DnD: exciting battles
Mastering fight-oriented games like Dungeons&Dragons is easy to have the party too “used” to combat. When I want a memorable fight I try to follow these rules:
- You need more than one single monster. While it is easier too use a single one, it is difficult to balance it. A bit too weak, and the party swarms on the poor creature. A bit too strong and you risk killing characters in single blows (which is usually a bit frustrating for the players)
- To add spice, use different kind of creatures. Intermixing their strengths and weaknesses you force the players to better evaluate their actions.
- Never show all the involved enemies on round one.You want to avoid the situation in which a single “eureka!” spell or move kills them all on the first 6 seconds of the battle. Make reinforcements arrive on round 2-3.
- If you want to increase the rhythm of the battle, aggregate all the monster on the same initiative value. It is less realistic, but easier for you and the player to understand and coordinate.
- At the opposite, if you want a more complex battle, handle all the enemies on separate turns. It increases the feeling of the chaos.
- Never, ever place all the monsters in a single fireball-able zone.
- Prepare the environment. Fighting in a well detailed tavern with tables, stairs and big swinging chandeliers, or on a drifting rock island on a lava river is funnier than fighting in a 60 feet x 80 feet room. The players will immediately try to get advantages from the surrounding features. Let them do it, but get them used at not abusing it (if they pretend too much protection from a fallen table, even the enemies will use it ;) )
- Place around secondary targets not requiring simple bashing: wounded princesses, closing portals, a foe running away.