D&D 5E DM Help: Tips and Tricks for Monsters In Combat

[KarinsDad]

Barbarians fight each other all the time, and the effects of rage are pretty significant. With the effects of rage as the mechanics describe them, barbarian on barbarian fights are extended slugfests.

All the time? In whose campaign?

How many barbarian on barbarian fights do you think people in a gaming world witness (talking barbarian class vs. barbarian class here, not barbarian tribesmen vs. barbarian tribesmen where the class might often be different or not even exist)?

How about Reckless Attack? That would shorten battles between barbarians.

Barbarians are a bit of a MAD class for unarmored defense. That too might often shorten battles between barbarians due to lower AC. Barbarians do not get heavy armor (although one could dip in another class and wear heavy armor, but then he could not rage anyway). Damage resistance is the game mechanic that makes up for this.

And, who exactly is standing on the sideline of a Barbarian vs. Barbarian fight with a stop watch?

No doubt, high level barbarians have a lot of ways to help survival with advantage on saves and other abilities. It's just not necessarily true with GWM, Reckless Attack, and other game mechanics that a Barbarian on Barbarian fight will be that much longer than a Barbarian on Fighter fight (where the fighter often has higher AC, can have feats like Heavy Armor Master, gets Second Wind, can feint or cast spells, gets more attacks per round at higher levels, etc.).

The point is that this POV is extrapolating character information from metagaming information where such info might not be common knowledge in a given campaign world and there are other balance factors that might limit even a Barbarian PC from having this metagame knowledge. The player knows because the player can read the PHB. The creatures in the world should not necessarily know this type of thing. Both the Barbarian and the Fighter take a long time to kill. That's what the characters should know. How the rules allow them to do that? The players know that.

 

[iserith]

There is value in killing PCs using pure PHB rules. Players have more reason to feel cheated if you killed their PC using an on-the-spot ruling that subverts PHB expectations like "I can hold my breath for a long time." Per the OP, I'd like this thread to be about tricks that work without requiring DM inventions like Tarrasques throwing trees. Lizardmen stealth attacks from underwater is fine. Lizardmen tickling you into drowning quicker is... innovative.

The rules are for the DM to use to resolve uncertainty when the DM establishes said uncertainty. Players have recourse to the fiction and the DM's rulings in exact or substantially similar situations only. As long as the DM rules fairly in this situation and gives the players an opportunity to turn their characters' fate around through good decisions, then I foresee no objection from the players with regard to how the situation is adjudicated. After all:

"Sometimes an adventurer might come to a grisly end, torn apart by ferocious monsters or done in by a nefarious villain. Even so, the other adventurers can search for powerful magic to revive their fallen comrade, or the player might choose to create a new character to carry on. The group might fail to complete an adventure successfully, but if everyone had a good time and created a memorable story, they all win." (Basic Rules, page 2.)

That said, I'll go back to suggesting nothing innovative per your request.

 

[vandaexpress]

Loved the first few posts on this thread!

Some additional thoughts to supplement, although most of this probably falls under the umbrella of what's already been shared, most of the good stuff is already out there...

• Maneuver to hit the rear lines - If there is a way for some of the monsters to run around and hit the squishy back lines, have them do it. This makes the most sense when the monsters are familiar with the dungeon layout and the party has a beefy front line holding off the main assault.
• Use wall spells to deny Line of Sight - I love using wall spells (particularly wall of fire) to deny ranged attackers line of sight on my casters and other squishies.
• Illusions are great for messing with the party - An ambush squad hiding behind an illusionary wall is pretty nasty stuff.
• Buff your creatures before combat if they have any reason to expect combat - Assuming you have a caster in play, have him buff his minions with as many non-conc buffs as he can muster before combat begins. And for the love, make sure he's got mirror image cast on himself unless you want him to be pincushioned on the first round by ranged PC characters.
• Use at least two spellcasters in really challenging encounters - When it makes sense, have two or more casters in your really tough encounters, simply because you can get some extremely nasty effects from combining multiple concentration spells to set up kill boxes (like a wall spell combined with silence, trapping the enemy casters in an area where they can't cast, for instance).

 

[bgbarcus]

Drowning takes 1+CON minutes plus 1+CON rounds. Not really something that can happen in combat-time.

Without compressing drowning time this is still a viable tactic. Once the lizardfolk have grappled a victim there is nothing stopping them from shackling him to the bottom. Then drowning time becomes a serious issue as the rest of the party tries to find and rescue the guy who got pulled under.

This sort of thing is just what my lizardfolk need to spice up the encounters.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Without compressing drowning time this is still a viable tactic. Once the lizardfolk have grappled a victim there is nothing stopping them from shackling him to the bottom. Then drowning time becomes a serious issue as the rest of the party tries to find and rescue the guy who got pulled under.

This sort of thing is just what my lizardfolk need to spice up the encounters.

By,"without compressing drowning time" do you mean "start a timer at the table; real time and game time pass at the same rate until an action is declared that requires slowdown, like combat"? That could put a lot of pressure on the players to decide quickly--sounds like fun.

This may be obvious but when running mobs of monsters, especially ones with stealth and missile weapons, you don't have to commit all your reserves immediately, nor fight to the death. Two lizard men could emerge from the river, throw a javelin each, and immediately submerge again. If the invaders pursue, that's when the other ten lizardmen throw THEIR javelins at the softest target before submerging themselves. They try to keep their distance and remain a force in being until the invaders are busy e.g. fighting carrion crawlers or spiders, then they throw more javelins and retreat back to the water. Without a swim speed, PCs will have real trouble closing in on the harassing lizard men, and they also won't be able to rest safely until these guys are dealt with.

Also, spread out so that one fireball can never hit more than 1/3 of your force. Remember that being fully submerged in water grants resistance to fire damage.

 

[bgbarcus]

I meant compressing drowning time from minutes to rounds as was suggested earlier. Putting the players on a clock would be fun for some groups. My guys would panic and get nothing done.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Here's another tip for running dragons:

Before you attack, buzz the party first. If they're climbing the slopes to your lair and you find out about it, fly over them and them dive towards them at top speed. Pull out of the dive 100 feet above their head and head back to your lair, while keeping an eye behind you to see what they did. You may take a small amount of damage in the process (you can heal by resting for an hour if you like) but you'll gain valuable intelligence on how deadly these humans are at range, and you may burn their best spells as well since many players like to nova their high-level spells and daily powers early and often. Come back in twenty minutes, or an hour if you had to rest. Their Fire Shields will have run out, their paladins will have already burned their Channel Divinity on you the first time, their wizards will have dismissed Protection From Energy, etc. This second time around you can breathe on them as you strafe them, maybe grapple one of the PCs and fly off--but don't feel that you need to commit to a full attack yet unless they seem particularly helpless, in which case go to town.

 

[DaveDash]

Loved the first few posts on this thread!

Some additional thoughts to supplement, although most of this probably falls under the umbrella of what's already been shared, most of the good stuff is already out there...

• Maneuver to hit the rear lines - If there is a way for some of the monsters to run around and hit the squishy back lines, have them do it. This makes the most sense when the monsters are familiar with the dungeon layout and the party has a beefy front line holding off the main assault.

I had some monsters with Uncanny Dodge the other night run past the Paladin soaking up the big hit then proceed to rip into the Bard who foolishly was a bit too close to the front lines. The party Wizard was forced to Force Cage them in order to protect the Bard.
So I'm a big fan of this tactic where it makes sense (not all monsters will do this all the time).

I've also had creatures with bows and good movement split up in a dungeon and fire from opposing sides, which forced the group to split up to deal with them. They they circled back around and managed to catch the Bard again isolated. This works better with dynamic lighting in roll20, because it's harder for the players to see each other and keep tabs on what's happening.

 

[Celtavian]

Enemy Casters: When playing enemy casters, it is often enough for them to use a greater invisibility spell and counter or dispel the PC casters. You do not need the enemy casters to engage in offense. An enemy caster countering the caster support of the PCs is often enough to make a battle far more difficult for the PCs. It is easy to envision an intelligent main villain hiring a caster for this sole purpose to act as an equalizing force between the martials. As a DM this creates a possibly fun and interesting scenario for your PCs. It requires the PC caster or casters to focus on finding this hidden caster enemy and dealing with him. It allows your main villain martial or big monster to have a fun fight either mano y mano with the PC martial or a big monster to have a fun free for all with the PC martials. You should always be careful to carefully design this situation so your PCs have a harrowing, fun fight that they have a good chance of winning. If you do this right, your PCs will feel an intense thrill as it pits them against a worthy adversary in single combat circumstances in a group conflict. Like those moments you see in movies where the villain and the hero square off while the battle rages around them.

 

[bgbarcus]

Enemy Casters: When playing enemy casters, it is often enough for them to use a greater invisibility spell and counter or dispel the PC casters.

This is one of the things that make me look forward to challenging high level PC's. In the early game monsters have been all about overcoming fighter hit points and hoping to make saving throws against spells. Now that we are into the mid levels (just hit 8th) I can justify enemy casters with enough Dispel Magic and Counterspell slots to be a real problem.