Large hordes of blood thirsty monsters really pose no threat to true heroes! I have already written an article about creating villains, but there is always more to be said about them, especially during high-level encounters! If you don’t do this correctly, then you will run into boring sessions of rolling dice and subtracting damage. We already know NOT to depend on the dice to bail us out, because right now, the dice are too much in the players favor, so in order to bring the odds more in favor of the house, we’ve got to change the way that we run our villains.

Intelligent Evils

We really need to focus on intelligence, we could let it slide in the past as nobody takes low level characters seriously, and they attack mid-level characters with strength, but they are still alive!!! Thus, our villains must be more thoughtful in their methods.

Lets take a look at intelligence! We have animals, such as tigers who have an INT range of 2-4, the tiger is capable of hunting and stalking its prey. It is methodical and highly unpredictable. This is our base intelligence, if a tiger can do this, then how about a Goblin? A monster whom most players consider below them? Goblin INT is 5-10, clearly they are capable of constructing traps, setting up ambushes, and attacking people from a distance. They need not always resort to the full frontal assault which we DM’s like to give them. The base of a human is 8. This is intellect enough to perform amazing accomplishments! The people who construct buildings that have stood for centuries had the INT of 8, so stop underselling and ignoring lower intellect, the less intelligent that something is, the more unpredictable it will become once pressed to combat. Even a Orc can create and construct a trap that is absolutely devilish!

Observing Weakness

All monsters have strengths and weaknesses, the key to using them to fight high-level characters, is to discover this weakness and find a way to strengthen it within the rules of the game, we can do this with magical items, or spell casters could depend upon them to protect their own skins.

The Werewolf is injured by silver . . . Everybody knows this! However, why not give him an Amulet that is Proof against Silver? Trolls are vulnerable to fire, why wouldn’t a troll us a potion of fire resistance? Use your imagination! Some stuff is tactical, if a creature has a terrible armor class but has a good long-range weapon, then keep it in an enclosure that would lower its AC.

Playing off of one’s Strengths

A Skeleton is easily smashed, however, skeletal archers standing on the far side of a cliff could easily pick off players from afar with very little worry about getting hurt themselves. They are capable of using a wide variety of weapons and can use tactics that would be fatal for anything that is not dead. Skeletons are immune to fire, placing them into a fire trap would be enough to terrify the most hardened soldier.

Maximize a monsters strengths and reduce their weaknesses, this will force the players to change their own tactics. Speaking of . . .

Enemy Tactics

This post really isn’t the best place to deal with tactics, as it deserves one of its own, however an enemy should use them, and they should be devious! PC’s use hit and run tactics to wear down a powerful enemy, this runs both ways. The enemy also has the advantage of studying the terrain and using it. They have more time to prepare, and if the enemy leader is smart enough, then he can force the PCs to take a specific route and set up a good old fashioned ambush.

The game is up

Of course the monsters will lose, well at least we should hope so! We want to challenge the PCs, not murder them. We therefore have to decide how an opponent handles the defeat. Many times we decide this by checking Morale, however if you have an important NPC present during the combat, then he shouldn’t have to be held under this rule . . . Unfortunately his henchmen are. We must apply logic to the situation, but thankfully an enemy who is staring at defeat, and knows it has only four options.

Surrender

The badguy simply gives up . . . Or at least appears to give up.

Flee

A retreat doesn’t have to be a mindless rout, the enemy may choose to withdraw and fight again under better circumstances.

Reversal

If the original plan is not working, the enemy suddenly shifts to a back up plan, this is definitely a very daring tactic!

Fight

The monster simply keeps on fighting and hopes for the best.