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Message: <blockquote data-quote="KarinsDad" data-source="post: 4321651" data-attributes="member: 2011">We played this yesterday and crushed it.First levels: Dragonborn Paladin, Elf Ranger, Human Wizard, Eladrin Warlock, and Dwarf Cleric.In all of these battles, the Paladin went into negative hit points once. Nobody else went down.The first 3 encounters were fairly quick and easy, and the vast majority of players did not even bother to use up all (or in some cases any) of their Encounter powers in them. The last 2 encounters were challenging, but still not too bad.We did all 5 encounters in about 4.5 hours. We used 3 of our 5 daily powers in encounter #4. We had maybe 30% of our healing surges and 2 daily powers left over, so we did consider not continuing on, but our previous successes made us feel confident and we went to encounter 5. After encounter 5, we had used all but one daily (the Cleric's daily did not get used iirc) and still had healing surges left over (except for the Paladin who I think used all of his up).Most of us had 2 or 3 action points left over as well after these 5 encounters (in the combined game day, these were encounters #3 through #7 for us, so we had hit 3 milestones and gotten a total of 4 action points each). People used action points when it seemed like it would give us a significant advantage, not just to use them to get another attack roll (and it worked well that all 5 PCs had actions points available to use in both combat #4 and combat #5).So, 7 encounters in a game day and PCs still had some resources remaining.We used the plastic rings from the top of plastic soda bottles for bloodied, marked, cursed, hunter's quarry, and cloud of daggers. We also use colored stones for conditions like slowed, stunned, etc. The rings work well because they hang onto or fall to the base of a miniature and do not clutter up the grid. The colored stones are a bit more problematic because they sometimes get in the way, but still work ok.This was one of the better sessions that I've played in years. I had a lot of fun. It was great. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> The kobold slingers did glue 3 PCs in the path of the boulder trap, but my Wizard used Orb of Force to do something like 17 points of damage to the boulder (and damaged the drake next to it as well which was a pleasant surprise) and the DM ruled distorting the boulder slowed it up some, so the PCs took slightly less damage (although two of the PCs still took 2 attacks from it being under it for the same round).A challenge, but not devastating.I've come to the conclusion that 4E is all about synergy of abilities.For example, my Wizard got bloodied in the boulder room. The player of the Cleric was preparing to use a Healing Word on the Wizard, but not knowing this, my Wizard retreated out of sight of the Cleric and used his own Second Wind (which actually heals less). My PC lost that synergy (although it was still an ok move because one of the NPCs could have dropped the Wizard before the Cleric could actually heal him).Another example, my Wizard wanted to cast Flaming Sphere against the Dragon, but the Dragon was surrounded near a wall and there was no place to put the sphere that it would not harm another PC. So, my Wizard had to ask the Cleric to back away from the Dragon so that a spot would be available. This lost the PCs one round of the sphere damaging the Dragon. In the long run, it didn't matter. But, a round of synergy and auto-damage was lost.This to me is the crux of 4E. It's all about tactical synergy. If players combine their abilities and work as a team, even challenging encounters can become almost routine. If each player is off doing his or her own thing, eventually, TPKs will result. Course, if a DM allows tactical table talk, a team should be even more effective (but in our game, we tend to avoid table talk and have our PCs talk during their turn, so the Wizard not knowing the Cleric's intent before his turn and vice versa can happen more often).Good or bad dice rolls. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The DM picking one PC to attack instead of another. Being 25 feet away instead of 30 feet away. Having used a Daily power earlier in the day. Forgetting bonuses or other benefits that a power gives.All of these and many many other variables can lead to either success or failure. I think this is more true of 4E than any previous version. With push, pull, slide, and many special additional properties of powers, I think 4E is more tactical in nature than any previous version.It's mostly a matter of getting used to the abilities of one's fellow PCs in order to be effective in combat.Also, running away when getting toasted is a good idea. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /></blockquote>

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