and Shal's blade connects, gashing the thug's left arm and causing him to unleash a string of elvish swears as he pulls his mace out and drops his bow, the latter a near-involuntary action
The thug retaliates by swinging his mace at Shal...
I may have to go back and tell @daze413 that his spider idea was the straw that broke the camel's back
got any feedback on the encounter (other than me being sloppy -- I know :) or the overall RP for that matter?
and @Reibello -- just ping me some weekday night US time when you want to do the dungeon itself (it's actually probably easier than this from a not-dying standpoint, but definitely could be interesting esp. with a Lawful Evil char)
and really sell that the spider is not tamed at all. perhaps an insight or animal handling check will tell the players that? or narrate it however you want. Seeing it in play, I do think it's too much, if it keeps attacking anyone after getting its first kill... Maybe, after the spider's first kill, it drags the victim off into the woods: be it PC or NPC?
Hmm... I'd set it at 10, following theangrygm's advice: 10 - requires either training or talent to succeed. At 15, requires both training and talent. 20, tough even for the trained and talented.
If it comes to a point that the bandit and the PC is both trying to handle the animal to make it do something on its turn, then an animal handling showdown is at-hand! :D
idk, I've always been a nature kinda guy (always playing rangers/druids/cleric, and always getting proficiency in animal handling) so I might have biases there
Anyway, I should go. Have fun tweaking the spider :D
Honestly, it's tough to really threaten ranged characters in D&D without giving your encounters great ranged attacks themselves or restrictive conditions.
Fortunately, players don't tend to abuse their advantages.
@daze413 Having played around with it, I've sort of come to the conclusion that lair actions/legendary actions/legendary resistance are basically necessary to pull off a boss monster.