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Message: <blockquote data-quote="shilsen" data-source="post: 3634577" data-attributes="member: 198">Circle of Death's not mattered in this group, with the alienist having Necromancy and Illusion as banned schools, and a Fireball doesn't go that far against low-level critters with high Con. Especially since I give many of my NPCs a flat 75% of their max potential rolled hit die (so 12 out of 4d4, 27 out of 6d6, etc.) to make up for some of the stuff my PCs are getting.Consider some elite CR4 gnolls I used against my PCs when they were 11th level. The gnolls were either axe-wielders (Bbn2/Rgr1) or archers (Rgr2/Ftr1). Here are a few salient stats:Gnoll Bbn2/Rgr1: Str 22, Dex 14, Con 18; 3d8+2d12+20 (56 hp); AC 17; BAB/Grp +4/+10; MW Battleaxe +12 (1d8+9/x3 or 1d8+11/x3 vs. humans); Raging - 66 hp, attack +14 (1d8+12/x3 or 1d8+14/x3 vs. humans).  Gnoll Rgr2/Ftr1; Str 14, Dex 18, Con 18; 4d8+1d10+20 (52 hp); AC 19; BAB/Grp +4/+6; Comp. longbow +10 or +8/+8 (1d8+2/x3 or 1d8+4 vs humans); vs. targets within 30 ft with Frost arrows: Comp longbow +11 or +9/+9 (1d8+1d6 cold+4/x3 or 1d8+1d6 cold+6 vs humans); vs. targets within 30 ft + Bane arrows (vs humans): Comp longbow +13 or +11/+11 (1d8+2d6+8/x3)These guys were backed up by a couple of CR6 ogres (Brb1/Ftr2): Str 28, Dex 12, Con 18; 70 hp; AC 20; BAB/Grp +6/+19; MW Greatsword +16/11 melee (3d6+13/19-20); when raging - Str 32, Con 22, 84 hp, MW Greatsword +18/13 melee (3d6+16/19-20)They also had an 8th lvl adept commanding them, who helped a lot with the tactics. The NPCs were spread out over a number of rooms, so while the PCs beat up the two gnolls they encountered first (after having announced their arrival by fireballing the three War2s they had as guards outside), the others realized that something was up and got to buff up by swigging a potion of Bull's Str, Cat's Grace and Bear's Endurance each. And the attack came from three directions, so the PCs had to split their attention, especially when the raging ogres with Awesome Blow were knocking PCs and summoned creatures around <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":]" title="Devious    :]" data-shortname=":]" /> By the time the fight was over, two PCs were below -10 and the other two had fled, badly wounded. Admittedly the PCs had been expecting a much easier fight and had gone in cocky and taking it easy, but it would still have taken some serious work on their part to win.</blockquote>

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