Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
What makes us care about combat balance in D&D?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="ExploderWizard" data-source="post: 6666231" data-attributes="member: 66434"><p>The A series began as tournament scenarios. They were later strung together into a broader scenario for campaign use. The system they were written for (AD&D) was still very treasure-centric in it's focus. Regardless of the scenario presented, the players would still do better for themselves if they collected more treasure. The G series scenario wasn't so very heroic. Go stop these giants or face the headsman's axe, if I recall correctly. It was merely a heavy handed excuse to get the PCs to the module location. </p><p></p><p>2nd edition was certainly different. Heroic action was more supported by the advice in the DMG and more importantly, by the XP system. The fiction began to take a more prominent role than the game at this point. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>There lies the crux of the issue. Depending on what you want out of the game, combat as presented in OD&D is either already satisfactory or it isn't. If combat is something to be featured front & center in your game then it isn't. If combat is something to be quickly resolved when it comes up then it is.</p><p> </p><p></p><p></p><p>In broad strokes 4E combat is still simple hit rolls vs defense and reducing bags of hit points down to 0. 4E even emphasized this even more by making a reduction to 0 hit points the ONLY method of ending the conflict. There were NO effects to circumvent the HP system and no morale rules to break the resolve of losing forces. How do you stop someone from doing something in 4E?- you reduce them to 0 hit points. Period. </p><p></p><p>Yes there is a lot of maneuvering, and integrating fancy pinball machine terrain effects into the mix, which all end up making the process take even longer but the end result will always be the same-an extended grind down to 0 hit points.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="ExploderWizard, post: 6666231, member: 66434"] The A series began as tournament scenarios. They were later strung together into a broader scenario for campaign use. The system they were written for (AD&D) was still very treasure-centric in it's focus. Regardless of the scenario presented, the players would still do better for themselves if they collected more treasure. The G series scenario wasn't so very heroic. Go stop these giants or face the headsman's axe, if I recall correctly. It was merely a heavy handed excuse to get the PCs to the module location. 2nd edition was certainly different. Heroic action was more supported by the advice in the DMG and more importantly, by the XP system. The fiction began to take a more prominent role than the game at this point. There lies the crux of the issue. Depending on what you want out of the game, combat as presented in OD&D is either already satisfactory or it isn't. If combat is something to be featured front & center in your game then it isn't. If combat is something to be quickly resolved when it comes up then it is. In broad strokes 4E combat is still simple hit rolls vs defense and reducing bags of hit points down to 0. 4E even emphasized this even more by making a reduction to 0 hit points the ONLY method of ending the conflict. There were NO effects to circumvent the HP system and no morale rules to break the resolve of losing forces. How do you stop someone from doing something in 4E?- you reduce them to 0 hit points. Period. Yes there is a lot of maneuvering, and integrating fancy pinball machine terrain effects into the mix, which all end up making the process take even longer but the end result will always be the same-an extended grind down to 0 hit points. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
What makes us care about combat balance in D&D?
Top