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<blockquote data-quote="CroBob" data-source="post: 6053829" data-attributes="member: 6683307">Well, I surely can't empathize with that. I tend to prefer many unimportant fights, where the PCs aren't necessarily up against anything that could kill them without extraordinary luck. I prefer the grueling fights you describe to be the odd man out, saved for bosses and what-not.However, our differing tastes doesn't mean I lack any advice. It sounds to me like you simply need to make the fights more challenging. That shouldn't be a problem in the slightest, as I thought of three ways to do it just now;The most obvious option to me is to simply use more monsters per fight. The bad guys get more actions, and the PCs have to work through more total HPs. This option isn't too attractive, though, because it will slow combats down.You could also simply use monsters higher level than the PCs. This option is better than the first, since higher level monsters are necessarily tougher and deal more damage, but it won't necessarily slow down combat. 4E is designed under the assumption that truly difficult battles are the rare boss fight type, not the norm, so this is basically just a way of countering that philosophy.The option I think is most attractive is to simply improve the monsters' damage output. The combat won't get slowed down because of more monsters, it won't take any longer to beat them, since their defenses and HPs are the same, but it will drain the PCs of their precious HPs faster. Maybe add a s4 to all of their attacks, or a flat bonus equal to half their level, or something. Play with it until it works.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="CroBob, post: 6053829, member: 6683307"] Well, I surely can't empathize with that. I tend to prefer many unimportant fights, where the PCs aren't necessarily up against anything that could kill them without extraordinary luck. I prefer the grueling fights you describe to be the odd man out, saved for bosses and what-not. However, our differing tastes doesn't mean I lack any advice. It sounds to me like you simply need to make the fights more challenging. That shouldn't be a problem in the slightest, as I thought of three ways to do it just now; The most obvious option to me is to simply use more monsters per fight. The bad guys get more actions, and the PCs have to work through more total HPs. This option isn't too attractive, though, because it will slow combats down. You could also simply use monsters higher level than the PCs. This option is better than the first, since higher level monsters are necessarily tougher and deal more damage, but it won't necessarily slow down combat. 4E is designed under the assumption that truly difficult battles are the rare boss fight type, not the norm, so this is basically just a way of countering that philosophy. The option I think is most attractive is to simply improve the monsters' damage output. The combat won't get slowed down because of more monsters, it won't take any longer to beat them, since their defenses and HPs are the same, but it will drain the PCs of their precious HPs faster. Maybe add a s4 to all of their attacks, or a flat bonus equal to half their level, or something. Play with it until it works. [/QUOTE]

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