Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Aberzanzorax" data-source="post: 5725838" data-attributes="member: 64209">Well, since we're discussing Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil.... My "group" ran it with 4 pcs (my "group" was myself, another player -each of us running two guys-, and a DM).  There were:A dexterity based fighter (swashbuckler?).A rogue (maybe shadowdancer?).A barbarian.A mystic theurge (who did not memorize healing spells). We regularly completed six or more encounters on a regular basis, without the use of healing wands (spells were sometimes burned to keep us at full hp between fights, but this was not commonly needed). How? It was a stealth party. All characters had (from skills, feats, magic items, etc) average or above hide and move silently skills. Our usual tactics were to ambush (free standard action of attacks for 3 damage doers, one or two of which had extra precision based damage). This also provided the benefit of US getting to decide positioning and tactics, rather than the enemy doing so, and allowed us to take out more dangerous targets (like enemy spellcasters). It also prevented enemies from raising the alarm in the complex crawling with enemies. The mystic theurge never really did any damage. His name was Ulee, but his offical name/nickname in campaign was "Ulee Fixit", as his job was battlefield control (a "controller" in 4e). He put up walls, cast entangle, web, a few buffs (which were easy since we called the shots), dismissal, etc. etc. Because of the style, this was (as I hope people can see) not a hit point attrition type of game. There were other challenges (precision damage against elementals is not effective; true seeing can be a p.i.t.a. against a party that relys upon stealth) and it was a fun module/experience. But, to claim that D&D can only be played as hit point attrition is false. There are a dozen or more ways to make parties that overcome obstacles on a regular basis without letting hit points be the primary measure of capability.    For what it's worth, this was one group. My other D&D group (across the country at the time) was also running the module. I wasn't a part of this other group at the time. They WERE running a hp attrition style game (standard party makeup, healing wands, cleric based on healing). There's an evil priest in the module, name starts with an "H", I think (can't remember it though)***. He became a major recurring villain and killed several of them on more than one occasion, and nearly caused a TPK. My group doesn't remember his name because he was dead in 2 or 3 rounds. The point here isn't "my group is tha awesomez!" It's about how healing is one of many resources, and you can set up an adventuring party to focus on lots of resources (stunning, instakill saves, battlefield control, stealth, divination, buffing, charm/domination/diplomacy/bluff, demolitions, etc. etc.). It's not about "playing smart"...it's about choosing the limiting resource, or the focus on strengths, to be something other than HP. At that point, healing becomes less important.  ***EDIT. Looked it up. The name was Hedrack.</blockquote>

Verification