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Message: <blockquote data-quote="KarinsDad" data-source="post: 6382449" data-attributes="member: 2011">Have a straight up fight with him, a lieutenant, and a few kobolds (i.e. being outnumbered is a sure way to make a fight swingy, action economy almost always counts). Have it in a location where he can escape, but be hard to follow. Or have him run away while a second wave of kobolds come in and hold off the PCs. And allow the PCs to do this at a point in time where they are not basically out of resources.If you want a fight for an introduction, arrange for a real fight. One way to grab the attention of some players, though, is to have an NPC escape. Some players really want to stop almost every foe from doing that.Alternatively, the idea that the players have to directly fight with him at second level is not really needed. Seeing him kill some villagers from afar and then getting up on a giant lizard and riding away is totally fine.The first fight does not have to be at second level. It could be at level 4.The thing about reoccurring villains is to make the players gradually go from dislike to hatred. Each time, the villain does something worse than the previous time.Phase one: kill some villagers that the PCs do not know.Phase two: kill some NPCs that the PCs do know and have interacted with.Phase three: torture and kill some NPCs that some of the PCs care about.There can be fights between these, but make it episodic in nature.My problem was not that they introduced a super tough foe (although I do not necessarily like that). It was the railroading nature of the encounter where the PCs could not really affect the outcome (dirt nap, or TPK, or watch an NPC die). Our group got lucky because of our DM. Many groups will just watch a PC face plant. Meh.If I wanted to be introduced to a cool reoccurring villain without being able to affect the outcome, I would watch a movie. I wouldn't play an FRPG. And I certainly wouldn't want to play a PC who sole job in that encounter is to take a dirt nap for story purposes.</blockquote>

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