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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celtavian" data-source="post: 6597763" data-attributes="member: 5834">I don't care for getting called out about tactics. So the "getting smoked" comment set me off a bit. I also don't like dismissing tactics out of hand. That's why I kept coming back. I like to consider how to beat something. That's a major part of the fun of the game.True. Our most difficult battles are when the DM takes the time to construct a powerful strategy by the NPCs. True.I don't worry too much. Players forget stuff too and kick themselves. In general, I try to play the creature as true to its nature as I can. If I do that, I feel good at the end of the day. Would have been a nightmare. We specifically checked for a passage allowing them to pinch us. We set up by the entrance just in case we had to run. At the time we didn't know what gnolls could do exactly. We were worried. Fortunately, gnolls are one of those creatures that looks worse than they are. Low hit rolls. A marginally useful special ability. Low AC. Good hit points. I noticed there are a few monsters like this in the MM that go both ways. For example, did you look at the Chasme Demon? Holy mother of...The thing does 64 points of damage a hit with no save. Can you imagine a group of chasme attacking  a party? It would make a group of vrocks or higher level demons look like chid's play. Yet they are CR 6. How many 6th level PCs can take a 64 point hit?Then you have the Demilich. Not sure what they missed on this creature. A level 17 wizard with power word kill gets to the Demilich and kills it. Only way the Demilich lives is to encase the wizard in an antimagic field and keep it on him until everyone else goes or get lucky with the howl ability. If the wizard gets to go, the demilich dies immediately. Even with the gnoll encounter, if that had been kobolds or hobgoblins half as many would have been too much. The kobolds would have died easier, but all those attacks with advantage even with missile weapons would have done some damage. Hobgoblins are nasty in groups. It's an odd game. I don't feel like the gnoll encounter was really a CR 8 given their special abilities aren't as good as other special abilities. Even orcs are somewhat scarier because you can't outrun them and their swingy damage can really hurt you. One orc hit is like a gnoll crit. An orc crit is like a hit from four gnolls. It's bad news.I don't think we would have attempted the encounter with a fighter or ranger as the main tank. Definitely with a barbarian. Maybe with a paladin. The warlock/fighter is uniquely durable in a fight against a bunch of creatures more so than a fight against a single tough creature. We're surprised at how well the warlock/fighter synergizes. He was even able to do more burst damage against the Fang using Hellish Rebuke, which helped bring it down so quickly. He specced out a warlock13/fighter 7 that will eventually allow him to use eldritch blast for maximum effect while swinging his weapon once as a bonus action. He'll even be able to Action Surge now and again to double Eldritch Blast or another spell and hit with his weapon while maybe using Armor of Agathys or Hellish Rebuke for a ton of damage. It's a surprisingly powerful combination. He even gets to use his Eldritch Knight spell slots to cast warlock spells to add a few extra slots between short rests and use the shield spell. I doubt we win the fight without his Fiend Pact warlock/fighter synergies.So many factors to take into account for both the DM and the players.</blockquote>

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