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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ZSutherland" data-source="post: 1896022" data-attributes="member: 7638">I sympathize with you RangerWickett, I really do.  I had the same problem with my last AU campaign.  Somewhere around 10th level, the melee members of the group effectively became meatshields for the two casters.  I can't honestly say that by the time the Unfettered 5 Medusa TPKed them (unfortunately ending the campaign) that I'd found an ideal solution.  However, here are some partial solutions that seemed to work.Henchmen are great at low/mid levels.  They occupy the party a bit, extending the combat and heightening the suspense.  At 10th+ level, they're about worthless.  A small number of elite guards (just a few points of CR less than the BBEG) in properly situated terrain is much more valuable.  If I'm a 16th level wizard, what do I need body guards for?  That's why Wee-Jas invented Clone, Prismatic Wall, Forcecage, Contingency, Programmed Image, etc.  Sure, the enemy wizard can only have so many of these spells prepared at any one time, but the #  of spells which can be cast before hand is more than enough, and since all wizards can scribe scrolls, bonus.Accessibility of BBEG is key at this level.  If you were an incredibly intelligent malevolent archwizard, would you situate your throne room in such a way that anyone who walked through the door had a clear shot at you?  If you're sixteenth level, would you even have a door to your throne room, or would your throne room be a small pocket dimension somewhere accessible to others only by means of a portal requiring a certain alignment or the slaughter of seven innocent children?  Would there not be all manner of early warning signals as pesky do-gooders progressed through your carefully crafted dungeon of carnage on the way to your portal?  Would you not have ample time to prepare?  Is there any good reason at all to let the PCs get all the way to your throne room before fighting them?  Why deal with them on terms they chose?  Why not scry on them once you know they're nearby, wait until their winded and spent from a fight, and then teleport in and zap them all?As an alternative to insta-kill spells and their ilk since you refrain from using them on your PCs (and I don't blame you), I find that my players at least hate compulsion spells far worse than just about anything.  A necromancer may be distasteful, but maybe his social skills are so poor that only the undead will put up with him, but an enchantress is automatically suspect in their book.  As a hint, when you compel one of them via charm or domination or whatever, give them a command and make them play out how they obey that command.  Watch them squirm as they're forced to attack their own allies.What it all really comes down to, though, is whether you're willing to pop them from time to time.  A simple enough house rule a former DM of mine used to good effect was, I won't use anything on your PCs that you don't use on my NPCs.  It wasn't ideal, but we were cautious about even dropping fireballs all that often.Hope this helps,Z</blockquote>

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