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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 4500701" data-attributes="member: 2067">Well, this is basically introducing a combat encounter that you don't really want the players to win (at least, not at first), am I right? In my case, I would ditch the idea to throw them into the adventure by having them abducted. It's no fun for the PC's if it goes "right," and it's no fun for you if it goes "wrong" (generally speaking, of course, I don't know your party).With a fly speed of 80, a roc can outrun horses. It doesn't need to be unseen. It doesn't matter if it is seen. In an open field, miles around in every direction, anything out in the open is a sitting duck.Alternately, in a mountain canyon or somesuch, the roc can grab PCs off of exposed ledges, or ambush them as they come out of a cave. I would think that a roc would naturally wait until its prey is either isolated on a peak or in an open field with no chance of escape before it swoops down to pluck up something delicious.It's a cool scene, but it's more of an scene than a combat. If you want to run a combat with a roc, and get them into the module, I would suggest that the roc take someone or something that has something important with it, so tracking down the roc's nest to get said thing back becomes the agenda.If you're more interested in the scene, I would completely abandon the idea of running it like a combat, and instead run it like a series of skill checks. Keep the AC, saves, and HP of the critter handy, and it's skill modifiers and initiative, but you won't need much else.Now, you set the scene. PC's are wandering through a canyon when, suddenly, around the bend in front of them, swoops that enormous bird that they saw the shadow of earlier. Its wingspan nearly fills the canyon, and it is gunning straight for them!<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A hide check may let them dive into a cave to avoid it as it passes (but it'll pass again!)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">An Initiative check might let them run around the corner (but it's gaining fast!)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A Climb check might get them out of the line of fire. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If they fail, they take damage from the claw attack and get snatched up, but the Roc continues to fight the rest, and any time a PC scores a hit, it drops the one it has and attacks the new one!</li> </ul>Or something like that. Keep it flowing, don't have the Roc take turns, just have it react on a failure by the PC. Abstracting it like this can make things a bit more dynamic, and it doesn't need to squeeze and run off with them if you just want a cool scene out of it. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> The more giant monsters have always been a little tough to run as monsters in my mind. It's fun to run them as scenes, though. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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