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Who Actually Has Time for Bloated Adventures?
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<blockquote data-quote="Retreater" data-source="post: 8991404" data-attributes="member: 42040"><p>No worries. I appreciate all the advice here. I clearly still have a lot to learn.</p><p></p><p>I can provide only a vague answer: I want the players (and their characters) to have the opportunity to make interesting decisions. Whether it's in a social encounter, exploration in a dungeon, or a combat, I want their actions (and the resolution of them) to be impactful.</p><p>Does the cleric heal the warlock who has taken substantial damage or use her action to embolden the barbarian's might to further threaten the umber hulk?</p><p>Does the rogue betray her position to the troglodyte warcaster with a surprise attack and disrupt the spell, or does she stay in the shadows hoping for a better opportunity?</p><p>Does the monk leap over the chasm to stop the sacrifice of the baron's son, knowing that he'll be the target of the ogre bodyguard's push into the chasm? </p><p>Does the sorcerer drop his last fireball centered on himself in desperation, surrounded by duergar reavers, in the hopes he can take enough of them down with him?</p><p>These moments simply don't come up often enough in my 5e combat situations. As designed, the monsters don't tax the party's resources enough that characters have to give up opportunities or make meaningful decisions. </p><p></p><p>The last time I did that, it was to the detriment of the game. (Read my previous posts regarding the Wand of Reverse Gravity.)</p><p></p><p>The most successful 5e combat system I had was completely abandoning the encounter system and monster design. I averaged the stats of every character (HP, damage bonus, average damage, AC, etc.) and completely retooled every monster they encountered. Did I want a monster to drop a character in 3 hits? Then its damage was 1/3 the average character HP. </p><p>But the issue is, we were playing a professionally produced adventure that I bought. The party composition was standard, and no one had a character with ridiculous stats or magic items. I shouldn't have to do that level of customization. The system should basically work out of the box.</p><p></p><p>Yeah. I did tinker with 4E as well. (Mostly with the pretty common houserule of lowering monster HP and increasing damage - just to speed up combats.) Even by mid-levels (paragon tier?), it wasn't unusual to have 2+ hour combats. There was movement, buffs, and a handful of tactical options that could be checked off on your Character Builder sheets (Daily, Encounter, etc.), but there was a boring sameness to most combats.</p><p></p><p>I think one of my biggest gripes is that D&D has too many combat encounters for many of them to feel worth doing. And the ones we have also take too long. I want high stakes, excitement. I want combats that come down to the climactic 2-3 rounds that actually matter.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Retreater, post: 8991404, member: 42040"] No worries. I appreciate all the advice here. I clearly still have a lot to learn. I can provide only a vague answer: I want the players (and their characters) to have the opportunity to make interesting decisions. Whether it's in a social encounter, exploration in a dungeon, or a combat, I want their actions (and the resolution of them) to be impactful. Does the cleric heal the warlock who has taken substantial damage or use her action to embolden the barbarian's might to further threaten the umber hulk? Does the rogue betray her position to the troglodyte warcaster with a surprise attack and disrupt the spell, or does she stay in the shadows hoping for a better opportunity? Does the monk leap over the chasm to stop the sacrifice of the baron's son, knowing that he'll be the target of the ogre bodyguard's push into the chasm? Does the sorcerer drop his last fireball centered on himself in desperation, surrounded by duergar reavers, in the hopes he can take enough of them down with him? These moments simply don't come up often enough in my 5e combat situations. As designed, the monsters don't tax the party's resources enough that characters have to give up opportunities or make meaningful decisions. The last time I did that, it was to the detriment of the game. (Read my previous posts regarding the Wand of Reverse Gravity.) The most successful 5e combat system I had was completely abandoning the encounter system and monster design. I averaged the stats of every character (HP, damage bonus, average damage, AC, etc.) and completely retooled every monster they encountered. Did I want a monster to drop a character in 3 hits? Then its damage was 1/3 the average character HP. But the issue is, we were playing a professionally produced adventure that I bought. The party composition was standard, and no one had a character with ridiculous stats or magic items. I shouldn't have to do that level of customization. The system should basically work out of the box. Yeah. I did tinker with 4E as well. (Mostly with the pretty common houserule of lowering monster HP and increasing damage - just to speed up combats.) Even by mid-levels (paragon tier?), it wasn't unusual to have 2+ hour combats. There was movement, buffs, and a handful of tactical options that could be checked off on your Character Builder sheets (Daily, Encounter, etc.), but there was a boring sameness to most combats. I think one of my biggest gripes is that D&D has too many combat encounters for many of them to feel worth doing. And the ones we have also take too long. I want high stakes, excitement. I want combats that come down to the climactic 2-3 rounds that actually matter. [/QUOTE]
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