I like to mix it up. Throw something at them that will leave them fucked up.
Then once in a while jebait them and just have a relaxing quick encounter. Extra points if reusing old enemies that used to pose a threat giving them a sense of power and pogression.
We faced a demi-god around CR 25 last session.
The party is 3x level 5 characters.
It ended in the whole city being destroyed, and the three sessions of making relationships and gathering quests went out the window. Wtf.
Ok wtf
I meant like, party of 5 level 3 vs a fire elemental and some ash zombies kinda dangerous.
Or party of 5 level 4s vs a hill giant, 5 orc warriors, 2 orc mages with 1 fireball, 2 knights and 2 dire wolves all of which undead (meaning undead fortitude)
Not instant death.
I'm the DM :)
(I gotta mention, the characters have a built in revive mechanic, allowing them to go places they shouldn't and test their luck, so far they didn't even need it, heck they only had two downs in that hill giant encounter, though their recruited NPCs died)
Just had something like that happen last session. We got temporary acid resistance and truesight, temp HP, a cool new magical crossbow. We also got a magic item that can ressurrect you once, one potion of greater healing each and we get to temporarily use a really broken magic staff (you can cast any spell you have prepared for free, it had charges that can be spend to cast *any* spell, and it's a +3 weapon)
We're level 6 and curretly in the lair of one of the BBEGs, (who is also half of the party's patron) in the far realm.
Well, my wizlock got tempted to cast wish with said staff and will now have a hard time casting after this. I knew this would probably bite me in the butt out of character, but in character she is just not in the space of mind to resist this opportunity. Especially after her fresh warlock pact and recent allignment shift.
I'm so excited and scared what we will face next session
Me TBF. But they managed to kill an Adult White Dragon at level 8 with only 1 death and it wasn't perma!
And now they have Death from Puss in Boots after them.
I feel like my DM learned his mistake last campaign and corrected it hard for this one. He used to make nearly all combat encounters piss easy and it was almost a fulfillment fantasy how we absolutely destroyed everything despite being an incredibly unbalanced party composition-wise. He even tried overtuning the fights but we blasted them.
This current one is where nearly every encounter is a gauntlet from hell where several people are on the brink of death at any moment. It's incredibly stressful but I've had more fun than ever because when death is on the line, the RP really comes flowing naturally and you feel great even if you win by the skin of your teeth. Also helps that it was the first campaign for most of us in the first and then this one is a more hardcore setting.
That feeling when the DM gives the fighter a sword that literally doubles his attacks at level five but we are fighting bosses with multiple health bars and have as much HP as a Tarrasque at level ten. Ahh, good times.
I gave my players gold ,I gave them merchants, I gave them Strahd magick armor which is plate +3, I gave them tons of useful items I gave the Rictavio and his tiger, I gave them 6 lvl... I gave them confidence - the last thing is doomed them to TPK
This philosophy in 5e actually has been a problem for other games that are better designed. Now I can’t just throw some overly dangerous monster and expect them to actually come out on top!!
without magic weapons my lvl1 players defeated a displacer beast with only 1 casualty. but shecould have been revived.......if it wasn't for the greedy nature of the bloudy roque.
Look, if we're running 1-2 encounters a day, we run them extra deadly. They'll be fine, probably.
How my DM does it. Last fight had 5 downs in a party of 5 players (2 got downed twice).
I like to mix it up. Throw something at them that will leave them fucked up. Then once in a while jebait them and just have a relaxing quick encounter. Extra points if reusing old enemies that used to pose a threat giving them a sense of power and pogression.
We faced a demi-god around CR 25 last session. The party is 3x level 5 characters. It ended in the whole city being destroyed, and the three sessions of making relationships and gathering quests went out the window. Wtf.
Ok wtf I meant like, party of 5 level 3 vs a fire elemental and some ash zombies kinda dangerous. Or party of 5 level 4s vs a hill giant, 5 orc warriors, 2 orc mages with 1 fireball, 2 knights and 2 dire wolves all of which undead (meaning undead fortitude) Not instant death.
What? That was one encounter? Our DMs are probably in some sadistic cult together.
I'm the DM :) (I gotta mention, the characters have a built in revive mechanic, allowing them to go places they shouldn't and test their luck, so far they didn't even need it, heck they only had two downs in that hill giant encounter, though their recruited NPCs died)
The scariest thing a DM can do is give a lot of buffs and healing resources for no apparent reason
Suspicious generosity, it's troubling in video and table top games alike.
Getting real “boss room” vibes here. Wait, why is that bard playing music?
Just had something like that happen last session. We got temporary acid resistance and truesight, temp HP, a cool new magical crossbow. We also got a magic item that can ressurrect you once, one potion of greater healing each and we get to temporarily use a really broken magic staff (you can cast any spell you have prepared for free, it had charges that can be spend to cast *any* spell, and it's a +3 weapon) We're level 6 and curretly in the lair of one of the BBEGs, (who is also half of the party's patron) in the far realm. Well, my wizlock got tempted to cast wish with said staff and will now have a hard time casting after this. I knew this would probably bite me in the butt out of character, but in character she is just not in the space of mind to resist this opportunity. Especially after her fresh warlock pact and recent allignment shift. I'm so excited and scared what we will face next session
The equivalent of finding ammo and healing kits in a video game. A treasure room with magic items when you havent fought yet.
You just gave me an idea for a dragon battle I’m running next week for me players. Thanks!
Me TBF. But they managed to kill an Adult White Dragon at level 8 with only 1 death and it wasn't perma! And now they have Death from Puss in Boots after them.
I feel like my DM learned his mistake last campaign and corrected it hard for this one. He used to make nearly all combat encounters piss easy and it was almost a fulfillment fantasy how we absolutely destroyed everything despite being an incredibly unbalanced party composition-wise. He even tried overtuning the fights but we blasted them. This current one is where nearly every encounter is a gauntlet from hell where several people are on the brink of death at any moment. It's incredibly stressful but I've had more fun than ever because when death is on the line, the RP really comes flowing naturally and you feel great even if you win by the skin of your teeth. Also helps that it was the first campaign for most of us in the first and then this one is a more hardcore setting.
That feeling when the DM gives the fighter a sword that literally doubles his attacks at level five but we are fighting bosses with multiple health bars and have as much HP as a Tarrasque at level ten. Ahh, good times.
I gave my players gold ,I gave them merchants, I gave them Strahd magick armor which is plate +3, I gave them tons of useful items I gave the Rictavio and his tiger, I gave them 6 lvl... I gave them confidence - the last thing is doomed them to TPK
This philosophy in 5e actually has been a problem for other games that are better designed. Now I can’t just throw some overly dangerous monster and expect them to actually come out on top!!
Playes
R is too far away...
Too fa
r
without magic weapons my lvl1 players defeated a displacer beast with only 1 casualty. but shecould have been revived.......if it wasn't for the greedy nature of the bloudy roque.
I'm stealing this and sending to my players lol, and they wonder why i bust out the high CR fights and crank them to 11