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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Saagael" data-source="post: 5951623" data-attributes="member: 84839">(Lots of text, sorry in advanced)Epic tier is hard.I'm running a game with six level 26 characters, and have found out that epic tier, while fun, is challenging, to say the least. In fact, to avoid the "grind to the finish" syndrome that my group seemed to be suffering from, I sped up time/level to about 4 sessions, or 2 combats + roleplaying, along with utilizing every grind-reducing idea out there:* 2/3 hit points, double damage* Reworking monsters with daze/stun/dominate effects* Using lots of low level monsters* Using monsters with low defenses and high attack bonuses/damage.I've tried all of it, and it works for keeping things quick. But does "quick" really equate to "fun"? I found that it does not. Like removing a bandage, getting through combat faster doesn't mean higher quality story-telling, it just means the pain doesn't last as long.However, I have found a way around this issue, one that I think would work well in all tiers, but I find almost necessary in epic. My solution is to break the rules of combat. I don't just mean go against the DMG when building monsters, I mean literally breaking the rules and using entirely new or modified mechanics for combats.For example, I built a Conquest of Nerath-style system for mass combat when the players were commanding an army. It was a long battle (lasted 3 sessions), but was new enough that it didn't seem boring. However I found that to be too much of a change, as the players found it hard to grok the rules of.Later, when traveling to Celestia, the players faced a colossus that was 4 times the maximum size of 4e monsters (8 squares x 8 squares). This forced the players to spend their actions climbing/flying/jumping around to get to the weak points on the colossus, rather than just focus-firing. The monster was built something like a half monster, half trap, with different body sections, and attacks that would target characters in different areas of its body, or the floor, or flying. The whole encounter was just as much skill challenge as it was normal combat.Most recently, I pitched the characters against a high-level solo dragon. On its own, the dragon was pretty weak, but to make the fight more interesting, I added mini-skill challenges at certain HP threshholds. For example, at 0 hit points, the dragon grabbed a character in its mouth and started flying out over the mountain-side. The players had to come up with a way to save the character using skill checks (as opposed to powers), within 1 round, or the character would take massive damage (most likely die). From what feedback I got, this was well received, and felt a lot like quick-time events that are used in video game cut-scenes. For one round, all creatures except for the players stop, and they use skills to prevent something nasty from happening.This last one worked out very well. It gave the players narrative freedom to do whatever they thought would be the most awesome/helpful in a way that wasn't limited by powers. I would suggest all big-name bosses have something like this at the end of the fight, since falling to 0 hit points, to me, is anticlimactic.Since I've got half a tier to go before the players hit level 30, I'd like to hear what ways you have broken the rules of combat, or changed things up for the better? I've got some big combats coming up, and could use all the help I could get, and I'm sure other DMs could use some inspiration as well!</blockquote>

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