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What makes a monster terrifying?
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<blockquote data-quote="Salthorae" data-source="post: 7856054" data-attributes="member: 1095"><p>I think this plays into #1 a little bit, but I do this and have killed more than 1 PC by following what I think is a "natural" course of action for monsters in combat. Not all of them will continue after a downed PC, but there are quite a few of them. </p><p></p><p>My players are usually wary of it being a chance in any given encounter though, so it helps flavor up some of the more "bestial" options. </p><p></p><p>Focus fire is definitely a thing for Intelligent monsters for me though. If it's good enough for the PC's, it's good enough for the monsters. </p><p></p><p>The wilderness needs to be scary still. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I agree narration has a huge part to play in amping up dread. I just played over the weekend, and this was done very well by the DM. </p><p></p><p>Round hole in a dark/unlit dungeon except for our torches (no one had darkvision!), We could just make out a round shape that water was cascading down on top of in the hole when the DM described as shadowy tentacle shape that suddenly whipped around to face our torch we had held over the hole. Then the shape started rising out of the hole... beholder!</p><p></p><p>I don't do the narration justice here, but yeah. While we weren't low level or inexperienced, we were all terrified and ran like little inexperienced 1st level PC's!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Salthorae, post: 7856054, member: 1095"] I think this plays into #1 a little bit, but I do this and have killed more than 1 PC by following what I think is a "natural" course of action for monsters in combat. Not all of them will continue after a downed PC, but there are quite a few of them. My players are usually wary of it being a chance in any given encounter though, so it helps flavor up some of the more "bestial" options. Focus fire is definitely a thing for Intelligent monsters for me though. If it's good enough for the PC's, it's good enough for the monsters. The wilderness needs to be scary still. I agree narration has a huge part to play in amping up dread. I just played over the weekend, and this was done very well by the DM. Round hole in a dark/unlit dungeon except for our torches (no one had darkvision!), We could just make out a round shape that water was cascading down on top of in the hole when the DM described as shadowy tentacle shape that suddenly whipped around to face our torch we had held over the hole. Then the shape started rising out of the hole... beholder! I don't do the narration justice here, but yeah. While we weren't low level or inexperienced, we were all terrified and ran like little inexperienced 1st level PC's! [/QUOTE]
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What makes a monster terrifying?
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