still WAY better than party of 4.
