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Message: <blockquote data-quote="WampusCat43" data-source="post: 4595962" data-attributes="member: 12027">The most disappointing battle I had taught me a number of lessons, both 4e and DMing in general.  I built the whole climactic encounter around a beautiful map I had downloaded from rpgmapshare (can't find the link at the moment).  It was basically two towers connected by a narrow bridge, with a 3rd tower nearby but separate.  I had everything all printed out and ready to go.  The BBEG was on top of the bigger tower, shining his foozle all over the town, drawing undead to the attack that was going on.  He was surrounded by bodyguards, and had a sniper on the 3rd tower.  The PCs would have to come up through the trapdoor (which had a trap on it), fight their way across the bridge, take out the BBEG, and shut down the foozle to save the town from wholesale slaughter.  Sounded great.Of course, it all blew up in my face.The rogue scrambled up the outside of the building to scout around.  No problem - I just laid the minis he saw out on the map.  They immediately decided to go up through the big tower, right underneath the BBEG, rather than going through the trapdoor.  Sound plan, except I hadn't allowed for it.  I had no idea what was in the big tower.Panic ensues.  Desperately, I said "Nothing.  It's just ornamental.  No one comes up this way."  Railroaded them into coming up the way I wanted them to go.  Mistake #1.The trap goes off, doing quite a bit of damage.  This was the first time they had come across a trap in 4e, so they weren't used to looking for them.  Mistake #2.The PCs, dutifully following my script, emerged onto the roof.  The sniper opened fire, pinning them down.  This actually went as planned.  The problem was, as the tanks moved across the bridge (under fire), the BBEG (a skull lord), simply blasted them back.  They couldn't make any headway, and used up all their big gun powers.  Mistake #3 - make sure your very hard encounters are preceded by a long rest.  I hadn't done that.The PCs realized they had no hope of winning this battle and retreated.  Their only hope was a long rest, while over a hundred villagers died around them.  This was my biggest mistake.  I had no backup plan in case they were unable to achieve their mission.  They returned the next morning and pulled it out, but it was a very unsatisfying ending to what I hoped would be a great and glorious battle.One of the battles I thought was coolest (although the players may not agree) was just prior to the one above.  A sahaugin prince and priest came up out of the harbor, riding a giant slug and leading a squad of undead minions.  They proceeded up a narrow street like a panzer tank with infantry, destroying property and scattering bystanders.  The PCs mowed down the minions, but ran afoul of the slug's spit, which immobilized a couple of them.  The prince then dismounted and beat the tar out of them.  Laid all but one of them out (the rogue, who had snuck around and was having a shootout with the priest), then just turned and walked away.  This gave the PCs time to recover and regroup, and they eventually won.I think the biggest skill the DM has to learn in 4e is how to adjust on the fly.  You should be able to see in the early rounds if the PCs are screwed or not.  If so, you need to think about lowering the bad guy numbers (HP, defenses, damage, whatever) or, if too late, a reasonable action for the bad guy to take when the PCs go down, that won't result in a TPK.  Good luck.Oh, and gnolls are fun, too, when the PCs start get a little cocky.  There's a great variety of them available on the 'net, and those suckers are fast!  They force the PCs to react fluidly, or one of their number will get ganged up on and taken down very quickly.</blockquote>

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