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<blockquote data-quote="Sword of Spirit" data-source="post: 8357393" data-attributes="member: 6677017">One thing I like that it seems most of my friends don't is just seeing how the rules for the game and the monsters play out in a &quot;combat arena&quot; sort of scenario. I'd love to have everyone pick a monster of the same CR, throw them into a bounded space and duke it out to see how things shake up. Part of it is getting experience seeing how the various special features and such work out, and part of it is that I don't have another outlet for that sort of combat-only experience (I think my other players do more video games that can scratch that itch than I do).So I would have no problem running such a combat, but I've only done it once. Basically, the PCs' choices lead to a group of hunters being attacked by 4 giant apes, and I wanted to see what actually would have happened, rather than just decide. So I made a quick battle map, put all the participants on it, and ran through the whole thing. Because I don't like it to go completely to waste for the campaign, one of the characters got to see it in a dream (I gave a really quick description of the battle) and then the party got to show up afterwards later and see the aftermath.One thing I have done more than once is to test out a battle that the party is likely heading into before the session comes up. I'll just use the PC stats, role-play their choices the way I think the players would, and see how the battle goes. I did that about 7 times when a 3rd level party was going to fight a young black dragon, to see what sorts of outcomes they could get (everything from a TPK to killing it with barely an injury, it turns out--surprise and initiative were huge on this one).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Sword of Spirit, post: 8357393, member: 6677017"] One thing I like that it seems most of my friends don't is just seeing how the rules for the game and the monsters play out in a "combat arena" sort of scenario. I'd love to have everyone pick a monster of the same CR, throw them into a bounded space and duke it out to see how things shake up. Part of it is getting experience seeing how the various special features and such work out, and part of it is that I don't have another outlet for that sort of combat-only experience (I think my other players do more video games that can scratch that itch than I do). So I would have no problem running such a combat, but I've only done it once. Basically, the PCs' choices lead to a group of hunters being attacked by 4 giant apes, and I wanted to see what actually would have happened, rather than just decide. So I made a quick battle map, put all the participants on it, and ran through the whole thing. Because I don't like it to go [I]completely[/I] to waste for the campaign, one of the characters got to see it in a dream (I gave a really quick description of the battle) and then the party got to show up afterwards later and see the aftermath. One thing I have done more than once is to test out a battle that the party is likely heading into before the session comes up. I'll just use the PC stats, role-play their choices the way I think the players would, and see how the battle goes. I did that about 7 times when a 3rd level party was going to fight a young black dragon, to see what sorts of outcomes they could get (everything from a TPK to killing it with barely an injury, it turns out--surprise and initiative were huge on this one). [/QUOTE]

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