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General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Should difficulty increase to match optimization
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<blockquote data-quote="UngeheuerLich" data-source="post: 8401681" data-attributes="member: 59057"><p>It really is the question what the optimizers want from the game.</p><p></p><p>Do they want extra challenges, do they want to tell the story how they killed the CR 10 Dragon at level 4, do they want to have a good fight they barely survived, or do they want to go in, kill and back off, denying most enemies the chance to really defend.</p><p></p><p>I could put to terms here, that describe those approaches well, but I don't want to start an argument here. </p><p></p><p>So again. Session zero can help, as can observing the reaction of players. </p><p>If an equal challenge makes your players annoyed, that they are still not strong enough and need to optimize more, go down with CR, if they are bored because every encounter is a cakewalk, go up. </p><p></p><p>One scene I remember from my game, where I started "princes of the apocalypse" at level 5 or so, I used a sidetrack balanced for level 1. That sidetrack had one of the most tense encounters in the end, although they actually were not really endangered at all... but my players did not know that. </p><p>Instead I faked death, had creeping claws disrupting concentration and so on. So the presentation and setting of encounters and uncertainity is something optimizers fear.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="UngeheuerLich, post: 8401681, member: 59057"] It really is the question what the optimizers want from the game. Do they want extra challenges, do they want to tell the story how they killed the CR 10 Dragon at level 4, do they want to have a good fight they barely survived, or do they want to go in, kill and back off, denying most enemies the chance to really defend. I could put to terms here, that describe those approaches well, but I don't want to start an argument here. So again. Session zero can help, as can observing the reaction of players. If an equal challenge makes your players annoyed, that they are still not strong enough and need to optimize more, go down with CR, if they are bored because every encounter is a cakewalk, go up. One scene I remember from my game, where I started "princes of the apocalypse" at level 5 or so, I used a sidetrack balanced for level 1. That sidetrack had one of the most tense encounters in the end, although they actually were not really endangered at all... but my players did not know that. Instead I faked death, had creeping claws disrupting concentration and so on. So the presentation and setting of encounters and uncertainity is something optimizers fear. [/QUOTE]
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