I got a wild take for you all
The HP is too damn high
D8 HD was a mistake
Wanted to pick at this a bit.
First, I do use 1e stats for most monsters with d8 HD. When I spec, unless the fella is an over-achiever, I typically award the average HP (4.5 x HD) to it, and often don't even bother with HP variation across a large group (i.e. all 4 bugbears get 15 hp). If the monster is a "boss", he'll typically get close to max HP for his HD. I know this is not BtB, and I'm being a bit lazy. (Shhh...my players don't know this.)
As has been mentioned elsewhere on this forum, my players---despite the fact that PC death is relatively scarce at higher-levels, are extremely risk adverse. It has been suggested (by you kind folk) that may be because of my DM style which does not reward combat (or some other aspect of my style has traumatized my players...I can't recall). Here's a mini-list of my guesses as to why my player are risk adverse:
- we do not focus much on level advance, it's been slow (8 levels in 6 years with an average of bi-weekly play)---so the fight XP is minor (GP=XP), i.e. no reward for fighting unless you just plain want a threat eliminated
- I made it clear at lower-levels (and general demeanor) that death is a real possibility. As a result, they are very protective of their almost-name-level characters. Favored NPCs/henchmen do tend to drop in big battles...and sometimes they play the henchmen when their PC is occupado, so there's player-NPC-death identification.
- I play with my daughters. In my experience, girls are not quite the risk-takers boys tend to be. At least not mine.
- Almost all the monsters are home-brewed (tweeked) and unknown in terms of powers/abilities. I fiddle a lot, and the unknown is scary. Monster stats are always opaque.
- Magic (item) accumulation is a big driver (and route to power). It's also almost always an expendable resource. They are miserly in it's use.
- With regards to PCs becoming Thor---I agree. But that's only through recovered magic/artifacts, not inherent level-progression/ability. Also, I am very miserly with protective magic. An AC a step or two better than plate is the best they've ever achieved. (Poison...one hit can equal death, etc.). So they are always vulnerable to counter-attack, even while offensively formidable.
What this all adds up to is that the statement
"The [monster] HP is too damn high" just hasn't been my experience. Fights are neither long or overly often. It's not unusual for us to go multiple game session without a battle---instead, they are sneaking around, exploring, or conversing with NPCs. Unless they are in a dungeon, it's maybe 1-2 fights...some fleeing...and a lot of sneaking. The amount of time my players spend
invisible is probably alarming. I blame the Harry Potter books.
This has been said elsewhere (maybe at K&KA), but big-boss monsters vs. a high-level party usually only get 1 round to act---that's why surprise is so crucial for them. As I said above: my players are
a) scared (due to foreshadowing/unknown/etc.)
b) hording their fire-power
c) risk adverse
So when the fight starts,
they typically unload with everything they've got and the combat ends in 1-2 rounds. I've been dishing out the magic resistance to bigger-foes, which helps fizzle out a few of the spell-attacks, but the back-ups kick in. So, by round 2, a big-nasty with any sense is usually fleeing and taken down from behind.
I understand now, that if I am to engineer a real challenge for a higher level party, it has to be waves of
multiple tough-creatures---one Big Baddie will never cut the mustard...but sometimes, in the campaign context, that makes little sense (and also, no way do my risk-adverse players go for a frontal assault, a trap will have to be sprung).
My $0.02.
(umm...is this your microphone? I think you may have accidentally dropped it. I heard a "thud" and...)