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<blockquote data-quote="Celtavian" data-source="post: 6818206" data-attributes="member: 5834"><p>Already tried using the DM guidelines. PCs steamrolled the encounters. Decided like every edition of D&D I've ever played that encounter guidelines are for new DMs and players and a waste of time for experienced DMs and players. Thus it has always been and likely will always be.</p><p></p><p>Experienced players know too well how to exploit the game to their advantage building combat monsters that steamroll the by the book encounters. So experienced DMs running such players must toss out the book guidelines and make stuff they know will stand up to their tactics. </p><p></p><p>If the guidelines work for your group, good for you. They haven't worked for my group for as long as I can remember. Then again you don't ever see groups like two rogues and a fighter with my players. It's always a carefully crafted group covering most aspects of the game. My players don't go, "Hmm. A dwarf rogue with an axe. That would be fun to play." It's more, "I'm the ranged striker" and "I'm the tank" and "I'm the healer" followed by optimized characters for each role usually mixed with a few optimized damage dealers. </p><p></p><p>I've seen some of the odd parties people build and I'm always left scratching my head. Someone building a party with three melees is always shocking to me. That group wants to die. It would be harder to keep that group alive as a DM than to kill them. My group of PCs look at me crazy if no one plays a healer character. All I see is uncomfortable expressions and hand wringing. "Oh man, no one made a cleric. No bless and no heals. We really need someone to make a cleric or bard or something." Someone goes, "Ok. I'll suck it up and make one." </p><p></p><p>If you want to look at party composition for our groups, check out my signature. That's a campaign I'm running right now. You'll note a lot of paladin multiclasses. I can explain the mechanical strategy behind each class choice if you want to know why they are building they way they are building.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celtavian, post: 6818206, member: 5834"] Already tried using the DM guidelines. PCs steamrolled the encounters. Decided like every edition of D&D I've ever played that encounter guidelines are for new DMs and players and a waste of time for experienced DMs and players. Thus it has always been and likely will always be. Experienced players know too well how to exploit the game to their advantage building combat monsters that steamroll the by the book encounters. So experienced DMs running such players must toss out the book guidelines and make stuff they know will stand up to their tactics. If the guidelines work for your group, good for you. They haven't worked for my group for as long as I can remember. Then again you don't ever see groups like two rogues and a fighter with my players. It's always a carefully crafted group covering most aspects of the game. My players don't go, "Hmm. A dwarf rogue with an axe. That would be fun to play." It's more, "I'm the ranged striker" and "I'm the tank" and "I'm the healer" followed by optimized characters for each role usually mixed with a few optimized damage dealers. I've seen some of the odd parties people build and I'm always left scratching my head. Someone building a party with three melees is always shocking to me. That group wants to die. It would be harder to keep that group alive as a DM than to kill them. My group of PCs look at me crazy if no one plays a healer character. All I see is uncomfortable expressions and hand wringing. "Oh man, no one made a cleric. No bless and no heals. We really need someone to make a cleric or bard or something." Someone goes, "Ok. I'll suck it up and make one." If you want to look at party composition for our groups, check out my signature. That's a campaign I'm running right now. You'll note a lot of paladin multiclasses. I can explain the mechanical strategy behind each class choice if you want to know why they are building they way they are building. [/QUOTE]
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