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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ariosto" data-source="post: 4867702" data-attributes="member: 80487">Killing characters along the way is one way a monster can hold out (a la giants in old D&D, with their 2 dice or more of damage per hit). Numbers weigh heavily in most RPGs, and a monster that might give Beowulf or Conan a run for his money probably won't fare so well when the players muster half a dozen heroes of that caliber.One can easily work out a ballpark number of hit points that should do the trick, given a good estimate of the opposition. If that's too many hp for the monster concept (e.g., number of hit dice), then it should lair somewhere likely to wear down enemies coming after it.Of course, in old D&D campaign (or "sandbox") play, it's mainly up to the players to decide the terms of engagement. They might bring to bear enough resources to swat Monster X like a fly, or they might come in suicidally unprepared. Depending on the intelligence (in both senses) available to Big Bad, he/she/it might respond in cunning ways.The dice also have a way of sometimes laying low the best laid plans of monsters and men.</blockquote>