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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Piratecat" data-source="post: 6419232" data-attributes="member: 2">Last night one of my lvl 15 groups (the Merchant Prince group, where the heroes are part of the most powerful and influential merchant family in the empire) showed me what happens when high level heroes meet low level monsters. The group was on a flying carpet at treetop level, following a series of allied elven scouts who were following a trail in the forest below. We played for about 2, 2.5 hours, and got in two fights and lots of roleplaying. The dragonborn paladin even summoned his new mount, a wyrm-like dinosaur with a lot of teeth and blackish-red scales. Fight 1: five griffons, charging the group at 4am. The PCs with blindsight picked them up at 60 feet away. The rogue and her crossbow managed to turn one into a partial pin-cushion before they closed, then they were sweeping in and past. Weirdly, nearly every claw attack hit, and not one beak attack connected. As a result, they were more or less doing 11 hp damage per hit. Then, with three of the griffons beside the flying carpet and two past it, the PCs went.It was impressive. The rogue got 8d6 sneak attack on her next action, and then sneak attacked again thanks to the battle master fighter.  One warlock used a (still being playtested) spell to fling a griffon into the trees below, almost killing it. The bard's arrow volley spell (taken from the ranger, although I have the name wrong) killed three injured griffons in one fell swoop. The fight lasted two rounds, and griffons rained from the sky. In retrospect melee combat should have had disadvantage on a flying carpet, but it wasn't a huge goof.Fight 2: The scouts on the ground reported (mentally -- one PC's familiar and one paladin's warhorse were traveling with them) that they'd been ambushed by gnolls and hyenas. The carpet descended on one side of the battlefield, a flying warlock on the other. For the gnolls, I just grabbed a handful of glass gems from my stash. 20, probably? Sure, let's say 20. And their initiative wasn't bad! And they had longbows! I expected a rain of arrows on the heroes, doing some serious damage.Instead, the warlock led with a lightning bolt that did 31 damage. 4 gnolls and 3 hyenas, dead, 1 gnoll wounded. KRAKATHOOM! The other warlock went next, and cast hypnotic pattern (or whatever it's called), entrancing all but one freakin' gnoll. And then it's the 16 remaining gnolls' turns! With 15 hypnotized, one got to shoot... and missed. The rest drooled unattractively and looked at the pretty colors."Remember, any attack on them breaks the hypnosis," said the warlock."That's probably okay," said the bard, and cast sunburst (or whatever it's called.) FWOOSH. My dice betray me and one gnoll saves. 14 gnolls and a couple of hyenas turn into smoking ash. "There's one left, and he's staggering?" asks the paladin. "I think I'll just have my mount kill him." CRUNCH.Total elapsed time: one round. The elven scouts never had a chance to go. They stood there, arrows half-drawn, mouths open. Don't get me wrong. It was a joy. With initiative, it could have been pretty devastating on the part of the gnolls. Let's say half of them aimed at one PC and half at another; that'd do some serious damage. But the players were cheering and greatly amused, and it was a fun fast fight. I'll take it. And after all, they can now hear something huge crashing its way through the woods towards them. The gnolls had some help from something much larger...</blockquote>

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