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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kaodi" data-source="post: 3015231" data-attributes="member: 1231">Hmmm...So, if having an encounter that is tougher than the PCs can face in most situations isn't necessarily unbalanced (and I more or less agree on this point), is there a time and place for such encounters? In a recent side trek we were doing in my group, we were sent to retrieve a valuable gem from someplace far away. We get there, trek through a plain, and then arrive at our destination only to be met by some halflings and there t-rex. Actually, the t-rex was hidden until combat began (though I knew it was there, as I had the magazine the adventure was from, though I hadn't read it in a long time, and I didn't tell anyone about this, and I didn't use my knowledge to my advantage...). Anyway, we didn't necessarily have to fight the halflings, but our paladin diplomat couldn't convince them (with high extremely high mod), and sneaking past them wasn't an option, what, with our dwarf and said paladin. Not to mention sneaking past them meant going underwater. And we essentially couldn't pretend to go away and come back at night... They could see for miles in every direction.So... here we are, 7th and 8th level, and we engage... the halflings weren't really much of a challenge, but once the t-rex entered melee, I knew it had to go down as fast as possible, or we'd likely all die. So, with my level 8 rogue, I flank it and attack, doing some damage. Then it attacks me. I take damage. Not so bad, yet, but then there is improved grab. I fail. Even if I had had max ranks in escape artist, its bonus still would of been at least 12 more than mine. So, I take more damage from crunching, then I'm swallowed whole. End of story. My character dies an ignoble death in the belly of the beast. So, the dwarf cleric gets attacked next, he too is swallowed. And, if not for the 14 pts of subdual damage I did with my unarmed strike while in the beasts mouth, which I couldn't of actually done, because it wasn't denied its dex because I was the one being grappled, he would've died too (we got him with one round before death). Anyway... essentially, it seemed like this particular encounter was kind of unbalanced. If we had known it was a t-rex, maybe we could of blasted it from afar and worn it down before it got to us... but using that knowledge would of been cheating. So, we essentially had a monster that would kill whoever it got to first, with zero chance of survival. And a t-rex is CR 8, so theoretically, it should of been an appropriate challenge... But like I said, in this situation it seemed worse than a save-or-die spell. It was die-or-die. And this was the first encounter of this adventure.Now, I don't blame the DM, I think it was kind of poor design on the part of the adventure. Am I being one of those whiny people, or in that kind of situation is it something for genuine concern?</blockquote>

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