10 months into the game

[D'karr]

Note that a level 30 character with, say, 28 Int/Dex can be unconscious and not wearing armor, and level 1 kobold skirmishers still wouldn't be able to hit him except for the "natural 20s auto-succeed" rule.

Since at level 30 you would not be fighting level 1 Kobolds, the character will get hit pretty good when the Kobolds big brother, the one with a Reach 3; +33 vs Armor Class, comes around to collect the debt.

A critical hit (Coup de Grace) at that point is going to hurt on so many levels.

 

[OchreJelly]

of course YMMV, but I have had one character death so far. The poor halfling got eaten by a gelatinous cube. There were a few encounters that were probably a few rolls away from a TPK, but the players managed to pull through. It may be your GM, but there are ways to pressure individual characters without being "all or nothing" style encounters:
- focus fire of artillery. Artillery monsters in 4E are just plain nasty. Put 3 artillery in an encounter and it's unlikely the defender will be able to deal with them all.
- Surprise lurkers are good at dealing with squishies too.

 

[Klaus]

1. More skills. If somebody wants to be a blacksmith for example. What does detective type go under? I dont want a game that has 500 skills but more then the dozen they have would be good.

Blacksmith -> it's a background thing. As stated in the Scales of War backgrounds article, the cost for a PC to build arms and armor is the same as if he bought it off the shelf. 2 days to make weapons, 4 to make armor.

Detective -> Trained in Perception and Streetwise. Possibly trained in Knowledge skills (Arcana, Religion, Nature, Dungeoneering, History). Good Int and Wis help, but aren't mandatory. Skill Focus helps a lot.

2. A little more ability to develop skills. If you want to be a master in history but dont have a high INT, you are SOL. Some ability to have some skill points to spend on skills to make guys more unique would be nice.

My 4th-level PC rogue is an archaeologist. His History modifier is +8 (+2 level, +5 trained, +1 Int). That is good enough for most checks.

The skill granularity now is:
Untrained with low/no ability modifier.
Untrained with good ability modifier.
Trained with low/no ability modifier.
Trained with good ability modifier or Skill Focus.
Trained with good ability modifier AND Skill Focus.

3. A little more detail to combat. Some of the shooting through allies, and other combat mechanics are a little too simple.

Like someone else said, this is part and parcel of your positive #2.

 

[robsenworldaccount]

I used to think that death was too uncommon till I heard in the podcast that
DEATH SAVING THROWS ARE CUMULATIVE

Cough, sorry for the caps. This means more specifically that if you say go below zero hp and fail a death saving throw its one strike. Now, say the cleric heals you. Then later in the fight you go back down again. The next death saving throw you fail would be two death saving throw failures.

Enjoy

 

[James McMurray]

Since at level 30 you would not be fighting level 1 Kobolds, the character will get hit pretty good when the Kobolds big brother, the one with a Reach 3; +33 vs Armor Class, comes around to collect the debt.

A critical hit (Coup de Grace) at that point is going to hurt on so many levels.

Not as much as you might think. That's another difference between editions. Because hit points go up faster then damage, there comes a time when a coup de grace is just a free critical, and can't possibly kill something.

Where exactly that point is I'm not sure, as I haven't run the numbers.

 

[Plane Sailing]

FWIW my campaign has had 14 deaths so far! One player has lost 6 PCs, two of them have lost 3 each, two more have lost 1 each and one player is still on his first character.

This is excluding the TPCs in KotS when rather than have the party killed by the kobolds and later by the goblins, they were captured by them. Otherwise I could add an extra 8 deaths to the total!

The party are currently 7th or 8th level.

I've houseruled the death save so that it doesn't carry over failed saves, and each time you go down the three saves start again... if I didn't do that, I'd have even more deaths on my hands!

 

[Klaus]

FWIW my campaign has had 14 deaths so far! One player has lost 6 PCs, two of them have lost 3 each, two more have lost 1 each and one player is still on his first character.

This is excluding the TPCs in KotS when rather than have the party killed by the kobolds and later by the goblins, they were captured by them. Otherwise I could add an extra 8 deaths to the total!

The party are currently 7th or 8th level.

I've houseruled the death save so that it doesn't carry over failed saves, and each time you go down the three saves start again... if I didn't do that, I'd have even more deaths on my hands!

Woah! I thought that was already the case!

 

[Kralin Thornberry]

I used to think that death was too uncommon till I heard in the podcast that
DEATH SAVING THROWS ARE CUMULATIVE

Cough, sorry for the caps. This means more specifically that if you say go below zero hp and fail a death saving throw its one strike. Now, say the cleric heals you. Then later in the fight you go back down again. The next death saving throw you fail would be two death saving throw failures.

Enjoy

Yes, they are, but only during the same encounter.

 

[Jack99]

FWIW my campaign has had 14 deaths so far!

I am starting to like you more and more.

 

[Caerin]

Yes, they are, but only during the same encounter.

Was that clarified somewhere? We've been going by the Death and Dying box, which I believe uses the terminology "before you take a rest" regarding the three failed saves.