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<blockquote data-quote="Cadfan" data-source="post: 4643283" data-attributes="member: 40961">I've been running almost exclusively published modules.&nbsp; Haven't noticed a grind on the majority of combats.&nbsp; Occasionally I'll get a grindy one, but they're rare.&nbsp;The biggest preventative of grinds, in my opinion, is wise use of dailies.&nbsp; A lot of fights can be defined in the players minds by the well timed use of a daily power.&nbsp;Wrath of the Gods, for example, basically ends any chance of a grind occurring in the encounter in which it is used.&nbsp; Same with Rain of Steel.&nbsp; Or Wall of Fire.&nbsp; Or Flaming Sphere.&nbsp; Or Consecrated Ground.&nbsp; Or even Fireball, honestly.&nbsp; Bigby's Icy Grasp, but a little less so since it only picks on one guy at a time.&nbsp;We've got more encounter defining daily powers than we have encounters per day.&nbsp; So... grinds mostly don't happen for our level 9 group.&nbsp;The two recent encounters we had that were grinds were (in spoilers because they're part of Pyramid of Shadows)[SPOILER]1. The first fight against the head-taking giant.&nbsp; He's got a high armor class.&nbsp; Really high.&nbsp; And there's a pit in the middle of the room that you can easily be tossed into.&nbsp; Our paladin basically couldn't climb out of the pit, due to heavy armor, being charisma focused and not (at that point in her career) having trained in athletics.&nbsp;2. The fight against the werewolf.&nbsp; This was a grind because it became obvious early in the fight that he wasn't a threat, but he did have a lot of hit points.&nbsp; We didn't bother using anything fancy on him, because we knew he couldn't hurt us very much, and we didn't want to waste anything daily.&nbsp; But with all of his hit points, it still took us a long time to defeat him.[/SPOILER]As far as minions are concerned, about 90% of what you hear about them is total crap.&nbsp; But, there is a glimmer of truth- one of the things that makes long fights feel like grinds is a lack of &quot;rewards&quot; in the middle of them.&nbsp; If you fight five enemies, each time one drops the players get a feeling of accomplishment.&nbsp; If you fight one enemy, same thing, but it only happens once and it only happens at the end of the fight.&nbsp; That's why I try to error on the side of too many weak opponents rather than too few strong ones.&nbsp; Not that this means I use minions all the time- I don't.&nbsp; I just try to ensure that the players feel a sense of reward more than once per battle.&nbsp; Usually that means multiple weaker enemies (not always minions), but sometimes it means plot elements.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Cadfan, post: 4643283, member: 40961"] I've been running almost exclusively published modules. Haven't noticed a grind on the majority of combats. Occasionally I'll get a grindy one, but they're rare. The biggest preventative of grinds, in my opinion, is wise use of dailies. A lot of fights can be defined in the players minds by the well timed use of a daily power. Wrath of the Gods, for example, basically ends any chance of a grind occurring in the encounter in which it is used. Same with Rain of Steel. Or Wall of Fire. Or Flaming Sphere. Or Consecrated Ground. Or even Fireball, honestly. Bigby's Icy Grasp, but a little less so since it only picks on one guy at a time. We've got more encounter defining daily powers than we have encounters per day. So... grinds mostly don't happen for our level 9 group. The two recent encounters we had that were grinds were (in spoilers because they're part of Pyramid of Shadows) [SPOILER]1. The first fight against the head-taking giant. He's got a high armor class. Really high. And there's a pit in the middle of the room that you can easily be tossed into. Our paladin basically couldn't climb out of the pit, due to heavy armor, being charisma focused and not (at that point in her career) having trained in athletics. 2. The fight against the werewolf. This was a grind because it became obvious early in the fight that he wasn't a threat, but he did have a lot of hit points. We didn't bother using anything fancy on him, because we knew he couldn't hurt us very much, and we didn't want to waste anything daily. But with all of his hit points, it still took us a long time to defeat him.[/SPOILER] As far as minions are concerned, about 90% of what you hear about them is total crap. But, there is a glimmer of truth- one of the things that makes long fights feel like grinds is a lack of "rewards" in the middle of them. If you fight five enemies, each time one drops the players get a feeling of accomplishment. If you fight one enemy, same thing, but it only happens once and it only happens at the end of the fight. That's why I try to error on the side of too many weak opponents rather than too few strong ones. Not that this means I use minions all the time- I don't. I just try to ensure that the players feel a sense of reward more than once per battle. Usually that means multiple weaker enemies (not always minions), but sometimes it means plot elements. [/QUOTE]

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