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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jeff Wilder" data-source="post: 4568841" data-attributes="member: 5122">Like Treebore, I'm very good at balancing encounters, and I like to challenge my players.But the reason I don't worry about TPKs is that I have no problems with having my bad guys behave suboptimally in the chaos of combat.  If one PC is getting pounded on, and another PC makes a determined effort to distract the attacker, I've got no problem with that effort paying off.  (My intelligent opponents don't behave stupidly, but they do sometimes behave suboptimally.)(What may surprise people is that I'm very much against the fudging of dice, in my favor or not, as a player or as a DM.  What's the precise difference between the two types of fudging?  I dunno, but I know it when I feel it.)I am also depressed by TPKs, BTW, and of course I'm well aware that the possibility is part of the game.  (In fact, I believe the possibility is what makes combat fun.)  But TPKs disrupt or destroy campaign momentum, and, part of the game or not, character death makes most players feel bad.  I don't enjoy making people feel bad.  (Unless they deserve it, and my players rarely do, and never all at once.)</blockquote>