Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cyraneth" data-source="post: 1112741" data-attributes="member: 1199">So, a lich should warn the onrushing warrior by only dealing some 60 points of damage to him instead of killing him? With the exception of it the spell being more likely to affect the fighter, what would the point be? Wouldn't the lich want to kill them instead of just "warn" them?A banshee is dangerous 'cause it can kill with a scream, just like that. A lich is equally dangerous. Players should fear them, just like they fear a monster able to dish out 120+ points of damage per round. If the banshee or lich doesn't "feel" like using their ability to kill like that, but just "warn" players ("because death would be really boring") instead, they're not really fearsome anymore. That's just like equipping all orcs with daggers instead, 'cause greataxes might be too powerful against the players. "Unlucky" deaths in random encounters are bad for play. I agree with that. Deaths 'cause of the players' bad strategies are well deserved. Deaths 'cause of bad dice are just bad luck. And finally, deaths against mighty opponents let the players feel how mighty these opponents truly are. If the players survive every fight just 'cause the DM doesn't feel like killing his players, they'll stop fearing the monsters. That should never happen. The players should fear certain monster from round 1, not just when they go below 20% of their hit points. I know players fear dragons, but that's 'cause they don't know if they'll ultimately win the fight, but if they've got enough hit points they don't really fear dying in the first round. They should.I don't want to sound like I want players to be fearful of dying every second of gaming. I don't want them to go all cautious and undaring. But I still want players to be able to drop where they stand. The same goes for monsters, of course. Death spells are a perfect tool for drama, and if it is removes from play, the gaming world will, most likely, turn less dramatic. If players perform heroic deeds 'cause they know the consequences of failing are small, then those deeds aren't really heroic. Example: If your fighter throws himself in front of the wizard to take an arrow, knowing the arrow won't deal more than 6 points of damage, and both he and the wizard each have over 40 hit points, the wizard might be thankful, but the deed was hardly heroic. Likewise, fighting a lich 'cause they know the lich will only hurl fireballs against them isn't going to be very heroic. They're 12th-level characters (or whatever). Challenge them. The occassional save-or-die lets players feel how much danger you've put them in. Just knowing that lich could kill you in an instant makes the fight much more dramatic. They won't know, however, if the lich never tries that.- Cyraneth</blockquote>

Verification