^Awww . . . they weren't supersonic sharks?
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As a GM: I hate it when monsters have a bunch of different Spell-Like Abilities they will never use. For example, the Kalavakus demon has at-will Command! Thematically appropriate, but it also has two other, better spell-like ways to brainwash you, when it isn't just going for the full attack.
Though it is fun to actually get to use these, and I'm grateful for writers who include encounters and adventures where these niche abilities get used, or even when outsiders with high mental stats don't just fight to the death for space-saving reasons.
As a player: wights. A CR 3 undead with level drain means a Random Encounter roll gone wrong can send one of these at you at level 1. I was in a group where this happened, and everyone was terrified of instant death and later undeath. Fortunately, we had a heavily armoured guy fighting defensively against it, while everyone else hit it with spells and ranged attacks. It hit once, but the Fort save was made.
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From a world-building perspective, I dislike the large amount of high CR monsters. How did the mortal races get to control so much of the world when every third page in the Bestiaries can singlehandedly obliterate a town?
Dragons taking an eight-century nap, outsiders generally staying in their home planes, dinosaurs and other megafauna living in their own large-yet-isolated areas, and those giant predators mainly hunting giant prey animals?
Plus, mortal races occasionally having access to heroes who can kill, drive off, or otherwise deal with these rare, enormous threats can help when the Mass Combat rules don't hold up in the face of it.
Really, you don't have to include every monster from every source in your setting, and it's better to figure out reasons for the ones you do. Though if your GM plunked a bulette down on a major trade route, I hope you were at a level where you could divert it away from there.
"Common" Orcs ("CR 1/3" is an unfunny joke) are a sphincter-clenching terror at low-level, and it doesn't help that the Pathfinder variety switched out 3e's greataxes for falchions, tripling their chances of scoring a crit against you. They're +7 on a charge.
And there's usually an Orc Berserker (CR1) in the group; he'll have a raging Str of 28 and is +11 on a charge. With Ferocity and rage up, it takes 45pts (almost double their listed 24hp) of damage to drop them.
That's nothing new, I remember a single bugbear TPK'ing a first lvl party in AD&D... and any monster with above average strength (from orcs to ogres to giants) took a serious power up between AD&D2 and 3.xx, which was retained in PF
That's nothing new, I remember a single bugbear TPK'ing a first lvl party in AD&D... and any monster with above average strength (from orcs to ogres to giants) took a serious power up between AD&D2 and 3.xx, which was retained in PF"Common" Orcs ("CR 1/3" is an unfunny joke) are a sphincter-clenching terror at low-level, and it doesn't help that the Pathfinder variety switched out 3e's greataxes for falchions, tripling their chances of scoring a crit against you. They're +7 on a charge.
And there's usually an Orc Berserker (CR1) in the group; he'll have a raging Str of 28 and is +11 on a charge. With Ferocity and rage up, it takes 45pts (almost double their listed 24hp) of damage to drop them.
The first or second time my group played (we had a second game running fairly quickly because of schedules), we were given a bit of an intro with 2 or 3 CR 1/2 Coconut Crabs. We lost because none of us had the damage to 1 shot them with just base damage and 18 is tough AC to hit early on. The dice were not with us.
That being said, anything in the below CR 1 range with high AC is annoying and possibly deadly.
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I was actually 'ambushed' by four young squirrels last month. Not those fearless American gray ones, but proper shy European red ones. They sort of poinged around a bit, ran up my legs, sniffed at my fingers and poinged off. I guess I failed my save against fear because I stood stock still instead of trying to hit them with the hammer I was working with.
Be glad. If you had hit them, the Druid hiding nearby would have wildshaped and pounced you!
An ambush by sixteen young squirrels would be a bizarrely terrifying CR 3 encounter. They've each got +22 Stealth, +6 initiative, +8 Reflex, +14 to hit, and 24 AC. So the question just becomes "can you grapple them to death before you fall unconscious from the bite damage?"
I'm preparing some stuff for tomorrow's game right now. My player's are gonna hate me!
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Yeah, taking notes on that squirrel business . . .
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That being said, anything in the below CR 1 range with high AC is annoying and possibly deadly.An ambush by sixteen young squirrels would be a bizarrely terrifying CR 3 encounter. They've each got +22 Stealth, +6 initiative, +8 Reflex, +14 to hit, and 24 AC. So the question just becomes "can you grapple them to death before you fall unconscious from the bite damage?"
Although I love the image this paints, wouldn't such a large number of tiny- or fine-sized inconsequential enemies be considered a swarm? Not that a squirrel swarm couldn't be potentially lethal, mind you, as they have a surprisingly powerful bite--ten times stronger per square inch than the strongest dog.
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Young squirrels are fine creatures. You'd need 10,000 of them to constitute a standard young squirrel swarm at full health.
That being said, anything in the below CR 1 range with high AC is annoying and possibly deadly.An ambush by sixteen young squirrels would be a bizarrely terrifying CR 3 encounter. They've each got +22 Stealth, +6 initiative, +8 Reflex, +14 to hit, and 24 AC. So the question just becomes "can you grapple them to death before you fall unconscious from the bite damage?"
I've heard the same thing about house cats . . . .
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Squirrels are food or pests. Nasty creatures.