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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 7622222" data-attributes="member: 4937">Depending on the style of treasure allocation, XP from combat tended to be between 1/3rd and 1/10th as much as the XP from treasure.The question I have for that statement is, &quot;Is relying on Save or Die or Energy Drains to challenge PCs fun?&quot;&nbsp; The problem started in 1e Unearthed Arcana.&nbsp; Fighters post UA were dishing about twice as much damage at a given level as the game had been built around, but even before UA AD&amp;D had a problem that almost everything in the game was a glass cannon capable of dishing out far more damage than it could take.&nbsp;&nbsp; I used to joke that the initiative roll was the mid-game of AD&amp;D combat, and that round 1 was the end game.&nbsp; Any monster that went last in the round would never get an attack off.Still there are a variety of things you could do about that.&nbsp; The most important is to not put your fights in 'tournament spaces'.&nbsp; Instead of arenas with flat floors, you put the fight where the PCs are at a disadvantage of some sort.&nbsp; And you use the sort of monsters that can actually manage to challenge PCs.&nbsp;&nbsp; You can also tweak monsters from the MM's a bit and end up with good challenges, which works well in any edition.&nbsp; For example, taking a standard Ogre and giving it better than normal equipment like plate mail and a two-handed sword can on its own make an encounter much more challenging.&nbsp; I wrote a short guide.&nbsp; I left AD&amp;D in the early 90's, frustrated by the amount of rules and changes that I felt at the time I'd need to make to get the game to work.&nbsp; In many ways, it's a terrible game.&nbsp;&nbsp; In many ways it's brilliant.&nbsp;&nbsp; I get occasionally struck by nostalgia for the game, and want to run it with the knowledge I've accumulated since the time I left it.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 7622222, member: 4937"] Depending on the style of treasure allocation, XP from combat tended to be between 1/3rd and 1/10th as much as the XP from treasure. The question I have for that statement is, "Is relying on Save or Die or Energy Drains to challenge PCs fun?" The problem started in 1e Unearthed Arcana. Fighters post UA were dishing about twice as much damage at a given level as the game had been built around, but even before UA AD&D had a problem that almost everything in the game was a glass cannon capable of dishing out far more damage than it could take. I used to joke that the initiative roll was the mid-game of AD&D combat, and that round 1 was the end game. Any monster that went last in the round would never get an attack off. Still there are a variety of things you could do about that. The most important is to not put your fights in 'tournament spaces'. Instead of arenas with flat floors, you put the fight where the PCs are at a disadvantage of some sort. And you use the sort of monsters that can actually manage to challenge PCs. You can also tweak monsters from the MM's a bit and end up with good challenges, which works well in any edition. For example, taking a standard Ogre and giving it better than normal equipment like plate mail and a two-handed sword can on its own make an encounter much more challenging. I wrote a short guide. I left AD&D in the early 90's, frustrated by the amount of rules and changes that I felt at the time I'd need to make to get the game to work. In many ways, it's a terrible game. In many ways it's brilliant. I get occasionally struck by nostalgia for the game, and want to run it with the knowledge I've accumulated since the time I left it. [/QUOTE]

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