Well, we've entered the world of Epic D&D 4E with our commencement of E1: Death's Reach. Two sessions in, we've resolved six battles, which are taking about an hour per battle.
The battles tend to go like this:
Big epic leader shouts, "I will crush you, puny humans!"
The party goes, "No, you won't - Claws of the Magpie. And we're not human!" (The group is Dragonborn, Goliath, Eladrin, Goblin and Half-Elf. It's a running joke that the enemies always call them human).
Big epic leader attacks once with at will. Then, "I have recovered, puny humans! Now I will crush you!"
The party goes, "No, you won't - Will of the Feywild!". Epic leader hits an ally and is dazed. For an encore, the party just kill him.
With both a Feylock and a Orb Wizard in the party, the group is very, very good at controlling away the greatest threat, and the Cleric and Fighter do very well at protecting the rest of the group. It's somewhat frustrating as a DM, but - as we discussed after the last session - it's also an example of really good play/PC construction on the players' part.
Even with this domination of the battlefield, battles are still taking about an hour each for (approximately) 4 round combats. This is a great, great improvement over the 16th level campaign of 3.5E I was running, but it still occasionally feels slow. At the end of my 3.5e game, Nathaniel was pre-rolling his entire round with his fighter-type character and just announcing "The opponent takes 182 damage". Yes, it sped it up, but it wasn't much fun. This time round, they're rolling when their turn occurs - here are a few things that slow it down:
Adding up numbers. A couple of players are surprisingly weak at that. Or there are a LOT of numbers to add up - or a lot of targets.
Choice of action. I mentioned how Nathaniel used to be able to roll his attacks in other player's turns? Well, he can't do it that now because the effects of the monsters and players change the battlefield so much: his action won't be apparent until it is actually his go. I'm fine with that, even if it makes combat slightly slower.
Number of Actions. At 1st level, the character moves and attacks. Done. Now, they use their move action for one power (often a teleport, that might deal damage in Nathaniel's case) - or replaced by a minor action - their standard action for another power, and then a minor action power.
Greg's Dragonborn often goes once per combat: Minor Action: Divine Strength. Minor Action: Dragonbreath (multiple targets take a while to resolve). Standard Action: Astral Wave (more multiple targets).
Meanwhile, I'm using a minimalist approach for my DM NPC, Splug. His actual attack is something like +35 vs Reflex, dealing 2d4+3d6+5d8+20 damage (assuming combat advantage and sneak attack). Most of the time I roll a d20, if it isn't a 1 he hits, and then he deals 60 damage. (Those are insane numbers, btw. His critical is 5d12+86). As an Essentials thief, his turn is over very quickly, and with four uses of Backstab an encounter, he rarely runs out.
Splug: Init +24, HP 142, AC 36, Fort 31, Ref 37, Will 36. Dagger +35 vs AC or Reflex, 60 damage (crit: 5d12+86).
I'm hoping for some actual role-playing next session as they actually get to meet the Raven Queen. I'm hoping the adventure doesn't drag too much; I really like a lot of E1, but we'll see how it goes in actual play.
Cheers!
The battles tend to go like this:
Big epic leader shouts, "I will crush you, puny humans!"
The party goes, "No, you won't - Claws of the Magpie. And we're not human!" (The group is Dragonborn, Goliath, Eladrin, Goblin and Half-Elf. It's a running joke that the enemies always call them human).
Big epic leader attacks once with at will. Then, "I have recovered, puny humans! Now I will crush you!"
The party goes, "No, you won't - Will of the Feywild!". Epic leader hits an ally and is dazed. For an encore, the party just kill him.
With both a Feylock and a Orb Wizard in the party, the group is very, very good at controlling away the greatest threat, and the Cleric and Fighter do very well at protecting the rest of the group. It's somewhat frustrating as a DM, but - as we discussed after the last session - it's also an example of really good play/PC construction on the players' part.
Even with this domination of the battlefield, battles are still taking about an hour each for (approximately) 4 round combats. This is a great, great improvement over the 16th level campaign of 3.5E I was running, but it still occasionally feels slow. At the end of my 3.5e game, Nathaniel was pre-rolling his entire round with his fighter-type character and just announcing "The opponent takes 182 damage". Yes, it sped it up, but it wasn't much fun. This time round, they're rolling when their turn occurs - here are a few things that slow it down:
Adding up numbers. A couple of players are surprisingly weak at that. Or there are a LOT of numbers to add up - or a lot of targets.
Choice of action. I mentioned how Nathaniel used to be able to roll his attacks in other player's turns? Well, he can't do it that now because the effects of the monsters and players change the battlefield so much: his action won't be apparent until it is actually his go. I'm fine with that, even if it makes combat slightly slower.
Number of Actions. At 1st level, the character moves and attacks. Done. Now, they use their move action for one power (often a teleport, that might deal damage in Nathaniel's case) - or replaced by a minor action - their standard action for another power, and then a minor action power.
Greg's Dragonborn often goes once per combat: Minor Action: Divine Strength. Minor Action: Dragonbreath (multiple targets take a while to resolve). Standard Action: Astral Wave (more multiple targets).
Meanwhile, I'm using a minimalist approach for my DM NPC, Splug. His actual attack is something like +35 vs Reflex, dealing 2d4+3d6+5d8+20 damage (assuming combat advantage and sneak attack). Most of the time I roll a d20, if it isn't a 1 he hits, and then he deals 60 damage. (Those are insane numbers, btw. His critical is 5d12+86). As an Essentials thief, his turn is over very quickly, and with four uses of Backstab an encounter, he rarely runs out.
Splug: Init +24, HP 142, AC 36, Fort 31, Ref 37, Will 36. Dagger +35 vs AC or Reflex, 60 damage (crit: 5d12+86).
I'm hoping for some actual role-playing next session as they actually get to meet the Raven Queen. I'm hoping the adventure doesn't drag too much; I really like a lot of E1, but we'll see how it goes in actual play.
Cheers!
