Is my DM setting us up for failure? [Minor Spoilers for Demon Queen's Enclave]

[wayne62682]

At this point we have 5 PCs so that argument is a moot point; my issue is with his failure to understand how encounter building works and that he thinks we are fine repeatedly facing ELs 3-4 levels higher than us, and he stifles any arguments with a rant about how he's the DM and D&D is the same now as it was when he played 2nd edition in high school. I'm extremely worried about the final battle of P2 because an EL21 is a "hard" fight for 17th level and off the chart for anything less than that, and I am 95% sure we will not be 17th level by that time.

 

[jmucchiello]

most 4e groups "should be playing Diablo instead of D&D"

Is anyone else amused by the characterization of the DM who waxes nostalgic for past editions using a 13 year old game as part of his "dig" against the new game?

On topic: This, like most posts of this kind, comes down to the question: do you like playing with this DM? Communicate your issue to the DM and based on his reactions, re-evaluate the situation. In the end you'll either not be playing with this DM, or the game will be sufficiently fun to overcome whatever issues remain unchanged. Communication is key. Evaluating whether you are having enough fun to justify the game's quirks honestly is most important.

 

[MadLordOfMilk]

At this point we have 5 PCs so that argument is a moot point; my issue is with his failure to understand how encounter building works and that he thinks we are fine repeatedly facing ELs 3-4 levels higher than us, and he stifles any arguments with a rant about how he's the DM and D&D is the same now as it was when he played 2nd edition in high school. I'm extremely worried about the final battle of P2 because an EL21 is a "hard" fight for 17th level and off the chart for anything less than that, and I am 95% sure we will not be 17th level by that time.

Well... he is the DM, so technically he does get to call the shots.

The thing is though, the general power scale of DM compared to Player changed a lot between 2e to 3e. Basically, the more rules there are, the less room a DM has to make up whatever he wants. Ultimately, though, players of AD&D often see the DM as a lot more "powerful" than players of 3e/4e, as there's a distinct difference in the rulesets that kind of led to that being true.

 

[Shroomy]

At this point we have 5 PCs so that argument is a moot point; my issue is with his failure to understand how encounter building works and that he thinks we are fine repeatedly facing ELs 3-4 levels higher than us, and he stifles any arguments with a rant about how he's the DM and D&D is the same now as it was when he played 2nd edition in high school. I'm extremely worried about the final battle of P2 because an EL21 is a "hard" fight for 17th level and off the chart for anything less than that, and I am 95% sure we will not be 17th level by that time.

I'd find a new game ASAP.

 

[Gort]

At this point we have 5 PCs so that argument is a moot point; my issue is with his failure to understand how encounter building works and that he thinks we are fine repeatedly facing ELs 3-4 levels higher than us, and he stifles any arguments with a rant about how he's the DM and D&D is the same now as it was when he played 2nd edition in high school. I'm extremely worried about the final battle of P2 because an EL21 is a "hard" fight for 17th level and off the chart for anything less than that, and I am 95% sure we will not be 17th level by that time.

Well, just start blowing all your dailies every single fight and resting up afterwards. If the DM starts saying, "Guys, stop resting after every fight", you can say, "Well, the fights are so tough that we don't feel safe without going all-out every time."

 

[SlyFlourish]

Just sit back and enjoy the ride.

I'm finding that the published adventures are too easy for my group, including DQE. I had to scale a lot of it up. Granted we often ran with 6 or 7 players but even adding an equal amount of bad guys didn't do the trick.

I wouldn't worry about it that much. Trust your DM. If he kills you all, you have a good reason to do something about it like leave or confront him about it.

 

[wayne62682]

Well, just start blowing all your dailies every single fight and resting up afterwards. If the DM starts saying, "Guys, stop resting after every fight", you can say, "Well, the fights are so tough that we don't feel safe without going all-out every time."

That's almost what we end up doing; not all our dailies but we usually end up using a couple in every fight, so that after 2 encounters we have to rest because we're low on surges and have expended our dailies.

 

[Herobizkit]

That's almost what we end up doing; not all our dailies but we usually end up using a couple in every fight, so that after 2 encounters we have to rest because we're low on surges and have expended our dailies.

And, personally, I see nothing wrong with that. If you can regain a daily with a rest, and the module isn't time-sensitive, there's no reason NOT to rest every chance you get.

 

[wayne62682]

True, but there are circumstances in this part of P2 that can prevent you from being able to take an extended rest at all, and one thing that basically removes a Daily power from you until you leave the area you're in (i.e. until you've beaten the adventure). So we may not be able to take extended rests anymore, and this gives me even more cause to worry because we're still going to be 2 levels or so lower than the module expects us to be, and about 4 levels or so lower on treasure (except for my character and my girlfriend's character [who was created at 13th level and so got to cherry pick her items] most everyone has very little treasure or so... maybe some +3 armor and nothing higher than a +2 for weapons). Nearly every fight we've had since the end of H3 Pyramid of Shadows has been a total grind.

 

[Herobizkit]

I don't know much about the 4e rules, but is there any reason why your party can't withdraw and create the items you deem necessary for the adventure?