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<blockquote data-quote="BSF" data-source="post: 1957147" data-attributes="member: 13098">Well, that isn't so bad.&nbsp; I mean, we are talking thugs here.&nbsp; Why would anybody that has the means to adequately defend themselves kow-tow to thugs? &nbsp; Well, this is one solution.&nbsp; But it isn't the best one.&nbsp; You then start down the road of DM vs Players, whether you meant to or not.&nbsp; It might work well for your campaign and your gaming style.&nbsp; If so, more power to you.&nbsp; A better option might be to keep giving them thugs to beat up on.&nbsp; Eventually, you drop in a ringer that is competent and can handle the party as peers.&nbsp; In the interim, the PCs aren't gaining much experience or treasure for handling opponents lower then their CR.&nbsp; Maybe that won't work well either, but I think it is a better option than arbitrarily bumping up an encounter so you can beat down the PCs.&nbsp; Beating down the PCs is easy and if your players think you arbitrarily increased the power of their enemies then they will begin to lose trust in you as a DM.&nbsp; Maybe you need to point that out to the players?&nbsp; Perhaps they are in videogame mode and have forgotten that you are more than a game server for the tabletop?&nbsp; A really good group has a lot of cooperative effort between all the players.&nbsp; The game is a lot of fun when that happens.&nbsp; Unfortunately it doesn't always happen easily.&nbsp; The DM tends to be viewed as the coordinater.&nbsp; As well, the DM tends to be the only player that _must_ be present.&nbsp; Without a DM, there is no game.&nbsp; So the onus is often on the DM to initiate these sorts of conversations until the group has matured to the point where communication flows freely in each direction.&nbsp; It isn't necessarily &quot;right&quot;, but it is often the dynamic that exists at the beginning.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="BSF, post: 1957147, member: 13098"] Well, that isn't so bad. I mean, we are talking thugs here. Why would anybody that has the means to adequately defend themselves kow-tow to thugs? Well, this is one solution. But it isn't the best one. You then start down the road of DM vs Players, whether you meant to or not. It might work well for your campaign and your gaming style. If so, more power to you. A better option might be to keep giving them thugs to beat up on. Eventually, you drop in a ringer that is competent and can handle the party as peers. In the interim, the PCs aren't gaining much experience or treasure for handling opponents lower then their CR. Maybe that won't work well either, but I think it is a better option than arbitrarily bumping up an encounter so you can beat down the PCs. Beating down the PCs is easy and if your players think you arbitrarily increased the power of their enemies then they will begin to lose trust in you as a DM. Maybe you need to point that out to the players? Perhaps they are in videogame mode and have forgotten that you are more than a game server for the tabletop? A really good group has a lot of cooperative effort between all the players. The game is a lot of fun when that happens. Unfortunately it doesn't always happen easily. The DM tends to be viewed as the coordinater. As well, the DM tends to be the only player that _must_ be present. Without a DM, there is no game. So the onus is often on the DM to initiate these sorts of conversations until the group has matured to the point where communication flows freely in each direction. It isn't necessarily "right", but it is often the dynamic that exists at the beginning. [/QUOTE]

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