"Looks like we're going to win this battle . . . in about 90 minutes from now."

[billd91]

For another, you're right, most of the time, the monsters won't do max damage. But, considering the rather large number of attacks the DM makes over the course of a campaign, it WILL come up. And reasonably often.

Think about it. A standard level is about 10 combat encounters and some non-combat encounters. Give or take. 10 combats is about 40 rounds of combat. Figure at least three attacks per round from the baddies (and frequently many, many more) and you've got about 120 attacks per level. That's 6 crits, plus lots and lots of hits.

You are going to do max damage fairly often. Not every fight, nope. But, every few fights it's going to come up. The baddie rolls a pair of crits in a row, the baddies get two full attacks on the fighter without a PC coming up in between. On and on and on.

Fairly often? I've been running giants up against the party for numerous encounters. 2d6+Strength bonus works out to 1 attack in 36 doing max damage... From where I'm sitting, that isn't very often. And if they are using a weapon that does 3d6+Strength bonus, then we're looking at it even less often (1 in 216).

And that's just to get max damage on a single hit, assuming they hit. Add in iterative attacks and the likelihood of doing max damage for the round drops further.

Personally, I'm not that fussed about it.

 

[Wolfwood2]

It's not essentially a solo activity if you're emailing the whole group and starting group discussion that way.

If it was a fun group activity via e-mail, it would also be a fun group activity at the table, and I'd have nothing to complain about.

Bookkeeping and builds are not fun group activities.

 

[Hussar]

Fairly often? I've been running giants up against the party for numerous encounters. 2d6+Strength bonus works out to 1 attack in 36 doing max damage... From where I'm sitting, that isn't very often. And if they are using a weapon that does 3d6+Strength bonus, then we're looking at it even less often (1 in 216).

And that's just to get max damage on a single hit, assuming they hit. Add in iterative attacks and the likelihood of doing max damage for the round drops further.

Personally, I'm not that fussed about it.

Yes, because, doing 11 points of damage is SO different than doing 12. Go go ultra pedantism.

BTW, what kind of giant does 2d6 plus str? Even hill giants do 2d8. But, let's look at Hill Giants for a second. CR 7 opponent. At 7th level the PC's should have around a 24 AC max. With 17k gp in equipment, you aren't going to have more than +2 or so in AC enhancements. Hill giant, straight up, is +16/+11 to hit. So, even his iterative attack is about 50/50. Nailing the PC twice isn't out of the realm of possiblility. 4d8+20 points of damage to a 7th level PC is going to put the PC in a world of hurt. Fighter type is probably averaging 10 hp/level at best, giving him 70 hit points (and that's assuming pretty darn high hp rolls) and the hill giant can tag him for 52 in one round. A single crit on either of those attacks and the PC dies.

Note, I'm talking about 1 round. Not over the 4 rounds the combat will likely last. Is it highly likely? Nope. But, given the large number of rolls I'm going to make, it will happen. Even if I do only close to max, I'm going to seriously pummel the target. Never mind the poor raging barbarian with a 17 AC who gets teed up on a two handed power attack. I can easily pump out an extra 20 points of damage to that target.

 

[Raven Crowking]

But leaving that aside, stuff done outside of game is essentially a solo activity. It's the player planning stuff on his own, or at most a one-on-one with the DM. It's not a group activity.

Not if you are following Gary's advice in the 1e PHB, it isn't.

As to whether or not prepping is a fun activity, that depends upon how much of prepping is drudgery, and how much of prepping is clever planning. Clever planning is always fun, and it is especially fun to see your clever plans come to fruition (or fail spectacularly).

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

But, that's the trick right there. Right there. How do your players know that they will be facing mummies? Do you allow them to know the exact contents of a dungeon before they go in? Brilliant energy weapons? How? That's a +4 enhancement. You're talking a MINIMUM 12th level character to have that. Incorporeal undead show up around 5th level.

You keep harping on this playing smarter but ignoring the fact that to play smarter, you require information that the players shouldn't really have access to.

I can't go into every specific situation, but:

1) What party goes into an adventure without both mundane and magical ways to create fire? AND use it as a weapon? Not a smart one, I can tell you!

2) We also use Gather Info, Bardic Knowledge and Divinations (if available and applicable). We listen to rumors. We pay attention to local legends. If the DM describes our destination as being a Pyramid, and the local culture is quasi-Egyptian (or Meso-American), mummies pop up on our mental (and yes, meta) radar. But again, see 1 above.

3) Brilliant Energy is available whenever the DM or module says it is. We have a BE weapon we found in RttToEE at about 8-9th PC level, and it has limited daily uses. Transdimensional spells is available as a bonus Wizard feat at 5th level. There are ways to go incorporal- by spell, power, or race- that are also available at 5th level as well.

As a general rule of thumb, use of magic should be your last resort. Don't do with magic what can be done by other means. I've seen players who prepare multiple Knock spells...and at the end of the day, still have 2-3 of them unused. The parties in my current groups might have 2 Knock spells between them. Ask a wizard- opening stuff is for Rogues and musclebound idiots.

(As for the other stuff: The group in RttToEE is 10th level PCs. We've had 1 death and 2 PCs go negative and get rescued.)

 

[hong]

As a general rule of thumb, use of magic should be your last resort.

Sounds boring.

3) Brilliant Energy is available whenever the DM or module says it is. We have a BE weapon we found in RttToEE at about 8-9th PC level, and it has limited daily uses. Transdimensional spells is available as a bonus Wizard feat at 5th level. There are ways to go incorporal- by spell, power, or race- that are also available at 5th level as well.

I thought you said use of magic should be a last resort?

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I thought you said use of magic should be a last resort?

Sometimes, all you have is the last resort.

 

[Fenes]

Sounds boring.

Not for the rogue, fighter, etc.

 

[hong]

Not for the rogue, fighter, etc.

Ah, but the solution to that is to ban spells like knock. That way, magic can still be the first resort.

 

[Fenes]

Ah, but the solution to that is to ban spells like knock. That way, magic can still be the first resort.

That's if one wants magic to be the first resort at all. And if one does, why would one play a non-spellcaster?