Caution- High CR

[alsih2o]

So my players are talking about leaving the Dwarven settlement they are at and trekking out through the undermountain to get to a human settlement.

Now, when they face bad guys I do the vast majority of my rolling in the open. And I do place necounters in that they have no chance of solving aggresively. Sometimes harmless things, sometimes they just should go around.

What would help me is your stories of encounters you have set up well above the CR the party could defeat and how you warned htem and how they reacted.

 

[Three_Haligonians]

Well, I can certainly give you my imput as a player in one of these senerios. My EVIL gm has a reoccuring npc who is, in fact, an archfiend. Very very nasty. The character is very sure of himself, which make us...well...not very sure of ourselves! I find this is the best way to give your players that "your out of your league" feeling.

The most important thing is that you give your character's clues so that they know that this is not just another encounter. You have to give them the ability to get around the situation by all out fighting. Otherwise, your players will resort to that "well, lets just kill it" scenerio.

Personally, I really like games where solving the problem is not always a matter of beating the problem up. And I especially like when my character has that "oh crap, we CAN'T do this" realization!

T from three haligonians

 

[Greylock]

Hey! I know! If you want them fully warned in advance, have a outside player with a crafty gleam in his eyes show up unexpectedly to "guest" an NPC. That'll surely raise a few eyebrows ;p.

Really, good folks at ENWorld, next time alsi2ho asks a general GMing question like this give him a hand. Please????

Greylock

 

[the Jester]

Hmmm, good one.

A good way to show how nasty big npcs is, is to have the pcs encounter signs of them- including bodies, devastated towns, other adventurers who've been there and done that, etc- before they encounter the high-CR encounter.

 

[dren]

My EVIL gm has a reoccuring npc who is, in fact, an archfiend. Very very nasty.

That is nasty, and, IMHO, wrong. A recurring villian is (or should be) a plot device not a random encounter. Otherwise, I completely agree with you.

alsih2o, if they have any friends, they may want to be warned of the types of creatures out there. Rumours work wonders, as do seeing the effects of some random creatures (petrified beings), masses of dead bodies, etc. If they have a ranger, survial should ensure the party can reduce the liklihood of any encounter. Likewise, consulting a druid for directions and suggestions can help. Create a random encounter have very powerful creatures on the riders (2-3 / 19-20.)

In the end, if they want to rush through without, they should face whatever is out there.

 

[Quasqueton]

Use a really big mini (or a "maxi", as I call them). When the six PCs in my campaign encountered an elder treant (when the PCs were 6th level), I used the LotR Treebeard action figure. When I placed the 8 inch (45' to scale) figure on the battle mat, they immediately took a very polite and cautious attitude.

Just recently, at 8-9th levels, these PCs got to spy on a fiendish elder treant. I used another action figure of similar scale. The looks on the Players' faces, and the comments around the table were excellent. Nothing strikes Players so deeply as seeing a big monster to actual scale with their minis.

Also, as someone above said, rolling the dice in the open for any and all to see really pushes home the seriousness of an opponent. When my PCs did a very short hit and run against the fiendish elder treant, they were stunned when I rolled the first attack roll in the open. I rolled a 3. There was a sigh of relief from the target of the attack until I said, "He hits AC 27."

Nothing says "retreat, NOW" as well as seeing the opponent has a +24 attack bonus.

Quasqueton

 

[Pants]

That is nasty, and, IMHO, wrong. A recurring villian is (or should be) a plot device not a random encounter.

I don't see anything in the pertinent post that indicates that the archfiend was a random encounter.

 

[Cergorach]

DM: "In the valley below you there's an army gathering, an army of dragons"
Player left nameless: "CHARGEEEE!!!"
DM: *starts to weep* "Where did i go wrong!"