D&D 4E Best 4E Tactical Encounters

[TarionzCousin]

I am looking to borrow a specific encounter or three but not the entire adventure.

From the published material available, what are the best tactical encounters you have experienced in play in 4E?

Which encounters had meaningful choices either in or out of combat?

What made them so great?

What is the absolute best/coolest encounter you have ever seen and why?

What is your favorite color?

 

[Tony Vargas]

I've been in some tactically interesting encounters. I can't recall that any of them were ever from a published module or adventure, though. What I remember vividly from published modules are encounters involving overleveled monsters that you can't hit but one time in five that take for ever to kill, and dangerous terrain features that inveriably are polite enough not to do anything to the monsters encountered there.

I've had the good fortune to play with some good DMs, and they come up with occassionally very engaging encounters. I think, that to really take full advantage of 4e's potential for tactical play, it helps if the DM knows the players' styles and preferences. Part of an interesting encounter is the players' interest in the encounter. I know, that's a tautology, but I can't think of a better way of putting it.


If you were running for me, for intstance, you'd find that I enjoy longer more complex combats with many enemies (even if some are minions) and lots of terrain features (that the monsters /don't/ ignore) over elite and solo encounters in simple or stilted terrain.

 

[renau1g]

I like the idea of having a skill challenge in with the combat encounter. In one PbP game I'm running, a tribe of kobolds is essentially held prisoner by a dragon and its dragonborn underlings. After the 1st encounter where the heroes beat up pretty heavily on the kobolds, they found out this info. The next battle is against a pair of the DB's and another decent sized group of kobolds. Knowing that the kobolds hate their captors the party Psion attempted to use diplomacy to sway the kobolds to not fight. This now is a skill challenge and combat encounter together and it looks like it'll be a lot of fun.

 

[Festivus]

Some of the more memorable encounters I have run had the following mix:

Interesting terrain - It wasn't a basic room... there were things you could interact with, things that might hurt you, and things that the enemy knows about and uses to it's advantage. All three of those components in an encounter makes that terrain piece a win. Imagine an alchemists workshop... you have explosive chemicals everywhere, perhaps some spilled already, hot cauldrons of something, heavy bookshelves that could topple over.

Interesting combatants - This isn't typically a elite with a bunch of minions, but usually a well thought out mix of combatants that all play off one another's abilities. Creatures with immunity to poison mixed with poisonous aura creatures for example.

Most important of all - A good reason why you are fighting to begin with. I really enjoy encounters where there is meaning and purpose to the fight. Just fighting something to pump up the XP and having little rhyme or reason to be there sucks. Put a skill challenge in it's place and have more fun with it.

edit: Having a skill challenge in there is nice, but I would say only if there is a chance that some combatants won't be effective. A good example of this was a fight with a colossus, which you cannot harm directly. So we had the fighter lock it down with the ranger while the wizard and rogue worked out how to disable the control mechanisms.

 

[renau1g]

... and dangerous terrain features that inveriably are polite enough not to do anything to the monsters encountered there. ...

One thing to consider is that intelligent monsters/foes would seek out terrain that is advantageous to them (or adapt to it). Now not every encounter, i.e. if a desert sandstorm happens many creatures should be affected, but creatures with blindsight/tremorsense won't be blinded by it.

 

[vic20]

These are all fine guidelines for encounter design, but the OP wants examples of existing, published tactical combats.

 

[darjr]

The Radiant Vessel of Thesk has a good one.

Spoiler

In the last fight there are the really bad guys and their Orc mercenaries. They have the pregnant Radiant Vessel as a hostage and her daughter and her are dying during labor. The characters must choose to save the Vessel or her daughter, cause they know that only one will live. In the meantime the bad guys are attacking. Also they should turn the Orcs against their bosses. One of the Orcs fell in love with an Orc back in town and turning them is the only way to save her.

Two skill challenges in a single combat encounter, ones that cause the players to do stupid things tactically in order to succeed.

 

[TarionzCousin]

These are all fine guidelines for encounter design, but the OP wants examples of existing, published tactical combats.

Yeah, but I'll take anything that's good and has sufficient detail for me to possibly recreate. I'm not picky.

 

[renau1g]

Oh yeah that one. I liked it darjr.

 

[babinro]

Are we even allowed to post published encounter design material?

I've always been a fan of encounters with a 'video game' style feel that incorporate environment manipulation or skill challenge like effects.

Example 1: Cracking the bosses shell to expose a weak point. A solo has extremely strong resistances/armor that can be overcome should a environmental effect be triggered against it....a ballista bolt, a large chandelier, activation of a magical item that could relate to skill checks etc.

Example 2: Creatures are continually summoned by magical portals/relics. The use of enough focus fire or skills will cause these magical items to malfunction and stop the assault.

Example 3: The party enters some sort of dungeon with only one meaningful entrance. They are followed or attacked by an overwhelming force from the outside trying to accomplish the same goal as them/protect whatever the party is trying to find. Knowledge/Perception indicates that the ceiling is on the brink of collapse...the party has to defend against waves of minions and topple the ceiling before getting overwhelmed. Alternatively, a statue could be knocked over the entrance given enough strength/push effects applied to it simultaneously.

Example 4: Your typical first person shooter game encounter where there are stationary turret like weapons that can be utilized by the party after they take down the people using them. In other words, encounters that enable the use of alternative one time attacks being granted to the party. Flame turrets with close blast attacks against waves of zombie minions/swarms of insects is a pretty fun diversion for a single target PC's to play with.