I have a question...
I've been dming for several years, but the groups usually break up before we start reaching higher (10+) levels. Well, by some stroke of luck, this group has not went their seperate ways and they are knocking on the door of 10th level.
How do you handle pcs whose armor class and attack ranges are too hard to beat with "normal" monsters. What becomes the goblin, bugbear, the everyday creature for higher levels.
If the answer is as easy as giving the monsters levels, how do you handle the amount of treasure the pcs will be bringing in...dropped gear alone seems like it could lead to a lot of gp.
Thanks for any help you can give me.
I have a question...
I've been dming for several years, but the groups usually break up before we start reaching higher (10+) levels. Well, by some stroke of luck, this group has not went their seperate ways and they are knocking on the door of 10th level.
How do you handle pcs whose armor class and attack ranges are too hard to beat with "normal" monsters. What becomes the goblin, bugbear, the everyday creature for higher levels.
If the answer is as easy as giving the monsters levels, how do you handle the amount of treasure the pcs will be bringing in...dropped gear alone seems like it could lead to a lot of gp.
Thanks for any help you can give me.
Well, what monsters you use will depend greatly on things like the setting of your campaign, where the adventure leads, and so on.
Once you get to 10th and higher level, I'm not sure there is an 'everyday moster' anymore... If the creatures of that CR were common, there'd likely be a lot fewer villages left standing.
As far as encounter building, get creative! Try to find combinations of CR 8-12 monsters that complement each other's abilities. Set the fights in locations that add extra challenge. Let them fight a few dragons, perhaps?
Hope this helps. If you're looking for more specific encounter ideas, I can help later... Need breakfast first.
P.S- yes, classed monsters and humanoids do make good opponents, especially casters as BBEGs with a few monster mooks thrown in. Antipaladin and his red dragon allies? Evil cleric and his undead horde? Plenty of good ones.
I imagine the everyday encounters would probably be classed humanoids with a few monsters tossed in. Encounters should probably range from CR 6 to CR 14 for a group of 10th-level characters (with most being around the CR 10 area). Building appropriate encounters can be found on pages 397-400 of your Core Rulebook.
You can find rules for determining treasure on pages 399-401 of your Core Rulebook. There are also guidelines on those pages that give you an idea of how much wealth a single character of X-level should have. If you can stay close to those guidelines then encounters won't become too hard or too easy.
Cool. Thanks for the help!
Well, the creatures can also receive some help from the side of the DM. An advanced (help no. 1 - invisible template kicking up some abilities) dire bear mother protecting her cubs can receive an additional +2 morale bonus to her attack (help no. 2).
A group of goblin warriors (more levels) have a spellcaseter or bard (or some other character with leadership abilities) support, or perhaps a dangerous pet. Traps set up to put a group to disadvantage can also push the PCs to a temporary disadvantage.
Higher levels also make the PCs go to places where mundane people dare not to thread. This allows you to use more dangerous creatures, which you wouldn't otherwise want to wander the world, as mooks. Exploring the Stone Gallery, a known tangled labyrinth of steep rocks and a basilisk nest in a erch for the lost tower of a powerful spellcaster or infiltrating a cursed castle manned by the minions of hell can do this trick. Trying to brak the might of a hobgoblin kingdom may also be a good excuse to bring powerful goblinoid foes to bear among the hordes of lowly goblins.