If the devils are how monsters will be....I am so happy

[Lonely Tylenol]

Hmm. If we translate that to D&D, does this mean there will not be a 4E Baldur's Gate 3 or Neverwinter Nights 3? Noooooo!

I'd be satisfied with a 2E Baldur's Gate 3.

 

[Plane Sailing]

But, since we are doing away with simulationism and we don't need it anymore, go to town with your fantasy of apocalyptic conflict whether the rules support it or not.

Leave out the snark when making your comments please.

Thanks

 

[Mephistopheles]

(Incidently, I'm getting really tired of hearing how great it is to be running 4-5 massive combats a session with multiple opponents, as if somehow this is a new thing. Did people really never do that in 3E? I used to host an open table night at a local game store, and often get 4-7 combats into 3-4 hours of play - plus time for character creation, exposition, and allocating experience points. And that was with 'non-expert' players.)

Combat in 3E does bog things down at my table. Obscenely so if compared to similar situations in 1E and 2E. I'm happy they're working on speeding up combat in 4E but unless I look no further back than 3E it doesn't seem like something that should be such a huge selling point to me.

 

[Derren]

*Potent powers that I will actually use and will realy be noticed at the table

I don't agree with this. The powers of the Pit Fiend are very limited.
As it was already said, two of is abilities are more or less redundant (or only stated for AoO purposes) and one ability is a mandatory first round only thing.
And the Pit Fiends signature ability, irresistable command is most of the time a very bad idea as a living, damage dealing minion is more valuable than a small one time explosion so this ability won't get used often (unlike in the written tactic for this monster).
So the only real choice the Pit Fiend has is either a full attack, debuff, or teleporting some minions when the ability is recharged (not always useful as there might be no better location for them to go).
And its greatest weakness is that the Pit Fiend relies nearly only on fire. When the epic level party can get fire resistance 10 the Pit Fiend is seriously weakened.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I don't agree with this. The powers of the Pit Fiend are very limited.
As it was already said, two of is abilities are more or less redundant (or only stated for AoO purposes) and one ability is a mandatory first round only thing.
And the Pit Fiends signature ability, irresistable command is most of the time a very bad idea as a living, damage dealing minion is more valuable than a small one time explosion so this ability won't get used often (unlike in the written tactic for this monster).

Do you know how effective his summoned fiendish allies are in combat? Or, more importantly, how long they can actually last against the epic level party? I wouldn't be surprised if each of them couldn't survive more than one or two rounds of damage by the group, and thus making it very likely for the Pit Fiend to let one of them explode...

I think the Pit Fiend doesn't need more special abilities since, with all his summoned legionaires, it would become a PITA to handle all the possible stuff in one encounter, especially considerind that in an "appropriate" encounter, the fiend would have at least one further ally (with possible special abilities).

If the Pit Fiend was a solo monster, things might look different, or rather: They should.

 

[Wormwood]

Combat in 3E does bog things down at my table. Obscenely so if compared to similar situations in 1E and 2E.

Of the RPGs I play, 3.5 is far and away the slowest and most tedious when it comes to resolving fights.

One remedy I tried was removing the battlemap---which did speed up combat a bit.

Then I decided to wait until June before running D&D again. That saved a ton of time.

 

[Intrope]

And the Pit Fiends signature ability, irresistable command is most of the time a very bad idea as a living, damage dealing minion is more valuable than a small one time explosion so this ability won't get used often (unlike in the written tactic for this monster).

This makes two assumptions: That the minion has no Death Blast (which could make him more useful as a bomb), and that there is no value in removing a bloodied/impaired minion from the field (at least one of the miniatures game figures can make a whirlwind-type attack, but only if an adjacent monster is bloodied!).

I have zero knowledge as to whether either of these apply here, but it seems fair to note that, san full system knowledge, we don't actually know what the implications minion detonation has.

For that matter, we don't know how much damage/round the minions do, either; and that will matter for determining whether the 2d10 + 5 area attack is worth loosing a minion.

So the only real choice the Pit Fiend has is either a full attack, debuff, or teleporting some minions when the ability is recharged (not always useful as there might be no better location for them to go).

It's worth noting that the Pit Fiend can do it's full attack (with attendent continuing damage) to a different target every round--he can debuff, 'port, and Frenzy all in the same round, after all.

 

[Celebrim]

Certainly depends on how resilient a straw cottage is in 4E, and what fire would do to it, no?

No, it doesn't. Read the rules in the sample again.

Let's see how it looks once we get the big picture and not make assumptions.

I'm not making assumptions. That is, unless in 4E, 'straw cottage' has become a creature type.

 

[Celebrim]

True.

Quick, what's the difference between Shaken and Sickened?

I shouldn't have to memorize the condition summary in order to be able to function as the DM.

My guess based on reading the above is the need to have memorized lots of jargon is not going to be reduced. Quick, what's the difference between 'weakened' and 'fatigued'?

 

[Kwalish Kid]

I think that this is an example of 4E not having rules for everything except what it has to. If a DM wants cottages to catch fire, they catch fire.