Orcus Porkus
First Post
I've noticed that combat in paragon level is extremely dominated by crippling status effects. We had a 4 1/2 hour fight yesterday with only 4 players (experienced) and a well prepared DM. The encounter was from a published adventure, Demon Queen, and just a regular level +2 encounter.
Most characters practically dragged themselves from round to round, saving against one condition (or not) only to be affected by it again immediately thereafter. The cleric was "off duty" almost all the time, due to being dazed, stunned, immobilized, poisoned, or whatever. As a dreadnought (fighter PP) I was able to automatically save against these conditions, which gave me much more action.
This made me thinking.
On one hand, it's cool that the monster pose a real challenge. Status effects definitely do a good job.
On the other hand, these effects can turn combat - the game - into very passive, dragged out stalemates.
I think for the overall fun it's better to have fewer crippling effects, and more "active" stuff, like:
- dominating: It doesn't take away actions, but changes their direction... it's fun when it happens.
- pulling, pushing, sliding: Always fun and exciting when the battlefield shifts
- difficult, various terrain, but not too tight places: Having to think about tactical movement is challenging and usually fun.
- less crippling effects, but more "real" damage instead. I think that a major blow from a monster dealing 40 damage is much scarier than 12 damage plus ongoing 10 poison plus being weakened, which is not scary, but just plain annoying. Scary is better than annoying for the fun.
We have developed an elaborate marker system to track the various conditions. It's still quite a waste of time and concentration and fun to always watch those conditions and not miss anything.
Just some general thoughts I wanted to share... please chip in.
Most characters practically dragged themselves from round to round, saving against one condition (or not) only to be affected by it again immediately thereafter. The cleric was "off duty" almost all the time, due to being dazed, stunned, immobilized, poisoned, or whatever. As a dreadnought (fighter PP) I was able to automatically save against these conditions, which gave me much more action.
This made me thinking.
On one hand, it's cool that the monster pose a real challenge. Status effects definitely do a good job.
On the other hand, these effects can turn combat - the game - into very passive, dragged out stalemates.
I think for the overall fun it's better to have fewer crippling effects, and more "active" stuff, like:
- dominating: It doesn't take away actions, but changes their direction... it's fun when it happens.
- pulling, pushing, sliding: Always fun and exciting when the battlefield shifts
- difficult, various terrain, but not too tight places: Having to think about tactical movement is challenging and usually fun.
- less crippling effects, but more "real" damage instead. I think that a major blow from a monster dealing 40 damage is much scarier than 12 damage plus ongoing 10 poison plus being weakened, which is not scary, but just plain annoying. Scary is better than annoying for the fun.
We have developed an elaborate marker system to track the various conditions. It's still quite a waste of time and concentration and fun to always watch those conditions and not miss anything.
Just some general thoughts I wanted to share... please chip in.
