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<blockquote data-quote="Ceramicwombat" data-source="post: 4955432" data-attributes="member: 73526">Our high-level campaign just hit 21st level. The party is a halfling cleric, elf archery ranger, elf fighter, and human rogue. All four are well-optimized builds.In an EL+0 encounter, I don't feel like I'm able to threaten anyone but the fighter because he does his job so well. He is a sword n' board build, and monsters of his level are able to hit his AC ~30% of the time. Getting him down to bloodied is insane. Instead, the enemies use every status effect they have available to make him dazed, stunned, blind, teleported away to a pocket dimension, etc., just to get at the other characters. Most of the encounters I use are EL+1 or EL+2 and everyone seems to be threatened at least a bit. Going from 1st level the day 4th came out to now, I have killed the rogue twice, the fighter twice, and the cleric once. The ranger is a new addition and I haven't managed to kill him yet, but he has been unconscious a few times. The newest deaths were the rogue and fighter, who had their souls devoured by a demilich. Even with the cleric granting them save bonuses, they rolled their 1s and 2s and died. These were the first deaths in 6 or 7 sessions, and they didn't come from HP damage, but from status effects. I think I'd have to roll out an EL+5 encounter for them to be seriously worried about a TPK from HP damage.Minions pre-MMII were pretty worthless. Minions designed since MMII are a credible threat if used in hordes. I like using minions but for encounter design I give them 1/2 XP (8 minions instead of a regular monster at heroic, 10 at paragon, and 12 at epic). This has worked well. My players get to mow down hordes, and I actually get to hit them with a few minions before they all die.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Ceramicwombat, post: 4955432, member: 73526"] Our high-level campaign just hit 21st level. The party is a halfling cleric, elf archery ranger, elf fighter, and human rogue. All four are well-optimized builds. In an EL+0 encounter, I don't feel like I'm able to threaten anyone but the fighter because he does his job so well. He is a sword n' board build, and monsters of his level are able to hit his AC ~30% of the time. Getting him down to bloodied is insane. Instead, the enemies use every status effect they have available to make him dazed, stunned, blind, teleported away to a pocket dimension, etc., just to get at the other characters. Most of the encounters I use are EL+1 or EL+2 and everyone seems to be threatened at least a bit. Going from 1st level the day 4th came out to now, I have killed the rogue twice, the fighter twice, and the cleric once. The ranger is a new addition and I haven't managed to kill him yet, but he has been unconscious a few times. The newest deaths were the rogue and fighter, who had their souls devoured by a demilich. Even with the cleric granting them save bonuses, they rolled their 1s and 2s and died. These were the first deaths in 6 or 7 sessions, and they didn't come from HP damage, but from status effects. I think I'd have to roll out an EL+5 encounter for them to be seriously worried about a TPK from HP damage. Minions pre-MMII were pretty worthless. Minions designed since MMII are a credible threat if used in hordes. I like using minions but for encounter design I give them 1/2 XP (8 minions instead of a regular monster at heroic, 10 at paragon, and 12 at epic). This has worked well. My players get to mow down hordes, and I actually get to hit them with a few minions before they all die. [/QUOTE]

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