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Am I making this monster too deadly?
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<blockquote data-quote="takyris" data-source="post: 2350414" data-attributes="member: 5171"><p>Hey, Psi -- thanks for the feedback!</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Cut that down, since that's a key issue. I'm hoping that the lower attack bonus will make the wyvern miss most of the time, and when he does hit, it's spectacular, so that the heroes quickly learn that ranged weapons or Fast heroes are the way to deal with it.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I figure that spells will help here, but with a Defense of 14 and no damage reduction, I don't see spells (or magic weapons) as a necessity -- merely a benefit.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>This isn't for the present. This is for the future -- I'm trying to plan ahead.</p><p></p><p>Right now they're first level -- they're fighting ordinary bandits and thugs in the tavern. By third level, they'll see their first monster, a gryffon (that resembles the D&D creature only in name -- it's actually an undead eagle possessed by a parasite that looks like a hermit crap, with eyestalks protruding from the eagle's dead eyes and a pair of pincer claws coming from the chest), and that's a small creature that only does 1d4-2 damage per hit (with a disease power and a grapple for 4d4 -- so don't let it hug your face).</p><p></p><p>I'm not so much trying to figure out if this monster is too powerful (although that's what I wrote, so dummy me) as to figure out when it'll be appropriate to put it in the PCs' way. Right now, the creature has so many attacks that even with bad attack bonuses, I see it as risking a TPK on a 4th or 5th-level party. 6th (when the party's priest will be casting 2nd-level spells as a Dedicated 3/Acolyte 3, most likely, and the party's scholar will be a Smart3/Mage3) seems like the first point where it's really possible for them to beat this thing. Not specifically with magic, but just the general power level -- a tank might have Weapon Specialization and heavy armor, a light-warrior might have some damage-bonus abilities and a high Defense even without armor, and the people heading for spellcasting will be able to do a little damage that way.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>One character is aiming for Thrasher, which offers magical DR for a player. This would remove that. And the wyvern itself doesn't have DR, so the question of magical weapons for party members is, well, not moot, since a bonus of +1 to hit and to damage could be important, but it's less of a factor here.</p><p></p><p>(But that's not the primary reason for having this abiility -- as the draconic monsters get more powerful, this antimagic gets more powerful as well, which will tie in to the big overarching story of the world. In fact, 9 times out of 10, this attack would have no effect on a PC getting hit in this game. Which is good, because that lowers the average damage from the stinger.)</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Good point. Sloppy writing on my part. <strong>In my campaign,</strong> magic will be an option as per Urban Arcana rules. So, assuming that they're at the Urban Arcana level of power... at what level does this thing drop from Danger-of-TPK to Exciting-but-Killable?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="takyris, post: 2350414, member: 5171"] Hey, Psi -- thanks for the feedback! Cut that down, since that's a key issue. I'm hoping that the lower attack bonus will make the wyvern miss most of the time, and when he does hit, it's spectacular, so that the heroes quickly learn that ranged weapons or Fast heroes are the way to deal with it. I figure that spells will help here, but with a Defense of 14 and no damage reduction, I don't see spells (or magic weapons) as a necessity -- merely a benefit. This isn't for the present. This is for the future -- I'm trying to plan ahead. Right now they're first level -- they're fighting ordinary bandits and thugs in the tavern. By third level, they'll see their first monster, a gryffon (that resembles the D&D creature only in name -- it's actually an undead eagle possessed by a parasite that looks like a hermit crap, with eyestalks protruding from the eagle's dead eyes and a pair of pincer claws coming from the chest), and that's a small creature that only does 1d4-2 damage per hit (with a disease power and a grapple for 4d4 -- so don't let it hug your face). I'm not so much trying to figure out if this monster is too powerful (although that's what I wrote, so dummy me) as to figure out when it'll be appropriate to put it in the PCs' way. Right now, the creature has so many attacks that even with bad attack bonuses, I see it as risking a TPK on a 4th or 5th-level party. 6th (when the party's priest will be casting 2nd-level spells as a Dedicated 3/Acolyte 3, most likely, and the party's scholar will be a Smart3/Mage3) seems like the first point where it's really possible for them to beat this thing. Not specifically with magic, but just the general power level -- a tank might have Weapon Specialization and heavy armor, a light-warrior might have some damage-bonus abilities and a high Defense even without armor, and the people heading for spellcasting will be able to do a little damage that way. One character is aiming for Thrasher, which offers magical DR for a player. This would remove that. And the wyvern itself doesn't have DR, so the question of magical weapons for party members is, well, not moot, since a bonus of +1 to hit and to damage could be important, but it's less of a factor here. (But that's not the primary reason for having this abiility -- as the draconic monsters get more powerful, this antimagic gets more powerful as well, which will tie in to the big overarching story of the world. In fact, 9 times out of 10, this attack would have no effect on a PC getting hit in this game. Which is good, because that lowers the average damage from the stinger.) Good point. Sloppy writing on my part. [b]In my campaign,[/b] magic will be an option as per Urban Arcana rules. So, assuming that they're at the Urban Arcana level of power... at what level does this thing drop from Danger-of-TPK to Exciting-but-Killable? [/QUOTE]
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