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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mengu" data-source="post: 4250798" data-attributes="member: 65726">This is true. But I think there is an unspoken encounter balancing factor, written in the tactics for each opponent. When certain opponents don't join the fray until mid-encounter, this makes things easier for the characters.Even from playtests, we've heard players were able to take on multiple encounters they were not supposed to fight at the same time, and have survived. It suddenly becomes more resource intensive (with action points and daily abilities flying around), but is managable, though very dangerous.I think we may see more TPK's in 4th edition, than in 3rd edition, because in 3e, players could just keep throwing more resources at an encounter until they were utterly drained. At mid to high levels, they had virtually unlimited healing with spells, wands, and potions, HP's were designed to hold up for a long fight, and wizards could sling spell after spell till they were out, and then they still had wands with many charges to rely on. In 4e, resources available during an encounter are a lot more limited. If the fight is prolonged for some reason after you've used up your per encounter abilities, you are in very deep trouble. The 7 more Healing surges you have but can't use aren't helping any. Items also merely give per encounter abilities, so they are not a reliable source you can use over and over.This new design makes encounters much more interesting and thrilling, but at the same time may result in TPK if the players do something unexpected, triggering a second encounter in the middle of one encounter. I can see DM's sweating and fudging a bit to keep the players alive when they (inevitably) make such blunders.Speaking of fudging, Minions open up a whole new door for fudging. In the middle of the encounter when things are going south for the players, and you notice two of the hobgoblin warriors are still untouched, you may decide they are minions, and no one will be the wiser.</blockquote>

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