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My Grind Fix: Half hp, 2/3 Xp
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<blockquote data-quote="evilbob" data-source="post: 4741900" data-attributes="member: 9789"><p>Just wanted to share my own experiences with reducing grind, since they actually are the exact opposite of the inferences in this thread. I, too, used to think that having more low-level monsters might help reduce grind. In practice, I found this to have the <em>opposite</em> effect. Then, I used a couple published encounters that have monsters that are a few levels <em>higher</em> than the PCs: this had an amazing effect on reducing grind.</p><p></p><p>My interpretation is that this made the monsters stronger, they did more damage, but there were <em>fewer total enemy HPs on the board</em>. Ultimately, that is what was making "lots of little guys" so grindy: sure they get hit easy, but their total HP wasn't much lower, so it still took almost as long to kill them. Higher-level guys have just a bit more HP, but fewer of them means there is fewer total HPs for the PCs to grind through.</p><p></p><p>And this makes sense with what is being posted in this thread: people are lowering the total HPs and making monsters more dangerous. Well, I think this is effectively the same as just using higher level monsters. Try an encounter with a bunch of n+3 guys and see what happens. You'll probably only have 3 of them, but they will be deadlier and the battle will still be faster since you only have 3 bags of HP to go through.</p><p></p><p>The only issue this does not solve is the whole "I want PCs to fight dozens of guys" scenario. But I think this is what minions were made for. Two n+3 enemies plus 8 n+3 minions is still lots of guys, and they're still all dangerous.</p><p></p><p>Ultimately, I think the main issue with grind comes from the DMG's inability to express what makes a good encounter: namely, fewer monsters that are slightly above the party's level. Without this bit of guidance DMs are throwing tons of low-level guys at their groups and it is taking forever.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="evilbob, post: 4741900, member: 9789"] Just wanted to share my own experiences with reducing grind, since they actually are the exact opposite of the inferences in this thread. I, too, used to think that having more low-level monsters might help reduce grind. In practice, I found this to have the [I]opposite[/I] effect. Then, I used a couple published encounters that have monsters that are a few levels [I]higher[/I] than the PCs: this had an amazing effect on reducing grind. My interpretation is that this made the monsters stronger, they did more damage, but there were [I]fewer total enemy HPs on the board[/I]. Ultimately, that is what was making "lots of little guys" so grindy: sure they get hit easy, but their total HP wasn't much lower, so it still took almost as long to kill them. Higher-level guys have just a bit more HP, but fewer of them means there is fewer total HPs for the PCs to grind through. And this makes sense with what is being posted in this thread: people are lowering the total HPs and making monsters more dangerous. Well, I think this is effectively the same as just using higher level monsters. Try an encounter with a bunch of n+3 guys and see what happens. You'll probably only have 3 of them, but they will be deadlier and the battle will still be faster since you only have 3 bags of HP to go through. The only issue this does not solve is the whole "I want PCs to fight dozens of guys" scenario. But I think this is what minions were made for. Two n+3 enemies plus 8 n+3 minions is still lots of guys, and they're still all dangerous. Ultimately, I think the main issue with grind comes from the DMG's inability to express what makes a good encounter: namely, fewer monsters that are slightly above the party's level. Without this bit of guidance DMs are throwing tons of low-level guys at their groups and it is taking forever. [/QUOTE]
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