Wandering Monsters: How Tough?

[The Grumpy Celt]

Well now...

When yer dealing wonna them thar low level partiez ah 1st ta 3rd level, itz best to hit them over and over when Utter Pit Fiends, Adamantium Dragons and Uranium 347 Golems. Then, once thar characters er all good and ded, point yer fingur at them thar smart arsed players and uh bellow out "Quit cha' makun' fun oh my accent!"

 

[Gothmog]

I use MoAET, and let the dice fall where they may, balance and CRs be damned.

Yep, I agree- its random, so the difficulty should be random too. The PCs don't have to kill or defeat everything they run into, and running into things far tougher and far weaker than they are adds to versimilitude.

 

[JRRNeiklot]

Right, and they don't have to FIGHT the ancient red that just landed on the wizard. Maybe he's in a hurry and will settle for just eating a horse or two. Or a gnome.

 

[Tonguez]

It also heklps to redefine what an encounter is

One of my favourites was when the PCs came across some geothermal hot pools one of which had a rope coming from it - they pulled it up and found the cooked bodies of three gutted goblins attached to the other end.

and Personally if a dragon came up on the random encounter roll, the PCs would either come across the scorched remains of some armoured adventurer or suddenly be overshadowed and look up to see the form of a dragon flying overhead (which would hopefully prompt them to hide before being spotted)

 

[Klaus]

It also heklps to redefine what an encounter is

One of my favourites was when the PCs came across some geothermal hot pools one of which had a rope coming from it - they pulled it up and found the cooked bodies of three gutted goblins attached to the other end.

and Personally if a dragon came up on the random encounter roll, the PCs would either come across the scorched remains of some armoured adventurer or suddenly be overshadowed and look up to see the form of a dragon flying overhead (which would hopefully prompt them to hide before being spotted)

Or hear a thunderclap in the distance, dismiss it as being a storm coming. Then hear it again. And again. And AGAIN. And then they notice: there are no clouds in the sky.

On the next day they come across the scorched remains of a trading caravan amid blast marks that corched the ground into glass.

(I got the blues... dragons!)

 

[Ipissimus]

I use MoAET, and let the dice fall where they may, balance and CRs be damned.

Personally, I think this is the DMing equivalent of running with scissors. One day, you'll inflict a TPK on the party for no good reason and everyone will be spitting chips. IMO, there are better ways to inject the reality of the world into a campaign that don't involve such risks.

 

[JRRNeiklot]

Personally, I think this is the DMing equivalent of running with scissors. One day, you'll inflict a TPK on the party for no good reason and everyone will be spitting chips. IMO, there are better ways to inject the reality of the world into a campaign that don't involve such risks.

I never said they had to fight whatever comes up on the dice. If an ancient red DID show up and the party of 3rd level characters charges "on the count of three", they deserve to die. It's much more realistic than only having a cr 5 show up whaen the party is level 5 in an area that before now NEVER had a creature of that type, then again at level 7, etc.

 

[airwalkrr]

I typically try to avoid making random encounters that are higher ELs than the average character level. However, I like using them because they often give me ideas for future encounters and plotlines. "Hmm, I just rolled a juvenile green dragon. There is probably an adult green around here somewhere then."

 

[Ipissimus]

Deserve to die they may, but killing the entire party kills your whole game and all that preparation you did the day or two beforehand just went to waste.

But forget the Dragon, there are plenty of lower level monsters that the PCs could mistake for something they can defeat while being beyond their reach. It's easy to mistake a Barghest for a hobgoblin, a Nymph for an Elf, a Hill Giant for an Ogre, a Laernian Hydra for a regular hydra, etc.

Besides, the whole thing takes you away from the story and the other, more interesting, site encounters.

 

[ruleslawyer]

I never said they had to fight whatever comes up on the dice. If an ancient red DID show up and the party of 3rd level characters charges "on the count of three", they deserve to die. It's much more realistic than only having a cr 5 show up whaen the party is level 5 in an area that before now NEVER had a creature of that type, then again at level 7, etc.

Keep in mind that there are several encounters of high CR (like, say, ancient red dragons!) that low-level PCs are incapable of effectively evading, let alone overcoming. Unless you make up a really good reason for that dragon not to just snack on the PCs, he will. He can see further, move faster, and bring them down in a round. I think that's what Ipsissimus means by "running with scissors."

I let the dice fall where they may too, but the CRs for my tables tend to run with environment, and are capped pretty low in most environments; PCs undertaking a standard forest or mountain trek simply will not run across ancient red dragons or the like. Those are unique creatures to be sought out. The random encounter tables for extraplanar locations and the like will look much more deadly. Thus, while it's possible that a 3rd-level party will run into a troll hunting party or pair of dire bears (both TPKs, by the books), they'd have to be in some pretty reputedly deadly parts for that (to which I generally don't send 3rd-level PCs) and they wouldn't be running into anything deadlier (a beholder, greater demon, etc.).

I'm also a big fan of making nine out of ten "wandering monster encounters" random events, NPC encounters, signs of faraway or recently passed creatures, or the like rather than actual combattable big beasties. It allows me to make trips reasonably interesting while removing the periodic combat-fest mood.