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<blockquote data-quote="Cruentus" data-source="post: 8864567" data-attributes="member: 7034645">This right here.&nbsp; And, as we experienced in our multi-year campaign before jettisoning 5e, the HP bloat on characters and monsters doesn't really help at all.&nbsp;&nbsp; I know its sort of apples and oranges, but an Ad&amp;d ancient red dragon had 88 max hit points.&nbsp; A 5e ancient red has 546hp (average! 812 max!).&nbsp; Its no wonder that combats are a slog.&nbsp; But wait!&nbsp; There's more!&nbsp; Sign up now and receive bonus attacks, criticals, sneak attacks, smites, etc. to up damage to compensate!&nbsp; But fight within the next two turns, and we'll include moar HP!For a game predicated on &quot;about 3 rounds or so&quot; to resolve a fight, they certainly went out of their way to make HP's through the roof.&nbsp; Since moving back to Basic/OSE, fewer hit points on both PCs and monsters means more interesting fights (to us), and fights where casting a buff or heal or something in the fight (shock! shudder!) can actually be contemplated and done, since the &quot;optimum&quot; move isn't always &quot;do damage&quot;.&nbsp; With re: to fleeing, I use the morale rules in every edition I've DM'd, it makes it less a potential 'adversarial DM' kind of thing, and leaves it to the dice.&nbsp; Sometimes they flee or surrender.&nbsp; Sometimes they fight till the death.&nbsp; Sometimes the story or situation dictates one or the other, with no morale roll needed (&quot;defend this gate at all costs&quot;).&nbsp; When they flee, though, I always narrate that they seem to hesitate and look around for escape routes.&nbsp; When its their turn, they take off and take an attack of opportunity, if appropriate.&nbsp; I then ask the party if they want to pursue.&nbsp; However, I have never played a game where the party is unencumbered, and where they could actually all keep up with fleeing enemies without dropping all their gear and stuff and haring off after them.&nbsp; They usually take one more round of ranged fire to see if they can down anyone, and that's it.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Cruentus, post: 8864567, member: 7034645"] This right here. And, as we experienced in our multi-year campaign before jettisoning 5e, the HP bloat on characters and monsters doesn't really help[I] at all[/I]. I know its sort of apples and oranges, but an Ad&d ancient red dragon had 88 max hit points. A 5e ancient red has [B]546hp (average! 812 max!)[/B]. Its no wonder that combats are a slog. But wait! There's more! Sign up now and receive bonus attacks, criticals, sneak attacks, smites, etc. to up damage to compensate! But fight within the next two turns, and we'll include moar HP! For a game predicated on "about 3 rounds or so" to resolve a fight, they certainly went out of their way to make HP's through the roof. Since moving back to Basic/OSE, fewer hit points on both PCs and monsters means more interesting fights (to us), and fights where casting a buff or heal or something in the fight (shock! shudder!) can actually be contemplated and done, since the "optimum" move isn't always "do damage". With re: to fleeing, I use the morale rules in every edition I've DM'd, it makes it less a potential 'adversarial DM' kind of thing, and leaves it to the dice. Sometimes they flee or surrender. Sometimes they fight till the death. Sometimes the story or situation dictates one or the other, with no morale roll needed ("defend this gate at all costs"). When they flee, though, I always narrate that they seem to hesitate and look around for escape routes. When its their turn, they take off and take an attack of opportunity, if appropriate. I then ask the party if they want to pursue. However, I have never played a game where the party is unencumbered, and where they could actually all keep up with fleeing enemies without dropping all their gear and stuff and haring off after them. They usually take one more round of ranged fire to see if they can down anyone, and that's it. [/QUOTE]

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