Amber Monsters

[Croaker]

Well, this means everything else it at human rank

[Nihilistic Mind]

75 points seems AWFULLY high... unless that is the highest possible score ever, the strongest/baddest/toughest/keenest critter in a thousand shadows.

Yes, in fact a shadowling based on a 0-point stat breakdown would mean that they achieve amber-rank in all stats if they are completely balanced, which is not a common thing at all. I usually use it for an elder amberite's shadow, or simply a very powerful being/creature.

Most shadowlings are human ranked in my games, so are most chaosians although they might have one to two ranks that are at chaos rank. I base Chaos Lords on 25 to 50 points. Elder amberites are usually built with 150-200 points, in my current campaign. The PCs are certainly on par with them, for the most part, although they always over-estimate them

75 points in strength, for example, can make quite an impression on the players, especially if the creature/person is encountered in Shadow. It also means that that NPC has human rank in all other stats and no sorcery or conjuration or any sort of minor power.
Since the players don't know the NPC's stats, they wouldn't assume to defeat it by other means and tend to assume it is more powerful than them, when in fact it is a challenge that would be dealt with fairly easily if they approached the situation differently.

Things out of shadow should be able to defeat and even kill an amberite (unlikely yet possible), but they should definitely be easy to dismiss if the players are creative enough.

Player Characters shouldn't encounter such a shadowling every session, but once in a while one should appear. Especially when an NPC uses the Pattern to put something in the PCs way, or if the PCs carry a lot of baggage... I mean Bad Stuff.

[jibbajibba]

Shadow is infinite. If I can imagine something I can find it in Shadow given enough time.
Therefore, there are plenty of shadow dwellers that can beat Amberites.
I personally belong to the Amberites are mortal school. If you get an Amberite in bed drugged with an elephantine does of tranquiliser you can slit their throat just like anyone else.

As a player if I want to remove an Amberite rival I will use guile not force. A beautiful assasin is more likely to be able to seduce drug and kill Corwin than a hairy Ogre.

[Trevelyan]

The essence of a decent challenge in an Amber game seems to me not to be something that can only be overcome with an excess of force or skill, but rather something that has an excess of force or skill and so requires the PCs to find a new approach.

A monster with 75 pts in one attribute and the rest at Human is a good example of such a challenge - if you try to meet it strength for strength then you'll probably loose, but working around it's area of expertise leave it weak. Although obviously a 75/H/H/H attribute spread with no other powers is a very one sided example.

Like Nihilistic Mind, I only apply this principle to relatively major encuonters or weaker NPCs of some influence (potent shadow sorcerers with a 10/H/C/H attribute spread, Sorcery, Conjuration, Power Words and a magic item or two, for example). The average mook in shadow just has H/H/H/H and no powers, while a significant NPC from a place of power (Amber, Chaos or campaign specific location) would be built as an individual.

[SunBoy]

BRANDEMBURGO CORNUDO!!!

MAYbe I'll EXplaI n laTEr...

[gabriel_ss4u]

Dragon King of Athas and the Internet vet both echo my thoughts. This is where an obliquely thinking imagination comes in handy. To create villains, monsters, and obstacles for your players is every GMs need. 1000s of movies, books and others for source ideas, as it is said, all possibilities exist in Shadow.
I have too many to mention and more than 1/2 haven't even reared their ugly heads ... yet.
(as far as the death knight goes... I used one once, I thought a strong one. and it was. but if you don't have a chess player mentality for storyline arc and character / npc possible plots & progression, the players will always find an easy way to mow down your villains. ("Oh, I shouldn't have teamed the 'solar flame girl' and the 'wolverine' type pcs against what would have been a great vampire villain vs. most other heroes.) sun burn & shiskabob.

TonyLB - The possibility that Amberites are protected from shadow-opposition by sheer arrogance (i.e. they cannot conceive of a worthy opponent, and therefore cannot travel to a place where one would be found) has not escaped me  ---  OK, Amberites walk, run, ride, whatever.... to their destination usually, what is to be said that they don't run into 'inconceivable' things on the way there.... like-wise, they don't (I'm sure) subcosciously endetail the ENTIRE world they are traversing to. There are also many things in Shadow that travel, and may find THEM, and the ever present family members or beings of Chaos that may send Guislings, jabberwocks, fire-angels, or whatever after them.
It seems that the difficulty lies in creation of the villain in question or it's actual play, which would you say it is?