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Overestimating Party Strength
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<blockquote data-quote="kengar" data-source="post: 218584" data-attributes="member: 3230"><p>Man! Did I ever overestimate party strength 2 weeks ago:</p><p></p><p>I was running a module and it had a dragon at the end (won't say which so as not to spoil). Well, the party -5 adventurers, so already a little more powerful than the classic 4 person group- had been wiping the floor with everything up until then. Folks were getting bored and except for a player death from poison (whom they managed to get resurrected), they were bored to the point they wanted to just head for the hills and have random encounters instead of finishing the dungeon.</p><p></p><p>I asked the group to vote on whether they wanted me to turn it up a notch -warning them that it would mean not everything would be at or below their "target CR"- "BRING IT ON!" was the near unanimous reply.</p><p></p><p>I bumped the dragon at the end from CR4 (Young) to CR6 (Juv.). Then, the five of them -all 6th level (nearly 7th)- made short work of a CR10 creature. So I bumped the dragon again to CR8 (Young Adult) and read up on tactics at BADD's site.</p><p></p><p>You see where this is going, don't you? <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite7" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue :p" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":p" /></p><p></p><p>Needless to say, the dragon CREAMED them. Only one got away and that was because I lost track of how far he'd gotten before the dragon turned its attention on him. The group decided to just make new characters than continue the current campaign. I felt terrible, but I *had* warned them repeatedly that it was going to get riskier.</p><p></p><p>Bottom line: it happens. Sometimes it's bad rolls, sometimes the DM just guesses wrong about monster/party strength and sometimes -as I feel is true of 3e dragons- the CR ratings are off (That dragon should've been a CR10 at least!).</p><p></p><p>PS- The fact they had no cleric in the party (with 5 of them, no less!) and they hadn't rested before going down the next level hurt their chances, but it was still too much for them. Once dragons get spells and DR they are INSANELY tough!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="kengar, post: 218584, member: 3230"] Man! Did I ever overestimate party strength 2 weeks ago: I was running a module and it had a dragon at the end (won't say which so as not to spoil). Well, the party -5 adventurers, so already a little more powerful than the classic 4 person group- had been wiping the floor with everything up until then. Folks were getting bored and except for a player death from poison (whom they managed to get resurrected), they were bored to the point they wanted to just head for the hills and have random encounters instead of finishing the dungeon. I asked the group to vote on whether they wanted me to turn it up a notch -warning them that it would mean not everything would be at or below their "target CR"- "BRING IT ON!" was the near unanimous reply. I bumped the dragon at the end from CR4 (Young) to CR6 (Juv.). Then, the five of them -all 6th level (nearly 7th)- made short work of a CR10 creature. So I bumped the dragon again to CR8 (Young Adult) and read up on tactics at BADD's site. You see where this is going, don't you? :p Needless to say, the dragon CREAMED them. Only one got away and that was because I lost track of how far he'd gotten before the dragon turned its attention on him. The group decided to just make new characters than continue the current campaign. I felt terrible, but I *had* warned them repeatedly that it was going to get riskier. Bottom line: it happens. Sometimes it's bad rolls, sometimes the DM just guesses wrong about monster/party strength and sometimes -as I feel is true of 3e dragons- the CR ratings are off (That dragon should've been a CR10 at least!). PS- The fact they had no cleric in the party (with 5 of them, no less!) and they hadn't rested before going down the next level hurt their chances, but it was still too much for them. Once dragons get spells and DR they are INSANELY tough! [/QUOTE]
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