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Fixing Challenge Rating
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<blockquote data-quote="James Gasik" data-source="post: 9246067" data-attributes="member: 6877472"><p>I think it's ok if a Challenge Rating system only takes into account a typical party in a normal encounter. There's always going to be ad hoc complications- are the enemies resistant to the players weapons? Vulnerable to the player's spells? Does the terrain benefit one side or the other? Is this the "perfect group" for the encounter, or do the enemies have amazing synergies? Could the fight be averted? Can it be won quickly, or drag out for ten turns? What happens if someone dies mid-encounter? Et. al.</p><p></p><p>Rather than trying to tackle the dizzying amount of probabilities, I think it's easier to have a baseline, and from there, something like Quickleaf's flowchart from page 1 of the thread or similar guidelines to the DM will fill in the grey areas.</p><p></p><p>The biggest mistake I see DM's make is not knowing their group. For the most part, what the characters are good at, and what the players have them do doesn't change much from adventure to adventure- only a few classes can alter their capabilities daily, after all.</p><p></p><p>As my first DM taught me, it's ok if the players manage to overcome a challenge easily, due to lucky rolls or occasionally having a "silver bullet" for the encounter- there's always more encounters. Let them have their win and apply the lessons learned next time!</p><p></p><p>Because undertuning an encounter is more preferable than overtuning it. One way downshifts a tougher fight to an easier one, not a big deal. The other way can lead to a long, grueling battle that sucks up way too many resources and dead characters, which can totally suck all the momentum out of the adventure (or even the campaign!).</p><p></p><p>And on the off chance that your goal is to make your players taste death at every turn, well, you don't really need an encounter building tool- two Legendary monsters with a dozen minions should do the trick!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="James Gasik, post: 9246067, member: 6877472"] I think it's ok if a Challenge Rating system only takes into account a typical party in a normal encounter. There's always going to be ad hoc complications- are the enemies resistant to the players weapons? Vulnerable to the player's spells? Does the terrain benefit one side or the other? Is this the "perfect group" for the encounter, or do the enemies have amazing synergies? Could the fight be averted? Can it be won quickly, or drag out for ten turns? What happens if someone dies mid-encounter? Et. al. Rather than trying to tackle the dizzying amount of probabilities, I think it's easier to have a baseline, and from there, something like Quickleaf's flowchart from page 1 of the thread or similar guidelines to the DM will fill in the grey areas. The biggest mistake I see DM's make is not knowing their group. For the most part, what the characters are good at, and what the players have them do doesn't change much from adventure to adventure- only a few classes can alter their capabilities daily, after all. As my first DM taught me, it's ok if the players manage to overcome a challenge easily, due to lucky rolls or occasionally having a "silver bullet" for the encounter- there's always more encounters. Let them have their win and apply the lessons learned next time! Because undertuning an encounter is more preferable than overtuning it. One way downshifts a tougher fight to an easier one, not a big deal. The other way can lead to a long, grueling battle that sucks up way too many resources and dead characters, which can totally suck all the momentum out of the adventure (or even the campaign!). And on the off chance that your goal is to make your players taste death at every turn, well, you don't really need an encounter building tool- two Legendary monsters with a dozen minions should do the trick! [/QUOTE]
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