by Katherine Griebe

Created on: January 17, 2010   Last Updated: January 18, 2010

The following is a list of pointers that I hope will be helpful to DMs who wish to improve various aspects of combat in their games.

1) Monsters should be more than just random encounters. Players will have a much greater interest in the interaction (and be more likely to roleplay) if the monster has a name and a memorable personality. "Hobbles the Goblin" who is a pathological liar and cleptomaniac as well as a miserable coward (but secretly longs to be a dashing Bard and take center stage) is much more interesting to PCs than a straight-out-of-the-book goblin who attacks you and is shortly thereafter forgotten.

2) Try not to take any players "out of commission" for more than a round or two (at most - preferably not even that long). This means that you should try to avoid things like stunning, paralysis, unconsciousness, death, etc. for the players unless it is a really short battle (and be careful of this - some battles end up dragging out a LOT longer than you would reasonably anticipate them to). This is for the simple reason that rounds take an eternity and no one wants to sit there and do nothing while his friends are continuing to interact and have fun. As any player who has been in this position before knows, it is incredibly boring and tends to build more than a little resentment between members (particularly if the same person dies/is paralyzed again and again).

3) I would suggest not using "instant death" magic/abilities (for the sake of reason #2)

4) Not all monsters should be a challenge for the party, particularly as the PCs hit higher levels. Incorporate some weak encounters now and then, just to show the players how far their characters have come if nothing else. They can also be really good for comic relief, particularly if they take themselves very seriously and (even better) if the players would have taken them seriously too, many levels earlier.

5) Mix up the battles a bit. Use one or two big enemies in one combat, a bunch of small, weak enemies in another, a mix between those two in another, etc. Also mix up terrain types. Go to different areas to fight (ie: underwater, in the air, in caverns, in deserts, in mountains, etc.) and include appropriate combat/terrain features for those areas.

6) Give the PCs terrain that they can interact with in battle rather than just a flat, featureless playing field. This means adding rubble they can move through/have a hard time getting over, ledges they can climb onto to get higher ground, pits they can

• 1
• 2
• 3
• ...
• 15
• Next Page >>