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Message: <blockquote data-quote="FormerlyHemlock" data-source="post: 6632952" data-attributes="member: 6787650">Clarifying a few points:1.) I'm not saying you should go deadly exclusively. (I mentioned that some sessions there is very little combat at all, e.g. a single roper. It depends.) I am saying that you can go deadly freely, or in other words based on what's believable for the situation and not based on "difficulty". In AD&D trolls came in bands of 2d6. In 5E terms that covers a range from 5400 XP (hard for 4 6th level PCs) at the low end to 64,800 at the high end (Deadly for 4 20th level PCs). If you slavishly follow the difficulty guidelines and keep all encounters Medium/Hard, all of this variability goes away and trolls magically come in groups of 2-3 when you are 10th level, and start coming in groups of 4-6 when you are 15th level. That makes no sense. I claim that embracing variation (trolls come in groups of 2-12, period) is not only a lot of fun, but is also less prone to the failure modes this thread is complaining about (primacy of offense makes GWM/SS no-brainers relative to other feats). It also has the salutary effect of encouraging PCs to recon threats instead of charging blindly ahead in the assumption that the DM wouldn't give them anything they couldn't handle.2.) 30 kobolds every ten minutes makes shield fighting more attractive relative to GWM/offense heavy styles, but it doesn't even come close to violating 5E guidelines. It's not even a Deadly fight for 4 5th level characters. Neither are 14 CR 1/2 giant ants--but they are 546 HP worth of enemy, and that make primary-offense strategies far less effective as a defense compared to e.g. 138-odd HP of Tyrannosaurus. If you think GWM is a "win button" in cramped tunnels, you're probably not fully exploiting the available playstyles, and I accordingly recommend giant ants. It violates zero DMG guidelines.3.) I fully agree that conflicts are more fun when the objective isn't always "kill everything on the other side." Protecting civilians can be a fun change of pace; capturing enemies without killing them is another (e.g. to sell them as slaves--note that Sharpshooters are utter rubbish at capturing anyone); single combat between champions (David and Goliath: "If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us.") is a form of social interaction through combat; disabling or killing the enemy crew before they can destroy a vital resource (e.g. scuttle their ship) is another.</blockquote>

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