How to balance a 7 player party?
I'm a new DM and i've managed to get my group of Friends into playing D&D with me, i wanted to include everybody Who was willing to play so i ended up having to handle 7 new players.
The party Is composed like this: 2 sorcerers, 1 warlock, 1 rogue, 1 barbarian, 1 bard, 1 druid, all currently at level 2.
They have pretty much blown through cragmaw hideout and the ambush even tough i added more enemies and tougher variants like goblin bosses, so I decided to test them with a Nova encounter when they fought the Wyvern Tor Orcs.
I divided the encounter in 3 waves and they surprised the Orcs, but they managed to take down:
1st wave: 3 orcs
2nd wave: 4 orcs + 1 ogre
3rd wave: 1 orc, 1 orog and 1 Orc Claw of Luthic.
A couple of them went down, they used most if not all of their spell slots and healing potion, and i was wondering if this sounds like good balancing or if i should adjust in a different way (they said they liked It tho)
Also, while balancing a single encounter like this Is easier, i'm wondering how should i handle Dungeons like Tresendar Manor in the future, any tips?