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Pros and Cons of Epic Level Play?
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<blockquote data-quote="D'karr" data-source="post: 6283172" data-attributes="member: 336"><p>Absolutely. I've DM'd 4e at all levels. The progression goes something like this:</p><p></p><p>Heroic Tier - Characters have survivability. However, the DM must still be careful not to completely overwhelm them, or it becomes a TPK.</p><p>Paragon Tier - Characters have extreme survivability. The DM can take the kid's gloves off and work to hurt them.</p><p>Epic Tier - The characters are near immortal. Take the kid's gloves off, bring out the nuclear weapons, kick them when they're down and be a complete rat bastard. Anything short of that is hardly a challenge.</p><p></p><p>I've heard it said that 4e epic is simply D&D with bigger numbers. You can certainly play it that way if that is what floats your boat. The game does not prevent the DM from doing that. But a failure to be epic is mostly a failure of thinking about what are the correct challenges on an epic level. The challenges at those levels need to be epic in story characteristics. Saving the little town could definitely be the by-product of an Epic campaign but it should not be the goal.</p><p></p><p>One of my friends was describing a long running campaign in which they reached Epic Level. From the middle of Heroic Tier they had been fighting against a world spanning crime syndicate. When they were close to ending paragon level they finally defeated the crime syndicate. Their jump into epic, they decided to become the leaders of the crime syndicate. 1 level into epic they figured out that goal was simply menial for epic level characters. Thankfully the DM adjusted and they went for an epic goal rather than a mundane one with big numbers.</p><p></p><p>My disappointment with epic level support is not about epic paths, magic items/artifacts, or even monsters. WotC did provide quite a bit of that. What they did not support well, or enough was what kind of stories are supposed to encompass epic level.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="D'karr, post: 6283172, member: 336"] Absolutely. I've DM'd 4e at all levels. The progression goes something like this: Heroic Tier - Characters have survivability. However, the DM must still be careful not to completely overwhelm them, or it becomes a TPK. Paragon Tier - Characters have extreme survivability. The DM can take the kid's gloves off and work to hurt them. Epic Tier - The characters are near immortal. Take the kid's gloves off, bring out the nuclear weapons, kick them when they're down and be a complete rat bastard. Anything short of that is hardly a challenge. I've heard it said that 4e epic is simply D&D with bigger numbers. You can certainly play it that way if that is what floats your boat. The game does not prevent the DM from doing that. But a failure to be epic is mostly a failure of thinking about what are the correct challenges on an epic level. The challenges at those levels need to be epic in story characteristics. Saving the little town could definitely be the by-product of an Epic campaign but it should not be the goal. One of my friends was describing a long running campaign in which they reached Epic Level. From the middle of Heroic Tier they had been fighting against a world spanning crime syndicate. When they were close to ending paragon level they finally defeated the crime syndicate. Their jump into epic, they decided to become the leaders of the crime syndicate. 1 level into epic they figured out that goal was simply menial for epic level characters. Thankfully the DM adjusted and they went for an epic goal rather than a mundane one with big numbers. My disappointment with epic level support is not about epic paths, magic items/artifacts, or even monsters. WotC did provide quite a bit of that. What they did not support well, or enough was what kind of stories are supposed to encompass epic level. [/QUOTE]
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Pros and Cons of Epic Level Play?
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