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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dannager" data-source="post: 5118004" data-attributes="member: 73683">Re: Number of players; If you're only ever able to muster around 2 actual players for your games, consider allowing each player to control 2 PCs, or add some companion characters (rules for companion characters are in the DMG 2; if you don't want to buy that, the first suggestion works better). The game will be a lot harder to create decent encounters for if there are only 2 PCs in the party. 3 is the bare minimum in my book. 4 is perfectly okay, and 5 is ideal.Re: Healing surges; Damage in 4e (as with some previous editions) doesn't necessarily represent physical wounds. Much of it is fatigue, mental resolve, glancing blows, etc. Spending healing surges simply represents recovering some of your will to fight. Your second wind is a lot like you catching your breath for a few seconds, and a short rest is exactly that - a rest during which you are able to recover from the punishment you took during the previous fight. As a DM, you should avoid describing successful attacks as dealing grievous physical harm, unless the attack in question actually kills a PC.Re: Grind; I know the 150+ hp gelatinous cube might seem a bit much, but when everyone in the party is pounding on it at the same time, and the party rogue is dishing out around 20 points of damage on an average hit, it goes by a lot faster than you might think.Re: Passive Perception; This is just 10 + your perception bonus. The idea is that this is information the DM can have on hand for when he wants to know how observant your character is but doesn't want to call your attention to a roll (noticing a trap, for instance, or a hiding foe). Passive Insight works similarly.Re: Monster stat blocks; While they aren't 1-2 lines in length, they're certainly a welcome reprieve from the multiple-page stat blocks of some 3rd edition monsters. Preparing monsters is much easier if you've got the Monster Builder application from D&D Insider. If you're planning on running a game of 4e, I cannot recommend subscribing (at the very least, for one month so you can get the application downloads) to D&D Insider strongly enough.Re: Combat grid; Encounters in 4e work best if you've planned them ahead of time. 4e emphasizes dynamic, varied combat encounters that incorporate interesting terrain, traps, and monsters. Throwing encounters together during prep is pretty simple once you've done it a couple times. It only takes a few minutes. Having a map, however, is critical in my opinion.Also, you were wondering about whether the Quick Start rules were the same as the actual 4e game rules - yes, they are. Some rules aren't fleshed out in full detail because of space constraints, but all the rules there are accurate.</blockquote>

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