Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Kibo" data-source="post: 253188" data-attributes="member: 5451">Stupid Goblin tricks.A little tactical thinking goes a long way.&nbsp; As long as they're out in the woods looking for grandma's house, the &quot;bad guys&quot; get to plan for trouble too.&nbsp; Goblins are weak, so they travel in numbers.&nbsp; The party would be unlikely to just stumble into the main force of the goblins, they might run in to sentries, or even a small probe.&nbsp; After all ambushing warry travelers and attendant security is hard work requiring not a small number of goblins, or what have you.What *really* would hurt your players is that period of spelling up, while the monsters assumably cover the distance seperating them.&nbsp; That's like a free action for your bad guys.&nbsp; A gift, from the PC's.&nbsp; They can bolt, attack, or other.&nbsp; I'd have the small initial force they run into be 3 in number (but probably never more than that).&nbsp; Then even if the warrior and the cleric are smart (in the hypothetical example) the wizard won't be.&nbsp; The one who survives contact blows a loud horn and books, enticing the PC's to give chase.&nbsp; They don't acctually have to chase it to have a little fun, but if they do, they can run right into hail of whatever your favorite ranged weapon is, not to mention traps.&nbsp; And might not goblins have pets.&nbsp; Mean pets.&nbsp; Like abused and hungry wolves that were brutally trained to attack things that make weird hand movements.&nbsp; Funny thing is, that would count as a grappaling attack as another poster mentioned.&nbsp; Two or three of those, and the wizard isn't likely to even survive long enough for the cleric and fighter to save him.Not that there shouldn't be some minor bad guy walk ons where the show up and say, &quot;Uh, I'm hear to establish the heroes?&quot;&nbsp; But it's nice to mix it up.&nbsp; Maybe they happen upon a modest cabin and some subplot that doesn't end in entrails and tears.&nbsp; They could even happen upon wild life that is happily ignoring them (which wild life will often do).&nbsp; Now if they do (not that hypothetical PC's would) something like kill a momma bear and cub while they shout, &quot;It's comming right for us!&quot;&nbsp; Well, it might just happen that the druid protecting this area takes a dim view of @$$holes.&nbsp; Weaker mindless monsters would instinctively avoid the PC's, weaker mindful ones, would probably alternate between fear, and champagne wishes and caviar dreams.&nbsp; PC's should be given something of a hint about how powerful something is unless it made some sort of attempt to purposely conceal the fact.&nbsp; Even then they should get a roll.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Kibo, post: 253188, member: 5451"] [b]Stupid Goblin tricks.[/b] A little tactical thinking goes a long way. As long as they're out in the woods looking for grandma's house, the "bad guys" get to plan for trouble too. Goblins are weak, so they travel in numbers. The party would be unlikely to just stumble into the main force of the goblins, they might run in to sentries, or even a small probe. After all ambushing warry travelers and attendant security is hard work requiring not a small number of goblins, or what have you. What *really* would hurt your players is that period of spelling up, while the monsters assumably cover the distance seperating them. That's like a free action for your bad guys. A gift, from the PC's. They can bolt, attack, or other. I'd have the small initial force they run into be 3 in number (but probably never more than that). Then even if the warrior and the cleric are smart (in the hypothetical example) the wizard won't be. The one who survives contact blows a loud horn and books, enticing the PC's to give chase. They don't acctually have to chase it to have a little fun, but if they do, they can run right into hail of whatever your favorite ranged weapon is, not to mention traps. And might not goblins have pets. Mean pets. Like abused and hungry wolves that were brutally trained to attack things that make weird hand movements. Funny thing is, that would count as a grappaling attack as another poster mentioned. Two or three of those, and the wizard isn't likely to even survive long enough for the cleric and fighter to save him. Not that there shouldn't be some minor bad guy walk ons where the show up and say, "Uh, I'm hear to establish the heroes?" But it's nice to mix it up. Maybe they happen upon a modest cabin and some subplot that doesn't end in entrails and tears. They could even happen upon wild life that is happily ignoring them (which wild life will often do). Now if they do (not that hypothetical PC's would) something like kill a momma bear and cub while they shout, "It's comming right for us!" Well, it might just happen that the druid protecting this area takes a dim view of @$$holes. Weaker mindless monsters would instinctively avoid the PC's, weaker mindful ones, would probably alternate between fear, and champagne wishes and caviar dreams. PC's should be given something of a hint about how powerful something is unless it made some sort of attempt to purposely conceal the fact. Even then they should get a roll. [/QUOTE]

Verification