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<blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 7399984" data-attributes="member: 996">It sounds like you're limiting yourself to ability checks, here, which do work that way in 5e.&nbsp; Combat, monsters abilities, and spells don't leave as much latitude.&nbsp;But the chance of overall failure in a 5e easy encounter is /really/ low.&nbsp; Nil even.&nbsp; That success - victory on the party's side, all monsters slain/defeated - could still (at low level, particularly) include an unexpected/unintended/pointless PC death.&nbsp; It's just the vagaries of combat resolution.&nbsp; An adventure full of gentlemanly sparing might get a tad implausible.&nbsp;With one, you wouldn't need a flexible solution, you could implement something concrete, up-front.&nbsp; &nbsp;Sure.&nbsp; He was mentioning 3e, for instance.&nbsp; You design a by-the-numbers 'weak' encounter with a comparable number of orcs vs a 3rd level party, one of 'em happens to crit a PC with 32 hps for 45 damage out of the blue, instantly killing him, because orcs came, standard-issue, with 14 STR &amp; d12(20/x3) greataxes - you fudge it to 30 or 33 damage, and play continues more satisfactorily.&nbsp;&nbsp; The same kinda thing is vanishingly unlikely after 1st level (or maybe 2nd, for a lower-hp PC), in 5e (and was vanishingly unlikely at any level in 4e).&nbsp; As you point out, in other systems with different ways of setting stakes and handling damage, it could be a non-issue.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Tony Vargas, post: 7399984, member: 996"] It sounds like you're limiting yourself to ability checks, here, which do work that way in 5e. Combat, monsters abilities, and spells don't leave as much latitude. But the chance of overall failure in a 5e easy encounter is /really/ low. Nil even. That success - victory on the party's side, all monsters slain/defeated - could still (at low level, particularly) include an unexpected/unintended/pointless PC death. It's just the vagaries of combat resolution. An adventure full of gentlemanly sparing might get a tad implausible. With one, you wouldn't need a flexible solution, you could implement something concrete, up-front. Sure. He was mentioning 3e, for instance. You design a by-the-numbers 'weak' encounter with a comparable number of orcs vs a 3rd level party, one of 'em happens to crit a PC with 32 hps for 45 damage out of the blue, instantly killing him, because orcs came, standard-issue, with 14 STR & d12(20/x3) greataxes - you fudge it to 30 or 33 damage, and play continues more satisfactorily. The same kinda thing is vanishingly unlikely after 1st level (or maybe 2nd, for a lower-hp PC), in 5e (and was vanishingly unlikely at any level in 4e). As you point out, in other systems with different ways of setting stakes and handling damage, it could be a non-issue. [/QUOTE]

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