Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Keenath" data-source="post: 4910424" data-attributes="member: 59792">I agree, but I want to add that in D&amp;D terms, working &quot;smarter not harder&quot; often means playing to your strengths rather than coming up with a solution that actually requires fewer successful rolls.&nbsp; A rogue who wants to stealth past the patrol is working smarter by relying on his strong stealth check rather than putting his blade up against well-defended enemies.That said, I agree that sometimes there is a solution that's easier than another method.&nbsp; Some monsters are more agreeable toward diplomacy or intimidation, and some situations are easier if you stealth past them rather than trying a frontal assault.&nbsp; No argument on that.However, to my mind those will almost always be situations where those nonviolent methods are the expected solution, and the combat is the alternate fall-back if they fail (or ignore) the skill challenge.&nbsp; If somebody unexpectedly decides they want to talk the goblins out of fighting, I'm not going to make it easy compared to just slaughtering them; it'll require role playing, skill checks, and teamwork.&nbsp; The amount of effort that goes into passing the encounter is about the same as doing the combat, but they're not spending their combat resources (perhaps husbanding those healing surges for later, or because they started out the encounter in a bad tactical position) -- or they just want to mix things up, or they don't want to kill these guys for whatever reason.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Keenath, post: 4910424, member: 59792"] I agree, but I want to add that in D&D terms, working "smarter not harder" often means [I]playing to your strengths[/I] rather than coming up with a solution that actually requires fewer successful rolls. A rogue who wants to stealth past the patrol is working smarter by relying on his strong stealth check rather than putting his blade up against well-defended enemies. That said, I agree that sometimes there [I]is[/I] a solution that's easier than another method. Some monsters are more agreeable toward diplomacy or intimidation, and some situations are easier if you stealth past them rather than trying a frontal assault. No argument on that. However, to my mind those will almost always be situations where those nonviolent methods are the [I]expected[/I] solution, and the combat is the alternate fall-back if they fail (or ignore) the skill challenge. If somebody unexpectedly decides they want to talk the goblins out of fighting, I'm not going to make it easy compared to just slaughtering them; it'll require role playing, skill checks, and teamwork. The amount of effort that goes into passing the encounter is about the same as doing the combat, but they're not spending their combat resources (perhaps husbanding those healing surges for later, or because they started out the encounter in a bad tactical position) -- or they just want to mix things up, or they don't want to kill these guys for whatever reason. [/QUOTE]

Verification