Oh boy... I'm almost afraid to let my players know what I've written here.
Anyway, I freely admit that my games tend to be on the hard side, even in the event that the PCs are in a fairly equivalent EL for their level. In some cases, this is due to the villains/antagonists being aware of an impending assault, or because the PCs are assaulting someone well beyond them in power.
On the other hand, there have been at least two cases when my PCs have fought the "boss" and laid waste to them within three or four rounds.
Villain: You will die now, you pathetic fools! I will rend the flesh from your bones and I --
PCs: Charge! Kill! Maim!
Villain: Wait! I'm not done with my threatening speech. I -- aarrrggghhhh!!!
I believe that if the PCs are thoroughly prepared that they will have a fighting chance. On the other hand, what the PCs can do, so too can the NPCs. Case in point:
My PCs were going around checking people off their To Kill List. They came to one of the PC's mothers, an evil priestess of the Goddess of Wrath. Months earlier (in real time), she had a role in the destruction of a Kingdom and the retreat of the PCs from said kingdom. Now, she was manipulating events to take control. The PCs scryed her and determined that they would attack the next day or first thing in the morning.
Unfortunately for them, the priestess sensed the scry and did a commune or some similar divination spell with her goddess and determined that some kind of an attack was pending. She had already made arrangements to fight and, if necessary, escape in the event that the castle she had stolen was under seige.
The powered-up PCs teleported in and got into a huge fight just outside her bed chamber, decimating her devilish servants. She ran out the back, leading the PCs through unhallow: dispel magic areas, canceling some of their magic, but they persevered, killing diabolical servant after servant as they chased this witch. They finally cornered and killed her three times (she had a Ring of Nine Lives with two lives left). When she died, before they could loot her, bind her, burn her body, and ensure that she would never come back to haunt them, her body disappeared. The PCs were ticked, but not surprised.
This was one of the best conflicts I was ever in as a DM because while it was admittedly tough for the PCs, I could tell that they were up to the challenge and felt rewarded when they killed her, despite her preparations, and saved an entire kingdom in the process.
I think reasonably challenging games (and reasonably is a subjective term) makes for more interesting games. Sure, they will run into dire wolves that can be hacked to chunks in a few rounds, and they will run into a dragonne protecting its young, but when they go out of their way to confront the vilest evils, they expect the confrontation to be tough.
Anyway, I freely admit that my games tend to be on the hard side, even in the event that the PCs are in a fairly equivalent EL for their level. In some cases, this is due to the villains/antagonists being aware of an impending assault, or because the PCs are assaulting someone well beyond them in power.
On the other hand, there have been at least two cases when my PCs have fought the "boss" and laid waste to them within three or four rounds.
Villain: You will die now, you pathetic fools! I will rend the flesh from your bones and I --
PCs: Charge! Kill! Maim!
Villain: Wait! I'm not done with my threatening speech. I -- aarrrggghhhh!!!
I believe that if the PCs are thoroughly prepared that they will have a fighting chance. On the other hand, what the PCs can do, so too can the NPCs. Case in point:
My PCs were going around checking people off their To Kill List. They came to one of the PC's mothers, an evil priestess of the Goddess of Wrath. Months earlier (in real time), she had a role in the destruction of a Kingdom and the retreat of the PCs from said kingdom. Now, she was manipulating events to take control. The PCs scryed her and determined that they would attack the next day or first thing in the morning.
Unfortunately for them, the priestess sensed the scry and did a commune or some similar divination spell with her goddess and determined that some kind of an attack was pending. She had already made arrangements to fight and, if necessary, escape in the event that the castle she had stolen was under seige.
The powered-up PCs teleported in and got into a huge fight just outside her bed chamber, decimating her devilish servants. She ran out the back, leading the PCs through unhallow: dispel magic areas, canceling some of their magic, but they persevered, killing diabolical servant after servant as they chased this witch. They finally cornered and killed her three times (she had a Ring of Nine Lives with two lives left). When she died, before they could loot her, bind her, burn her body, and ensure that she would never come back to haunt them, her body disappeared. The PCs were ticked, but not surprised.
This was one of the best conflicts I was ever in as a DM because while it was admittedly tough for the PCs, I could tell that they were up to the challenge and felt rewarded when they killed her, despite her preparations, and saved an entire kingdom in the process.
I think reasonably challenging games (and reasonably is a subjective term) makes for more interesting games. Sure, they will run into dire wolves that can be hacked to chunks in a few rounds, and they will run into a dragonne protecting its young, but when they go out of their way to confront the vilest evils, they expect the confrontation to be tough.
