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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kzach" data-source="post: 4485401" data-attributes="member: 56189">Yeah, I guess that's pretty much what I'm saying.A 400XP encounter wouldn't even be a road-bump to them.Standard Method 2 character creation. I have a couple of custom rules but nothing huge that would alter balance significantly. In fact, the only one in effect at the moment is the abolition of the wizard's spellbook ability. I replace it with daily metamagic abilities, but he hasn't used it as it's a new system he's getting used to anyway.Four PC's, dwarven fighter, eladrin ranger, eladrin wizard, and human warlord. Nothing special about equipment, bog standard 1st-level stuff.Admittedly, the first encounter I put them through, they all rolled really well and I rolled very poorly so for that freak situation I can probably put it aside. I should say, however, that this thread isn't the result of just one combat. It's the result of having played in and DM'd numerous games since the release of 4e.The general trend I'm seeing is that tactically sound groups and intelligent play can make a HUGE difference in how difficult encounters are.But for argument's sake, the second encounter was 600xp worth of goons and 100xp because of the difficulty of the encounter scenario.Basically, there is a slums in the centre of a large port town. It's made entirely of cheap, wooden structures, built very close together. Because of this, it's like a rabbit warren, and so is called The Warrens. A group of thugs has banded together and altered several buildings in the centre of this area to allow even narrower alleyways where they built artificial facades on the buildings that had sliding doors every few feet.They have spotters out in the city who eye potential targets and send them into the Warrens. And of course people just naturally wander in occasionally, ie. the PC's. The situation was that they were in a 1 square by 10 square alleyway and both exits were blocked off by thugs (soldiers). A leader artillery was behind one of the soldiers, throwing force orbs about. And a lurker either side of the PC's attacked from cover and with combat advantage from the sliding doors.Only one character used their daily and, really, it wasn't necessary. He just wanted to annoy me (it had the potential to burn down the entire city, killing hundreds of innocent people and I don't allow evil PC's).I got the wizard down to 0 and the fighter down to 2 hit points. But that was unfortunate placing for the wizard at the start of the fight, and really, the warlord still had both heals left plus the dwarf had healing of his own so it wasn't really as bad as it sounds.Having thought about all this, it's not really a complaint, just an observation. I'd rather have tactically difficult and interesting encounters that fast-track the PC's than lots and lots of little, tedious, boring encounters that turn the game into a snorefest. And it seems like I'll be able to challenge the group well enough that they'll level up pretty quickly.I guess I just wanted to see what other people's experiences were.</blockquote>

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