How to Make D&D Combat More Fun

Many a person has put their two cents in on this subject. Some of those pennies have been good, some are one-trick-pennies (see what I did there?)

For example: "Have another monster/group enter the fray halfway through the battle!"

That's good once. Exactly once. Do it a second time, and your players will never again assume that the monsters they see when initiative is rolled (if you use initiative, see below) are all there is to the fight. Just like how if the DM makes use of explosive runes during session one, no PC will ever read any writing during that campaign ever again. Not that I'm bitter, or anything...

So without further to do, here are my tips for making D&D (etc. etc.) combat more fun.

1. Get rid of Opportunity Attacks. There are many reasons for doing this. But the most important is that OAs penalize PCs for moving. Moving makes combat interesting. OAs = no movement = boring combat. You learned to put difficult and fancy terrain in your combats from some other list? Great! Now watch the PCs not use it at all for fear of getting hit with a sword on the way there...
2. Make initiative better. Look, in-line initiative is the easiest way to arbitrate combat for beginners, but after a few years of experience, it becomes a hinderance. When everyone knows they are free for 5 minutes or more after their turn is done, people start leaving the table for beer and chips and phone calls and Starcraft II, etc. Don't let that happen. Your initiative system (or your ability to narrate and move combat without initiative at all) needs to keep everyone glued to their seats. I think popcorn initiative may be the best middle ground. If you reeeeeaaaaally love in-line initiative, allow combatants to knock other people down the order with stunning effects, etc. Keep the order dynamic.
3. A miss should only be "plain ol' miss" about a third of the time. There is a whole world between fumbles and hits that few DMs and players every explore. I have my own fumble rules, but when it comes to interpreting a miss, I like to fly by the seat of my pants. For example, your longsword-wielding paladin player has just rolled a 2 against his dark knight nemesis. Are you just gonna let this be another miss? No! What if that dark knight caught the paly's sword blade between his armor and shield? Cool. And a free pseudo-grapple by the opponent isn't so harsh as to be fumble territory. Just let PCs do this to enemies too.
4. Escape plans. Any moderately intelligent enemy should have one. If they are hurt or outnumbered, they flee. And this is a win-win, because either they can become a reoccurring villain if they get away, or it starts a chase (which your combat should have more of too).
5. Don't roll that initiative die just yet. In games with an initiative system, there is this strange moment where non-combat becomes combat. The DM says "roll initiative" and...

It is impossible to roll initiative and then try and think of a way to succeed in the current situation without combat. The fighter will instantly go into attack mode. There is, of course, a lot to be said for being a good player and having a good DM. But I swear those two words create a pavlovian response and the itch for violence, even when it is not the most fun thing the PCs could do. So instead, wait to roll until a real combat situation has dawned. If the PCs are up on a ledge above a basilisk, even if the basilisk sees them, let them act outside of any initiative order until someone gets into a melee with the thing.

6. Destroy the environment. A lot of people will tell you to describe, in gross detail, every attack and wound during combat. However, there is an issue here, and that is abstract Hit Points. Unless you use one of those god-awful wound/blood/fatigue/guts/vitality/blah systems, not every hit means drawing blood, and saying a PC got stabbed in the kidney when they aren't even below half HP yet gets confusing. The other problem is that no matter how many organs pop out of someone, it doesn't make combat more interesting. No one is going to pick up a liver and try beating their opponent to death with it. BUT, furniture and such is easy to break. Everyone knows the parts of a chair, table, chest, etc. If you break those things, PCs will immediately recognize that new, makeshift weapons and tools are available to them in the fight. Also, if your large monsters are not pile-driving your PCs into furniture on the regular, I don't know what you are doing with your life...

7. Meanwhile, back at the ranch. At the end of every round, however you define that in combat, change the stakes. If it is a castle defense combat, have a hail of arrows, or a catapulted boulder, or a battering ram, or a bunch of ladders suddenly become relevant. If you are just in a dungeon with a single monster, have spells light the fungi on fire, have bats fly through the area because of the noise, have the monster's stomping cause loose rock or dirt to fall from the ceiling. Give every round its own little special event so the pace stays engaging.

8. Let the smaller/sneakier enemies hide mid-fight. This is a good escape plan, but also a great way to change the tempo of the fight. A cluttered or multi-walled area lends itself to suddenly disappearing and then stabbing people in the back.

9. Weather, baby. A downpour goes a loooooong way to setting the mood and making cool description easier. Also, wind, snow, hail, sleet, lightning, debris flying through the air. Stop having so many temperate, sunny encounters. In a dungeon? Well, the ground absorbs water, you could potentially have a wet season in a dungeon. Volcanic shafts could break through in certain places. And when all else seems too contrived, magic is the answer for why there is SO MUCH DAMN SNOW IN THIS UNDERGROUND CAVERN!

0. Combat is a drug. And the more you have of it in your game, the less it will impact the players. I recently played in a game where the first session consisted of saving a town from an invasion of kobolds under the leadership of a blue dragon. We had no less than six encounters with kobolds back-to-back-to-back, which I'm sure made sense to the DM, since it was a large town being invaded by an army of kobolds. But I can tell you that I, and essentially every player at the table, was bored by the end of encounter #2. I would have given anything to go help some people escape burning buildings instead. (In fact, I did. I had my character literally jump through a window and into a burning building to help a family, entirely skipping the group of kobolds outside that we were supposed to fight first). Two rules of thumb here. First, build up to your combats, like how the drums build up to the Mines of Moria encounter in LotR. Second, make it big, hectic, and deadly.

A quick aside on deadliness. Pitting a group of level 1 PCs against an ancient red dragon is not deadly, it's a joke. BUT! Pitting them against a group of orcs twice their number in the middle of a gladiatorial arena that has tigers and lions chained to posts at various locations is do-able. The PCs will need brains and brawn and luck, but if it required anything less, it wouldn't be worth including in your fantasy D&D game. 

Movie Initiative (Part 2)

Here is part 1, read up!

So, as a refresher, the initiative system we're discussing here is this:

Phase 1: People using magic declare they are going to do so. Describe the beginning of the ritual/casting.
Phase 2: People using ranged attacks declare they are going to do so. Describe the aiming, nocking,etc.
Phase 3: People attacking in melee declare so, and then do so simultaneously.
Phase 4: People moving declare so and then do so simultaneously. (Helpful to have a speed mechanic here. I should also add that this is when characters who are using their turn for anything outside of combat or magic takes their action.)
Phase 5: All ranged attacks are resolved.
Phase 6: All spells/magic effects are resolved.

So let's explore the implications of this system a bit.

First of all, although it has phases, it clearly implies that all of this stuff is happening more or less simultaneously. Declaring actions is meant to draw attention to the fact that spells and projectile attacks can be interrupted before they occur. So although the aiming and chanting happens at the same time as the swinging and running, the magic and ranged attacks are not complete until after the melee attacks and moves have resolved.

So, if your sorcerer or archer gets hit in the face with a broadsword, that thing you were trying to do doesn't happen. No concentration checks or anything, all you have protecting you are your fellow party members, your strategic positioning during the encounter, and your Armor Class.

Since melee attacks are declared and then resolved immediately, they cannot be interrupted in the same way.

By the same token, moving can be done without any prep, so if a combatant wants to turn tail and run, there is no opportunity attack or arrow to the knee that can stop him before he starts (though that arrow may bring him down half way to his escape). However, if a combatant is going to run, it should be pretty clear after they do not cast, aim, or swing in melee. So although opportunity attacks are not part of this system, melee attackers can choose to wack the guys who look ready to flee if they so desired.


My system uses a "ganging-up" mechanic (largely based on one from Within the Ring of Fire), which replaces flanking for theater of the mind combat. Essentially, successive attacks against the same combatant in the same round of combat get bonuses to hit. This not only leads to cool combo moves planned out by the party on the fly, but it also gives a little bonus to those bow and javelin users.

Since all melee attacks occur before the ranged attacks, ranged attackers have their pick of the lot for targets. That goblin that your rogue and fighter just smacked upside the head but failed to kill? Well he's too busy to dodge your arrow, so you have a nice hefty bonus if you loose your bowstring in his direction.

Essentially, this system gives ranged attackers time to pick good targets. Shots that are "open," so to speak.


You might wonder how magicians fair in this system, since they essentially warn everyone of what they are doing at the beginning, and then only get to finish their spell at the very end. That would seem like a huge disadvantage. Because it is.

But, when you use that disadvantage and get rid of the usual ones, it balances out. In my system, there are no saves versus magic. There aren't even attacks with magic projectiles like a magic missile. If your spell goes off at the end of the round, it just works, no questions asked. The only option for combatants trying to avoid a spell are to stop it before it finishes, or get out of its area of effect.

***

All this talk is good, but let me run you through an example round to give you a better idea of how this would work:

The situation: You kick down the door to the evil cult's lair and just inside they have some poor guy tied to the floor above a pentagram, ready to be carved like a christmas ham. There are five cultists, two on either side of the would-be sacrifice, and another across the room, reading from a black tome of cult-y magics. The fight is on.

Phase 1: The head cultists at the back of the room flips to a different page in his evil book and begins chanting and motioning with his free hand. The candles lit throughout the room have their flames stolen and collected into a ball of fire the size of a watermelon at the tip of the cultists fingers. Slowly the fiery mass condenses and shrinks, burning brighter with each passing second.

Meanwhile, the party wizard pulls out a scroll from her belt and unfurls it, whispering in an arcane language and taking a few steps toward the pentagram.

Phase 2: The party rogue uses throwing daggers, cuz he's a bad ass halfling with a chip on his shoulder. He's about to pull one out and make a pin-cushion out of that fireball wielding cultist, but the party fighter says "I got this," and takes a javelin from his back. "You get that guy untied," the warrior nods toward that poor sap on the floor, and the rogue agrees.

One of the cultists pulls out a dagger and takes aim at the party wizard, but luckily...

Phase 3: The cleric takes notice and moves himself between the two. He uses his mace to knock some sense into that knife-totting cultist, who loses his shot at our caster friend.

Unfortunately for the cleric, two of the other cultists give him a run for his money, and their combined (melee) dagger hits take away nearly half the cleric's HP. Ouch, being outnumbered really sucks.

The last cultist goon takes his knife and goes to shiv the fighter before he can toss his pointy stick at their leader, but his pitiful attempt is sidestepped by our handsome warrior and the cultist tumbles out the broken door frame.

Phase 4: The rogue now takes his turn, cutting the captive free, who immediately scrambles for the door, though he doesn't get out quite yet.

Phase 5: The javelin flies through the air, piercing the cultist's black book to his chest and poking out the other the sorcerer's back. His ball of fire goes pifft into a wisp of smoke harmlessly. He stumbles backward, nearly dead.

Phase 6: The wizard's scroll glows a bright blue, and from its parchment an icy ray rockets toward the cult leader. His body freezes solid in a matter of seconds, and then falls backwards from the dais, shattering on the ground into a million tiny cult-cubes.

[Aftermath]: The other four cultists look back in horror at the effectiveness of the party, but know that if they continue their attack, they may take this cleric heathen with them to hell. The freed stranger cries many thanks as he continues toward the door. And the battle continues...

***

There ya go. Hope it sounds interesting enough for you to give it a try.

Movie Initiative (Part 1)

I find it rather laughable that many D&D clones (including itself) put together huge and complex weapons subsystems, armor subsystems, saves vs. magic systems, monster abilities, etc., all to enhance the feel and drama of the combat, and then shove it all into an initiative system that makes it feel like waiting in line at a coffee shop.

You can think of cyclical initiative (what D&D has used since at least 3e) as the Power Rangers combat choreography system. Each enemy lines up opposite the PCs, and they all take turns punching each other. The camera cuts to each ranger one at a time and stays completely still as the ranger or his opponent takes a swing.

Snooze. Fest. (Edit: Even more snooze fest now that it was deleted from YouTube! Darn you Fox!!)

Here is the initiative system you SHOULD use. It's more like the Avengers saving Manhattan choreography system.

First, you establish the stakes. The biggest of the stakes is what magics are planning to be used this turn. Next, it would be what projectiles are about to fly through the air. But you don't resolve these yet.

Think of Legolas taking aim with his bow, or a sorcerer speaking words of dark power. In the movies, these moments of aiming/casting are never set and resolved in the same cut. The camera always goes to their target first. How about Boromir at Amon Hen:

Lurtz draws his bowstring. >>> Ranged attackers declare actions.
We see Boromir protecting the hobbits. >>> Melee attackers declare and resolve actions.
Lurtz looses his bowstring. >>> Ranged attackers resolve actions.
We see Boromir get hit by the arrow. >>> Aftermath of round, new stakes for combat established.

See what I mean? No? Okay, watch this:

This fight scene has an epic feel not only because the scale is epic, but because the way we move through it is epic. We follow the drama (generally in a character or projectile moving) from melee to melee. But what is key is that there is a rhythm that is consistent throughout. At the beginning of the fight we follow characters on the fringe of the battle into the fight's center. We see how high the stakes are, then, we resolve the most intense of those stakes (the giant galacta-whale) by the end of the "round" of combat.

Is the fight over? No, of course not. But when you frame each round around the most relevant stakes and the combatants' immediate goals, you feel like the fight is moving somewhere in EVERY moment. It also makes the fight feel like one big team effort as opposed to a couple really good hits from the designated hitters. It allows for a combined strategy like the Hulk and Thor made to take down that soar whale, or Iron Man and Cap America used to zap those goons.

So here is how I would organize each round:

Phase 1: People using magic declare they are going to do so. Describe the beginning of the ritual/casting.
Phase 2: People using ranged attacks declare they are going to do so. Describe the aiming, nocking,etc.
Phase 3: People attacking in melee declare so, and then do so simultaneously.
Phase 4: People moving declare so and then do so simultaneously. (Helpful to have a speed mechanic here).
Phase 5: All ranged attacks are resolved.
Phase 6: All spells/magic effects are resolved.

There we go. Stew over that, and you can read more about its implications (as I see them) in my next post.