Leonine Roar

Binding the hands and feet of prisoners is a classic way to end a combat early or without having to kill everyone in sight.  It’s an especially heady (if not civil) decision when you need to interrogate prisoners, keep them safe (or out of your way) somewhere until you come back, or turn them in to the local authorities for a reward. 

And don’t forget – your enemies have their own nefarious reasons to bind you, too!

Yet the rules and options aren’t all clear or in one place when it comes to this simple and effective way to deal with the scoundrels you capture on your adventure.  Here’s a quick review of your options, from skills to mundane gear and finally, a few magical tools. 

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What does encounter difficulty really mean in D&D 4e?

Since the dawn of 4e, I’ve struggled with this question.  The many times I’ve DMed and used the incredibly handy Encounter Calculator over on the D&D website, combined with a few years of seeing how those “Standard,” “Hard,” and even “Too Hard” 4e encounters actually unfold, have left me in a quandary. 

As I’ve mentioned on Twitter, I’m not sure whether XP values for encounters measure challenge level or difficulty anymore.  The mechanics of 4e, drastically different from its predecessors, now have me re-thinking what encounter difficulty truly means in D&D. 

Today, does it mean “degree of resource management,” rather than a measure of “deadliness or lethality,” like it did in previous editions?

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The short rest is 5 long minutes.  It’s short enough where it’s convenient to recoup from and for most fights, but it’s long enough where it’s sometimes silly and allows the story’s timeline to be filled with all sorts of new DM-conjured ramifications.  More horrible yet wonderful battles and trials for your heroes!

And, yes, the short rest also clearly suffers from Sounds Too Gamey Syndrome (and yes, I’m trademarking this!), one of my 4e pet peeves.  As much as I try whether  I play or DM to reword the short rest in-game into something more elegant, most players are fine saying painfully horrid things like, “Wait, we should take a short rest,” repeatedly, while inside an evil-flavored meat grinder of a dungeon.

For those of you who still wince or feel awkward saying or hearing “Short Rest” in and out of character, try this alternate or additional rule… wait for it…

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Recently, Dungeon’s Master talked about how we can and should Make Magical Item Identification Harder.   

After all, a simple purchase or short rest and bang! – you know what your magic items do.  It doesn’t get any easier, and it hasn’t been that easy in D&D as long as I can remember.  But it is now!

Still, I’m not sure it’s difficulty that’s most worrisome when it comes to magic item discovery, identification and the specific wonder and mystery involved. 

Don’t make magic item identification harder.  Make magic item identification more exciting!  

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