D&D 5E Throwing Enemies Against Walls

[WarpedAcorn]

A player with Shield Mastery is going to use their Bonus Action to Push/Shove pretty much every round. Shoving a target prone is the go-to since it gives Advantage on follow-up attacks, so I don't often see Shove used to push targets away unless there are actual ledges or hazards.

With that being said, what home rules (if any) have you used to give some incentive to have players Shove targets into walls or other obstructions? I'd like to make combat more dynamic and have some other options for players to use the environment.

 

[iserith]

I think it's reasonable that the player only shoves when there's an actual benefit to it, such as getting the target away from an ally or into a hazard. So if you want to see some wall-slamming action, throw some spikes on the walls, some contact poison, sticky spider webs, a relief of animated grasping stone hands, electrified metal plates, etc.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

What iserith said! Making dynamic battlefields can make the game a whole lot more fun. Just be sure to plan accordingly, if there’s a potential insta-kill feature like a 1,000-foot drop and you don’t want the BBEG getting cheesed to death. And don’t forget to have the monsters use the terrain to their advantage as well.

When I was doing a more swashbuckler-y campaign, I would also hand out inspiration for people doing creative things in combat.

 

[Oofta]

I allow people to slam people into walls and other solid objects. Strength based attack, 1d4 + strength modifier damage, occasionally modified by what they're being slammed into.

Of course this goes for NPCs and monsters as well. As far as pushing off walls or into pits, I give the pushed creature a saving throw appropriate for the situation. So it's pretty easy to avoid being pushed off the edge when there's a waist high railing, more difficult if it's just a sheer drop with nothing to grab onto.

 

[Quickleaf]

[MENTION=6819400]WarpedAcorn[/MENTION] What about throwing enemies through walls?

I think how mobile/engaging/cinematic a given combat is depends a lot on your vision of that scene as DM and the details you communicate about it.

For example, when the PCs were in old ruins, I described the dilapidated quality of the stone practically toppling over since the mortar had long since eroded and past structural damage had weakened any dry-stacking/locking that once had kept the stone together. IOW, I strongly foreshadowed: "You can topple these stone walls."

Sure enough they exploited the heck out of that.

Another example, I'm designing a dungeon which has an oil reservoir running through some of the halls. Basically this is a grooved alcove running the length of the wall with a shallow trough holding lamp oil. Lighting the oil causes the surface to burn providing illumination. A creature pushed into one of these walls would likely get oil covering a limb or their face.

As DMs it's easy for us to imagine the scene because either we've created it or we have the module in front of us. For players it's more challenging. So it's incumbent on us DMs to articulate the scene super clearly (which probably feels excessive/boring from our standpoint as DMs given what we already know, but actually is necessary for most players to grasp the scene).

 

[Shiroiken]

You could allow 1d6 Bludgeoning damage for every 10 ft of forced movement if a solid object is struck. Arguments could be made that the damage should happen based on the forced movement total, not the amount moved. I suggest using the amount moved, because it also sets up more dynamic fights (with moving around the target to get them towards a wall, but not next to it).

 

[Fanaelialae]

I do 1d4 damage per 5' movement remaining after the target moves adjacent to the wall.

 

[Xeviat]

1d4+str; its equivalent to the bonus action attack from Polearm Master, but restricted because it requires a wall.


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[Xeviat]

I do 1d4 damage per 5' movement remaining after the target moves adjacent to the wall.

Yes remaining! I keep seeing "per x feet traveled", but remaining makes more sense.


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[Fanaelialae]

Yes remaining! I keep seeing "per x feet traveled", but remaining makes more sense.


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Yeah, as I see it, movement that has been used is kinetic energy that has been dissipated (due to friction) therefore only what remains can hurt you. Obviously, that's a vast oversimplification but since I don't want to pause the session every time someone casts thunderwave to calculate a trajectory and the energy needed based on a target's estimated mass to travel that distance (not to mention defining how many Joules equate a point of damage), it works. In fairness, it makes just a much sense to do it based off of the total distance that the forced movement effect is capable of moving the target (Newton's first law) but from a game perspective I prefer the trade off between utility and damage. It also makes anyone using forced movement want to maneuver their target as close to a wall as possible, and it creates at least a small disincentive for always putting your back to a wall.

This is what I use for pushing someone into another creature:

If you use forced movement to force a target against another creature (or other unfixed object) then that creature must make a Dexterity saving throw against a DC 10. On a successful save no collision occurs and the target passes through the space. On a failed saving throw a collision occurs and both the target and the creature take half of 1d4 damage for every 5 feet of movement remaining after the target is moved adjacent to the creature. If the target is no more than one size larger than the creature, the target's forced movement ends and it lands prone in a space of your choice adjacent to the creature. If the creature is no more than one size larger than the target, the creature is knocked prone. A target can only take this damage once per turn and a creature can only be forced to make this saving throw once per turn. (That last part is just there so that you can't abuse telekinesis when throwing a human at a horde of pixies or whatnot.)