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General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
Thoughts of a 3E/4E powergamer on starting to play 5E
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6859318" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>In 4e, as a general rule the NPCs/monsters don't have the same degree of control as the players. Instead, they tend to have bigger numbers (higher base hp; higher base damage, though the latter can be subject to quite a degree of table variation, depending on PC builds).</p><p></p><p>The basic narrative of 4e combat is therefore that the NPCs/monsters start on top of things, as they are beating up the PCs and are not going down themselves; but then, as the players draw upon their greater depth of resources (eg abilities that unlock healing surges and hence restore lost hp; limited use abilities that exercise a high degree of battlefield control; etc), the tide turns and the PCs carry the field.</p><p></p><p>On the GM side, the skill is mostly in coming up with an interesting suite of creatures and terrain that will introduce some enjoyable subtlety or variation into that basic narrative. On the player side, the skill is mostly in making good calls about which resources to use, and when; plus the kudos of doing it with less rather than more resource consumption.</p><p></p><p>In that sense, the two roles are not symmetric.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 6859318, member: 42582"] In 4e, as a general rule the NPCs/monsters don't have the same degree of control as the players. Instead, they tend to have bigger numbers (higher base hp; higher base damage, though the latter can be subject to quite a degree of table variation, depending on PC builds). The basic narrative of 4e combat is therefore that the NPCs/monsters start on top of things, as they are beating up the PCs and are not going down themselves; but then, as the players draw upon their greater depth of resources (eg abilities that unlock healing surges and hence restore lost hp; limited use abilities that exercise a high degree of battlefield control; etc), the tide turns and the PCs carry the field. On the GM side, the skill is mostly in coming up with an interesting suite of creatures and terrain that will introduce some enjoyable subtlety or variation into that basic narrative. On the player side, the skill is mostly in making good calls about which resources to use, and when; plus the kudos of doing it with less rather than more resource consumption. In that sense, the two roles are not symmetric. [/QUOTE]
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Thoughts of a 3E/4E powergamer on starting to play 5E
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