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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Fanaelialae" data-source="post: 7385883" data-attributes="member: 53980">I agree that if there are zero consequences to a combat then what's the point, but that's rarely the case IME, even when not using XP. For example, we recently went after a beholder (because the drow had some information we needed and they weren't going to part with it willingly unless we killed this encroaching beholder for them). The beholder was using some monsters to guard its lair (primarily trolls). We avoided what we could, but in the cramped confines of the cave system we stumbled into a few groups (our rogue had his brain eaten by an illithid a while back, and we've been bereft of a scout since). Hence, we had to fight our way through to achieve our ultimate goal. Our resources were whittled down, and the beholder was that much harder as a result (if we could have avoided those trolls, we gladly would have). We certainly didn't want to make camp in that lair and have the beholder surprise us.Overall, I would say it has reduced the number of combats overall, but that isn't a bad thing IMO. In one of our earlier adventures, we had to rescue some townswomen who had been taken by yuan-ti. After we slew their leader, we negotiated with his second in command (a priestess of some kind) and reached an accord. We leave them alone, and they'll leave the townsfolk be. Their numbers were heavily reduced by our incursion, but the amount of resources we had left made us finishing them off very dicey. Instead, after a tense negotiation, everyone walked away satisfied and we still leveled up even though we technically only cleared about half the dungeon.</blockquote>

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