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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Riastlin" data-source="post: 5476498" data-attributes="member: 94022">My party just closed out the Heroic tier at the end of the last session.  I'm not certain what you mean by "lending itself to heroic play"; however, I can tell you that there is a definite shift in the overall power of the party as they level up.  In my experience, 5th level is when the party really starts to grow in power.  At 5th they each get a second daily attack power, will all have at least 3 feats, should have a nice assortment of magic items, etc. The daily powers (at least in heroic tier) are what really drive the PCs power.  At 10th level for instance, a party of 5 PCs will have 15 Daily powers per day.  Even if they use 3 dailies per encounter, they still have enough for 5 encounters before they run out.  While at earlier levels the PCs will hoard their dailies for that big "boss" fight, there's no longer the need to do that by the end of the tier.  In fact, doing so is likely counter-productive.  Dailies start getting used as much to preserve healing surges as anything.  Its why they can finally start doing 4, 5, or even 6 encounters in a day without too much trouble. Going into Paragon will really add to that as they get a host of abilities, powers, and feats the first two levels. As for the rest of the feel of "heroicness", I think a lot of that will depend upon the DM.  The idea in general is that in Heroic tier, you do a lot more of the standard "dungeon crawls".  The party is essentially a bunch of adventurers for hire.  But as they approach Paragon tier, they are starting to make a name for themselves, and should no longer be just another group of lackeys.  Dukes, mayors, nobles, etc. will no longer look to just hire the PCs, but will actually be turning to them for advice.  By Paragon, the party should really be a "mover and shaker" in the world, and in epic, they've moved on to being a cosmic force. Put another way, in Heroic tier, the party is trying to save the region.  In Paragon tier, they are saving the world.  In epic tier, they are saving all of creation.  That's obviously a simplification, but you get the idea.  The point though is to start to shift the party along those lines during the tier.  Let them know that they are making a name for themselves.  The guards are now showing the respect and admiration rather than disdain.  The mayor who hires them may still think he's their "better" but he is certainly going to be more respectful and he definitely wants "Them" for the job, and not just any adventurers.  The PCs get called into the war room to discuss the situation, etc. Ultimately, 4th Edition, like any edition or game, is what you make of it.  The growth in power may be a bit gradual at times, but at least it is consistent.  You get something at every level.  That can't be overstated.  Every level means something.  Sure, some levels are a little more meaningful than others (personally I think going from 10th to 11th is the biggest jump in the game), but every level gives the PCs some candy.  There are no more "I win" buttons (at least mostly), but the flip side to that is that the combats become more cinematic if you want them to be.  I suppose that could be their problem.  Powers are not what they used to be, but the PCs are still serious bad arses.   Finally, don't be afraid to occasionally throw a low level fight at them to show them how far they've come.  Chris Perkins' article last week on the DnD site talked about how he threw goblins at his epic level party.  The goblins were all heroic level.  The point was to allow the players to see how far their characters had come to that point (while also giving a little story on the side).  What would have been a difficult fight previously, was suddenly fairly easy (while still managing to provide some danger).</blockquote>

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