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<blockquote data-quote="Xetheral" data-source="post: 8661930" data-attributes="member: 6802765">Oh wow! You'd let Vecna have the spell slots of a 17th level Wizard before the encounter, and then switch to the new-style statblock for the encounter itself? Normally spell slots spent in advance to shape an upcoming encounter are balanced by the fact that those slots aren't available during the encounter itself. But with your approach that isn't a limitation any more--it sounds like Vecna would have the flexibility and limited-use power of old-style statblocks with the at-will abilities and slot-independent spellcasting of the new-style statblock. Out of curiosity, do you roleplay Vecna as being aware of the fact that he isn't dependent in-combat on his out-of-combat spell slots? Or do you roleplay him as (unnecessarily) trying to conserve them for the fight? Or is how you roleplay Vecna out-of-combat (and the decisions he makes on using his out-of-combat spell slots) simply irrelevant to the eventual difficulty of the encounter?(Emphasis added.) To follow-up in the same vein as my questions above, what are your expectations for how the players roleplay their PCs with this mechanical change? For example, let's say the PCs suspect (rightly or wrongly) that the BBEG might be a Rakshasha and the PCs know IC that Rakshashas are famously immune to most spells. One of your players approaches you out of game to ask whether it would be reasonable IC for them to start recruiting NPC spellcaster allies who know how to cast non-spell magical attacks that bypass the Rakshasha's defenses. Would you encourage them to pursue such an effective strategy? Tell them their PC is unaware of the spell/non-spell distinction IC? Ask them to refrain from recruiting allies for game balance purposes? Something else?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Xetheral, post: 8661930, member: 6802765"] Oh wow! You'd let Vecna have the spell slots of a 17th level Wizard before the encounter, and then switch to the new-style statblock for the encounter itself? Normally spell slots spent in advance to shape an upcoming encounter are balanced by the fact that those slots aren't available during the encounter itself. But with your approach that isn't a limitation any more--it sounds like Vecna would have the flexibility and limited-use power of old-style statblocks with the at-will abilities and slot-independent spellcasting of the new-style statblock. Out of curiosity, do you roleplay Vecna as being [I]aware[/I] of the fact that he isn't dependent in-combat on his out-of-combat spell slots? Or do you roleplay him as (unnecessarily) trying to conserve them for the fight? Or is how you roleplay Vecna out-of-combat (and the decisions he makes on using his out-of-combat spell slots) simply irrelevant to the eventual difficulty of the encounter? (Emphasis added.) To follow-up in the same vein as my questions above, what are your expectations for how the players roleplay their PCs with this mechanical change? For example, let's say the PCs suspect (rightly or wrongly) that the BBEG might be a Rakshasha and the PCs know IC that Rakshashas are famously immune to most spells. One of your players approaches you out of game to ask whether it would be reasonable IC for them to start recruiting NPC spellcaster allies who know how to cast non-spell magical attacks that bypass the Rakshasha's defenses. Would you encourage them to pursue such an effective strategy? Tell them their PC is unaware of the spell/non-spell distinction IC? Ask them to refrain from recruiting allies for game balance purposes? Something else? [/QUOTE]

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