My immediate reaction was 'neither'. But thankfuly Libramarian clarified the misconception that obfuscated what the heart of the matter is.
Anyway, I didn't vote, but probably 'War all the way!' would represent the option that is closest to the way I use combat in my games.
I like to use a 'healthy' mix of encounters, i.e. most are at the party's level or a bit harder, some are (more or less obviously) _a lot_ harder, and some are easy.
I prefer that combat exists as an option most of the time but not as a means to solve all challenges. I expect my players to be clever enough to figure out how to best approach a combat encounter,
and to retreat if necessary. For me it's like the Sun Tzu quote: "Every battle is won before it’s ever fought.". I.e. don't enter battles you cannot win; always make sure to get intel and be prepared to reduce risk as much as possible, so the outcome of the battle is certain (or as certain as you can make it).
Anyway, I didn't vote, but probably 'War all the way!' would represent the option that is closest to the way I use combat in my games.
I like to use a 'healthy' mix of encounters, i.e. most are at the party's level or a bit harder, some are (more or less obviously) _a lot_ harder, and some are easy.
I prefer that combat exists as an option most of the time but not as a means to solve all challenges. I expect my players to be clever enough to figure out how to best approach a combat encounter,
and to retreat if necessary. For me it's like the Sun Tzu quote: "Every battle is won before it’s ever fought.". I.e. don't enter battles you cannot win; always make sure to get intel and be prepared to reduce risk as much as possible, so the outcome of the battle is certain (or as certain as you can make it).
