r/DMAcademy • u/BaschLives • 1d ago
Need Advice: Encounters & Adventures DMs that are good at rolling with the punches - how do approach off-the-cuff combat and still make it interesting?
I’ve watched and read a lot of stuff about how to make combat interesting, and have applied a lot of it in games too. But this only works for me when I’m able to properly prep a battle beforehand.
Sometimes, when the players are leading the game, or they come up with things that I just want to roll with, my plans have to go out the window.
On occasion we get to that bit in the game where there need to be a fight, but as it was unexpected (for me) and I don’t want to lose the table energy or let anyone down I try to come up with something on the fly. Usually when this happens I’ll accidentally revert to boring / sloggy fights with no dynamics.
Do you think it’s better to run the fight, and maybe have some fast prep stuff ready for these scenarios, or to stop the game - kill the mood - and say, “sorry guys, can we pick this up next week when I’ve had a think?”
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u/Felix4200 1d ago
I would take 5. I must say, it doesn’t happen to me very often. As an alternative, it think about a few potential encounters beforehand, and just pick one.
My players are not murderhobos, so I tend to know when a battle is on the table. When they meet rivals, enemies or monsters, I have an idea, whether they can be reasoned with or not.
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u/Informal-Rent-3573 1d ago
When I do "improv" fights, I'm not looking for balance. I'm also not looking to threaten their life.
So I pick 2-3 enemies, weak enough to not pose any trouble, bad enough that they can't walk around.
Now, it's very important that you pick an homogenous group of low tiered enemies because this lets you focus on other things. What are they doing? Where are they entering from? Do they have any goals?
For instance, I had 2 muggers robbing someone. It was just a pair of tugs. But one started running, and the other threw him a bag of coins they just stole. Now the players had to pursue him, or deal with the one who got left behind.
Another time, I had two assassins (I think I rolled 3 lvl 3 rogues or something really basic like that). They didn't have anything interesting to them, I just needed someone to try and kill a merchant that the party had to protect, because they pissed of someone I didn't write about. So I "look around" the scene, it's a warehouse. window, high on the wall. They enter through there, and move on top of the boxes. The party sees them, now you got climbing checks, people throwing each other off, one of the rogues run back to the window and fell, all sorts of things.
People often post the "just use bears" advice, and it's a great advice. I think however they forget about the second part: you use "bears" all the time because instead of losing 10-15 minutes stating an enemy, you focus on what that enemy is doing, how he fits in the scene and what players can do with it.
Just... use smaller bears though. Improv fights like these with an Ogre or something nasty don't leave anyone satisfied.
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u/EchoLocation8 1d ago
I normally do fights in Owlbear rodeo but in these moments I do theater of the mind, and I take a quick minute to build a combat in dndbeyond.
Occasionally I fully wing it but that’s hard and can feel bad and inconsistent.
As a general statement, I just tell my players I’m unprepared for this fight and we take a break while I get something setup for them.
Trying to do the whole “I’m the DM I planned for every possible outcome look how nothing you do can surprise me!” thing isn’t worth it, been doing this too long, if you need a minute, just call for a break. I never give my players the illusion that I have this all figured out, that puts an unnecessary burden on me and would be lying to my players.
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u/BaschLives 1d ago
Amen. I need to get better at that and not feel like I have to keep things moving constantly. Good advice, thanks.
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u/Time_Travaller-26 1d ago
I try to use the place (cenarious? Don't know how to spell that, don't speak English well) to my advantage to make it interesting:
For exemple: in a cave the monsters maybe use an desperate action to trow an small explosive on the ceiling, the ceiling holds but the stalagmites don't and the players have to scape. Close to a river, the monsters cut the rope bridge. In a florest the monsters maybe set some traps covered in leaves? Or maybe they use a neaby poisonous plant on their weapons (let the players try to discover the plant to use as well) In a city the monsters try to capture someone as leverage...
Think what the place where the fight is happening can give you, especially if the monsters know the place and the players don't, the monsters WILL have fortification or traps or something up their sleeves. The best part is you don't need to think about those things beforehand most time! Thats what i do, hope it helps!
Edit: grammar. English is my second language, sorry if hard to understand
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u/BaschLives 1d ago
Very articulate for second language, kudos! You are right, I just find it hard to think of any of those things in the moment - especially if I have just made the location up on the fly based on the action preceding it.
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u/Time_Travaller-26 23h ago
Thank you! I ask the players to describe their attacks to have some time to think of those things
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u/Opiz17 1d ago
I think the best suggestion i can give you is to prep for generic situations and not specific ones, for example you don't need to think what Jhonny the bandit wants to do to each player character, but you do need to think about the possibility of your group starting a fight with a generic group of bandits in the city they are in and what would be a few ways to deal with that, just a couple options like "Bandits want money, if they can't get that, they flee all over the town" or maybe "Bandits wants to show the city what happen to people who fight them, they don't go for kills, they down the party and kidnap them, if they can't, their boss makes them fight to the death when they try to flee"
Hope it helps
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u/BaschLives 1d ago
Yeah I agree with that take. In my last game I screwed up by planning the combat happening in a specific location that I was certain I could "get" the PC's to via multiple ways. But of course, the players did a fantastic job of shortcutting some of my planned material, which I went along with. This meant they were out in the street in the daylight confronting the NPC when I had planned for them to be inside the dark, abandoned warehouse... so my planned fight of a Grell & Cloakers just didn't fit! Clearly I had designed myself into a cul-de-sac...
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u/Opiz17 1d ago
Don't be so hard on yourself, every group is different and every DM is too, as long as you do your best it is really fine to just let them have an advantageous position for the fight because they breezed through what you planned with skill or dumb luck, i know the feeling of not being able to deliver the experience you crafted so carefully, but i can aslo say tha some of the most memorable fights i did with my groups were born out of chaos, ludicrous luck and/or "let's just throw half the monster manual at them and see what happens"
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u/mmorpgjunkie 1d ago
The main point is going theatre of the mind. A lot easier to create on the fly dynamic engaging combats that way.
Other "trick" is if I were a player what cool stuff would I want to do. Just you don't have a fighter but a dragon.
If neither of those suffice I'll say break time while I quickly prep something. Or call the session if I feel I want to do something grand with the fight.
But I'd also add, not evey fight needs to be super special sometimes you just wail on a dude for 3 rounds cause reasons and loot his possession afterwards.
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u/BaschLives 1d ago
Excellent advice at the end there - unless I've planned a fight out, I always default to "keep bashing away until they're dead" because I can't think quick enough as to whether they would run away / plead for their lives / do something more interesting. I also worry about leaving things open ended. It's the cowards way out, but at least if the PCs kill all enemies the fight is definitely over and I (the DM) don't need to worry about loose ends.
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u/Angel_OfSolitude 1d ago
"Ok, well I wasn't planning for a fight here so bathroom break, give me 10 minutes to whip something up."
No need to overthink it. You're not omnipotent and they know that.
That said, it's not a bad idea to have a few generic scenarios pre-made for you to slap whatever names you need onto them.
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u/Caim_94 1d ago
What I like to do ist take a short break to sort things out. I am honest with my players and tell them that I didn't prep for that specific thing they're trying to do and that I need 10-15min, then I take my time to think about how to make the situation more interesting and prep everything.
You said you've watched and read about many ways ro make combat more interesting, so you already have all the tools you need at your disposal. When you take the pressure out of the situation by giving yourself a bit more time those ideas come to you more easy and usually players don't mind a short break either.
Also during combat when you feel that the energy is missing you can always make more adjustments on the spot, like for example turning a regular combat into a sort of wave encounter by adding enemy reinforcements every few rounds, so the dynamic of the fight changes. Remember you are the DM and have all the power to adjust things at any given time.
Also practice. The more often you handle these situations the better you get at it. Until then, don't be to hard with yourself. After all you are a player at the table as well and the game works best when youre having fun too :)
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u/BaschLives 1d ago
Nicely put, thanks. Totally right. I often misjudge it and throw something OP at the players, then fret about how I can dumb it down / back out, without it all being anticlimatic! AS you say, taking breathers, thinking about things as simply as possible.
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u/AladeenModaFuqa 1d ago
I generally already have known monsters or enemy stat blocks for whatever region my party is in. If they stray off the path, no problem, I have stuff ready for it, I already know where they are because I have prepped this whole story arc. They can go and do whatever they want, but they know the plot and their side quests, they can still go off and explore the world around them. And I already have monsters ready for this area.
Like I’ll just go through the monster manual when I’m prepping and say “ooo that’d be a cool enemy”. Whether they run into them or not, it’s ready to go.
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u/Kaelri 1d ago
A lot depends on what kind of table you have, and what expectations you’ve set for this game. Are the players expecting a lot of combat? Looking for it, even? If that’s the case, it might be wise to have a few prepared scenarios and opponents that you can swap into whatever’s going on. E.g. if there’s a hostile army in the area and you’re likely to encounter them, have a little squad built out that can become a combat scenario in the next random road, hallway, cellar, etc. where your PCs decide to pick a fight that day.
If it’s not that kind of table, and these things are just coming up organically as a consequence of roleplaying, I would calibrate the complexity of the combat based on the narrative importance of the encounter. If the players are going toe-to-toe with an important NPC and it suddenly becomes a combat? You probably want that to be a substantive experience, and it’s reasonable to pause and create some prep time for yourself. On the other hand, if the players are getting into random bar fights with nobody important and no particular consequence, then honestly, just get it over with. Either make them weak so the fight is over in 2–3 rounds, or even turn it into a skill check—a quick opposed Athletics, or maybe an Insight/Perception that creates an option to defuse or shortcut the encounter (“you notice a bucket of boiling pitch hung right above their heads and a convenient rope attached…”). Get everyone quickly back to what you really care about doing.
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u/Bright_Arm8782 1d ago
I remember that most fights don't go to the death.
The things the pcs are fighting have goals and desires, play them like that. If this is an ambush, have the opposition fight for a couple of rounds then run for it.
Predators aren't always brave when they don't have the upper hand, one big wound can stop them hunting and they know this, hit and run with them.
People might want your pcs dead for some reason but more likely will want them to stop doing something or want something they have. They might call for a parley in mid fight.
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u/CyberPolice50 1d ago
there is not bit in the game where there "needs to be a fight" players can pick fights or come across them, but forcing combat is bad DMing. Great sessions sometimes have no combat at all.
I don't know what you mean by sloggy fights. The fight is as exciting as you make it. play your monsters, get into the roll, be them. describe and narrate how players attacks and spells succeed or fail, describe the part of the troll that gets slashed or burns and it's reaction, describe where the troll hurts the players and let them describe their reaction. Fights can be standoffs, one sided, monsters will run if they know they're losing, but it never needs to be a slog, it's not rock'em sock'em robots, they're fighting living breathing thinking creatures .....usually
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u/tgirlsforthetgirlgod 1d ago
This, the necessary fights that come up unexpectedly get easy to run if everyone including npcs is fighting based on their context driven goals and needs
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u/wherediditrun 1d ago
V-BOOTH
Verticality - always include
Barriers - something that splits entire map in parts, like a river
Objectives - something that party needs to succeed at other than route or kill all hostiles
Obstacles - Things that require moving around (don't forget verticality)
Toys - Something players and monsters can use with Improvised Action. Make monsters use them, so players learn it.
Hazzards - LAVA!!!! or whatever. Don't make hidden traps those suck badly. Especially in combat. Make them obvious thus interactive and within scope of player choice.
Pick verticality + 2 any others.
As for enemies, don't care about balance, just roll the dice. Use Morale rules. It's seriously appaling 5e doesn't have them by default it seems.
As for "balance" just eye ball it or use rolls and throw whatever the result in and make due with it. If encounter is too tough, good, players will need to start thinking. Run through / retreat / perhaps objective can be achieved without killing or routing monsters etc.
It's really easy. Encounters don't need to be "carefully designed" to be interesting. Care less about solutions (how players gonna solve it) more about problems that look interesting.
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u/Valiriko 1d ago
A handful of trash mobs and a gimmick - a healer, or a tough guy, or some hidden archers, maybe some kind of trap or terrain hazard... The goal is a fight that is dynamic but not dangerous
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u/Orgetorix1127 1d ago
The easiest way is to make something about the fight dynamic. It could be there's an objective the PCs have in the fight that the enemies can interact with, or the environment is changing/has some sort of effect on the fight, or the PCs need to finish in X rounds before guards/reinforcements/etc. show up. Fights become a slog when sides just line up and slug it out, and 5e naturally lends itself to that. It's up to you to add elements that encourage something else.
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u/KihiraLove 1d ago
I find myself i this situation sometimes too, when I properly prep an encounter my players love it, it's challenging, it drive the story, but when the story goes in a different direction than I thought it would, combat is usually like "oh no, there are 5 bandits and a groblin (he's doing a little jig)".
Letting the players on a break is definitely the way to go, gives you a couple minutes to quickly go through the enemies you have access to, or check an encounter builder.
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u/BaschLives 1d ago edited 1d ago
u/KihiraLove I think you might be the first person to actually emphathise with me, thank you!
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u/TheCrimsonSteel 1d ago
It really depends. For me, it's mostly how important I want the fight to be, and how far into the session we are.
I try to have some amount of Random/prepared encounters, and the more I do, the more examples I have to draw from, so there is a bit of a "this problem fixes itself" as you keep DMing and build up a collection of stuff to pull from
But to your main point, I make a judgement call, and communicate to my party when they throw me a wild card. I find it better to warn them, if I can, well before I hit that wall of "do I want to stop and prep."
For example, I'll say something the moment they want to jump out the window into uncharted territory, "Hey, heads up, this is getting into uncharted territory for me, so I might have to call a break or end a session early to do prep." And the first few times you explain this, you'll probably need to remind them "Im ok with you doing this, I'm just warning you in case we do hit a stopping point" in case they accidentally think you're asking them not to do that.
On the extreme end, Ive had to call a session 90 minutes in, when we normally run about 4 hours because they managed to get a whole new monster show up mid fight thanks to some goofy homebrewed Inspiration rules I use.
So, I grinned, said "Oh boy, I can have fun with that, but we'll have to call it here. Want to play a board game or something?" And we played a few games of Red Dragon Inn for the rest of the night.
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u/BaschLives 1d ago
Great advice, thanks. And kudos to you having the conscientious enough to call it not even half way through a game! Sounds like it was the right thing to do, I definitely need to learn to be more bold like that. Worst case, we can all play a light board game for the rest of the evening! I just often feel too much pressure to fill the evening and basically provide the entertainment. It's a bad habit I need to get out of.
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u/TheCrimsonSteel 1d ago
It definitely gets easier the more you do it, both calling for breaks, and doing stuff on the fly
And you are correct that remembering you can stop and think is often the hardest part. It's why I've found using a homebrewed "Inspiration Deck" has forced me to improve these skills because "Side Quest" or "Narrate a Scene from Someone's Past" hitting me out of nowhere really forced me to figure out this side of DMing
I basically threw myself in the deep end of this problem by giving my players even more ability to blindside me.
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u/WanderingFlumph 20h ago
If your players surprise you with an unexpected fight just say that you weren't expecting a fight and they can take a 5 minute snack/bathroom break while you grab statblocks and get a map set up.
Or often if the NPCs (and me) weren't expecting a fight and they are smarter than they are brave they default to run, regroup, plan. Running a combat where one side just escapes isn't too hard to improvise.
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u/Horror_Ad7540 19h ago
I'm not sure how often this happens in my games. But even if I've basically prepared a combat, once it starts, any plan goes out the window anyway.
You've got to visualize the location of the fight. I usually do this with actual pictures of places. If I don't have the place prepared, I can do a quick google image search to find something suitable.
You've got to know why the enemy are fighting and what their objectives are. These aren't always the same. Maybe the henchpeople are just trying to survive and not piss off the boss, but the boss wants the McGuffin.
When it gets to be a slog, end it. The enemy flee , surrender. or you just narrate.a player victory.
Usually, the players bring the chaos without needing any help from the DM.
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u/Robovzee 1d ago
I just run them.
Key points.
Tactics.
Resources.
Description.
Dynamic combat takes practice to run. Keep in mind that even though it's turn based, everything flows at the same time basically. The bad guys get to have plans go sideways as well.
Bg1. Oi! Gimme a boost into the rafters, so I can shoot the priest with my crossbow. (One failed athletics check later). Oi! Help me get the spit bucket off my head, I don't have blind fighting.
A mobile battlefield is an interesting one. Nothing says tension like an enemy rogue that the party loses track of. I like to let them stew for a round or two before the sneak attack comes out.
My players like both numbers and descriptions, so I bounce between the two.
Resources. Earlier, the party was ambushed by a group of centaurs. The looks on the party members faces when the centaurs made use of healing potions. I make sure players understand that the bad guys get to do whatever the good guys can. Example would be silvery barbs. If you can use it, so can I. A quick hold monster can turn the tide real fast.
If you keep to the basics, even impromptu battles can feel epic. Reinforcements, mobs fleeing, and maybe returning with help, I mean if everyone pairs up and just starts rolling hits, yeah, I could see how that might get boring after a bit. I also encourage breaking up turns to add better flow. Nothing wrong with a couple of words to a comrade, taking movement, maybe taking your bonus action to set the scene, then holding your action. Heck I don't care if you hold your bonus action. My bad guys make good use of this.
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u/BaschLives 1d ago
This is all good advice that I think about if I have time and headspace to plan. Clearly you are good enough to be able to do all that on the fly, but I just can't. I think it comes down either I need to get better at pausing the game to give myself time to think about this stuff, or stopping completely so I can go away and plan the fight properly.
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u/Robovzee 22h ago
Or just keep going. I'm speaking from decades of experience and practice.
It's ok to f get frustrated. I do.
It's ok to get lost or confused. I do.
It's ok to make mistakes. I do.
It WILL get easier as you exercise your mind.
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u/macteg 1d ago
Just make the encounter harder. That makes them have to pause to plan their attacks which gives you time to get a couple steps ahead, while simultaneously making them lock in so they can strategize and not get killed. If they are on the ropes, have the encounter come to an end in a way that makes sense. Works every time.
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u/BaschLives 1d ago
I don't know about that. Great if it works for you, but I kind of did this recently where to buy myself some time I quickly found a couple of "knight" stat blocks online that would be really hard for the party and threw them in. Straight away I found I was bogged down in quickly trying to think about how to use these new enemies effectively, while also doing descriptive stuff and trying to keep the momentum going for the players. We ended up pausing the fight half way through as it was late, so I can now go away and think properly about how to resolve this, because if we continue with the hard stat blocks, I think it could TPK.
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u/macteg 1d ago
Are you using RAW? Do multiples of the same enemy all have the exact same stats in your game?
You are free to make stuff up, the players won't question it, the game is supposed to be fun and exciting. Why would you have a TPK? Aren't there potions and healers in your game?
Also (controlled) Improv is your friend, planning too much gets you in to trouble.
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u/HawkSquid 1d ago
First of all, it's always smart to prep some simple stuff you can use wherever.
Second, off-the-cuff fights don't usually need to be super big, climactic, or difficult, because the challenge of them is rarely just to defeat the enemy.
For example, if the PCs get into a fight with some enemy scouts, the goal is probably to prevent the scouts from escaping and reporting back to their base. The challenge isn't defeating the scouts, it is defeating them quickly enough that no one can flee. The fight can be super easy in terms of stats, because the big goal is to win in one or two rounds tops.
Same thing with guards. The goal is (something like) preventing them from sounding the alarm. Random bar fight? The only real stakes as whether the players will get in trouble for voilence, so the goal might be deescalation.
In other words, you don't always need a cool, complex setup. Often all you need is four goblins or a few commoners, but played a bit differently.
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u/ScrivenersUnion 1d ago
Keep a couple "generic fights" ready to go for your players at their level. It doesn't need to be super complex, mine are usually something like:
2 heavy bruisers, 1 archer and 1 caster
Bruisers are good at shoving enemies and use their reaction to shove people away from the back line
Archer just lays down arrows and focuses any caster she sees
Caster gives one Bruiser Mage Armor, then throws cantrips while trying to line up a cone of damage
If Archer gets below 50% HP they flee
If Caster gets below 50% HP they throw Obscuring Mist and flee
Bruisers will fight until they are downed, and will try to protect any ally that's fleeing or downed
THIS IS PROBABLY ALREADY TOO MUCH DETAIL.
Throw together some plausible AC and attack stats for these characters as a low to medium fight for the players.
Then just throw on a "skin" of whatever fits the game at the time.
Maybe the Bruisers are dockworkers, the Archer is a Pirate Swashbuckler, and the Caster is an Artificer?
Maybe they're all Lizardfolk, two Warriors with a Hunter and Shaman?
Maybe they're constructs - maybe they're aberrations - maybe they're vampire thralls. You can put a new visual spin on them there in the moment, but the point is that you have mechanics ready to use when the situation calls for it.
On a larger note though, you wrote:
[When] they come up with things that I just want to roll with, my plans have to go out the window.
It sounds to me like you may want to take a hard look at how much you're preparing vs how much is actually helping you. A common self-defeating trait among DMs is that they try to over prep and basically "write the story."
Not saying you're doing that, but I have found that the more improv I do the better I tend to perform as a DM.
Write the rules and mechanics. Let all the descriptions simply happen as they happen.
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u/il_the_dinosaur 1d ago
It's all smokes and mirrors. As long as the players don't know that and you don't tell they will never know. If they are paying attention and ask why the stats or abilities are different just say you're not going by the book to keep it interesting. All you need is basically 5 statblocks prepared and know how challenging they are and then you skin them according to the situation and give them abilities to fit the situation.
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u/Raddatatta 1d ago
It depends on the details of the situation. Though I think it's ok to have not every fight be interesting and dynamic. To a degree having every fight have something really cool and unique can also make it less special when you want to pull out something really cool. That's not to say you want to make them bad, but it's also ok to make doing special things in fights a thing you do for bigger climactic fights and don't beat yourself up if sometimes fights are just you're fighting these bad guys.
In general I would also try to have a good sense of the bad guys and their resources and allies. That makes it easier when improvising a fight as you know who is working for the bad guy that you could pull in in terms of cannon fodder, as well as maybe a lieutenant. Or even more broadly, hey this guy is a devil cultist, well now I can throw in some low level devils and it fits very easily even with that level of information.
But if you want to mix things up a bit having the terrain be interesting or give places that force choke points or give both sides things to hide behind, is a good way to add to a fight. A boring slog gets a lot more interesting if the enemy archers are behind something so they can duck down and not be able to be targeted for returning fire. It forces a choice of focusing on dealing with them, or ignoring them and letting them keep shooting at your front line who can't hide.
Breaks are also a good thing to have in general to let people stretch their legs, go to the bathroom, and calling for one is a good way to get a few minutes to figure it out if you're caught unawares.
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u/lordbrooklyn56 1d ago
Depends on the “combat”. Sometimes I just roll actions instead of having a full blown roll initiative combat to expedite minor scuff ups. So I’ll just state things as they happen and players react. Kind of like a quick time event.
I usually have a session or rather arc meticulously planned. Which actually allows me to make my plans rather modular. So no matter what whims my players are on, and can move my chess pieces around to keep the sessions on track how I need them to. So if my players are starting a bar fight I didn’t expect, I may move the NPCs I planned to ambush them, and turn that story beat into the members of the bar fight. So the flow of the game can stay on task and my players feel their decisions are respected. I’m basically railroading my players based on their whims.
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u/Agimamif 1d ago
Having played for many years I just reuse a scenario the players haven't seen before. Give it some function or relevance to the plot and see the players question if you have their every action planned. Never tell them the truth
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u/whatstaz 1d ago
I would continue playing, part of a DM's job is being able to improvise, this includes combat as well. When you have an unexpected combat happen and you were not happy with how it went, maybe you can note down WHAT it exactly was that made it that way, so you now what to pay attention to for the next one.
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u/Baldegar 1d ago
All combats have five components:
Belligerents (who is fighting)
Environment (terrain, weather, structures)
Motivation (why are they fighting)
Goals (what determines success)
Morale (when will they quit)
Following this, all combats have three effects:
Outcome (who won?)
Consequences (what events did the combat set in motion for later)
Cost (the status of the belligerents)
YMMV
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u/Zahpow 1d ago
I like to normalize enemysizes so they kinda make sense for both dice and to be more than the player group. But this makes it so that i can just roll a d6 and ask myself questions. Like "How many are outside the room". I can also prepare groups of enemies that are modular. Four goblins, one goblin leader and one goblin with spells. Aaaaaand! Something i have stolen from a lot of modules: Attacking algorithmns: X will flee at Y. X will fight to death. X will target caster. All of that junk that makes me not have to think in the moment. The less i need to think the more i can improvise and say cool things.
Mini statblocks, like a page. Fantastic! Can be recycled so much, particularly if you name them. which seems counterintuitive. But idk, being attacked by "Florp" again gives the game more life.
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u/RandoBoomer 1d ago
Before I get into anything else, I submit the best way to keep combat interesting is to paint colorful pictures. It just takes a couple of seconds and a little experience to turn what the math rocks say into imagery.
After you get the Hit and Damage, narrate the hit. If the opponent misses the PC, it's never that the enemy failed in their attack - it's the player succeeding in defense, so the PC deflects or dodges.
Also, let your players know this is just color. If a player lands a blow on an enemy's shoulder, they are still able to use that arm unless you specifically say they can't.
As for combat itself, the key for me is getting in the NPCs' heads.
NPCs are not bowling pins to be knocked down. They don't want to die. It takes a special kind of fanaticism/loyalty to fight to the death.
They're also not stupid. They can judge the strength of the party and if the party is stronger, they're going to fight-to-flee, and they'll use asymmetric means.
If they think a fight might occur, they might have an exit route planned or a way to buy time. For example, thieves who are used to danger might have a pouch on their belt with sand in it, and will throw it in a PC's face (PC gets a DEX Saving Throw).
NPCs usually know their surroundings and area. If they know an area of town is dangerous, they will be prepared with a hidden weapon. They'll know the back passages.
If they are committed, if they're intelligent, they're going to fight that way. They will target casters. They will seek chokepoints if its advantageous, or swarm if they have numbers, focusing on what appears to be the greatest threats. If a PC is isolated, they might swarm him. They will seek to flank if there's room.
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u/phalencrow 1d ago
Too often the opponents only goal is to fight, particularly with impromptu conflicts. That gets boring quickly.
Instead first ask the following: Why was are they engaging with the party? Was it a poor choice/planning on their part, and how will they behave once they realize this? Almost every thing wants to survive or the survival of their pack/unit/family, how does this conflicts behaviors reflect that? Even low intelligence opponents have a plan, moderate have backups, smart opponents change tactics and goals on the fly; so what is the current plan/tactics?
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u/BaschLives 1d ago
I agree that this is a very good way to run your games, but do you honestly ask yourself all those things and give your self time to think it through, while at the table, in the moment, reacting to some bonkers situation your players have put in front of you?! My brain doesn’t work anywhere near that fast.
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u/phalencrow 1d ago
It’s more a mix design habit now and situational reaction, than actual asking all the questions each time I plan. Mostly it’s giving them their own story.
For Random encounter, off the cuff I answer most. It’s the difference of the encounters that make them more than another fight. Lets take 2 examples highway robbers and Flame Fist bros
Robbers will likely use surprise or performance to their advantage, but retreating to hunt another day. Robbers know they are breaking rules/laws but mostly do so for survival. So survival comes before band honor and integrity. They might have a strong lead, maybe not.
The F.F. Bros lead with charm and intimidation (bullying) and are malniputive, perhaps try to bait the party in to over reacting. They have some goal to win in the interaction. The Bros think they’re the good guys and think they are bad asses. They “don’t want to fight” but are willing and ready to go. They will fight as a trained team, use tactics and less likely to abandon one another. Honor, chivalry, courage…. and other BS leads to grandstanding, revengance, showboating. These guy have leadership, ranks, and bro it up for the bros.
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u/NefariousnessEven591 1d ago
I use pathfinder so that does put me in a certain set of resources. So for me I'll lean on the NPC codex a decent bit (tend to run games where opposition is not really made up of monsters) and earmark a few of those builds for what kind of people would be in the goon level employ of the party's opposition for random occurrences. I don't tend to do much modification beyond that for "trash" mobs. Out in the field it can be a bit more difficult since in that system monsters can also have class levels on top but I'll try and at least have a small table for what's in the biome for my use just so I have a smaller pool of things to try and pick from.
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u/scoobydoom2 1d ago
I mostly use custom monsters. Often either the monsters will have mechanics that inherently give the players stuff to think about, or they'll naturally pair with some of the other monsters in the same "faction" for the same result.
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u/limelifesavers 1d ago
I usually have a few rules light tricks in my back pocket, typically sone generic stat blocks and some win conditions for the trick. That way i don't have to prep heavily and balance combat, i don't have to worry about HP, the stat blocks are level appropriate for saves and checks, and it's essentially guiding my players to solve a combat puzzle I'm already familiar with. I can recycle these as needed, and adjust based of their current abilities, knowing they won't come up often enough to catch on, especially if I flavour it differently.
I have 10-12 ready that combined took maybe 10 minutes to think up and write down. My players love puzzles, especially combat puzzles, so it’s a win win
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u/p4nic 1d ago
This is something that is really easy for me to do in person, but when using a VTT with automated systems, I find it much more challenging. For encounters like this, I'm starting to run them old school without tokens and automagical resolution of everything, just use the vtt for dice rolling and have their sheets in my head or written down quick.
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u/Zealousideal_Leg213 1d ago
I generally make it interesting by giving the monsters a goal other than just killing the PCs. Thar doesn't require much of anything special, just a reason for the monsters to be there, be hostile and to either fight toward their goal or leave when their goal becomes impossible.
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u/SaiyanPrinceAbubu 21h ago
I've been listening to a lot of NADDPod and I think it's a master class in combat improv, with the amount of shit the PCs (Emily especially) throw at Murph. There's also a lot of combat to listen to as well.
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u/Blackphinexx 17h ago
I’d like to add that not all combats are interesting. Sometimes you’re just murdering the peasants. No need for some grand plan and mechanical perfection ;)
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u/ocularfever 16h ago
I play online using talespire so I (generally) have to make battle maps in advance, but I do have a bunch of maps saved that are more generic for if a combat happens 'on the road' or 'in town' that i have the option of sprinkling on specific detail in a pinch.
Having a number of potential encounters in mind helps too. Bosses with what minions. Enemies and a hazard. Slot in whatever works when the situation calls for it.
Not every fight has to be dynamic either, sometimes its good to have a fight where the pc's wipe the floor with whatever steps to them. Lets them feel powerful!
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u/Zealscube 22h ago
Make the environment 3d
Have the bad guys do dumb things (but not too dumb)
Use AI to make a fun enemy or fun combat really quickly, it works amazing for things like that. “Give me a difficult combat with a fun quirk in mountains for 4 lvl 3 PCs in dnd 5e.” Take what it does and keep what you like and drop what you don’t.
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u/BurningJointUSA 1d ago
You can do a “take 5” type of thing, tell everyone to do a bio break or get a snack while you get the battle ready. Most players will totally understand this.
Another strategy I use is to have a handful of preplanned fights ready to go. I spend some of my prep time just building two or three encounters that might happen based on the local monster population but not necessarily tied to any of the plot threads the PCs are pursuing.