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<blockquote data-quote="Raven Crowking" data-source="post: 4530084" data-attributes="member: 18280">Perhaps.&nbsp; You are correct in thinking that the combat pace in 4e, as in 3e before it, is the most serious problem you face in trying to avoid making the game a &quot;grind&quot;.&nbsp; OTOH, not every encounter should lead to combat.&nbsp; You should give some serious thought to including some areas upfront where the PCs are seriously outclassed and need to negotiate with the monsters.&nbsp; Or where the monsters want to negotiate with the PCs to their mutual benefit.&nbsp; These don't need to be &quot;screw the PCs&quot; encounters.....the PCs and the monsters should both get something out of it.&nbsp; It helps the environment seem real.Penalize death, and (1) it will become meaningful, and (2) it will increase the total XP needed to gain levels.&nbsp; Even just a serious XP cost (back to the begining of current level) will do the trick here.You are right that not everything that seems like a wandering encounter should be.&nbsp; Moreover, some wandering encounters can be more signifcant than others.If you want a lot of little quick-n-dirty skirmishes, you can use minion wanderers, but the party will have little reason to flee from anything unless some of the wanderers are tougher.&nbsp; That way, every encounter can have some level of tension.Also, I recommend rolling a wandering monster check at the end of each fight, and considering the result, if any, as part of the same encounter.&nbsp; This will change the &quot;encounter resource&quot; dynamic of 4e to something more in line with an OS Megadungeaon.This is tough, because 4e excised much of the &quot;resource management&quot; game.&nbsp; I would suggest that you track food and ammo, at the very least.&nbsp; You may also want to introduce a houserule that every encounter power has a % chance of being expended for that day when used.&nbsp; You might also allow a % chance that the dailies are not expended to balance this.&nbsp; Check only after the encounter, as part of mop-up.RC</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Raven Crowking, post: 4530084, member: 18280"] Perhaps. You are correct in thinking that the combat pace in 4e, as in 3e before it, is the most serious problem you face in trying to avoid making the game a "grind". OTOH, not every encounter should lead to combat. You should give some serious thought to including some areas upfront where the PCs are seriously outclassed and need to negotiate with the monsters. Or where the monsters want to negotiate with the PCs to their mutual benefit. These don't need to be "screw the PCs" encounters.....the PCs and the monsters should both get something out of it. It helps the environment seem real. Penalize death, and (1) it will become meaningful, and (2) it will increase the total XP needed to gain levels. Even just a serious XP cost (back to the begining of current level) will do the trick here. You are right that not everything that seems like a wandering encounter should be. Moreover, some wandering encounters can be more signifcant than others. If you want a lot of little quick-n-dirty skirmishes, you can use minion wanderers, but the party will have little reason to flee from anything unless some of the wanderers are tougher. That way, every encounter can have some level of tension. Also, I recommend rolling a wandering monster check at the end of each fight, [i]and considering the result, if any, as part of the same encounter[/i]. This will change the "encounter resource" dynamic of 4e to something more in line with an OS Megadungeaon. This is tough, because 4e excised much of the "resource management" game. I would suggest that you track food and ammo, at the very least. You may also want to introduce a houserule that every encounter power has a % chance of being expended for that day when used. You might also allow a % chance that the dailies are not expended to balance this. Check only after the encounter, as part of mop-up. RC [/QUOTE]

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