Zinovia
Explorer
Everyone knows
...that Guard Drakes are really scary for their level. "It hit for *how* much?!"
...that Wraiths are incredibly annoying. "You hit for 12? Reduce it by half for weakened, and again for insubstantial, and oh yeah, it regenerates 5. So that's -2 net damage. Nice hit!"
...that Mad Wraiths suck without a consistent radiant damage dealer. Insubstantial plus an aura that auto-dazes and can only be shut down by radiant attacks. Plus the fun of knowing that if anyone dies, they will become another wraith for you to fight and can't be rezzed. "We'd have finished them off except that Bob turned into a wraith, then killed Dragonbabe and Hairy Larry. Then they killed two people, and they killed two people, and they killed two people, and so on and so on... (if you get that reference it means you are old like me
)
...that WotC modules never answer the basic questions your group is going to ask, such as "What has it got in its pocketses?" during the all-important looting of the bodies. The only exception to this is for plot-linking characters, who are invariably carrying incriminating notes from the BBEG of the next encounter area.
...that the Bracers of Archery and the Iron Armbands of Power are flat out better than every other arm item in the game, and if not banned, will become the only items used by ranged or melée combatants respectively.
"I said no, you can't have them, and that's final!".
"Aww, it's not fair! All the cool kids are wearing them!. I want to be just like everyone else!"
...that characters have cool abilities they want to be able to use. Provoke attacks of opportunity from the fighter, provide shadows for the rogue to sneak in, let minions charge in formation only to die in the wizard's area spell. Let the characters be awesome. Sure, you can spank them hard sometimes, but never go out of your way to target their weaknesses or avoid their strengths. Make them earn their victories, but let them show off the stuff they have worked hard to be good at.
...that Guard Drakes are really scary for their level. "It hit for *how* much?!"
...that Wraiths are incredibly annoying. "You hit for 12? Reduce it by half for weakened, and again for insubstantial, and oh yeah, it regenerates 5. So that's -2 net damage. Nice hit!"
...that Mad Wraiths suck without a consistent radiant damage dealer. Insubstantial plus an aura that auto-dazes and can only be shut down by radiant attacks. Plus the fun of knowing that if anyone dies, they will become another wraith for you to fight and can't be rezzed. "We'd have finished them off except that Bob turned into a wraith, then killed Dragonbabe and Hairy Larry. Then they killed two people, and they killed two people, and they killed two people, and so on and so on... (if you get that reference it means you are old like me

...that WotC modules never answer the basic questions your group is going to ask, such as "What has it got in its pocketses?" during the all-important looting of the bodies. The only exception to this is for plot-linking characters, who are invariably carrying incriminating notes from the BBEG of the next encounter area.
...that the Bracers of Archery and the Iron Armbands of Power are flat out better than every other arm item in the game, and if not banned, will become the only items used by ranged or melée combatants respectively.
"I said no, you can't have them, and that's final!".
"Aww, it's not fair! All the cool kids are wearing them!. I want to be just like everyone else!"
...that characters have cool abilities they want to be able to use. Provoke attacks of opportunity from the fighter, provide shadows for the rogue to sneak in, let minions charge in formation only to die in the wizard's area spell. Let the characters be awesome. Sure, you can spank them hard sometimes, but never go out of your way to target their weaknesses or avoid their strengths. Make them earn their victories, but let them show off the stuff they have worked hard to be good at.