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<blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 8716225" data-attributes="member: 6790260"><p>My experience is that these work, but yes, the further you get from level+0, the more tilted the balance becomes... that's the point. You want some combats where it's hard as heck and a bad decision or poor luck mean you cannot win. That's literally what you are asking for elsewhere in your post, so I am confused by this statement. You cannot have it both ways: either some fights are too tough (or too easy) without special dispensation or alteration, or all fights are lockstep balanced. There are no other options, because even "I have no idea how strong this is relative to you" means some fights will be too tough(/easy), you just have no idea which ones and no tools for tweaking things in the opposite direction.</p><p></p><p></p><p>I don't understand what you mean by this. Why would you not have an idea of how tough things are? Why wouldn't your DM give you that information, at least in a qualitative sense? Isn't that literally what every edition expects, that players will be informed at least of a general idea of how tough the opposition is? Isn't that what being a competent combatant should entail?</p><p></p><p></p><p>There are two meanings you could be intending by this statement. Either it is simply false, or it is trivial.</p><p></p><p>That is, it is false to assert that the combats were meant to be balanced to <em>one specific</em> level, the party or anything else. 4e explicitly instructed DMs to include variety and to offer demonstration that the party had grown (e.g., fight some orcs that keep the same stat block from level 1 to 4, say, so you can see the progression.) If what you mean is "lockstep to exactly the party's level," then this is simply false.</p><p></p><p>On the other hand, you could be speaking in terms of encounters being evaluated relative to party level, e.g. that a level+2 encounter is a certain amount more difficult than a level+1 encounter. If so, this is trivial, because literally every edition of D&D has done this, including 5e, they just haven't used those terms. If that is what you mean, then what 4e did is no more than what 5e does now, and you clearly have no problem with that: it had a metric for monster power which necessarily considers the party's level because higher-level characters are stronger. Challenge Rating is <em>literally</em> balancing to the party level, so 4e is not doing anything you oppose if this is the sense you mean.</p><p></p><p>If I have misunderstood your intent and you are referring to something wildly different, please specify, but from where I'm sitting this is not a criticism of any weight.</p><p></p><p></p><p>I'm sorry, what? How on earth does equipment NOT matter in 4e? It's hugely important! Much moreso than 5e.</p><p></p><p>Also, there IS variation in HP and AC... that's literally printed on the index card I showed, and DMs were always free to change things further as they desired...those are merely useful guidelines figured out by players, not any kind of "rule" you had to follow.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="EzekielRaiden, post: 8716225, member: 6790260"] My experience is that these work, but yes, the further you get from level+0, the more tilted the balance becomes... that's the point. You want some combats where it's hard as heck and a bad decision or poor luck mean you cannot win. That's literally what you are asking for elsewhere in your post, so I am confused by this statement. You cannot have it both ways: either some fights are too tough (or too easy) without special dispensation or alteration, or all fights are lockstep balanced. There are no other options, because even "I have no idea how strong this is relative to you" means some fights will be too tough(/easy), you just have no idea which ones and no tools for tweaking things in the opposite direction. I don't understand what you mean by this. Why would you not have an idea of how tough things are? Why wouldn't your DM give you that information, at least in a qualitative sense? Isn't that literally what every edition expects, that players will be informed at least of a general idea of how tough the opposition is? Isn't that what being a competent combatant should entail? There are two meanings you could be intending by this statement. Either it is simply false, or it is trivial. That is, it is false to assert that the combats were meant to be balanced to [I]one specific[/I] level, the party or anything else. 4e explicitly instructed DMs to include variety and to offer demonstration that the party had grown (e.g., fight some orcs that keep the same stat block from level 1 to 4, say, so you can see the progression.) If what you mean is "lockstep to exactly the party's level," then this is simply false. On the other hand, you could be speaking in terms of encounters being evaluated relative to party level, e.g. that a level+2 encounter is a certain amount more difficult than a level+1 encounter. If so, this is trivial, because literally every edition of D&D has done this, including 5e, they just haven't used those terms. If that is what you mean, then what 4e did is no more than what 5e does now, and you clearly have no problem with that: it had a metric for monster power which necessarily considers the party's level because higher-level characters are stronger. Challenge Rating is [I]literally[/I] balancing to the party level, so 4e is not doing anything you oppose if this is the sense you mean. If I have misunderstood your intent and you are referring to something wildly different, please specify, but from where I'm sitting this is not a criticism of any weight. I'm sorry, what? How on earth does equipment NOT matter in 4e? It's hugely important! Much moreso than 5e. Also, there IS variation in HP and AC... that's literally printed on the index card I showed, and DMs were always free to change things further as they desired...those are merely useful guidelines figured out by players, not any kind of "rule" you had to follow. [/QUOTE]
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