#d&d combat

[lockhinge]

DM: You cast Sunbeam, but one of the mind flayers saved with a nat 20. Player: Whoa, that dude had sunglasses?? Cool Mind Flayer: You all laughed at me!!

[cantmoveheaven]

made these for my players! half of them are brand new and I'm trying to make the barrier to entry as low as possible for them

feel free to use, these can be sent digitally or printed (designed to be approx business card sized)

[curse-of-dming-strahd]

"Don't worry, I'm on your side," I lie, knowing full well that I'm about to make them fight five CR 5 vampire spawn at 2nd level.

[persuasioncheck]

Paladin: I want to know what the flammables are. DM: If you want to go improvised weapon you can absolutely light some shit on fire. Warlock: Molotov cocktail hour!

[ramuneclaws]

I have been chiseling away at this piece for a week. It should not have taken me this long just to not even finish the lineart but.... I'm a high school student with a chronic fatigue-causing illness 🤷

[dmsden]

Buckle those Swashes – Getting more creative in combat

Hullo, Gentle Readers. This week’s Question from a Denizen is from nonexistent astronaut, who asks, “As the DM, how do I encourage my players to be more creative during combat? I feel like they find combat rather boring mostly because every turn they go "I hit the bad guy". I'm trying to make it more interesting by describing the events differently every time and add some elements like pillars, chandeliers and alternating terrain to offer a setting for trick shots but at the same time I think they aren't familiar with some key rules like dodging and readying an action and they won't read PHB.”

Well, astro, it’s a tricky question with several different elements.

As far as the last bit goes, you can give your players quick reference sheets with the different actions they can take. There are a number of them already out there, floating around the internet,  so I’m sure you could print some copies off and give them to your players. Tell them, “I don’t know if you realize it, but there are a lot of different things you can do on any given round of combat. Here are some options to consider.”

As far as actually encouraging them to do something different, that’s something you need to find for yourself, but I do have some suggestions. The big one is to help them see the benefit of a more descriptive combat. Give them some small mechanical bonus (maybe a +1 or +2) if they give a really good description of what they’re doing. Maybe even give them Inspiration.

If they describe something awesome and creative, give them Advantage. “You’re going to jump onto the minotaur’s back, grab him by the horns, and try to make him headbutt the rock wall? Give me a Strength check…with Advantage, because I really want to see that happen!” You can even give those special attacks extra mechanical effects. “Okay, he headbutts the wall. I’m going to do his own Gore attack’s damage to him in Bludgeoning damage, plus, he’s stunned until the end of his next turn.”

Why do this? Players need to see a reason to put in more than minimal efforts. Some aren’t comfortable putting themselves out there when it comes to combat, and some don’t see the point, since dealing damage to a creature is arguably the most efficient and direct way to put an end to combat. If you say, “Well, you can grapple him, but you can’t make him headbutt the wall,” or “Well, you can make him headbutt the wall, but it’ll just be your unarmed strength in damage,” you’re not giving them any reason to do something fun. In that situation, you’re telling them that making a normal attack every round is the best way to accomplish their goals, and you’re not giving them any reason to be more descriptive than they already are.

Another way to encourage them is to show them, through NPCs, that these kinds of attacks can be effective. Describe what the NPCs are doing, and tell them, “You can do these kinds of things, too. You’re not bound to just attack every round, if there are other things you’d rather do.

Adding terrain with potential effects around the room is a good idea, too. When I’m playing, and I see fun terrain, I’m likely to take advantage of it. I’ve stampeded a herd of oxen through a group of bandits, swung on banners, thrown a burning bearskin rug over an ogre’s head, crashed a landspeeder into a villain’s transport, and more. When I see terrain, I start wondering how I can use it to my advantage, because I think that’s more fun. Luckily, I’ve been blessed with GMs who’ve been willing to be flexible when I start doing crazy stuff, and I’ve tried to be a GM whose been willing to indulge crazy player antics. One my players in particular loves to do crazy things, which he tends to dub “Stupid Halfling tricks”, and I get excited whenever he grins in a particular way. They don’t always work, but they’re usually pretty spectacular.

I hope this helps, astro. Good luck with those players. Don’t let them be sticks in the mud.

[the-mighty-nine]

I don’t say it often enough because I usually gush way more about the roleplaying moments, but I love their combats so much. They are all just so creative in the descriptions/the fluff of their attacks. That’s something I’d really love to see more of in my own games.

[soysaucednd]

Encouraging Engagement in Combat

Recently in my home games, I have had an issue with engagement during combat. Since my other passion is fight direction and choreography, I tried to figure out what the issue was and made some discoveries that I think would be useful information for dms having similar issues in their game.

Firstly, the issues I believe are the root cause of my problem are that players:

1. Feel that combat is repetitive and boring.

2. Feel that there is little risk and so paying attention isn't critical.

3. Feel that their characters aren't useful in the current situation, or they don't understand all their abilities.

This caused me to realize that most of the problems with my combats was in my designs. When it comes to understanding your character's abilities, that's on the player, but all the other things are fixable by just adding a couple things to your normal combat design.

1. Add a time limit.

2. Give them problems they cannot solve just by fighting.

3. Raise the stakes above only the player's lives, but not so high it becomes less relatable.

For example: let's consider a quest where the party has been hired to deal with a group of Necromancers in a nearby cave. The normal process of thought is figuring out the mechanical numbers. How many necromancers, where in the caves, the statblock of the boss, and treasure in the dungeon to be found. This planning becomes a classic dungeon crawl, which is amazing with a group that enjoys it. However, let's reimagine it a little.

Along with all these considerations, let's imagine it is a day where the planets have aligned for a powerful necromantic ritual. The party can learn this by interrogating one of the few necromancers that can be found in the upper dungeon... When they reach the final room they find the necromancers that were missing before, all drawing sigils on the wall, along with five innocent hostages, each with a necromancer pointing a knife at them, waiting for the sigils to be complete...

Now, the fight gains a new level of urgency. The lives of five innocents hang in the balance, and the party not only needs to fight the necromancers, but also stop them from drawing the sigils, erase the ones that are already finished, and make sure the hostages are not in direct danger in case something much worse arrives when the ritual is complete.

The number of things going on will draw in the players, who will most likely be looking for a problem to solve, and will allow for the people who feel like they are useless to think of creative ways of either escaping with the hostages or erasing the sigils until they think of something cool to do against the necromancers. On the other hand, it also punishes letting things fall through the cracks, which forces focus. If the party doesn't deal with everything, then people will die or something powerful and evil will be unleashed in the area.

In essence, as I plan out new combat encounters, I ask myself three questions:

1. How can I apply a time limit to this?

2. What is the underlying goal behind the combat, and if it is achieved by either side, what happens?

3. What happens if the party fails or misses something?

After my first test of this philosophy, engagement went way up in my combat, and I have felt much more confident in my encounter design.