Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Jedi_Solo" data-source="post: 3685098" data-attributes="member: 40245">With absolutely no evidance what-so-ever to back this up with...I think there are two things that affect what makes a villain memorable.I think one, but the lesser one, is level.&nbsp; You can do more with a level 20 encounter than with a level 1 encounter.&nbsp; As a DM you have more leeway without the risk of completely slughtering the PCs.&nbsp; You can have more minions, you can have pieces of scenery falling and hitting the PCs, you can have wierd effects going off at random intervals without killing the PCs out right.&nbsp; The villains can have cooler toys and wierd spell combinations that you just can't have at lower levels.&nbsp; Sure, you can have walkways blinking in and out of existance even at level one, and that might make the fight cool but lower level PCs are much more fragile (which may or may not add to the fun of the encounter).The other is likely pure luck and chance, and unfortuantly I think this is the bigger of the two.&nbsp; You can create a BBEG and design the final show down with all of the elements listed above - and then the fighter hits the BBEG in round one for 51 points of damage and the bad guy rolls a 1 on his massive damage save.&nbsp; That fight may live on the tales of the group but not the way you hoped it would.On the other hand, Yip, the Great Kobald Pirate, may get lucky and take down the raging Barbarian leaving the cleric to deal with a swarm of minion trapped on the far side of a Wall of Fire while the rogue is tumbleing through the masses to try and save the wizard who is bleeding to death and is the only hope of letting the cleric through the fire shield so he can...And you meant that encounter to be an easier one because you messed up last week and almost caused a TPK.Level lets you plan cooler stuff.&nbsp; Luck lets you pull it off.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Jedi_Solo, post: 3685098, member: 40245"] With absolutely no evidance what-so-ever to back this up with... I think there are two things that affect what makes a villain memorable. I think one, but the lesser one, is level. You can do more with a level 20 encounter than with a level 1 encounter. As a DM you have more leeway without the risk of completely slughtering the PCs. You can have more minions, you can have pieces of scenery falling and hitting the PCs, you can have wierd effects going off at random intervals without killing the PCs out right. The villains can have cooler toys and wierd spell combinations that you just can't have at lower levels. Sure, you can have walkways blinking in and out of existance even at level one, and that might make the fight cool but lower level PCs are much more fragile (which may or may not add to the fun of the encounter). The other is likely pure luck and chance, and unfortuantly I think this is the bigger of the two. You can create a BBEG and design the final show down with all of the elements listed above - and then the fighter hits the BBEG in round one for 51 points of damage and the bad guy rolls a 1 on his massive damage save. That fight may live on the tales of the group but not the way you hoped it would. On the other hand, Yip, the Great Kobald Pirate, may get lucky and take down the raging Barbarian leaving the cleric to deal with a swarm of minion trapped on the far side of a Wall of Fire while the rogue is tumbleing through the masses to try and save the wizard who is bleeding to death and is the only hope of letting the cleric through the fire shield so he can... And you meant that encounter to be an easier one because you messed up last week and almost caused a TPK. Level lets you plan cooler stuff. Luck lets you pull it off. [/QUOTE]

Verification