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Don't all these Low Level Games, miss out on the Great Big Bads of Legend?

Started by Jam The MF, December 10, 2021, 11:42:24 PM

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Jam The MF

#15
December 16, 2021, 06:06:25 AM
Quote from: Chris24601 on December 16, 2021, 05:08:35 AM
One observation from the limb of my game's design is that a lot rests on where you put the line for "typical adventurer."

Part of my goal was for a fantasy kitchen sink where players could begin with any sort of protagonist you'd find in a fantasy novel or cinema. This meant defining the common man as 1x and the common starting PC (including things like young dragons and giants) as 4x (about 4th level in AD&D terms).

This still let goblins and hungry wolves (1x) and orcs (2-3x) be a threat in a slightly better than 1:1 ratio (ex. 6 orcs vs. a party of four), but also provides enough room for a few ogres or grizzly bears (6x) or an adult dragon (10+x) to serve as greater tier threats.

By scaling up linearly from there (a level 2 PC is 5x, level 3 is 6x, etc.) you also deflate the need for excessively powerful upper tier enemies and can keep even the mightiest dragons down in a range where a high-level party can face them solo or a lower-level party with some assistance can face such creatures (though with likely casualties among your squishy hirelings... which is what you see in fantasy stories all the time anyway... guard number 3 is there in the story just to get squashed by the dragon's tail).

Anyway, proper scaling of PCs and monsters relative to the world is a huge part of how to enable all the extremes from goblins to ogres to dragons to demon lords.

Coming up with a range and scale to work from, is something I have done myself.

First I chose a scale for player characters at levels 1, 5, 10, and 15.  Then I decided to use Dragons and their age categories, as a relative scale for monsters.  5 age categories, from Wyrmling to Great Wyrm; is enough for my tastes.  The max HP for a Great Wyrm is 180hp.  A little bit past my extrapolation for AD&D 1E.  This allows for a little more powerful top end to the range.  Then everything else in the game is balanced with PCs or Dragon stats, at different levels.
Let the Dice, Decide the Outcome.  Accept the Results.

Slipshot762

#16
December 16, 2021, 06:09:12 AM
in 42 minus 8 years i've never seen a party survive a combat encounter against a beholder.

Pat

#17
December 16, 2021, 12:36:21 PM
Quote from: Slipshot762 on December 16, 2021, 06:09:12 AM
in 42 minus 8 years i've never seen a party survive a combat encounter against a beholder.
Hire 200 men at arms with bows.

Beholders are incredibly dangerous, but they're slow and their most dangerous powers have a very limited range.

Of course, a smart beholder (all of them), should quickly start disintegrating themselves an escape route.

Beholders are probably the most iconic "think outside the box" monster.

Ghostmaker

#18
December 16, 2021, 04:17:21 PM
Range and spell defenses are key against a beholder. Sure, he can wave his anti-magic ray around -- but that suppresses defenses, it doesn't dispel them.

That being said, though, a beholder can wreak havoc against an unprepared party.
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