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<blockquote data-quote="Sir Wulf" data-source="post: 5184222" data-attributes="member: 78791">And this is where our experiences parted company. I find that the most unusual things sometimes become relevant.&nbsp;Except my players frequently surprised me with their reactions to the various NPCs in Burnt Offerings. One party ended up releasing the villain's mercenary henchman, encouraging me to include him as a source of information in a later scenario. Inspired diplomacy and deception turned an evil mage into an ally for the party. &nbsp;If all I'd been given to work with was the foes' combat stats, I'd have been on my own when developing these unexpected twists. Instead, they followed easily from the interaction between the party and the scenario.&nbsp;The problem I have is that 4e stats assume the DM knows exactly how things will play out ahead of time. One guy is a villain, and the PCs will try to kill him. Another is an ally, and his stats are built differently. &nbsp;By instead adding peripheral information, the DM has the tools to deal with factors not anticipated by the scenario authors. For example, you claim that Daylight and turning undead aren't relevant, so they're just dead weight for the stat block: Since one of my groups featured a drow PC and a necromancer, that wasn't the case. Both those powers became potentally significant.&nbsp;If stats don't clearly address other interactions the party may have, the DM is forced to wing it without direction. Suppose your group plans to trick the villain, claiming to be fellow cultists sent to help the villain's schemes? Suppose the PCs decide to investigate the villains' motivations and background in detail? (Mine sometimes do) Do your &quot;5 round only&quot; statblocks allow your villain to adapt to these types of encounter? My experience has been that they do not.&nbsp;EDIT:&nbsp; I understand that some such interactions can be handled as skill challenges.&nbsp; My point is that peripheral powers such as summon wallaby or light might be insignificant in many situations, then utterly bedevil PC plans another time.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Sir Wulf, post: 5184222, member: 78791"] And this is where our experiences parted company. I find that the most unusual things sometimes become relevant. Except my players frequently surprised me with their reactions to the various NPCs in Burnt Offerings. One party ended up releasing the villain's mercenary henchman, encouraging me to include him as a source of information in a later scenario. Inspired diplomacy and deception turned an evil mage into an ally for the party. If all I'd been given to work with was the foes' combat stats, I'd have been on my own when developing these unexpected twists. Instead, they followed easily from the interaction between the party and the scenario. The problem I have is that 4e stats assume the DM knows exactly how things will play out ahead of time. One guy is a villain, and the PCs will try to kill him. Another is an ally, and his stats are built differently. By instead adding peripheral information, the DM has the tools to deal with factors not anticipated by the scenario authors. For example, you claim that [I]Daylight[/I] and turning undead aren't relevant, so they're just dead weight for the stat block: Since one of my groups featured a drow PC and a necromancer, that wasn't the case. Both those powers became potentally significant. If stats don't clearly address other interactions the party may have, the DM is forced to wing it without direction. Suppose your group plans to trick the villain, claiming to be fellow cultists sent to help the villain's schemes? Suppose the PCs decide to investigate the villains' motivations and background in detail? (Mine sometimes do) Do your "5 round only" statblocks allow your villain to adapt to these types of encounter? My experience has been that they do not. EDIT: I understand that some such interactions can be handled as skill challenges. My point is that peripheral powers such as [i]summon wallaby[/i] or [i]light[/i] might be insignificant in many situations, then utterly bedevil PC plans another time. [/QUOTE]

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