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Underpowered Group Found BBEG
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<blockquote data-quote="Unwise" data-source="post: 7527624" data-attributes="member: 98008"><p>Doing the smart and tactical thing should not be met with things being made harder for them. XP is an inherently pretty silly concept. I party should not be a in worse position because they avoided heaps of fights before taking on a dragon. That makes little tactical sense and even less in-game logic.</p><p></p><p>For them to feel that they have to game the system by collecting XP from encounters leads to a really undesirable playstyle for me. PCs stop trying to be clever, since cleverness is punished. They stop trying to avoid encounters, become quick to resort to violence and basically become murderhobos.</p><p></p><p>Might I suggest that they find out that a bunch of kobold minions (or whatever underlings you are using) have a bunch prisoners that they want to eat. The only reason they have not done so is that the dragon is alive and wants to keep them for some reason. The second the dragon dies the hostages die. This gives them an in-game reason to head out and do side encounters. Next they hear from the captives that the kobold chieftain has a dragon-slaying spear he was keeping in case the dragon turned on them. Now they have another reason to do a side corridor or too before heading into the dragon. They kill the chief and get the spear, but get hit by a terrible curse from the kobold shaman as he runs away. Next they need to track him down or fight the dragon under the effects of an ongoing curse. The shaman has a stash of healing potions and some potions of pure magic essence that give spell slots back.</p><p></p><p>By doing that you give them a sensible reason to have gone to most areas of the dungeon, with clear advantages for having done so.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Unwise, post: 7527624, member: 98008"] Doing the smart and tactical thing should not be met with things being made harder for them. XP is an inherently pretty silly concept. I party should not be a in worse position because they avoided heaps of fights before taking on a dragon. That makes little tactical sense and even less in-game logic. For them to feel that they have to game the system by collecting XP from encounters leads to a really undesirable playstyle for me. PCs stop trying to be clever, since cleverness is punished. They stop trying to avoid encounters, become quick to resort to violence and basically become murderhobos. Might I suggest that they find out that a bunch of kobold minions (or whatever underlings you are using) have a bunch prisoners that they want to eat. The only reason they have not done so is that the dragon is alive and wants to keep them for some reason. The second the dragon dies the hostages die. This gives them an in-game reason to head out and do side encounters. Next they hear from the captives that the kobold chieftain has a dragon-slaying spear he was keeping in case the dragon turned on them. Now they have another reason to do a side corridor or too before heading into the dragon. They kill the chief and get the spear, but get hit by a terrible curse from the kobold shaman as he runs away. Next they need to track him down or fight the dragon under the effects of an ongoing curse. The shaman has a stash of healing potions and some potions of pure magic essence that give spell slots back. By doing that you give them a sensible reason to have gone to most areas of the dungeon, with clear advantages for having done so. [/QUOTE]
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