Personally, I like the idea of adventurers winning a bit before losing.  Gives it more of a "fall from power/grace" feeling than if they just go in and immediately get tentacles in every orifice.  So I really liked the idea of encounters starting off "challenging but winnable" and getting harder and harder.<br/><br/>I will say I liked the threat Kimiko had of getting charmed by the monster and it possibly having its way with her (if it didn't die so fast).  Perhaps more monsters could have a single target "charm" ability?  Single target so it can't turn into a TPK if everyone fails the save, but if two or three of those monsters attack, the group could be in some real trouble...<br/><br/>Also, I'd say nothing wrong with giving monsters more than usual HP if they're intended to act a bit slower (doing charm stuff, grappling while doing minimal damage, etc).  At least then we might get to some in-combat smexytimes before they keel over.