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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gradine" data-source="post: 6366089" data-attributes="member: 57112">Easy encounters definitely have their place. They can be breathers for players, an opportunity for them to try out what they can do, or even just to feel like certified badasses once in a while.As a DM, they serve an even greater purpose: Telegraphing. Let's say you've got a bunch of new players and they've never encountered trolls before. Do you make their first encounter with Trolls against three of them, in a gas-filled mine*? No, you telegraph that encounter with a single troll scout, outside the mine, to give them an opportunity to suss out the troll's strengths and weaknesses in a (relatively) safer environment.There's also, as has been mentioned, tension-building. Party exploring a dungeon runs into a single kobold. It's easily taken care of, but what the hell was that kobold doing out there alone? They search his body, find some tripwire, jagged bits of metal, perhaps a crude horn instrument. Oh crap, the party thinks. There are more.Back to the main topic, if I'm playing a Fighter it's because of one of several reasons:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I've got a build that is for some reason incredibly MAD and/or requires several feats. I haven't noticed the Fighter's extra API's accounted in balancing it against Barbarian/Paladin, but it's a factor.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I'm intrigued by the Fighter's subclasses and their specific mechanics (as a 4e Taclord fan I've liked what I've seen of the Battlemaster).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I'm a Half-Orc that already has brutal criticals and want to get the most out of an expanded crit range.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I want to play a heavily armored spell-splinger and I don't want to deal with multi-classing or roleplaying devotion to a specific oath.</li> </ul>Or because I feel like playing the type of character I can play in the following exchange:**DM: There's a problemMe: I hit it until it's not a problem anymore*Credit to Angry DM for the Gassy Troll Mine example: <a href="http://www.madadventurers.com/angry-rants-gotcha/" target="_blank">http://www.madadventurers.com/angry-rants-gotcha/</a> **Credit to Twinkin' Out With Red Mage, sadly lost to the annals of time</blockquote>

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