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Message: <blockquote data-quote="spinozajack" data-source="post: 6647376" data-attributes="member: 6794198">Yep.Not only that, the very idea of scaling DCs is contrary to the goal of creating the illusion that the world the PCs are in is a living, breathing, believable world with an independent reality. Having a door get harder to break down to match when my character gets a proficiency bonus increase seems like probably the dumbest idea to ever come to RPGs. It's done because it's easy. 5e's approach with bounded accuracy, while not perfect, still makes higher level PCs both hit harder and more often as they gain levels, and the world around them gets easier too. So that means they need to travel to deeper levels of the dungeon to get challenged. Once you pull the veil and see that every thing you encounter is going to be balanced for you to win, but not too easily or too difficult, it allows you to play the game on auto-pilot because, hey, this must be balanced, so I don't need to think before I jump in. Whereas I prefer to let PCs figure out, based on experience, what is a tough fight and whether they should try or come back later or maybe split the enemies up to divide and conquer. Strict balance on every encounter or challenge, is contrary to the goal of immersion. Not knowing what to expect next keeps players on their toes, and gets them thinking tactically. Because they have to, or they could easily step into a fight they can't win. At least then there is a chance they might realize they need to run or get battered. I want the dice to have a say, but not the only say, about whether players win or lose. I don't want a negative outcome to only come about when a succession of poor dice rolls happens, but when players get too cocky and think they are unstoppable. If you're not afraid for your characters dying, you're not going to be attached to them, or play them intelligently as if it was you in their shoes. That's a pro-roleplaying argument in favor of removing this idea of "balanced encounters". And it ties directly into the notion of why on earth would anyone do an improvised action? The reason why, is sometimes you have to in order to win. To pull a victory out of the jaws of defeat. That is the heart of D&D to me. Not just the dice rolls, but the idea that players can think outside the box to get an unfair advantage against the enemies, or rather to take an unfair or losing scenario and turn the tables.</blockquote>

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