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General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
adding Oomph to high-level encounters
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<blockquote data-quote="CapnZapp" data-source="post: 4777966" data-attributes="member: 12731"><p>Let's take an example to illustrate.</p><p></p><p>Let's say I'm running an adventure where the town inn features a petrified Wyvern* (a regular level 10 creature). This is supposed to be an atmospheric addition adding tension: what if the creature is freed from its petrification.</p><p></p><p>Now, according to the MM, most humanoids (humans, dwarves, elves) are level 2 through 4 (like Elf Archers, Human Guards, or Dwarf Bolters). Fair enough.</p><p></p><p>Now, a single level 10 monster isn't going to terrify even a small town like this.</p><p></p><p>A standard party of, say, level 3 is going to kill this monster, probably without any deaths (but possibly so). Certainly if a few town guards or a pair of elven archers show up to help out.</p><p></p><p><strong>But it will be a long hard fight. Not that this will change the outcome - the fight will simply be whiffy and grindy without purpose.</strong></p><p></p><p>The disconnect is because this monster isn't intended to be fought by a large group of PCs that low level. And it isn't designed to fight alone. (It's designed to fight in a group of perhaps three or five Wyverns against a level nine party - that will be a standard 4E fight which the game makes interesting and fun)</p><p></p><p>Now, in a sandb... in a game like mine, that isn't the only kind of scenario I want my game to support. I want a single Wyvern to be terrifying to a low-level party.</p><p></p><p>And here 4E simply doesn't cut it.</p><p></p><p>So. What happens if we apply the above rule? Say the PCs are third level, but they get enough help to constitute a level 4 party. Then the Wyvern get 6d6 bonus damage each round.</p><p></p><p>Ouch. Suddenly the grind disappears - because people will start to die; people will start to flee. The whiff is still there, but now it won't encourage a grindy fight - it will signal "the time to flee".</p><p></p><p>And we're back to the situation where releasing the Wyvern already at third level is a very very bad idea. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p>Zapp</p><p></p><p><em>*) bonus point for naming the module...</em></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="CapnZapp, post: 4777966, member: 12731"] Let's take an example to illustrate. Let's say I'm running an adventure where the town inn features a petrified Wyvern* (a regular level 10 creature). This is supposed to be an atmospheric addition adding tension: what if the creature is freed from its petrification. Now, according to the MM, most humanoids (humans, dwarves, elves) are level 2 through 4 (like Elf Archers, Human Guards, or Dwarf Bolters). Fair enough. Now, a single level 10 monster isn't going to terrify even a small town like this. A standard party of, say, level 3 is going to kill this monster, probably without any deaths (but possibly so). Certainly if a few town guards or a pair of elven archers show up to help out. [B]But it will be a long hard fight. Not that this will change the outcome - the fight will simply be whiffy and grindy without purpose.[/B] The disconnect is because this monster isn't intended to be fought by a large group of PCs that low level. And it isn't designed to fight alone. (It's designed to fight in a group of perhaps three or five Wyverns against a level nine party - that will be a standard 4E fight which the game makes interesting and fun) Now, in a sandb... in a game like mine, that isn't the only kind of scenario I want my game to support. I want a single Wyvern to be terrifying to a low-level party. And here 4E simply doesn't cut it. So. What happens if we apply the above rule? Say the PCs are third level, but they get enough help to constitute a level 4 party. Then the Wyvern get 6d6 bonus damage each round. Ouch. Suddenly the grind disappears - because people will start to die; people will start to flee. The whiff is still there, but now it won't encourage a grindy fight - it will signal "the time to flee". And we're back to the situation where releasing the Wyvern already at third level is a very very bad idea. :) Zapp [I]*) bonus point for naming the module...[/I] [/QUOTE]
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adding Oomph to high-level encounters
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