D&D 4E 4e Special Ability PER Encounter stinks...

[Stone Dog]

Unless the dragon hides, and comes back, then files away, then comes back.

In which case each instance might be a separate encounter depending on if the party has enough time to recover.


If a DM does anything like send another wave of goblins every nine rounds so the per encounter abilities can't refresh then that DM is being a dick.

 

[Beastman]

so, all of you talking about combat or so it seems...but what about non-combat situations where there is no adrenalin...

say the paladin's detect evil...say useable 1/encounter...(formerly at will). he is moving through a ...yes you guess it... dungeon. now is each room an encounter...each area consisting of several rooms, the whole dungeon...an encounter at all (if not the poor paladin will never get to use this ability by just exploring around...)

and i didn't even liked the barbarian approach to rage/encounter in 3.5, although this ability is more easily solved because a combat encounter is more easily defined...

 

[Charwoman Gene]

I guess you never actually been against a proper great wyrm red dragon battle. First off, dragons are allowed to have class levels. Now if you go against a Great Wyrm Red Dragon who just happens to have the spell power of 19th level Sorcerer with the powers, feats, and properly equiped 20th level Wizard you would find that fighting on would definitely take a bit of time.

Number of rounds please.

Is it less than 720? I thinks Level 26 PC's can avg more than 1 HP/round.

 

[Charwoman Gene]

Maybe he meant two hours of real time, to play out the however-many-rounds of combat?

I was assuming he isn't meaning that, as it doesn't jibe with the rest of his objections.

(Edited out some possibly insulting language.)

 

[Sun Knight]

Number of rounds please.

Is it less than 720? I thinks Level 26 PC's can avg more than 1 HP/round.

Ah, but you seem to forgetting one thing, a smart red dragon would have minions and while its minions keep the party busy it can do some of its own damage to them or stand back and drink a potion. Certainly level 26 PCs could damage the red dragon, but when it has a whole hoard of magic and goods to use against the interlopers it will be a long drawn out fight. Add in a few potions of Heal... Hmmm...

When taking on a dragon in its lair nothing is ever straight forward, at least it shouldn't be.

 

[Stone Dog]

so, all of you talking about combat or so it seems...but what about non-combat situations where there is no adrenalin...

I'm not talking adrenalin here, just time to refresh. A room isn't an encounter if nothing is there to encounter and if there isn't an actual combat going on then refreshing should be pretty easy like it is in Bo9S and SWSE.

 

[sukael]

If you use the SWSE model, you need a minute of meditation to recharge your Force abilities (this is without using talents, burning a Force point to instantly recharge, or whatever).

It's not "once per encounter", it's "once, and then you have to recharge"... with a recharge time long enough that PCs won't be able to do it in the middle of most combats.

 

[Villanelle]

Maybe he meant two hours of real time, to play out the however-many-rounds of combat?

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Even an encounter in which your player character has 30 different turns still only lasts five minutes in game time, but of course 2 to 3 hours in real time.

 

[Zurai]

Per-encounter is really easy.

Is it something other than "You traveled 16 miles without anything out of the ordinary happening today. What're your watches tonight?", it's an encounter.

Met a merchant caravan along the road? Encounter.

Saw a sword in a stone? Encounter.

Fell into a nasty spiked pit trap? Encounter.

PCs had a fight and attacked each other? Encounter.

How long are they? Doesn't matter. It's the start of the encounter that matters, not the end of it. Per-encounter abilities are refreshed at the beginning of an encounter and (barring additional rules) not refreshed again until the next encounter.

Distinguishing between encounters that happen in rapid succession is also easy. Do the PCs have at least a minute of rest between the two events? If yes, they're seperate encounters. If no, they aren't.

 

[Charwoman Gene]

Ah, but you seem to forgetting one thing, a smart red dragon would have minions and while its minions keep the party busy it can do some of its own damage to them or stand back and drink a potion. Certainly level 26 PCs could damage the red dragon, but when it has a whole hoard of magic and goods to use against the interlopers it will be a long drawn out fight. Add in a few potions of Heal... Hmmm...

When taking on a dragon in its lair nothing is ever straight forward, at least it shouldn't be.

I asked for specifics, you became obtuse.

Got it. I know when you're outmatched.

You are soon going to qualify for the Deceased Equine Slayer prestige class like the rest.