NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 6460458" data-attributes="member: 6696971">Don't have a ton of time but here is a real low-res, top-down view of Paragon.  If you've got any questions afterward, I'll try to give you some focused answers.On ThemeThe 4e tier system is predicated on a save the town/village/area (Heroic), save the nation/empire (Paragon), save the world/cosmos (Epic).  So, given that, your antagonists and the conflict should be escalating accordingly; eg coven of witches and their vampire overlords secretly hold sway over the three kings of tri-nationville.  My last Paragon tier game was very much focused on two things; massed barbarian invasion and the disunity/tribalism of the ranger lodges that were originally constructed to stem the tide of such an invasion + the political corruption within the senate and the navy of a powerful nation and its imperial hubris.  Of course, the PCs were tied to various bits and bobs of this via their Paragon Paths, Quests, and general backstory.My advice would be to solicit their feedback on where they want the game to go, find out what Paragon Paths and Quests they want to pursue (you've done a great job of this in the Heroic Tier - just continue that), and just push play toward the conflicts embedded in those things.  Keep a lot of, hopefully player authored, Minor Quests in play to focus each session and Major Quests to focus the tier.  If your players are particularly proactive, let them compose an off-screen vignette that will convey the antagonists or thematic conflict that they're interested in engaging with in Paragon Tier.  They can convey that to the group at the first session and you can use that to riff off.On MechanicsThe PCs will become much more hardy, robust and versatile in their suite of abilities.  More powerful status effects will become the norm.  Their novas will become more potent.  You're going to want to:1)  Use more Hazards/Traps to fill out your encounter budget.  Stuff that keeps combat dynamic, mobile, threatening and forces the PCs to "deal" without smashing through HPs.2)  Construct some of your important monsters (Leaders/Elites) with some Encounter Power (free action) that let them roll a saving throw at the start of their turn versus a brutal effect.  3)  Use Swarms and break them out at Bloodied (as you said).4)  Always use Challenging Terrain, Terrain Powers, and assets that players can stunt off of.  5)  Up your standard Encounter Budget by + 1 for normal fights and probably + 2 for tough fights.6)  Make heavy use of Skill Challenges and eat away their Healing Surges on failures.  They should have ample opportunities for parlays with powerful enemies, neutral factions that they wish to turn to their side, and appeals to big-time power brokers (kings, etc).7)  Consider using Extended Rests as a narrative feature rather than in-game rationale.  Conversely, force them to succeed at Skill Challenges to get them and/or make good use of the Disease Track for Curses/Conditions that may prohibit or "nerf" Extended Rests.That is all I've got off the top of my head.</blockquote>

Verification