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<blockquote data-quote="paigeoliver" data-source="post: 5076344" data-attributes="member: 45758">I was just looking over Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil and I noticed that it was just chock full of a certain kind of encounter that I had been noticing since I started gaming, albeit one that no one ever seems to talk about.That is the &quot;Pitiful Cleric&quot; encounter.The encounter usually consists of a single cleric (usually around the level of the party, sometimes a level or two lower, which is even worse). These encounters are most common in low to mid level adventures as higher level clerics usually have backup.The characters then happen upon this evil cleric and of course they attack him. As a gamemaster I can either attempt to cast a spell (either save or suck, or self buff) and be cut to ribbons before I get another action. Or I can just go right in swinging (and have a very small chance of maybe taking someone negative before I die), in which case the encounter should have just been with a warrior to begin with.It is even worse when the module suggests tactics for these craptastic clerics (for some reason module writers who write tactics always seem to assume that some how that lone 1 or 2 hit die foe with low AC is going to survive for half a dozen rounds against a party of six characters). Even Gary Gygax was bad about writing tactics for solo 1 hit die monsters.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="paigeoliver, post: 5076344, member: 45758"] I was just looking over Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil and I noticed that it was just chock full of a certain kind of encounter that I had been noticing since I started gaming, albeit one that no one ever seems to talk about. That is the "Pitiful Cleric" encounter. The encounter usually consists of a single cleric (usually around the level of the party, sometimes a level or two lower, which is even worse). These encounters are most common in low to mid level adventures as higher level clerics usually have backup. The characters then happen upon this evil cleric and of course they attack him. As a gamemaster I can either attempt to cast a spell (either save or suck, or self buff) and be cut to ribbons before I get another action. Or I can just go right in swinging (and have a very small chance of maybe taking someone negative before I die), in which case the encounter should have just been with a warrior to begin with. It is even worse when the module suggests tactics for these craptastic clerics (for some reason module writers who write tactics always seem to assume that some how that lone 1 or 2 hit die foe with low AC is going to survive for half a dozen rounds against a party of six characters). Even Gary Gygax was bad about writing tactics for solo 1 hit die monsters. [/QUOTE]

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