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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MrMyth" data-source="post: 5302947" data-attributes="member: 61155">I don't think anyone is arguing that those footprints don't exist in potentiality. The question is whether PCs will always come across them. Your statement of things now indicates that you always want PCs to have the chance of encountering them and the potential to decipher them... and I don't particularly disagree with that.  But at the same time, there would seem to be encounters where that 'footprint' is nearly impossible to find. Such as a Bodak created to guard an evil lair. Or a wizard who happens to know Prismatic Spray. Or an assassin taking measures to conceal his presence.  Your argument is that even in those situations, there should be some possible tell-tale sign for the PCs. Assassins are only sent out by kings who are known to use them. Even cautious monsters leave behind distinct enough remains to always pinpoint their specific nature.  And this might be true, but I contend that in many situations, the bar to puzzle out the nature of the creature or foe is going to be beyond a PC's capability. Perhaps you could find enough information with powerful enough divination spells and extremely high monster knowledge skill checks.  But not every group will have those, either due to party composition or simply level. And some of the opinions presented earlier in this thread were that, if PCs ended up in a situation where they were making Saves vs death, the fault was either on them for not being prepared, or the DM for not sufficiently preparing them.  That seems to be what you are suggesting here - that every enemy has the potential to be foreseen, and thus Save or Dies are acceptable because PCs should take note of a monster's footprint and prepare accordingly. And if they don't, then the fault lies with them, rather than the nature of SoD itself.  If this isn't your viewpoint, then my apologies, and feel free to clarify - though in that case, I'm not particularly sure how this relates to the topic of SoD at all.</blockquote>

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