Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="billd91" data-source="post: 3747614" data-attributes="member: 3400">Look over the encounter design sections of the DMG. There is a discussion there about tailored vs status quo encounters. The status quo encounters do not relate to the PCs levels at all. They're simply there (like the great wyrm red dragon believed to inhabit the caves on the Mountain of Fire, or some such thing) at whatever level the DM wants them to be. If the PCs go seek them out too early, they die. Simple. The important thing to do if you're including status quo encounters is to make sure you tell the players that there are some out there and if they fail to figure out which ones they are, either before they go there or shortly after triggering the encounter, and take appropriate measures, they will probably die.I've done this in adventures I've run. In one, geared for PCs 1st - 4th level, there is a bullette in the area. It's pretty tough to deal with for those levels of characters. So I put in plenty of clues about what it was: churned earth, dead horse remains, etc. They figured out it was something too big for them to try to tackle and successfully avoided it. Had they fought it, they would have been lunch.Put in the clues that the place is dangerous, put out the idea to the players that there are places in play that are too tough for the PCs below varlous levels, and you should be OK. They'll learn to go to those encounters when they are more likely to be ready.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="billd91, post: 3747614, member: 3400"] Look over the encounter design sections of the DMG. There is a discussion there about tailored vs status quo encounters. The status quo encounters do not relate to the PCs levels at all. They're simply there (like the great wyrm red dragon believed to inhabit the caves on the Mountain of Fire, or some such thing) at whatever level the DM wants them to be. If the PCs go seek them out too early, they die. Simple. The important thing to do if you're including status quo encounters is to make sure you tell the players that there are some out there and if they fail to figure out which ones they are, either before they go there or shortly after triggering the encounter, and take appropriate measures, they will probably die. I've done this in adventures I've run. In one, geared for PCs 1st - 4th level, there is a bullette in the area. It's pretty tough to deal with for those levels of characters. So I put in plenty of clues about what it was: churned earth, dead horse remains, etc. They figured out it was something too big for them to try to tackle and successfully avoided it. Had they fought it, they would have been lunch. Put in the clues that the place is dangerous, put out the idea to the players that there are places in play that are too tough for the PCs below varlous levels, and you should be OK. They'll learn to go to those encounters when they are more likely to be ready. [/QUOTE]

Verification