Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="bloodtide" data-source="post: 9065809" data-attributes="member: 6684958">Though, by the numbers, a lot of encounters were not worth it for the XP.&nbsp; A whole large group of orcs would be little xp and little treasure..unless you were raiding their lair.&nbsp; A more clever group saved combat for big targets.&nbsp; A typical &quot;old cave&quot; with a &quot;giant spider&quot; often had more treasue then the whole goblin tribe.&nbsp; And yes, the encounter was presented as a robotic &quot;kill the spider get the loot&quot; encounter.&nbsp; But clever players got around that.&nbsp; I was more often, and well worth it, to distract and go around the giant spider then to fight it.&nbsp; And this had a level of player teamwork often unseen in later editions.&nbsp; The wizard would be the bait to lure the spider out, the fighter stood ready to close a door blocking the spider and the thief dashed into the lair to find the loot.&nbsp;Maybe we read different editions?&nbsp; Does 5E have some harsh roll or die encounters?&nbsp; Or even any &quot;if your character gets knocked off the cliff, they die&quot; type encounters?&nbsp; Sure players in 5E can feel bad as their character lost a couple hit points.&nbsp; And sure they can feel bad on the rare times when they fail some type of story mission....&quot;darn we did not save Duke Whateverhisnamewas....but do we get enough xp to go up a level?&quot;This is a big part of the point.On paper, in the books and modules, AD&amp;D was full of character death.&nbsp; 5E on the other hand, is full of fun encounters for a balanced group to over come.&nbsp; You can see a huge difference.&nbsp; And far too many DMs, at least half, copy the 'spirit' of the written rules.&nbsp; So the 5E DM that only sees endless 'fun encounters', will just make more 'fun encounters'....and never once would they consider making a &quot;deadly encounter', or even more so an &quot;unfair encounter&quot;.In AD&amp;D a character took damage all the time...not just pure combat.&nbsp; That is a very different game from 5E.&nbsp; Nearly all encounters, had a chance of hurting a PC and taking away hit points.&nbsp; Environtmental hazads were common, from just slipping down a rocky hillside to say the extreme heat given off walking near some lava.&nbsp; Plus, of course, traps were common.&nbsp; A simple spear or pit trap only did a couple points of damage...but after ten such traps they add up.&nbsp; And this also goes back to negative effects.&nbsp; The mushroom spores fill your characters lungs, and do a simple 1d6 damage an hour, save for half.&nbsp; Still, after a couple hours, that damage adds up.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="bloodtide, post: 9065809, member: 6684958"] Though, by the numbers, a lot of encounters were not worth it for the XP. A whole large group of orcs would be little xp and little treasure..unless you were raiding their lair. A more clever group saved combat for big targets. A typical "old cave" with a "giant spider" often had more treasue then the whole goblin tribe. And yes, the encounter was presented as a robotic "kill the spider get the loot" encounter. But clever players got around that. I was more often, and well worth it, to distract and go around the giant spider then to fight it. And this had a level of player teamwork often unseen in later editions. The wizard would be the bait to lure the spider out, the fighter stood ready to close a door blocking the spider and the thief dashed into the lair to find the loot. Maybe we read different editions? Does 5E have some harsh roll or die encounters? Or even any "if your character gets knocked off the cliff, they die" type encounters? Sure players in 5E can feel bad as their character lost a couple hit points. And sure they can feel bad on the rare times when they fail some type of story mission...."darn we did not save Duke Whateverhisnamewas....but do we get enough xp to go up a level?" This is a big part of the point. On paper, in the books and modules, AD&D was full of character death. 5E on the other hand, is full of fun encounters for a balanced group to over come. You can see a huge difference. And far too many DMs, at least half, copy the 'spirit' of the written rules. So the 5E DM that only sees endless 'fun encounters', will just make more 'fun encounters'....and never once would they consider making a "deadly encounter', or even more so an "unfair encounter". In AD&D a character took damage all the time...not just pure combat. That is a very different game from 5E. Nearly all encounters, had a chance of hurting a PC and taking away hit points. Environtmental hazads were common, from just slipping down a rocky hillside to say the extreme heat given off walking near some lava. Plus, of course, traps were common. A simple spear or pit trap only did a couple points of damage...but after ten such traps they add up. And this also goes back to negative effects. The mushroom spores fill your characters lungs, and do a simple 1d6 damage an hour, save for half. Still, after a couple hours, that damage adds up. [/QUOTE]

Verification