Dwarves are gay bakers now in d&d
(media.kotakuinaction2.win)
You're viewing a single comment thread. View all comments, or full comment thread.
Comments (74)
sorted by:
Again, sounds like you didn't play it. 1 HP minions were a defining feature.
I won't disagree with your assessment on the action economy, but the big picture is that 4e was a tactics game, unlike basically anything since OD&D. It basically defined the genre of 'combat-as-sport.' So, yeah, fighters had "slots" and that looks weird from an AD&D perspective. But within that framework, roles were actually mechanically enforced. No one could AoE like a wizard. No one could tank like a fighter. You could piece together a build to have a couple "out of role" powers and serve as an off-tank or a high damage fighter or whatever, but the classic classes always did better in their niches.
I'm aware that 1hp minions were a feature. They were a clever idea. Functionally, however, they did not solve the issue I'm talking about. Building an adventure for a party of level 1 or 2 PCs that only includes minions is (of course) pretty boring. It also makes the at-will 3x3 AoE spells that many spellcasters get overperform, undermining the whole attempt to balance spellcasters and martial classes.
However, once you stick 2-3 30hp goblins (or kobolds, or bullywugs—this is another issue; everything at a level has about the same HP within its "role," which increases the feeling of sameness) in an encounter, then combat almost inevitably lasts a few turns longer than is welcome, just because all those hit points will need to be depleted.