Paul Strack
First Post
Two complaints I've been getting lately is that combats are running long and are not brutal enough. I have an idea for how to address both issues.
At the beginning of any combat round where it is clear the PCs will probably win a fight (generally when about half the monsters are down), the combat enters Sudden Death for the rest of the encounter. During Sudden Death, the following rules apply.
1) Any damage that is not tied to an attack roll is doubled: auras, sustained effects, ongoing damage, etc.
2) Any normal hit counts as a critical hit.
3) Any critical hit automatically kills a normal monster, and does double critical damage to a PC, elite monster or solo monster.
4) The penalty for making attacks that do not include the person who marked you is doubled (to -4), to prevent monsters from dog-piling on characters with lower defenses.
5) A PC does not die automatically if driven below to negative his bloodied hit point value. Instead, he is dying, and counts has having failed two death saves already. A PC reduced to negative his full hit point value automatically dies.
How does this sound? I am not aiming to speed up the entire combat. I am just trying to end things quickly when it is clear one side will win, but to still keep the last few rounds of combat exciting.
At the beginning of any combat round where it is clear the PCs will probably win a fight (generally when about half the monsters are down), the combat enters Sudden Death for the rest of the encounter. During Sudden Death, the following rules apply.
1) Any damage that is not tied to an attack roll is doubled: auras, sustained effects, ongoing damage, etc.
2) Any normal hit counts as a critical hit.
3) Any critical hit automatically kills a normal monster, and does double critical damage to a PC, elite monster or solo monster.
4) The penalty for making attacks that do not include the person who marked you is doubled (to -4), to prevent monsters from dog-piling on characters with lower defenses.
5) A PC does not die automatically if driven below to negative his bloodied hit point value. Instead, he is dying, and counts has having failed two death saves already. A PC reduced to negative his full hit point value automatically dies.
How does this sound? I am not aiming to speed up the entire combat. I am just trying to end things quickly when it is clear one side will win, but to still keep the last few rounds of combat exciting.