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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ExploderWizard" data-source="post: 4685358" data-attributes="member: 66434">The issue with individual characters having more or less short term impact in an encounter is linked to the bane of the entire 4E system: predictability.  Its a term that I don't want anywhere near my encounters. The only way a single character can have that much impact in very short amount of time is to use a system that is more open ended, and yes a bit more swingy. Swingy is an evil word these days but if dramatic individual achievement is desired, it comes with a bit of swing along for the ride. Minions are used to try and give that feeling of dynamic impact in a low swing predictable system. Since its obvious to the players that the dynamic impact comes from the monster being designed to suck rather than thier character being awesome, that dramatic moment is quite fake in feeling. D&D was never a great game for loners who tried to operate with a group. Solo play was and is still very possible but it requires special handling for the campaign to work.  I think that the cautious style of play began to lose effectiveness back in 3E before 4E was ever written. It depends more on a group's playstyle rather  than the RAW of course, but the mindset of players can change when the style of play moves from dungeons being places filled with strange creatures and traps to areas containing a number of challenges with an X difficulty rating.  The mentality of caution begins to lose ground once the notion that "these are challenges designed for us to deal with" takes over. A party at full strength with this mentality isn't going to weigh thier options before engaging in combat. If the player knows that combat is supposed to be the most fun part of the game, and that encounters are designed to be winnable because hopeless struggles are unfun, why be cautious? The rules assume that victory is attainable via straight up assault so why hold back? Those that do hold back reduce the players chance of victory because the rules assume balls to the walls input from every PC, preferably optimized in thier specialty. The predictability built into the combat helps ensure that all can contribute equally with the unspoken demand that all MUST contribute equally. All sharp edges and spikes of effectiveness have been hammered down to make equal blunt instruments of every PC.  Fighting non-minions is like playing multiplayer whack-a-mole. If one party member stops whacking, another cannot become more efficient to take up the slack.</blockquote>

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