Do you ever "call" fights?

[Greenfield]

I generally try to remember that the world doesn't level up with the PCs.

In one scenario, it was winter in the northlands, which meant snow and sub-zero temperatures. The party were among the very few travelers on the frozen roads (world without snow plows, you know) when they spotted some poor sap trying to hide behind a leafless bush. Turns out he was a bandit, hoping to prey upon travelers. None of the rest of his normal crew were crazy/desperate enough to join him, so he sat out there freezing his feet off, waiting for the travelers that never came.

The party felt sorry for him, and tossed him some coin. One of them cast Endure elements on him, and they sent him on home to take care of his family.

It wouldn't have been much of a fight, with him being 1st or 2nd level Expert (the NPC class version of a Rogue) and them being around 14th. But they spent a spell in the encounter, and that could have come back and bitten them.

Had there been an actual bandit troupe there would have been an equally short encounter, it just would have had more bodies on the ground. But I've found that players will often dive into these no-contest romps with glee, really having fun letting loose on their foes. Like a cat with a bird, they "play with their food".

And again, they expend spells, a few hit points and probably a few arrows (that they don't even think about recovering).

I've been known to throw these in just for fun, but also to use resources. PCs, when in this "let's have some fun" mode, they often go to excess with magic etc. Then when they later run into a real encounter they find that they kind of miss having that fireball or flame Strike available.

So sometimes I throw what others might consider "callable" fights at the party for strategic reasons, to make a later encounter more of a challenge.

 

[DeathbyDoughnut]

I call fights, in that I end them thematically when appropriate. I don't run combats as, "combat sides fight until hp run out" or whatever the hp equivalent is in the system. Though it does depend on what the hp are attempting to convey in terms of reality. I try to play adversaries as close to how I imagine they would act in a "real" combat.

A fanatic trying to accomplish a goal is likely to fight to their death, most rogues like bandits or pirates are not so. Typically, bullies out for themselves are not interested in fighting for anything that's why they teamed up with other unsavories to overwhelm their prey so they don't have to fight. A bandit group against an adventurer group are typically not a band of murderers out for blood, they are cowardly thieves in a big group looking for easy loot. And I will run an encounter as such, most bandits I run will feign an I jury after a hit or two, especially below half hp. They fall to the ground to play dead, and escape as they are able.

Wild animals are similar, a prey animal will flee immediately, a predator animal will only attack if it feels like it has the upper hand for the meal, and will only fight so long as the energy expenditure is worthwhile for the meal. Once a predator sustains an injury it flees to lick its wounds, unless it is a pack animal and its pack or hunting party is all participating, then the individual creatures will stick around longer, but typically not unto death.

As a GM I will call a fight as it is appropriate to do so. Those NPCs without murderous intent will typically attempt to talk it out even in the middle of a fight. A guard just wants to make it home to their family, they don't want to fight to the death against some surly adventurers. In my head canon this is why in so many action movies mooks are "knocked out" in one hit by the protagonists, they aren't interested in fighting to the death, sure some of the more loyal lieutenants may be, but the average Mook is hardly there die for the cause. The Mook gets hit by a non-life threatening hit, they pretend to collapse/be knocked out and they live to see another day.