Insanely dangerous things you can throw at low level players fairly

[Rune]

Re: Death!

That's only because Rune tried to burn party members alive. (BTW Rune, I'm from Frankfort, KY )

Hey, it was their fault...sort of. They wandered deep into the dense forest (that they could only traverse single-file) on their own. It might even have been one of them that (indirectly) started the fire! (Not to pimp, but that encounter is in session 2 of the story hour linked in my sig.)

On another note, Frankfort's kind of distant from around here. Berea's on I-75, south of Richmond (Kentucky), which is south of Lexington.

 

[Rune]

Wow, Rune. That's really thinking outside of the box

Thanks!

 

[mikebr99]

How about a bunch of Trolls... they have to get you from across a log bridge, over eel infested... I mean some kind of nasty fish infested waters...

They only had to fight one at a time... and when they get low on HP.. they just flamed the bridge.

 

[Luscious Mageris]

My favorite was a Barb devil from 1e. I had the devil use an illusion to appear as a chained up maiden in distress. Of course the players were suspicious. When the devil attacked it threw up a triple strength Wall of Fire over the only exit- and of course it radiates fear. It was pretty funny because I didn't even think of that ahead of time. They did manage to kill it off- with a lot of grumbling at the table!

 

[Reprisal]

Ghouls and Ghasts... ick, those are pretty tough challenges... especially in numbers. Sure, the Fort Save is relatively low, but what if you have to make several of them per encounter, or per round?

 

[Storminator]

Ghouls and Ghasts... ick, those are pretty tough challenges... especially in numbers. Sure, the Fort Save is relatively low, but what if you have to make several of them per encounter, or per round?

Bingo! I throw ghouls at 1st level parties religiously. Having all but one PC paralyzed when the last ghoul goes down means you have that potential TPK feeling, without actually killing anyone.

PS

 

[Trainz]

Mmmmh...

I think the point of the original poster was high CR beasts that could still be defeated by low-level characters...

For example, the Dragonne: it is a CR 7 beast, that could be easilly (IMO) defeated by a 3rd level party. The dragonne's roar might weaken half the party, still leaving them the possibility to inflict melee damage (although less), it has an AC of 18, which is quite in the reach of a 3rd level PC, and has 76 hp. Granted, its claws and bite will probably fall one or two PC's, but they will *probably* survive the encounter.

Now, if the PC's are a tad unlucky, the encounter will turn bad, but overall I would still give them an 80 % chance of success.

Now, a much easier encounter would be a Drider: AC 17, an very poor attack bonuses (+3 melee, +0 bite). Its magical power are mainly on the "detect" side. And even if it lands a poisonous bite, it results in 1d6 temporary Strength. It only has 45 hp (might survive 2 rounds). This beast is also CR 7. Free x.p. anyone ? A 3rd level party will almost always defeat it, and even a 1st level party has a good 80 % chance of success (IMO).

If there are 4 PC's in that 1st level party and they win the encounter, that will give them each 900 x.p., add to this an encounter with 4 orcs, and they are now level 2. Two other encounters with an individual drider (much easier now that they are level 2), four more orcs, and they are level 3. All this might take 3 hours of game time, and after the first game session, the PC's are already 3rd level.

Things to consider...

 

[Psion]

I was running an anonymous published adventure with an Iron golem in it when my players' characters were 8th level or so. The adventure had an iron golem in it, and the first thing I thought to myself was "I am going to have to change this... they can't beat an iron golem."

But then I said to myself "self, they don't HAVE to beat an iron golem. They just have to get the dingus out of the room, and they have two pcs with mobility and high tumble skill ranks."

The easiest way to pit characters against a more powerful opponent and have them survive is to not make combat to the death the only option.

 

[Trainz]

The easiest way to pit characters against a more powerful opponent and have them survive is to not make combat to the death the only option.

Would you still give them x.p. ? If so, all of them, or a fraction ?

 

[Ramien Meltides]

Another kentuckian chimes in:

The half-dragon ogre as the example half-dragon template from the monster manual killed my entire party.

He's only CR 4. A group of 5, 3rd level characters died to the man in combat with him. This is where I made up my mind that CR for a monster is very... conditional.

Of course, they didn't have to fight him. They could've shut the door and locked it, they could've left the room... I even gave the last character a chance to surrender and live, but he chose to fight on and die.

I got a lot of negative flak for that encounter. One player swore he'd never game with me again.