Something has me perplexed of why a Dragon, Giant, or some other high CR rating monster just go on a rampage killing everyone? They have the power while the adventuring party is low level.
If these monsters are in a world where the PCs are, why wouldn’t they just wipe everything that stood before them?
In slightly longer: A dragon, giant, or other high CR monster can effortlessly kill a low-level adventuring band or wipe out a rural village. An army of ten thousand soldiers with heavy siege and warfighting equipment, and possibly special-purpose monster-slaying weapons like mobile ballistas? Entirely different story. Individual people are crunchy and go great with ketchup; All of Kithkind is a monster that monsters do not dare wake.
It's an unusual world where the PCs are the only potential threat. Going out on a rampage is just going to bring you to the attention of higher-level characters.
Also, have you ever seen the videos that circulate of, say, a bear being confronted by a housecat, the cat takes a swipe at the bear, and the bear runs away? It's not because the bear can't take the cat; it's because there's nothing in it for the bear, and it risks losing an eye, getting an infected wound, or the like. The more pointless fights you get into, the more you risk somebody getting lucky. (Yes, D&D's abstracted combat removes these risks in practice, but narratively, they exist.)
Something has me perplexed of why a Dragon, Giant, or some other high CR rating monster just go on a rampage killing everyone? They have the power while the adventuring party is low level.
If these monsters are in a world where the PCs are, why wouldn’t they just wipe everything that stood before them?
Because dragons and giants are people and people usually aren’t irrationally violent psychopaths?
Giants are manipulative. They would have gone out and threatened the nearby towns into paying "protection tax". Can't collect taxes if the town is destroyed.
Dragons are greedy and lazy. No point burning villages if they don't have loot.
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"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
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Something has me perplexed of why a Dragon, Giant, or some other high CR rating monster just go on a rampage killing everyone? They have the power while the adventuring party is low level.
If these monsters are in a world where the PCs are, why wouldn’t they just wipe everything that stood before them?
What would they gain by going on such a rampage? That's the question. What incentive is there?
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In short:
In slightly longer:
A dragon, giant, or other high CR monster can effortlessly kill a low-level adventuring band or wipe out a rural village. An army of ten thousand soldiers with heavy siege and warfighting equipment, and possibly special-purpose monster-slaying weapons like mobile ballistas? Entirely different story. Individual people are crunchy and go great with ketchup; All of Kithkind is a monster that monsters do not dare wake.
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Why aren't you going around searching for and stomping on all the anthills and knocking down all the wasp nests you can find?
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
It's an unusual world where the PCs are the only potential threat. Going out on a rampage is just going to bring you to the attention of higher-level characters.
Also, have you ever seen the videos that circulate of, say, a bear being confronted by a housecat, the cat takes a swipe at the bear, and the bear runs away? It's not because the bear can't take the cat; it's because there's nothing in it for the bear, and it risks losing an eye, getting an infected wound, or the like. The more pointless fights you get into, the more you risk somebody getting lucky. (Yes, D&D's abstracted combat removes these risks in practice, but narratively, they exist.)
Because dragons and giants are people and people usually aren’t irrationally violent psychopaths?
Because there are other powerful entities in the world that would stop them beyond just the adventures.
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Giants are manipulative. They would have gone out and threatened the nearby towns into paying "protection tax". Can't collect taxes if the town is destroyed.
Dragons are greedy and lazy. No point burning villages if they don't have loot.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale