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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AZRogue" data-source="post: 4041882" data-attributes="member: 3963">I'm curious how other DMs handle the distinction between Static vs. Tailored encounters in their games. For clarification, I mean the following:Static Encounter: An ancient dragon lives beneath the old hill east of the village, which is actually the burial mound to an ancient king. If the PCs poke around the hill, even at level 3, they will unfortunately encounter the ancient dragon and probably all die. They encounter him because he's there and that doesn't change based upon their level.Tailored: No matter where the PCs go, whether along the road, in the wilderness, or to the tavern for a glass of whiskey, if they have an encounter it will be with enemies appropriate to their level. Maybe a bit more difficult or a bit easier, depending, but still something that they can handle under normal circumstances. If at 3rd level they go the hill with the dragon mentioned above, the dragon won't be home, but maybe one of his offspring will be.So, which do you use? I know that 3E kind of encouraged the latter with the idea of CL and ECL. In prior editions both options were usually laid out in the DMG (and I'm not saying that 3E didn't let you use Static encounters, just that the system was set up to use tailored encounters).Myself, I use both. I do have important Static encounters mapped out (usually a few to each area) that are designed because they fit with the story or setting I've devised, even if they would destroy the party completely if they ran across them. I usually try to drop hints to the players if they approach one of these areas (a farmer saw a huge red dragon steal one of his cows and saw the dragon fly back to the hill). If they still go, then they all die.If the characters are on a specific adventure, and not just tramping along or investigating some non-adventure-related rumor that I always have as background in an area, I tailor the encounters to their level. They're on an adventure and the adventure is usually designed for them specifically. But they know that if they go to the wrong place they CAN run into something beyond their abilities and be forced to run like little girls if they want to survive. It makes them be a bit more cautious and careful (and is a throwback to my 1E days, I think). So, which do you do? Should 4E (or 3E for that matter) be played with Static encounters out there? Or should the encounters be tailored at all times, with obvious variation to make some more difficult than others? Should the possibility of running into a ancient red dragon at first level exist? Will 4E, as 3E did, use the tailored encounter model so much that players who have never played in prior editions EXPECT all encounters to be tailor made for PCs of their level?</blockquote>

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