PCs breeze through my monster!

[iwatt]

Maybe you could have given the Rust Monster (who rusted nothing) a minder of some kind to have taken a few blows. Dress him up like an evil wizard who looks spooky but in reality is just a guy with the fasion sense of Ming the Merciless. He could have drawn some fire.

(Now that I think about it, if I lived in a D&D style world, there is NO way I would dress cool if I were a wizard. I would dress like a civil servant, a peasant or some other 'forgettable' person.)

We got tired of having the Wizard in our paty always be targetted by Fort save spells. So Now we started calling him a Druid and have him travelling around with an Owl (his familiar) a hawk (a trained animal belonging to my War Cleric) and the Ranger/wolflord also travels in wolf form. We have him walk around with a Scimitar on his belt as well.

Part of the problem is that some DMs can't avoid metagaming. He targets spells were they'll be more effective. My War/cleric never gets hit by will saves even though he looks exactly like a Big dumb Fighter (Sword and Board). He's also got an insanely high Fort save, so none of the fingers of death or desintegrates are aimed at him. The wizard is always hit befoer the rest, even by stupid vermin and mooks.

 

[Henry]

Part of the problem is that some DMs can't avoid metagaming. He targets spells were they'll be more effective. My War/cleric never gets hit by will saves even though he looks exactly like a Big dumb Fighter (Sword and Board). He's also got an insanely high Fort save, so none of the fingers of death or desintegrates are aimed at him. The wizard is always hit befoer the rest, even by stupid vermin and mooks.

That's why I try to think about what a party looks like rather than what it is made of, when I throw the combat at them. Before a combat, I metagame when assigning the opposition; how powerful must the main opposition be to challenge, is he winnable against, etc. But then I let my combat perspective take over when running the fight. Sometimes, enemy tactics will fail; sometimes bad guys will be overconfident and do stupid things, like actually show up in person; some opponents will attack all comers, spreading damage; other opponents doggedly attack the same PC until the PC is dead, no matter how stupid it is tactically if they are losing. But then, there will occassionaly be those combatants who plan carefully and are tough to kill.

 

[dreaded_beast]

Well, in regards to the Rust ability, my players had "Duskwood" weapons (non-magical, but masterwork) from the Magic of Faerun book.

They were sent by their Harper ally who had told them that the dungeon belonged to a wizard known as the Rust Lord. Their Harper ally gave them the Duskwood weapons. One PC left his magical axe at home and stuck with using the Duskwood weapons.

2 sessions ago, 2 of the PCs lost their main weapons from a rust monster attack, but were gifted replacements by King Azoun (although the PCs were rather ungratefully about it, those spoiled brats ).

I didn't want to be "too hard" on them (I still felt bad, and the players were real "quiet" after their stuff was rusted) so the rust monster didn't attempt to rust as much as it could have. I really wanted it to rust on of the PCs who luckily got a really powerful magic shield. However, I forgot that it was wood and not metal. And the paladin/marshall still wasn't wearing armor because his armor had been rusted from 2 sessions ago.

Oh well. Live and learn.

 

[The Amazing Dingo]

Considering that the party was well prepared for the encounter, that certainly changes things. Certain beasties out there suffer heavily at being known about and being properly prepared for. A Rust Monster is easily circumvented by not having metal weapons and armor and then is a weak beastie in a straight up fight. A Rust Monster, even with some templates and additional HD just isn't a melee machine.

However, you really ought ot look into that +5 Dexterity bonus thingie you mentioned. That *really* doesn't sound right.

 

[dreaded_beast]

However, you really ought ot look into that +5 Dexterity bonus thingie you mentioned. That *really* doesn't sound right.

Yeah, planning too.

I think I may have remembered wrong. I think the player was actually just using the bonus to skills.

At least he better have been.

Gonna double check next session.

 

[Chimera]

I'm with Darklone as well. One big bad guy against a group is almost always a seriously bad idea.


Oh well, it happens. Heck, it happens the other way too.

I killed a 10th level Ranger, the party's best melee fighter, in one round.

Enemy cleric goes first. Flame Strike on Ranger and his mount.
Ranger fails save, takes about 90% of maximum damage.
Ranger's horse killed. Fails ride check badly. Thrown to ground, taking max damage.
Ranger goes next. Picks himself off the ground and moves up to Cleric's bodyguard, a 7th level Orc Fighter.
Orc Fighter hits critical for near max damage. Kills Ranger.

Oops.

 

[Nightfall]

Well there's your problem right there. A Rust monster? Come on. Vengaurak, now THAT's cool! Or maybe a small tribe of Ratmen. Yeah Ratmen/Slitheren are WAY cooler than goblins, especially Daywalkers!