Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Doomhawk" data-source="post: 3174289" data-attributes="member: 26187">If it's a random watch patrol of 1st- and 2nd-level warriors, with maybe a Ftr3 for a captain, they're gonna get creamed. Oh, sure, if the PC doesn't have on his armor or anything, and has to rely on just his Dex bonus and his trusty Ring of Protection, that AC of 15 will see him eat more than a few crossbow shots. But he'll still come out on top. And if he's ready, then the guards had better hope he's got a Merciful weapon.But that doesn't mean a high-level character can't be stopped by lower-level characters. It doesn't require four hundred grapplers, either. A slightly better-trained and -equipped group, specialized in dealing with such threats, can be a serious problem for even very high-level characters.Consider a 2nd-level Marshal with a Rod of Sure Striking, and sixteen 2nd-level warriors clustered into the adjacent spaces. An elite group? Sure, but they're SWAT elite, not MIB elite. Those sixteen fighters have Mighty (+1) Composite Longbows, Str 12 and Dex 13 (nonelite array) and Weapon Focus. The Marshal hands them each three arrows that he just used an Oil of Magic Weapon on (50gp - hell, we'll use a CL 5 Oil for 250 gp, in case of a long standoff). Activate the Rod and let fly, with +16 to hit and doing 1d8+2 each. If our PC is at his unprepared AC 15, he's eating over 100 damage before he can even move. Even if he's got his Full Plate +4 on, his AC 27 will still take hits from half of them. If the guards expect area-effects, they can spread out and use Potions of True Strike instead (and allowing them to hit even the fully-buffed monk).And this is a group consisting entirely of 2nd-level characters, well within their wealth allowance. Any large town could easily train or hire such a squad. A larger city can field more of them, better-trained and better-equipped. If a PC breaks the law in that city, he'd better get out of sight quick or get ready to surrender.</blockquote>

Verification