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<blockquote data-quote="shilsen" data-source="post: 3747870" data-attributes="member: 198">That idea's a misconception. Check the suggestions in the DMG for what kind of ELs your PCs should face. I don't have my DMG in front of me, but I believe the recommendation is that something like 1 in every 20 encounters should be so powerful that it's a sure TPK if the PCs don't run, and something like 15-20% of encounters should be strong enough to probably kill 1 or 2 PCs.So do I. But do you put things in the world that have not the foggiest chance against the PCs and which they can beat up without any effort? That's an important part of realism too, as well as making players happy by letting them revel once in a while in how powerful their PCs are.All of that being said, I think the most important thing to do is to talk to your players and explain what sort of preferences and preconceptions you're bringing to the table. Tell them that the world is going to contain many things they can't hope to face in combat and survive (especially at 3rd level!), and that their choices may bring them up against such enemies, in which case brains - and often running - will be required. Once the players know that's the case, it's far more likely that their characters will act with that assumption.And one more suggestion - don't ever make assumptions about what the PCs will do in a given situation. If there's one thing DMing experience has taught me, it's that players/PCs are capable of doing just about anything in a given situation, however strange or off the wall or simply wrong you as a DM may think the choice is. It's far better to create the given situation and let the PCs do what they will with it. As soon as you go in thinking &quot;It's supposed to go this way...&quot;, I think you're asking for trouble.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="shilsen, post: 3747870, member: 198"] That idea's a misconception. Check the suggestions in the DMG for what kind of ELs your PCs should face. I don't have my DMG in front of me, but I believe the recommendation is that something like 1 in every 20 encounters should be so powerful that it's a sure TPK if the PCs don't run, and something like 15-20% of encounters should be strong enough to probably kill 1 or 2 PCs. So do I. But do you put things in the world that have not the foggiest chance against the PCs and which they can beat up without any effort? That's an important part of realism too, as well as making players happy by letting them revel once in a while in how powerful their PCs are. All of that being said, I think the most important thing to do is to talk to your players and explain what sort of preferences and preconceptions you're bringing to the table. Tell them that the world is going to contain many things they can't hope to face in combat and survive (especially at 3rd level!), and that their choices may bring them up against such enemies, in which case brains - and often running - will be required. Once the players know that's the case, it's far more likely that their characters will act with that assumption. And one more suggestion - don't ever make assumptions about what the PCs will do in a given situation. If there's one thing DMing experience has taught me, it's that players/PCs are capable of doing just about anything in a given situation, however strange or off the wall or simply wrong you as a DM may think the choice is. It's far better to create the given situation and let the PCs do what they will with it. As soon as you go in thinking "It's supposed to go this way...", I think you're asking for trouble. [/QUOTE]

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