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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Psion" data-source="post: 113583" data-attributes="member: 172">I am currently running a 13th-14th level group. From my experience:If you want a meaningful combat, don't rely on single foes unless they are extremely well protected. High level parties can really lay the smack on a single foe, and it is quite likely that they will never get to act against a party that gets the drop on them.Go for goals other than "slay the enemy." That gives you a lot more latitude when it comes to making challenging scenarios.There is a lot to be said about strength in numbers. Don't be afraid to make an encounter overpowering if1) the players absolutely don't have to finish the fight (frex, they can do a snatch and grab), or2) the players are in a position to lay seige and weaken the enemyMy players decimated an extremely powerful elder vampire/werewolf in short order. But by the same token, they had an extremely difficult time extracting a priestess from a horde of ratmen, led by a corpulent ratman priest guarded by three ratmen blackgurds. As they were attempting to free the priestess, they noticed the dragon that had taken wing towards the fray. None of the opponents in that battle had a higher individual CR than the party, and individually would have been toast. But as a group, the party was capable of surviving their task, but not of defeating the enemies that had been laid out before them. And high level magic and rogue skills make such scenarios possible without making it a bloodbath.Don't give the party any freebies when it comes to having the advantage of surprise. Play the enemy intelligently, use spies, guards, alarms, and warnings available to high level foes, and let them pre-cast any reasonable protections.Give them some opponents to trounce... let them flex their muscles. But then, face them with some opponents that have the cure to whatever the party can throw at them. Teleport redirects, static screens, and so forth.</blockquote>

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