Higher level characters ONLY fight orcs

[pauljathome]

Rather than hijack the other thread on the latest blog I'll start another.

The following quote comes from the Sneak attack vs Backstab blog:
Blog: Sneak Attack vs Backstab 3

Rather than have player characters graduate from orcs and move on to some other humanoid to fill the same niche, we want higher-level characters to simply fight more orcs.

Hopefully this is just an exaggeration or really badly worded. But taking it at its word DndNext sounds like a really, really boring game. You never get to fight gnolls or bugbears or giants. You just get to fight larger and larger numbers of orcs.i

 

[I'm A Banana]

And pie is the only treasure! Higher level characters just get more slices!

I hope I'm safe in assuming you're not serious.

 

[Grydan]

No, I think you're just reading it wrong.

Gnolls and bugbears and giants will still be around. It's just that orcs never become non-threats, and therefore gnolls and bugbears and giants don't have to serve as proxies for orcs after the orcs have been left behind.

 

[GX.Sigma]

He means you don't have to move on to "hob-orcs" or whatever because orcs stop being a challenge to high-level characters. Orcs can still be a challenge, just in large numbers. So if you want to fight orcs, you can still fight orcs--just more orcs.

 

[WotC_Trevor]

To clear up any lingering confusion - no, Rob is not saying that there won't be any tougher monsters to fight, or that that next iteration of D&D will only have orcs, goblins, kobolds or whatever other lower level monster you can think of.

Rob is simply expressing a desire that the design team has that if you want to fight orcs at lower levels and you want to fight them at higher levels, then you can do so by just throwing more orcs into the mix and the combat should still be fun and challenging. He is NOT saying that there won't be higher level monsters or more challenging monsters or encounters if you want those too. I'm sure there will be dragons, giants, trolls, [insert badass monster here] for your DMing and fighting pleasure as well.

 

[Sunseeker]

You know, I've never actually fought orcs in any of my games. Nor have I fought kobolds. I feel that attempting to promote the continued existence of such tropey creatures does a greater disservice to the game than it aids in flattening the math. I understand the logic doesn't apply to just orcs, but the desire to fight a lot of the same thing, regardless of if it gets pumped up in power, just leads to boring games.

 

[pauljathome]

I hope I'm safe in assuming you're not serious.

I seriously believe that the words SAY what I think they say.

To put it into context, what would you think if I said that I was writing a brand new RPG where the game is designed so that "we want higher-level characters to simply fight more orcs. "

I'm not serious in believing that they MEAN what they SAY. At least, not completely.

Following assumes that play is expected to go from Level 1 to Level 20.

I AM concerned about how much they intend to flatten the power curve. If Orcs remain viable opponents for my level 10 character then there isn't a lot of space to ALSO make gnolls, bugbears, ogres, minotaurs, giants etc viable opponents for my level 10 character.

I DO want my group of level 10 characters to be able to handily beat warbands of giants. Not armies, but also not solos.

 

[GX.Sigma]

You know, I've never actually fought orcs in any of my games. Nor have I fought kobolds. I feel that attempting to promote the continued existence of such tropey creatures does a greater disservice to the game than it aids in flattening the math. I understand the logic doesn't apply to just orcs, but the desire to fight a lot of the same thing, regardless of if it gets pumped up in power, just leads to boring games.

That's a DM issue. No one is saying you have to fight kobolds your entire career. But if the DM decides that the campaign takes place in the midst of a war between the kobolds and the orcs, he doesn't have to do anything weird to make it still work at high level.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I want to fight more orcs at higher levels.

 

[Boarstorm]

... but the desire to fight a lot of the same thing, regardless of if it gets pumped up in power, just leads to boring games.

I disagree. Fighting the same enemies from low levels into high levels can create a sense of connection with the world around you, and gives the opportunity to craft that race almost as another villain. Sure, you don't want to have your players fight ONLY that enemy, but by using the same enemy throughout (even intermittently) you can really tie together a campaign.

I DO want my group of level 10 characters to be able to handily beat warbands of giants. Not armies, but also not solos.

Has any edition had such easily defeatable giants?