Treasure - Ogre caves unbalanced risk/reward

[Mrjunkie]

It seems to me that the ogre spawns that pop up in the random caves dotted around don't have equal value to the risk the ogre's offer.
Im not sure if ogre's are great horders but i'd expect them to have better stuff than a handfull of gold some crap flails a random throwing weapon like posion powder or tanglefoot bags.
I havnt checked the ogre cave on route to barovia lately but i will and see what i find on a high spawn...
If anyone else has any inlightenments on the subject, much appreciated.

[Rex]

Always felt the Ogres to be vastly Underrated as far as reward vs their Risk.  Especially if the Mages come out blasting with Cone of Cold.  Sometimes though, the Loot is not bad and I'm beginning to wonder, since when I find the incredibly crappy loot vs the spawn, the doors are already all open, that it's being ninja Looted.  Regardless though these things can hit hard have lots of hitpoints, crits are devastating, they get spell chuckers that can waste groups if the AI doesn't gimp out.

And seem to be worth less XP then the pretty easy to whack Shadows outside.  At least that's the impression I really haven't bothered to track it instead I try and point a bunch of Low Levels out to the Lower level dungeons even if a Room full of Ogres can still stomp my 12th level fighter flat.

~Rex

[Wids]

A little more Experience from the ogres would be nice, and their loot is pretty well rubbish (at least for the ogre cave nearest the orphanage, a cave which I visit from time to time).  Those things are defninitely heavy hitters; Viorica soloed that same ogre cave, and it involved a lot of guerilla warfare: sneak in, fight, kill one of them, get swamped with every last ogre in the cave (except for the ogre mage, who courteously abstains), get nearly killed, run outside, cuss and fume about it, run all the way back to the Morninglord church, get healed, rest--waiting for up to three in-game hours if necessary, resummon the animal companion, rebuff, run back in, possibly kill another ogre berserker, run out of healing potions and Barkskin potions after a few repetitions of this, pick off the ogre berserkers, solo the ogre chieftain, endure a nasty critical hit or two, nearly die twice, finally kill the chieftain, sneak up on the ogre mage, kill him so swiftly and brutally that he might as well be a kobold, loot the place and walk out of the ogre cave with even less loot than you walked in with.

And then there was that time with the Ascent to the Pass where Viorica dropped her shield and ran from three ogre berserkers after they landed a few nasty hits and I realized that a stand-up-and-fight victory just wasn't happening.  Run away, have an ogre follow Viorica through the transition, run around, take sharp turns around trees and bridges and crap just to get the ogre stuck for a second and get a little lead ahead of him, shoot him with an arrow, run some more, shoot him with an arrow, run some more, tame a nearby boar as I pass, watch the boar take a few bites out of the ogre before getting flattened, watch the boar's two friends get involved, watch them bite the ogre and die too, shoot, run, throw a tanglefoot bag, cuss as the ogre ignores the tanglefoot bag completely, shoot, run, shoot, run, finally kill the damned brute, go to Midway Haven, rest and get a "hasn't exactly been stressful" message.



Wonder how fighting a creature that forces me to resort to tactics that, in most video games, are reserved for climactic Boss fights isn't stressful.

Ogres suck. 

[Impotent Collateral]

I rarely do the Ogres at the Shadow forest, even rarer the Ascent cave for that reason: Large risk, tiny rewards.

[Ric]

One thing to keep in mind is that (as far as I know), the loot tends to be based on the CR of an area (hence why dungeons that go from low to high spawn generates better loot, becuase the CR of the stuff you fight is greater).

The problem with Ogres, however, is that in most default cases, Ogres have a pathetic CR (I have no idea why, and I don't know if our server has that case here).  It's one reason why I've noticed that ogres never give good EXP either, aside from bad loot.  I think all we need is a raise in its CR (without changing the difficulty, since they're already badass enough).

[Mrjunkie]

Veeeeery interesting points on CR...but what is it?

[Bad_Bud]

Challenge Rating.

[failed.bard]

Unless the devs can adjust XP awards based on class, the ogres by the pass can be soloed fairly easily at 10th level by a caster, even at max spawn, with minimal to no risk.  If Maria could open the locks at max spawns I'd tell you how the loot was for it, but it seems decent on the odd mid-high spawn where she can actually get it.

[Ric]

Same thing can be said for most places though.  Ogres aren't hard for a typical tough caster, but they are for others.

[Budly]

Perhaps if people powergamed a bit lesser the loot would be good and not ruined by people that can't keep their asses out of places they been too 100 times.

[Delphinidae]

Language. Also, you're generalizing.

Also adding this, since people keep slipping one word from time to time on the forums.

Obscenities, profanities, swearing, cussing, etc.