Doorway fighting

[techno]

My players will frequently open a door, see monsters in the room, yell at them, and then fall back against the walls and wait to pick the monsters off one by one as they come through the doorway. Has anyone else had players do this? Every fight seems to have a crowded doorway as a choke point where both sides are delaying and waiting for the other to come through the doorway. The players feel like this tactic protects them from any hidden traps in the room. This is certainly not as exciting as having the PCs burst into a room and kick butt. How should I react to this tactic being used over and over again?

 

[Aulirophile]

Monsters will know there are other doors. Walk around and ambush them from the back.

Spellcaster with a zone spell. Walk up to door. Look through keyhole. Cast zone outside of door so that all PCs are in it and are dazed/immobilized/slid/blinded/zone is darkness that doesn't effect allies. Have all creatures go through door and not provoke OAs, surround PCs, beat them to death. This can be modified dozens of ways. Wall of Stone that slowly contracts, forcing them towards the door. Pit trap that can be activated from the other side of the door, dropping the PCs into a room below. Probably where the hungry pets live.

Booby trap the door. Open the door without permission. Door go boom in a close blast 5.

I don't approve of 'punishing' clever tactics by DM fiat, but if players are going to be highly tactical, DMs needs to be as well. Don't assume monsters aren't infinitely ready to deal with people who want to kill them at their door (they lived this long, after all).

 

[RangerWickett]

Give monsters ranged attacks. Why would the monsters leave the comfort of their room, after all? They probably have more furniture or terrain to hide behind and counter-attack from relative safety.

If a monster is in its home, it'll generally be in the spot that's most defensible. Think like the monster.

Use brutes, so even if the PCs do sit in a doorway, the brute just mashes one PC into goo on its way to the next PC.

 

[keterys]

Don't use encounters that revolve around one door leading into a room. Those days are gone

 

[Lindeloef]

Don't use encounters that revolve around one door leading into a room. Those days are gone

this.
It's a thing I learned in my first session as a DM. And ALWAYS use double doors.

 

[hipnotode]

players look into room, see nothing.
they call out, nothing.
eventualy they walk in...
gelatinous cube.

my other sugestion is, they walk up and try and open a door...
mimic.

they try and open a door...
trapdoor opens below then instead, they fall into the middle of the room.

they get away with the open door and yell trick once.
one goblin runs away after seeing 4-5 of his mates get killed in the door.
next time round they open the door to see two goblins, yell, and goblins spring out from behind them. now there stuck in the doorway.

just a few ideas.
hope one of them helps.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

There was a pretty similar thread here very recently on the topic, which got quite a few good replies. Located here.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Chokepoints are a classic tactic, almost as obvious and pervasive as focusing fire. Prior to the formalization of the defender role in 4e, making good use of choke points was about the only way for a fighter to live up to it's iconic role. If your players are experienced, they're probably just still using tactics that were helpful in prior eds out of habbit. Try having a few more open encounters, to let them get a feel for what defenders can now do with their powers & features, even in the absence of choke points.

 

[Unwise]

Most encounterrs I design have some mage or healer monster at the back of the monster group. My PCs always do what they can to get the avenger onto that target ASAP. The swordmage runs in asap to gather agro so the avenger can work on killing the controller/leader.

I think that adding a tactical threat of that nature to hte monsters is a good start. Having a caster with AE spells, or better yet zones, could force them to come into the room. Having a healer could make it clear to them that they are not going to win this fight until they take that guy out.

In a choke point, consider having the wounded enemies retreat and be replaced by their fresh friends. Meanwhile, the healer casts regeneration on the wounded guy, or at least lets them spend healing surges.

I like having monsters go running off to go get their friends. If the players don't overwhelm them quickly, or if they let a runner retreat, they end up fighting two encounters back to back. Depending on the design of the dungeon, they may even find themselves pinned between two groups.

 

[Dice4Hire]

Good point. Yes, choke points can work both ways. Especially if enemies can buff their front-liners while out of sight of the party. That can be a nasty trick

Make the characters start looking for the doors to get around back of the enemies, I say!!!