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<blockquote data-quote="D'karr" data-source="post: 4578772" data-attributes="member: 336">You are correct that a few more rounds of the bad guys pounding at your characters should still be a threat.&nbsp; But what I think is being exposed here is that a combat feels grindy when it becomes &quot;I hit&quot;, &quot;monster hits.&quot;A DM really needs to keep on his toes and make the entirety of the combat exciting, including those last few rounds where the creature and the PCs might be resorting to &quot;At-Will&quot; powers and the flashiness of &quot;Encounter&quot; &amp; &quot;Daily&quot; powers has gone (they've been spent).&nbsp; In my experience this shows up too often in low-level play because the players don't have enough variety of powers.&nbsp; In addition, they might miss one or two times and then the creatures last longer.&nbsp; This leads to a few rounds towards the end where it seems monotonous.If you look at a party of 1st level character they can attempt to take on a 3rd-4th level solo monster.&nbsp; The problem is that even though they can take that challenge, if the challenge does not include other excitement, it can become boring.&nbsp; A solo is going to have good AC, and high hit points.&nbsp; So if the party spends most of it's time not hitting, the combat can be boring.&nbsp; Take a look at Scalegloom Hall as an example.If a DM does not &quot;work&quot; at making the encounters exciting (exciting terrain or use of terrain, additional reinforcements, wild combats, etc.) it might turn out boring if the party has a bad streak of luck and keeps missing.&nbsp; That is when combat feels grindy.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="D'karr, post: 4578772, member: 336"] You are correct that a few more rounds of the bad guys pounding at your characters should still be a threat. But what I think is being exposed here is that a combat feels grindy when it becomes "I hit", "monster hits." A DM really needs to keep on his toes and make the entirety of the combat exciting, including those last few rounds where the creature and the PCs might be resorting to "At-Will" powers and the flashiness of "Encounter" & "Daily" powers has gone (they've been spent). In my experience this shows up too often in low-level play because the players don't have enough variety of powers. In addition, they might miss one or two times and then the creatures last longer. This leads to a few rounds towards the end where it seems monotonous. If you look at a party of 1st level character they can attempt to take on a 3rd-4th level solo monster. The problem is that even though they can take that challenge, if the challenge does not include other excitement, it can become boring. A solo is going to have good AC, and high hit points. So if the party spends most of it's time not hitting, the combat can be boring. Take a look at Scalegloom Hall as an example. If a DM does not "work" at making the encounters exciting (exciting terrain or use of terrain, additional reinforcements, wild combats, etc.) it might turn out boring if the party has a bad streak of luck and keeps missing. That is when combat feels grindy. [/QUOTE]

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