Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
Healing and combat tension between 4e and Next
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Balesir" data-source="post: 6028195" data-attributes="member: 27160"><p>[MENTION=6684526]GreyICE[/MENTION] has already said that this is very similar to the CLW wand situation in 3.x; I think it relates to a general issue that crops up, in a different form, in 4e as well.</p><p></p><p>Gold is a fine in-game resource, but if it's set up to cover too many competing functions it gets to be a problem. In 4e it was used for buying/trading magic items <strong>and</strong> rituals <strong>and</strong> alchemy <strong>and</strong> consumable magic items <strong>and</strong> "stronghold" type "magic at home base" type stuff - which meant that it got used for the "most important" one of those and nothing else... Similarly, in 3.x, it was either a source of unlimited healing (if the DM made magic items hard to buy) or healing limited only by the desire to get magic items (if the DM made magic items easier to buy).</p><p></p><p>For healing, I really prefer a completely separate resource held by every character that covers total (standard) healing available, with gold only modifying the application of the healing resource. This means that a specific ration of healers to fighters isn't required - the healing resource sits with the healed character, not with the cleric, and the cleric/leader just acts as a "catalyst" that enables the resource to be used. This solves the "clerics using all their spells/resources to heal" problem, the "someone has to play the cleric" problem and the "if healing is unlimited it gets boring" problem all in one fell swoop - without lumping (yet another) resource issue into the "you buy it with gold" basket.</p><p></p><p>I like the odd "trivial" encounter, but I don't really like them to be random. I have had good results in 4e with skill challenges to set up combats; basically, a pre-combat skill challenge can, in (roughly) escalating order:</p><p></p><p>- Give information about the enemies to be faced and the (potential) battle terrain,</p><p></p><p>- Allow the PCs to pick their direction of attack/location of defence,</p><p></p><p>- Allow the party to avoid a combat entirely, if they don't want to fight and are willing to give up whatever winning the combat might facilitate,</p><p></p><p>- Give the party surprise, and</p><p></p><p>- Render the opposing monsters minions rather than standard monsters, as they are taken completely off-guard.</p><p></p><p>This way, the encounter remains a meaningful challenge overall, but success in the pre-combat preparation and planning can make the actual fight itself much more of a formality.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Balesir, post: 6028195, member: 27160"] [MENTION=6684526]GreyICE[/MENTION] has already said that this is very similar to the CLW wand situation in 3.x; I think it relates to a general issue that crops up, in a different form, in 4e as well. Gold is a fine in-game resource, but if it's set up to cover too many competing functions it gets to be a problem. In 4e it was used for buying/trading magic items [B]and[/B] rituals [B]and[/B] alchemy [B]and[/B] consumable magic items [B]and[/B] "stronghold" type "magic at home base" type stuff - which meant that it got used for the "most important" one of those and nothing else... Similarly, in 3.x, it was either a source of unlimited healing (if the DM made magic items hard to buy) or healing limited only by the desire to get magic items (if the DM made magic items easier to buy). For healing, I really prefer a completely separate resource held by every character that covers total (standard) healing available, with gold only modifying the application of the healing resource. This means that a specific ration of healers to fighters isn't required - the healing resource sits with the healed character, not with the cleric, and the cleric/leader just acts as a "catalyst" that enables the resource to be used. This solves the "clerics using all their spells/resources to heal" problem, the "someone has to play the cleric" problem and the "if healing is unlimited it gets boring" problem all in one fell swoop - without lumping (yet another) resource issue into the "you buy it with gold" basket. I like the odd "trivial" encounter, but I don't really like them to be random. I have had good results in 4e with skill challenges to set up combats; basically, a pre-combat skill challenge can, in (roughly) escalating order: - Give information about the enemies to be faced and the (potential) battle terrain, - Allow the PCs to pick their direction of attack/location of defence, - Allow the party to avoid a combat entirely, if they don't want to fight and are willing to give up whatever winning the combat might facilitate, - Give the party surprise, and - Render the opposing monsters minions rather than standard monsters, as they are taken completely off-guard. This way, the encounter remains a meaningful challenge overall, but success in the pre-combat preparation and planning can make the actual fight itself much more of a formality. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
Healing and combat tension between 4e and Next
Top