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<blockquote data-quote="Ovinomancer" data-source="post: 7491711" data-attributes="member: 16814"><p>Serious question:&nbsp; who is this more fun for?&nbsp; Have you asked your players if they really prefer swingy, low resource fights like at 1st level?&nbsp; I ask because I've seen this exact thing from other GMs who have a belief that unless someone is about to die (or goes down), the fight wasn't exciting for the players (I think because it wasn't exciting for the GM).&nbsp; I'm playing with a DM right now that has expressed frustration that the fights don't seem challenging because no one on the player side goes down, and I've tried to tell him that the players are feeling very pressured, and making hard choices on what to do to make it through (ie, burning limited resources) and that it's very apparent on the player side that a few good rolls one way or the other decided the fight.&nbsp; Player perception of fights is VERY different from the DM's perception, because the DM has nearly perfect knowledge while the players do not.&nbsp; The knowledge differential is critical for tense fights -- ie, a fight that appears to be a cake-walk for the DM because he KNOWS what's what and what's next isn't for the players who don't know what's around the next corner or even if what they see right now is everything that's going to happen.&nbsp; Spice up your fights with a few surprise additions late in, or a sudden change to the situation now and again and your players will have all of the tension you could want.&nbsp; Don't mistake your view of the fight for their view of the fight.</p></blockquote><p></p>

[QUOTE="Ovinomancer, post: 7491711, member: 16814"] Serious question: who is this more fun for? Have you asked your players if they really prefer swingy, low resource fights like at 1st level? I ask because I've seen this exact thing from other GMs who have a belief that unless someone is about to die (or goes down), the fight wasn't exciting for the players (I think because it wasn't exciting for the GM). I'm playing with a DM right now that has expressed frustration that the fights don't seem challenging because no one on the player side goes down, and I've tried to tell him that the players are feeling very pressured, and making hard choices on what to do to make it through (ie, burning limited resources) and that it's very apparent on the player side that a few good rolls one way or the other decided the fight. Player perception of fights is VERY different from the DM's perception, because the DM has nearly perfect knowledge while the players do not. The knowledge differential is critical for tense fights -- ie, a fight that appears to be a cake-walk for the DM because he KNOWS what's what and what's next isn't for the players who don't know what's around the next corner or even if what they see right now is everything that's going to happen. Spice up your fights with a few surprise additions late in, or a sudden change to the situation now and again and your players will have all of the tension you could want. Don't mistake your view of the fight for their view of the fight. [/QUOTE]

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