Greenfield
Adventurer
I generally try to remember that the world doesn't level up with the PCs.
In one scenario, it was winter in the northlands, which meant snow and sub-zero temperatures. The party were among the very few travelers on the frozen roads (world without snow plows, you know) when they spotted some poor sap trying to hide behind a leafless bush. Turns out he was a bandit, hoping to prey upon travelers. None of the rest of his normal crew were crazy/desperate enough to join him, so he sat out there freezing his feet off, waiting for the travelers that never came.
The party felt sorry for him, and tossed him some coin. One of them cast Endure elements on him, and they sent him on home to take care of his family.
It wouldn't have been much of a fight, with him being 1st or 2nd level Expert (the NPC class version of a Rogue) and them being around 14th. But they spent a spell in the encounter, and that could have come back and bitten them.
Had there been an actual bandit troupe there would have been an equally short encounter, it just would have had more bodies on the ground. But I've found that players will often dive into these no-contest romps with glee, really having fun letting loose on their foes. Like a cat with a bird, they "play with their food".
And again, they expend spells, a few hit points and probably a few arrows (that they don't even think about recovering).
I've been known to throw these in just for fun, but also to use resources. PCs, when in this "let's have some fun" mode, they often go to excess with magic etc. Then when they later run into a real encounter they find that they kind of miss having that fireball or flame Strike available.
So sometimes I throw what others might consider "callable" fights at the party for strategic reasons, to make a later encounter more of a challenge.
In one scenario, it was winter in the northlands, which meant snow and sub-zero temperatures. The party were among the very few travelers on the frozen roads (world without snow plows, you know) when they spotted some poor sap trying to hide behind a leafless bush. Turns out he was a bandit, hoping to prey upon travelers. None of the rest of his normal crew were crazy/desperate enough to join him, so he sat out there freezing his feet off, waiting for the travelers that never came.
The party felt sorry for him, and tossed him some coin. One of them cast Endure elements on him, and they sent him on home to take care of his family.
It wouldn't have been much of a fight, with him being 1st or 2nd level Expert (the NPC class version of a Rogue) and them being around 14th. But they spent a spell in the encounter, and that could have come back and bitten them.
Had there been an actual bandit troupe there would have been an equally short encounter, it just would have had more bodies on the ground. But I've found that players will often dive into these no-contest romps with glee, really having fun letting loose on their foes. Like a cat with a bird, they "play with their food".
And again, they expend spells, a few hit points and probably a few arrows (that they don't even think about recovering).
I've been known to throw these in just for fun, but also to use resources. PCs, when in this "let's have some fun" mode, they often go to excess with magic etc. Then when they later run into a real encounter they find that they kind of miss having that fireball or flame Strike available.
So sometimes I throw what others might consider "callable" fights at the party for strategic reasons, to make a later encounter more of a challenge.