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<blockquote data-quote="Ydars" data-source="post: 4334760" data-attributes="member: 62992">I think the mathematics of the 4E combat system work perfectly; the problem is, a game is not mathematics.I recently ran a 3.5E game set in Ptolus, where the PCs faced a high-level monster and all the combatants were flying. I wanted to encourage tactics but didn't want the fight to be decided too randomly so I gave the creature huge HP and low damage.The fight went well, in terms of backwards and forwards ebb and flow, but afterwards, one of the players told me that, though they beat the creature it &quot;didn't really feel very epic&quot;. I asked him to expand on this and he told me that he didn't like just chipping away at opponents for 20 rounds.I have playtested 4E pitting monsters against Pre-gen PCs (all played by me) and was struck by how similar 4E combat was to this experience, though I think tactics will modify this significantly. The tactics issue really reminded me of playing chess actually, and I think good chess players will be good at 4E but that is another thread.I know why WoTC made the mechanics the way they did but I think this could become annoying in the long term. I will have to play alot more combats with real players before I can tell how serious this will be.Hong is right about Minions though; now we can have the guards/sentries who can be killed in one shot and that is just as it should be.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Ydars, post: 4334760, member: 62992"] I think the mathematics of the 4E combat system work perfectly; the problem is, a game is not mathematics. I recently ran a 3.5E game set in Ptolus, where the PCs faced a high-level monster and all the combatants were flying. I wanted to encourage tactics but didn't want the fight to be decided too randomly so I gave the creature huge HP and low damage. The fight went well, in terms of backwards and forwards ebb and flow, but afterwards, one of the players told me that, though they beat the creature it "didn't really feel very epic". I asked him to expand on this and he told me that he didn't like just chipping away at opponents for 20 rounds. I have playtested 4E pitting monsters against Pre-gen PCs (all played by me) and was struck by how similar 4E combat was to this experience, though I think tactics will modify this significantly. The tactics issue really reminded me of playing chess actually, and I think good chess players will be good at 4E but that is another thread. I know why WoTC made the mechanics the way they did but I think this could become annoying in the long term. I will have to play alot more combats with real players before I can tell how serious this will be. Hong is right about Minions though; now we can have the guards/sentries who can be killed in one shot and that is just as it should be. [/QUOTE]

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