Yesterday we finally finished the 4th edition D&D Roleplaying Game Starter Set that we've been carrying around for several years now. It was quite a bit of fun, actually, despite the strangeness of the 4th edition. The final encounter especially had a very good balance of interesting topography, unusual mobs, and moments of wonderfully high tension. Each of my four players had a chance to see their character shine in the limelight.
NOTE: Stop reading now if you don't want to see spoilers.
The previous encounter, Encounter 2, was quite the opposite. Intentionally or not, it seemed to provide only frustration to the players. Firstly, there were way too many mobs, eleven altogether. Coupled with four players, that meant that fifteen creatures had to do something each round. That took ungodly amount of time, especially considering that the rules were somewhat unfamiliar to the players more used to 3.5 and Pathfinder, and one completely new player (as can be expected from a Starter Set). I don't see the need for so many creatures packed into one encounter.
Secondly, the spells cast by the Goblin Hexer made the encounter even more protracted because of the penalties due to concealment and blindness as a result of Vexing Cloud and Blinding Hex. It's also puzzling how the rules for blindness and concealment are handled. In the Starter Set (or maybe 4th edition in general?), attacking a concealed target involves a -2 penalty to attack; there is no 20% to 50% chance-to-miss present in Pathfinder. The blinded condition grants total concealment to the target, yet the rules for total concealment are not included in the Dungeon Master's Book that came with the set. Even with the simplification and despite the significant beef-ups to attack rolls in the 4th edition, a -2 penalty still made it difficult for the players to hit their targets.
Thirdly -- this was also a problem in the third encounter -- there was little distinction between the Goblin Cutter minions and Goblin Blackblade encountered in the previous room of the dungeon. Both had the same armor, weapons, attributes, and to-hit modifiers. And yet, due to the minion mechanics, while the Goblin Blackblades had 25 HP, the Cutters only had 1 HP each. Even with my describing the former as looking much more muscular and seasoned, the players expanded valuable powers trying to deal as much damage as possible to the minions. The same was true for the Giant Rats present in the encounter; the players expected them to be at least somewhat similar to the neighboring Fire Beetles, yet while the beetles were the last foes to be defeated due to their high hit-points, the rats were being sliced in half by a successful attack (that usually dealt damage in the double digits). Another curious consequence of the minion mechanics is that the Giant Rats, Goblin Cutters, and the Hobgoblin Grunts (who are, supposedly, much more fierce than the goblins) all had the same hit-points.
Finally, with all this going on, there seemed to be a discrepancy in the characters' hit-points and the damage dealt by the monsters. Even the Dwarf Fighter with his 31hp had a hard time, since a successful Fire Spray attack by the Fire Beetles (which, being a blast, could affect multiple PCs) dealt 3d6 fire damage. Even at the average roll of 10-11 damage, the Fighter would be dying after three successful attacks if there was only one beetle; with two beetles and over a dozen rounds of combat (due to the protracted nature of the encounter), this was definitely a problem. With 64hp between them, the beetles were assured at least several rounds to wreak their havoc. The same thing goes to the Goblin Hexer's two hexes. The +7 to-hit against Will or Fortitude (which were relatively low, between 11 and 15) meant an almost assured hit, and dealt 3d6+1 and 2d6+1 damage, respectively.
Overall, despite being fun overall, the Starting Set was not nearly as good as it could have been. The 3.5e starting set, which we played years ago, felt better balanced and put together, although that might just be a memory tinged with nostalgia. There were, however, several good things about the Starter Set. The most notable one was the more substantial Dungeon Master's Book, which in addition the to the ready-made encounter also featured a sizable section on creating new adventures, including descriptions of monster types, advice on making the setting interesting, sample traps, and a dozen-or-so monsters to choose from, among them Black and White dragons. These extras were lost on me, however, since the Starter Set left me unimpressed with the 4th edition, so I had no desire to make adventures using its rules that skew the system even more toward hack & slash.
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