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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 5670831" data-attributes="member: 82106">Yeah, that is a good point. I don't know that I have conceived of the best way to achieve it either of course, any ideas I have certainly would need work. The thing is it really needs to come from WotC somehow. I see Mike maundering on about twigging with skill systems and optional modules and whatnot, but I haven't seen him actually dig down to where I'm coming from. I guess that might mean I'm full of it, lol. I don't think so though. I think he's too close to things and some outside perspective is needed. Anyway, yeah, items and monsters that are labeled "use with caution, doesn't really fit into the normal power progression" would be a good start. Rituals could exist like that too. Much of this stuff is ALMOST there already. There are for instance "not really for players" rituals, and they've started to break free some on items from what we see of MME. The 'story item' thing for instance, while in essence just "you can break the rules" at least points DMs in a direction that is good and makes them feel like they have that license.I think it really needs to extend to monsters though. Have some monsters that are significantly lower hit points at their nominal level for instance that can be used as 'shock troops' for quick brutal encounters that go fast but actually suck enough PC resources to be worth having. Some "you're screwed" monsters too. I mean the Medusa is fine, it is along those lines. It isn't the only approach, but even the Medusa has a sort of mediocre feel in a way with its nasty effect being rather gradual. It is OK and maybe it does hit the right balance point, but I think we could live with some lurkers that can just disable a character in a single shot for instance. Used correctly this kind of stuff can be fun. I'd also increase the variance on a lot of monsters for hit points and defenses. Really make them almost caricatures of themselves. You basically can't miss the giant with vs Ref attacks. So what? Yeah, it means they have a weak point, but they can also have some 'shed those pesky conditions because I'm just so huge and nasty' things that keep them effective while letting the players really get a strong visceral feel for the nature of the creature and some tactics they will know to try on them.</blockquote>

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