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General Tabletop Discussion
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Creating a Character VS Discovering a Character
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<blockquote data-quote="Maxperson" data-source="post: 7306363" data-attributes="member: 23751"><p>I did, and the DMs I played with did. You could put 3 orcs up against 5 first level NPCs, and if the orcs win initiative, 3 of the 5 could be down and dying with a few good rolls in round 1 and it ends up a TPK. Proper level challenges killed all the time in 1e and 2e.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I played ranged PCs, and not once did every properly leveled enemy conveniently stay far away so I could shoot them to death, or else they had ranged attacks also. If she made it through level 1, let alone 3 levels without going unconscious and dying multiple times, it sounds like you were pulling your punches big time. Encounters built for her level should have destroyed her frequently, and a decent hit or two could put her -10 before anyone else could even react.</p><p></p><p>Looking at the level 2 encounter table for 1e, it shows 4-10 gnolls, 5-15 stirges, and 3-13 giant centipedes. For a party of 4-5 adventurers. Giant centipedes have a weak poison, but is still save or die. Gnolls have a decent AC and did pretty good damage. And stirges flew, attacked as 4HD creatures, and had a nasty blood drain. Those are challenging fights and even a ranged PC with 1 hit point is likely to fall or die in each one of them.</p><p></p><p>Edit: So after a bit more thinking, it seems that you tuned your game to accommodate the weaker PC, which falls right in line with the "usually essential" comment in the PHB. That's perfectly fine and as you say, can be a lot of fun. However, if you run encounters as AD&D directed, such a PC would quickly die, and it's with the game's encounter balance in mind that the PHB statement was made.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Maxperson, post: 7306363, member: 23751"] I did, and the DMs I played with did. You could put 3 orcs up against 5 first level NPCs, and if the orcs win initiative, 3 of the 5 could be down and dying with a few good rolls in round 1 and it ends up a TPK. Proper level challenges killed all the time in 1e and 2e. I played ranged PCs, and not once did every properly leveled enemy conveniently stay far away so I could shoot them to death, or else they had ranged attacks also. If she made it through level 1, let alone 3 levels without going unconscious and dying multiple times, it sounds like you were pulling your punches big time. Encounters built for her level should have destroyed her frequently, and a decent hit or two could put her -10 before anyone else could even react. Looking at the level 2 encounter table for 1e, it shows 4-10 gnolls, 5-15 stirges, and 3-13 giant centipedes. For a party of 4-5 adventurers. Giant centipedes have a weak poison, but is still save or die. Gnolls have a decent AC and did pretty good damage. And stirges flew, attacked as 4HD creatures, and had a nasty blood drain. Those are challenging fights and even a ranged PC with 1 hit point is likely to fall or die in each one of them. Edit: So after a bit more thinking, it seems that you tuned your game to accommodate the weaker PC, which falls right in line with the "usually essential" comment in the PHB. That's perfectly fine and as you say, can be a lot of fun. However, if you run encounters as AD&D directed, such a PC would quickly die, and it's with the game's encounter balance in mind that the PHB statement was made. [/QUOTE]
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