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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Crazy Jerome" data-source="post: 5646826" data-attributes="member: 54877">1. Don't get too caught up in the letter of the treasure parcel system. The parcel system is in there so that a new DM (new to 4E at least) can follow a formula and have the party get the expected amount of treasure. However, magic items in 4E are weak enough that you can get away with a lot of variation. If most of the party has weapon, armor, and neck slot items with a plus equal to level/5 (round up), then you are alright. But that doesn't mean that everyone needs +2 everything at 8th, exactly. it means that sometime between roughly 6 and 10, they need to be picking up +2 items. And even if you get outside those boundaries a bit, you'll be ok. You just don't want, say, a 15th level party with nothing but +1 stuff, unless you've compensated them some other way (e.g. inherent bonuses). Once you get what the treasure parcel system is trying to achieve, you can use it or ignore it as much as you find convenient. 2. When changing encounter thinking from earlier editions to 4E, expand the scope of what you used to call an "encounter". This will help you better visualize how to model what was happening in 4E. This was touched on in earlier advice, but my take is one from a "challenge sandbox" perspective, where the encounter is what it is, and it is up to the players to deal with it. For example, say in 3E that you have a goblin lair, and you had several weak encounters near the entrance. The players can pick off sentries a few at a time, cast some healing, buff, and then move onto the next group. The kill the goblins in room A, then rinse and repeat for room B, hall C, and alcove D. In 4E, look at that same map, and you notice that A-D are all close together. Then maybe there is a long passage or a thick door before the next several groups of goblins. You want some interesting terrain features, space to move, and a meaningful "encounter". That map and setup is telling you something. It is telling you that A-D are all really one "encounter". With appropriate mix of minions and standard, and maybe one elite as a leader, you can easily fit the XP budget into enough goblins to make a tough encounter. Because it is spread out, and not a bunch of goblins on a flat plain, you can afford to make it a bit tougher than normal (L+1 to L+2). Then you notice that there is no reason why the alcove can't be a balcony, with a ledge, and a stairwell curving in from the hall. Put in a few pieces of furnishings or a firepit or the like, and you've got a interesting location now.  Now, tweak the goblins' motivations and warning setup so that the most likely outcome of the party going into room A is the start of a running fight that involves all four areas and all the goblins. If the party is exceptionally clever or lucky, they will be able to divide and conquer (using probably only at-wills and encounters) and thus save resources. If they blunder in, they'll have goblins pouring out from all directions and may need to burn a few dailies. So how tough the fight becomes is more about what the players do than how you change things as it goes. If they are exceptionally ill-prepared and unlucky, they'll get mauled, but not killed. As a first fight, it isn't tough enough to kill, excepting maybe a controller or striker that runs off alone. But it is strong enough to send them back out to rest, if they aren't reasonably careful. This way, you still have two weak goblin guards at the door, and your map is more or less the same. You've simply changed what "encounter" means to better fit the 4E thinking.</blockquote>

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