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Message: <blockquote data-quote="StreamOfTheSky" data-source="post: 4485252" data-attributes="member: 35909">Fair enough, I wish there weren't so many binary absolutes in 3E, but the escalation is usually at least reasonable until very high levels.  And I admit it's hard to keep things from breaking down at high levels.  I'd like to see a few dozen more 4E supplements come out before I agree 4E escaped this same problem, though.There's nothing wrong with the PCs using their favorite abilities and tactics sometimes.  Not every enemy has to be immunized against a humiliating round 1 defeat.  It's more about challenging the players often enough to keep them on their toes.I've never bought into that.  I realized very early into being a DM in 3E that lone bosses were a bad idea.  Most times, the weight of the party's number of actions alone will overwhelm the boss no matter what.  Sometimes, the rolls go bad for the players, and suddenly those abilities the monster had that made it a threat even though outnumbered become very deadly.  I often have my "boss" be a duo or trio, all of near equal power, to divide the party's attention.  And if I do a single powerful foe, he's definitely coming with a support staff!  And if not, he used said staff's lives to wear down the PCs resources before confronting them.All that said, sometimes it's nice to just take it easy and let the players revel in being awesome.As above, not all the time.  Just foil their abilities sometimes.  And if you really hate SoD, you can just ban them.  Or make a "boss" template that makes them immune to really nasty things (and giving an appropriate CR boost in return).  3E is open, you can do lots of varied things to any enemy generally, unless they're by nature unaffected.  That's one of the benefits of the system, but it also has its drawbacks.  Still, I'd rather take a single line to ban extra things I don't like than have to write several paragraphs to bring in something I want that was left out of the rules.  Further more...I like system mastery.Body doubles are used all the time in real life to protect important people and possibly have to take a bullet for them, so why is it so hard to imagine in game?  And what villain poses it like that?  It'd be more like, "Hey you, worthless scum I'm keeping alive only so long as you're useful to me.  Put these clothes and wig on and stand in front of me.  Ask any questions...and you cease to be useful to me."And if you can't rationalize this, how can you rationalize the ridiculously over-matched goons charging the PCs and meeting certain death?The person I was replying to was talking strictly about SoD, not save-or-lose/suck/run/cry/become my mind slave.  Sleep is also a level 1 daily in 4E.  And it does the same thing, makes the victims vulnerable to coup-de-grace.  Except the 4E version has no HD limit or numbers limit, retaining its power at every level in return for needing two failed rolls.  Beyond that, the only difference is that 4E CDG is less lethal than 3E's version, arguably too survivable (IMHO, at least).Also, grease?  The worst it can do (if you constantly, round after round, fail your reflex or balance roll) is leave you prone or disarmed.  How is that anywhere near helpless?  Not to mention at round/level, it's hardly worh casting at level 1 anyway...</blockquote>

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