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General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
Invading the castle:Small rooms, small fights, and 4e
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<blockquote data-quote="Dragonblade" data-source="post: 6269293" data-attributes="member: 2804"><p>I'm going to give you advice that may seem counter-intuitive and that is to dump those trash fights altogether.</p><p></p><p>First of all, step back and ask yourself what is the real purpose of these fights in prior editions, or Pathfinder? And do you need them at all? My answer would be no. They serve only two real purposes, neither of which you need in 4e.</p><p></p><p>The first purpose is to drain sufficient resources such that other encounters, especially the story focused ones, are actually a threat. The second purpose is to provide XP and gold fodder to ensure PC's advance on par with the adventure, and that they remain appropriately geared up as they advance.</p><p></p><p>As you pointed out, 4e isn't a game that's suited to grinding through umpteen dungeon rooms of pointless trash fights. That's a feature, not a flaw. I recently converted the entire Carrion Crown Pathfinder AP to 4e and ran my party through from start to finish. I would say I ended up cutting out 80-90% of the encounters because they served no story purpose whatsover. They existed solely to force PC's to grind through them.</p><p></p><p>So here is my advice: First, if an encounter doesn't matter to the story, get rid of it. Random room full of giant spiders? Dump it. Intercepting a party of assassins on their way to the King's Ball? Keep it.</p><p></p><p>Second, always assume PC's are at full strength when designing encounters and that this will be their only encounter of the day, so expect them not to hold back. You don't need a trash fight to drain resources so that later encounters are tougher. Just make the encounters that matter that much tougher right off the bat since there will be fewer of them, and then get rid of the trash fights. Then who cares how rested the PCs are? It ceases to even be an issue.</p><p></p><p>As far as compensating for XP and treasure accumulation with trash fights to pad those numbers, just don't give XP. The players level when its narratively appropriate. Likewise, use Inherent bonuses, and bigger chunks of gold and treasure in the encounters that matter.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Dragonblade, post: 6269293, member: 2804"] I'm going to give you advice that may seem counter-intuitive and that is to dump those trash fights altogether. First of all, step back and ask yourself what is the real purpose of these fights in prior editions, or Pathfinder? And do you need them at all? My answer would be no. They serve only two real purposes, neither of which you need in 4e. The first purpose is to drain sufficient resources such that other encounters, especially the story focused ones, are actually a threat. The second purpose is to provide XP and gold fodder to ensure PC's advance on par with the adventure, and that they remain appropriately geared up as they advance. As you pointed out, 4e isn't a game that's suited to grinding through umpteen dungeon rooms of pointless trash fights. That's a feature, not a flaw. I recently converted the entire Carrion Crown Pathfinder AP to 4e and ran my party through from start to finish. I would say I ended up cutting out 80-90% of the encounters because they served no story purpose whatsover. They existed solely to force PC's to grind through them. So here is my advice: First, if an encounter doesn't matter to the story, get rid of it. Random room full of giant spiders? Dump it. Intercepting a party of assassins on their way to the King's Ball? Keep it. Second, always assume PC's are at full strength when designing encounters and that this will be their only encounter of the day, so expect them not to hold back. You don't need a trash fight to drain resources so that later encounters are tougher. Just make the encounters that matter that much tougher right off the bat since there will be fewer of them, and then get rid of the trash fights. Then who cares how rested the PCs are? It ceases to even be an issue. As far as compensating for XP and treasure accumulation with trash fights to pad those numbers, just don't give XP. The players level when its narratively appropriate. Likewise, use Inherent bonuses, and bigger chunks of gold and treasure in the encounters that matter. [/QUOTE]
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