Tense Combat in D&D
Feb 27, 2012 13:17:30 GMT -8
Post by Deleted on Feb 27, 2012 13:17:30 GMT -8
On the most recent episode, they read an email from a Steven who asked about making combat more tense. I have a few tidbits to contribute.
Permanent Damage
4e has a form of 'permanent' damage via the disease system. Poisons and curses do/can act the same way. What makes these 'permanent' is their immediate penalty getting potentially WORSE after an extended rest. While the initial damage isn't bad, this does two things:
1) makes an injury carry over from one fight to the next
2) encourages PCs to push further before an extended rest
Go for the Back Ranks
As mentioned on the podcast, attacking the cleric and/or wizard can unsettle the party a little. Problem is, especially in 4e, most PCs will have at least one or two get out of jail free powers for this circumstance. So, to be effective, you either have to swarm them, or totally turn the expectations of what the monsters are doing.
Ex: You have your soldier-types making a shield wall up to the front-line fighters while the artillery is pegging people. Have them spread out. Suddenly have the soldiers bum rush the squishies, and the artillery full-defenses until the heat is taken off of them. Throw in a lurker somewhere to capitalize on the whole in their defenses, whether it be on the squishies or the front-liners.
Set a Time Limit (or: make something else more important than killing the monsters)
Create some kind of environmental or arcane reason for things to get REALLY bad (and not totally bad for the enemies) within 2 rounds or so. Even better, set up something to be 'bad' if 5 turns go by and accelerate the scenario.
Ex1: Fire elementals on top of a volcano. It's going to blow in 5 turns - until the fire elementals start agitating the volcano - now it'll go in 2.
Ex2: The party is fighting on a bridge that is starting to collapse against enemies that can glide to safety.
Ex3: A negative energy gateway is producing 4 minion undead creatures every turn. When 6/10 minions are on the board, a wave of deadly necromantic energy bathes the area.
Ex4: The room closes up and fills with water quickly while a golem assaults the party.
Ex5: NPCs the party cares about/need for a very relevant quest reason are bound and dangling above a pit of acid/fire/water/something eventually lethal and can be thrown into it with an action by a near-by enemy.
As you could imagine, mixing these together REALLY makes things tense
As parting advice, I would suggest having your monsters run away once you get to the point where they are simply there to be mopped up. If the PCs go after them, narrate them catching and killing them (vs rolling everything). This avoids the grind and gives the players the gratification that D&D players expect from killing everything.
Hope these ideas help!
Permanent Damage
4e has a form of 'permanent' damage via the disease system. Poisons and curses do/can act the same way. What makes these 'permanent' is their immediate penalty getting potentially WORSE after an extended rest. While the initial damage isn't bad, this does two things:
1) makes an injury carry over from one fight to the next
2) encourages PCs to push further before an extended rest
Go for the Back Ranks
As mentioned on the podcast, attacking the cleric and/or wizard can unsettle the party a little. Problem is, especially in 4e, most PCs will have at least one or two get out of jail free powers for this circumstance. So, to be effective, you either have to swarm them, or totally turn the expectations of what the monsters are doing.
Ex: You have your soldier-types making a shield wall up to the front-line fighters while the artillery is pegging people. Have them spread out. Suddenly have the soldiers bum rush the squishies, and the artillery full-defenses until the heat is taken off of them. Throw in a lurker somewhere to capitalize on the whole in their defenses, whether it be on the squishies or the front-liners.
Set a Time Limit (or: make something else more important than killing the monsters)
Create some kind of environmental or arcane reason for things to get REALLY bad (and not totally bad for the enemies) within 2 rounds or so. Even better, set up something to be 'bad' if 5 turns go by and accelerate the scenario.
Ex1: Fire elementals on top of a volcano. It's going to blow in 5 turns - until the fire elementals start agitating the volcano - now it'll go in 2.
Ex2: The party is fighting on a bridge that is starting to collapse against enemies that can glide to safety.
Ex3: A negative energy gateway is producing 4 minion undead creatures every turn. When 6/10 minions are on the board, a wave of deadly necromantic energy bathes the area.
Ex4: The room closes up and fills with water quickly while a golem assaults the party.
Ex5: NPCs the party cares about/need for a very relevant quest reason are bound and dangling above a pit of acid/fire/water/something eventually lethal and can be thrown into it with an action by a near-by enemy.
As you could imagine, mixing these together REALLY makes things tense
As parting advice, I would suggest having your monsters run away once you get to the point where they are simply there to be mopped up. If the PCs go after them, narrate them catching and killing them (vs rolling everything). This avoids the grind and gives the players the gratification that D&D players expect from killing everything.
Hope these ideas help!