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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CapnZapp" data-source="post: 4980889" data-attributes="member: 12731">Thank you for replying, Inkmonkeys!However, first you sayThen you sayThis suggests you are replying to an argument such as "potions of resistance are always overpowered" or "potions of resistance can never be balanced".I am not making that argument.I am making the argument that potions of resistance work the worst exactly when they are expected to play a role in the game.Against miscellaneous opponents, nobody drinks more than the ocassional potion of resistance. You're right: here the game works fine.Against themed encounters, however, you agree yourself the potion breaks down the encounter: you say they make victory "trivial".But this is the exact scenario where the potions are expected to be used. This is precisely where they should (in my opinion) not trivialize the fight.I guess now that you've confirmed the designer's goals with these potions and that R&D feel these goals have been met (thank you again for that), the discussion needs to shift focus.Onto "what should the design goals be for potions of resistance?"As for myself, I believe readily available resistance should - in general - transform an encounter from very difficult to normal.That is, planning ahead and scouting out your opposition should be rewarded; not by a trivial series of encounters, but by the knowledge "boy we would have been toast without these potions". I envision the following (general) scenario: first they walk up to the monsters, realize they're getting hammered, they retreat, they come up with the proper precaution (=resistance), they go back in, and then the real fight starts (the challenging but not overwhelming one).But I guess that's a house rules forum discussion.What I am taking away from your reply (not that you stated this outright) is that heavily themed encounters are no longer feasible in 4E. In 3E you could have nothing but fire-breathing demons. In 4E, it's expected a simple potion will make all of them "trivial", so my conclusion is that you need to have several damage types, or lots of untyped damage attacks.*Not saying this is wrong - just that it is (another) departure from 3E which isn't stated explicitly anywhere, so it kind of tripped me up as a GM.Best Regards,Zapp*) Unfortunately, this still does not solve the issue when you fight a single Solo monster whose damage to a large extent depends on typed ongoing damage (i.e. Dragonbreath). In this case; I do not see any immediate solutions that won't allow the party to drink a 40 gp potion and gain almost complete immunity to its attacks. Inside the framework of the rules, that is - I did solve it (by basically doubling its damage output in general), nice to know I wasn't missing a more immediate solution (than to change the monster stat block).</blockquote>

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