Last nights game had a boss battle with a magic user by the name of Lister. He had a wand of fireball. He initially had the spell of fireball, but I keep forgetting it's a level three spell, and not a spell that a level three mage can cast.
The boss is a documented aspect of gameplay known as the 'Wake-up Call'.
He also had a wall of force to protect his bar, a ring of resistance and a vested interest in the great race. Seems like a lot for a third level magic user? Well get over it, the worlds a wild and crazy place.
He killed Paul's character Axe by suiciding when it looked like he was on the ropes. It was argued afterward that he could have caused TPK and survived, but that would be a meta manuever.
Axe happened to be the one who got close to him, and that was that. Why did he have a wand of fireball? Ultimately, it suited my purpose.
I wasn't looking for 'fake difficulty' rather then to give the players the necessary equipment for the upcoming race. They had broken into an equipment shop earlier and stolen some rather exotic gear, and we were on a roll. They hammered through some serious fights and felt pretty good about themselves.
A few unlucky die rolls, cocky attitudes and bad tactics though, and 'Axe Lot', along with his quarry, are but a mist and memory.
The race in the sands is meant to be an elite doing, and the city of Calimport, never mind the great sprawl Calimshan are meant to be a deadly place.
I legitamitely had some of the shittiest rolls come up last night, thus neutering several very real threats very quickly. While I've not been killing people off left and right these last few sessions, it's not for lack of trying.
The shame of it is that the players did not take the time to search the corpses, simply declaring they took Axe's stuff; I don't recall if anyone took anything off the gnome.
While I will freely admit that it's crazy to throw a wand of fireball into the mix, being that it can one shot a person, the way I see it, in the real world, a gun can one shot a person and that's a risk every soldier has to face. Complaining that they're too low level to face the enemy they're kicking in the door on does make sense. Moreover, kicking in the door on a foe you know nothing about, is equally crazy. Next time though, maybe I'll just make it a trapped door. Players seem more willing to accept that.. unless they have a passive perception over ten, then suddenly they think they're Sherlock Holmes ;)