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<blockquote data-quote="FourthBear" data-source="post: 3983119" data-attributes="member: 55846">As noted by others, your arguments here indicate that you consider only spellcasters and those with plentiful spellcasting powers worthy mastermind enemies.&nbsp; I am hoping that the 4e rules will work to reduce this, by allowing far more ways for non-spellcasters to deal with magical foes.&nbsp; If magical wards are always needed at a certain level of play &quot;so that you are not completely helpless&quot;, I'd call that a pretty poorly balanced rules set.&nbsp; Non-spellcasters are always helpless in your campaigns after a certain level is reached?&nbsp; In that case, they should just give all enemies past a certain level the power to create such wards.&nbsp; There are a large number of ways to have dragons have cool and memorable lairs, without having to give them sorcerer levels.&nbsp; In fact, thinking about the dragon write-ups in 3e I have seen, I don't think many of them learned sorcerer spells that would allow them to create and manage huge lairs.&nbsp; How many times did an Old Dragon in 3e have in its write-ups the appropriate spells to create magical wards and traps?&nbsp; I think almost never.&nbsp; They were typically assumed to use scrolls or magical items.If we look at Smaug from the Hobbit, he moved into a lair created another race entirely.&nbsp; In the Forgotten Realms and Greyhawk, this is quite common, as dragons tend to move into pre-existing ruins and lair.&nbsp; I can't recall many dragons in fiction that are given the magical power to create massive lairs or magically create traps.&nbsp; Minions are indeed normally used for such.&nbsp; As to why those minions don't show up for the climatic encounter, you'll have to ask that of darn near every adventure and campaign in D&amp;D.&nbsp; It isn't specific to dragons.&nbsp; Pretty much every mastermind in D&amp;D, you could always ask why they don't all work to gang up at once on the poor party with all minions in tow.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="FourthBear, post: 3983119, member: 55846"] As noted by others, your arguments here indicate that you consider only spellcasters and those with plentiful spellcasting powers worthy mastermind enemies. I am hoping that the 4e rules will work to reduce this, by allowing far more ways for non-spellcasters to deal with magical foes. If magical wards are always needed at a certain level of play "so that you are not completely helpless", I'd call that a pretty poorly balanced rules set. Non-spellcasters are always helpless in your campaigns after a certain level is reached? In that case, they should just give all enemies past a certain level the power to create such wards. There are a large number of ways to have dragons have cool and memorable lairs, without having to give them sorcerer levels. In fact, thinking about the dragon write-ups in 3e I have seen, I don't think many of them learned sorcerer spells that would allow them to create and manage huge lairs. How many times did an Old Dragon in 3e have in its write-ups the appropriate spells to create magical wards and traps? I think almost never. They were typically assumed to use scrolls or magical items. If we look at Smaug from the Hobbit, he moved into a lair created another race entirely. In the Forgotten Realms and Greyhawk, this is quite common, as dragons tend to move into pre-existing ruins and lair. I can't recall many dragons in fiction that are given the magical power to create massive lairs or magically create traps. Minions are indeed normally used for such. As to why those minions don't show up for the climatic encounter, you'll have to ask that of darn near every adventure and campaign in D&D. It isn't specific to dragons. Pretty much every mastermind in D&D, you could always ask why they don't all work to gang up at once on the poor party with all minions in tow. [/QUOTE]

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