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Message: <blockquote data-quote="rmcoen" data-source="post: 8225899" data-attributes="member: 6692404">At 1st level, when they encountered an ogre, I described the 9' tall thousand-pound mass of muscle (and fat) bearing down on them, swinging a ceiling support beam as a weapon.  In the last encounter - PCs now 4th level - I mentioned the dozen goblins, the two ogres, but then I described the new ogres: one with 80 pounds of dwarven mining-platform chain wrapped around its fist and arm, one carrying a light ballista like a crossbow, struggling to pull the string back, and one carrying a howdah-like contraption on its back.  Ogre CR2, Ogre Chain Brute CR3.  They had a moment where the ballista ogre fired and missed where they could have run back into the tunnels they just exited, avoiding the fight; they had the same (slightly more limited) opportunity throughout the fight, knowing that 90' back down the tunnel was a rope bridge that the ogres couldn't pass.  They fought to the end, the battlemaster and bard were KO'd, the spellcasters were out of spells; the rogue was unharmed.  They were victorious, with three goblins and a shaman having fled.Earlier, they snuck up on a suspected ogre-and-goblin camp, and through careful scouting discovered a hill giant supporting the camp, and almost double the number of foes expected.  They snuck away.  The only "clue" I gave was that the cooking fires seemed a little too numerous for just the foes they had seen.I have gotten in the habit of having stat sheets ready for any encounter, because I don't know what the PCs will do - or how effective they will be!  But I do try to provide descriptions of "out of the ordinary" details or potential threat.  I will also generally give "Lore" style checks for new creatures encountered, or lean into class or character backgrounds.  "Ranger, you've seen X before... but not one carrying a Y!"  "Cleric, your studies of the undead make you very familiar with these foes; you don't know what this creature is, but you know that incorporeal foes are always much more dangerous!"  "Wizard - this is clearly a demon.  You don't know the type [failed Arcana check], but the power required to summon such things is currently quite a bit beyond you."  "Military Scholar, your recent studies in the Wizards' Library have reminded you that warlocks that throw multiple bolts of eldritch power at a time are threat to a regiment, not just a squad..."Rarely I will foreshadow with environmental effects or "you see a big X in the distance", but I do it occasionally.  In the case of the upgraded ogres above, the party had come across walls and doors simply bashed down instead of opened...</blockquote>

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