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How viable is 5E to play at high levels?
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<blockquote data-quote="Imaro" data-source="post: 7220587" data-attributes="member: 48965"><p>So did you find the higher level encounters easier than the guidelines suggest (and just to be clear I am asking insofar as the description given in the DMG for what an easy...medium...hard and deadly encounter are). Or did you find that they didn't really line up with the encounters as presented.</p><p></p><p>Just for reference...</p><p></p><p><strong>Easy</strong>. The adventurers should quickly and decisively</p><p>overcome the encounter. They might take a few lumps</p><p>and lose a few hit points, but a good plan or a cunning</p><p>use of resources might make the encounter little more</p><p>than a brief pause in the adventure.</p><p></p><p><strong>Medium</strong>. The encounter presents some difficulty, but</p><p>in the end the adventurers should emerge victorious.</p><p>Medium encounters might require the characters to</p><p>expend some resources or heal up a bit after the fight.</p><p></p><p><strong>Hard</strong>. A hard encounter is tough, and it could</p><p>potentially go very badly for the adventurers with a</p><p>few unlucky die rolls or bad circumstances. Weaker</p><p>characters might get taken out of the fight, leaving a few</p><p>adventurers to deal with the threat. Hard encounters</p><p>have a small chance of killing PCs if things go awry.</p><p></p><p><strong>Deadly</strong>. The encounter is potentially lethal for one or</p><p>more player characters. Survival often requires good</p><p>tactics and quick thinking, and the party risks defeat.</p><p>A difficult encounter causes serious injury, with a</p><p>substantial chance of character death.</p><p></p><p>So looking at this even a hard encounter is generally going to go the way of the PC's unless there are multiple unlucky rolls... or some of the PC's are already weakened... with a small chance of killing PC's <strong>if</strong> things go awry...</p><p></p><p>I'm being specific here because I am also wondering if some of the disconnect is people forming their own opinion on what a hard encounter should be and expecting the rules to provide that as opposed to judging CR and XP budget on whether it actually hits the mark the designers laid out for it in the game. </p><p></p><p>EDIT: Also I'd note I believe these are the difficulty expectations of the base game not one that includes magic items, multiclassing or feats... but I could be wrong.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Imaro, post: 7220587, member: 48965"] So did you find the higher level encounters easier than the guidelines suggest (and just to be clear I am asking insofar as the description given in the DMG for what an easy...medium...hard and deadly encounter are). Or did you find that they didn't really line up with the encounters as presented. Just for reference... [B]Easy[/B]. The adventurers should quickly and decisively overcome the encounter. They might take a few lumps and lose a few hit points, but a good plan or a cunning use of resources might make the encounter little more than a brief pause in the adventure. [B]Medium[/B]. The encounter presents some difficulty, but in the end the adventurers should emerge victorious. Medium encounters might require the characters to expend some resources or heal up a bit after the fight. [B]Hard[/B]. A hard encounter is tough, and it could potentially go very badly for the adventurers with a few unlucky die rolls or bad circumstances. Weaker characters might get taken out of the fight, leaving a few adventurers to deal with the threat. Hard encounters have a small chance of killing PCs if things go awry. [B]Deadly[/B]. The encounter is potentially lethal for one or more player characters. Survival often requires good tactics and quick thinking, and the party risks defeat. A difficult encounter causes serious injury, with a substantial chance of character death. So looking at this even a hard encounter is generally going to go the way of the PC's unless there are multiple unlucky rolls... or some of the PC's are already weakened... with a small chance of killing PC's [B]if[/B] things go awry... I'm being specific here because I am also wondering if some of the disconnect is people forming their own opinion on what a hard encounter should be and expecting the rules to provide that as opposed to judging CR and XP budget on whether it actually hits the mark the designers laid out for it in the game. EDIT: Also I'd note I believe these are the difficulty expectations of the base game not one that includes magic items, multiclassing or feats... but I could be wrong. [/QUOTE]
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