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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kzach" data-source="post: 5156879" data-attributes="member: 56189">In another thread the issue of grindiness and combat length was brought up. I decided I wanted to discuss this aspect of 4e more so here's a thread for it.My take on this is that I think a lot of DM's wrongly assume that combat in 4e is too easy. I think a lot of DM's attempt to compensate for this by throwing large and difficult encounters at the PC's, which in turn makes combats far longer than they're generally meant to be.I don't think most DM's realise that 70% or so of combats SHOULD be easy for the PC's. Combats are a stepping stone in a process of investigation and story building. They should form a part of that process and be obstacles that the heroes need to overcome. They shouldn't, however, dominate the play experience.Combats serve many purposes but ideally, most combats are merely hiccups, and shouldn't be the cause of indigestion. They provide rewards, XP, and further clues to help the story progress. 70% of combats are stormtroopers, with a few battle droids and the odd AT-AT.Then you rescue the princess, steal the battle plans, and run for your life.It's only when you face off with an important NPC that a combat should ever be deadly or difficult. An important question DM's should ask themselves when building large or very tough encounters is, "What purpose does this encounter serve and how does it drive the story forward in a meaningful way?"If every encounter is at the level of Darth Maul and his entourage, then the DM is doing something very wrong. I mean... if everyone is having fun with that style of play, then sure, whatever, but if they're complaining that combats are taking too long, even if they defeat them all (and even if the combats are fairly tough, the odds are still in the PC's favour, it just means things take much longer and they have to rest more often), then the DM really has to take a step back and adjust both his expectations and his understanding of the game's mechanics.At least, that's what I think. What do you think?</blockquote>

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