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<blockquote data-quote="Aberzanzorax" data-source="post: 8943351" data-attributes="member: 64209">I'm playing in an open world version of the 5e Strahd book. Since it's open world, we hear about things much more powerful than us, and have even met Strahd himself briefly on a couple of occasions. We have a paladin in the party, and even he knows better than to attack Strahd.But we also have been in a situation where a hag was taking children from their parents. We knew there was a kid in her cart. We knew she was too powerful for us. NPCs had warned us. She was a legend in this city. We were level 3. But we attacked anyway. The child was freed, she downed two party members in three rounds and we were able to get enough attention from townspeople that she didn't want to look bad and made her easy escape.Goal accomplished, but with sacrifice, we felt pretty good. Until we learned that we now had a whole coven after us, nightmares every night for the two members who were downed, and accompanying fatigue... the child was returned to the hag by their parents, and now we're on the run.Real consequences have made our characters feel afraid and paranoid, but have made our players feel heroic and determined.***I think this thread is an interesting discussion of the merits and pitfalls of unbalanced encounters, but I think, more importantly, it's key to acknowledge that they are tools. Tools that can be used well or poorly, depending on the expectations of both the players and the DM before a campaign, and also the competency of both the players and the DM.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Aberzanzorax, post: 8943351, member: 64209"] I'm playing in an open world version of the 5e Strahd book. Since it's open world, we hear about things much more powerful than us, and have even met Strahd himself briefly on a couple of occasions. We have a paladin in the party, and even he knows better than to attack Strahd. But we also have been in a situation where a hag was taking children from their parents. We knew there was a kid in her cart. We knew she was too powerful for us. NPCs had warned us. She was a legend in this city. We were level 3. But we attacked anyway. The child was freed, she downed two party members in three rounds and we were able to get enough attention from townspeople that she didn't want to look bad and made her easy escape. Goal accomplished, but with sacrifice, we felt pretty good. Until we learned that we now had a whole coven after us, nightmares every night for the two members who were downed, and accompanying fatigue... the child was returned to the hag by their parents, and now we're on the run. Real consequences have made our characters feel afraid and paranoid, but have made our players feel heroic and determined. *** I think this thread is an interesting discussion of the merits and pitfalls of unbalanced encounters, but I think, more importantly, it's key to acknowledge that they are tools. Tools that can be used well or poorly, depending on the expectations of both the players and the DM before a campaign, and also the competency of both the players and the DM. [/QUOTE]

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