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<blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 8365947" data-attributes="member: 6790260">Indeed. And the 4e DMG even says, point-blank, that you should use a variety of encounter levels in order to keep things interesting. By including the occasional fiction-justified roflstomp, and the occasional &quot;in over our heads&quot; nail-biter, you significantly enhance the play experience. The 4e books tell you to do it. Yet every damn time 4e's encounter building comes up, there is a 100% chance of at least one person setting up a level 1 Straw Golem of &quot;bUt EvErY eNcOuNtEr HaS tO bE pErFeCtLy BaLaNcEd FoR pArTy LeVeL!!!1!1one!&quot; (Or the more sophisticated, but still incorrect, &quot;it must always lie within a narrow range, much narrower than 5e.&quot;)I would happily field opponents from -5 to +5, possibly even the occasional +7 with the right incentives. That is, such a combat sounds like the kind of thing where traps, hazards, creative player actions, and situational/environmental effects take center stage. You're gonna need an edge, so making the fight be about finding and exploiting that edge is more interesting than just featuring a grindy beat-em-up. Or, having alternative victory conditions is also a valid approach; you might be able to kill the lich, but all you really need to do is disrupt her ritual. Etc.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="EzekielRaiden, post: 8365947, member: 6790260"] Indeed. And the 4e DMG even says, point-blank, that you should use a variety of encounter levels in order to keep things interesting. By including the [I]occasional[/I] fiction-justified roflstomp, and the [I]occasional[/I] "in over our heads" nail-biter, you significantly enhance the play experience. The 4e books tell you to do it. Yet every damn time 4e's encounter building comes up, there is a 100% chance of at least one person setting up a level 1 Straw Golem of "bUt EvErY eNcOuNtEr HaS tO bE pErFeCtLy BaLaNcEd FoR pArTy LeVeL!!!1!1one!" (Or the more sophisticated, but still incorrect, "it must always lie within a narrow range, much narrower than 5e.") I would happily field opponents from -5 to +5, possibly even the occasional +7 with the right incentives. That is, such a combat sounds like the kind of thing where traps, hazards, creative player actions, and situational/environmental effects take center stage. You're gonna need an edge, so making the fight be about finding and exploiting that edge is more interesting than just featuring a grindy beat-em-up. Or, having alternative victory conditions is also a valid approach; you [I]might[/I] be able to kill the lich, but all you really need to do is disrupt her ritual. Etc. [/QUOTE]

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