Encounter ideas

[Glomb175]

New to d&d, new to DMing. All our encounters are the same and very boring.

"X amount of enemy appears, roll initiative"
Player - I walk up to this one and attack with my axe then walk back.
Player - I walk to this one and attack with my rapier then walk back.

This fashion for whole fight, every fight. In my inexperience please could someone give me some suggestions on maybe specific enemies, or locations to start combat, or anything to try and make it interesting and entice my players to use a more imaginative approach than "movement, attack, retreat, repeat"

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[Sacrosanct]

Some basic hints I find valuable:

* describe the area and the opponents in good detail before anyone rolls a dice. It help spark the imagination and thus spark creative responses from the players. When I say describe, I don't mean "It has large teeth, and 6 inch claws, and it's crossing the dirt towards you." I mean more, "the large sinewy humanoid is churning up dust from the dry ground as it charges at you. Putrid saliva drips from jagged teeth, and dagger-like claws rake air in anticipation."

* (related to above) put yourself in the monster's place. How would you react? Instead of a plain attack, maybe the monster grabs that fallen log and tries to smash the PCs with it. Or maybe they ambush the party from a hidden spot. Or maybe they harass the party like a pack of wolves, always staying out of reach, picking at the weakest member.

* look to some of the things that made scenarios exciting to you from books or movies. What happened that made it exciting? Try to emulate that into your games.

* watch episodes of Chris Perkins or Matt Mercer DMing on their games (easily found on YouTube). Steal some of their ideas and techniques.

* if you can, find the AD&D 2e Creative Campaigning book. Relevant to any edition, and very good.


Welcome to D&D! And most of all, don't get too hung up on it and don't be too hard on yourself if you're not where you want. It takes time. DMing is largely storytelling, to a large degree. That takes practice.

 

[iserith]

Do they have some means by which they're able to "retreat" as you say without suffering an opportunity attack? There are some class features and feats that allow for that, but they shouldn't all be able to do it as far as I know.

Check out DMG pages 81 to 87 for tips on Encounter Design. Also, take a gander at some of the short-form scenarios that I have posted over the years. There are a number of them that involve all pillars in the same scene with character and monster objectives and alternate victory or defeat conditions.

Finally, make sure you as DM are setting the tone for being awesome. I find that means following the basic conversation as closely as possible: Describe the environment and, after the players have stated what they want to do, narrate the result of their actions. Then repeat. Many DMs, after the initial description of the environment, just start calling out character names like they are taking orders at the deli. When each character's turn is resolved, start the loop again by describing the environment as it stands in light of what has transpired, then ask "What do you do?" Try to do that as pithily and evocatively as possible to get the players excited about acting.

And one last bit on that - when narrating the result of their actions, do it from the perspective of what impact they had. Don't describe their actions for them as I see so, so many DMs doing (including on some popular podcasts). The players are the ones who describe what they want to do (or, more accurately, try to do). You just tell them the result. So while "I attack the orc with my sword in order to kill it..." is technically a sufficient goal and approach, sometimes players are bland about their descriptions because they expect the DM to make it more flavorful after the dice are rolled e.g. "You swing overhead with a relentless storm of sword strokes, letting out a vicious war cry as you vent your fury at the orc!" No, I say! The player should be doing describing that bit and you should be adding to it only with how it turns out before looping back around to describing the environment. This makes for a more evocative whole and shares the responsibility of the storytelling as it should be done instead of pushing it entirely on the DM.

 

[Hillsy7]

If you're new to D&D and GM-ing.....I'd keep the rules as simple as possible, because empty room physics means you're less likely to screw the rules up, or slowing things down trying to calculate falling damage off of a balcony onto a pile of broken chairs and scorpions.....

However, there's a lot you can do narratively to make things feel real. Describe the room/rooms in more depth and embellish dice rolls. Having a fight in an empty room that's supposed to be a kitchen? Have the goblin throw a steak knife rather than "firing an arrow", an orc rams a players head into a pot of hot soup for a physical attack. Narrate jumping over tables and kicking aside stools, hitting knees and testicles, or braining someone with a frying pan. Use your enemies differently - grapple occasionally and then have the next attack trying to drown someone in the washtub full of cutlery.

What this does is make the whole scene more cinematic. Now once you've got the players engaged because they're laughing at the cartoon frying pan backhand, or wincing at hot soup poured down someones trousers - the next time they attack you only need one word: "How!"

Stick at this and, if they want to play this way (some people like the simplicity of "I move, I attack"), they'll bite because they'll want to do cool things. Now your rumble in the kitchen has spoons going for eyeballs, DEX saves as using chairs as impromptu shields, someone being fed into an oven.....all of this, and you're fighting in an empty square on a piece of paper rolling the same old attack rolls turn after turn.

Imagination is the key, and the GM has to lead unfortunately. Just using unusual and complex battle maps will only result in unusual and complex dice rolls.....

I recommend Matt mercer and matt colville GM tips about engaging the players....often its gentle engagement and nudging people to be more expansive (and rewarding them when they are)

 

[Tony Vargas]

New to d&d, new to DMing. All our encounters are the same and very boring.

"X amount of enemy appears, roll initiative"
Player - I walk up to this one and attack with my axe then walk back.
Player - I walk to this one and attack with my rapier then walk back.

Doesn't the 'then walk back' part seem at all strange to you? I mean just counter-intuitive, like, when you see characters sword-fighting in a movie do they saunter up and then away, or do they keep crossing swords the whole time, even as one pushes the other back?

In 5e, there's not /much/ to prevent you from just attacking whoever you want every round, but there is an 'opportunity attack' when someone moves out of melee (retreats), as opposed to circling and moving with them and fighting the whole time. It consumes a reaction, so the second guy that does it gets away with it, but it's there. If you don't want to deal with it, you can just have each of the monsters attack whomever you want - all attacking the wizard every round until he stops casting spells, then the cleric, tends to be popular. IDK if that'll be a lot more interesting, but it'd be different, possibly get you a different party after bit of it.

This fashion for whole fight, every fight. In my inexperience please could someone give me some suggestions on maybe specific enemies, or locations to start combat, or anything to try and make it interesting and entice my players to use a more imaginative approach than "movement, attack, retreat, repeat"

I assume you're running 'TotM' (no map or grid, just descriptions)? Using tokens of any sort to track relative position can make it clearer both when opportunity attacks might apply, and also just make it more obvious how silly walking up to & away from a monster to take turns beating on it might look....

 

[LordEntrails]

Find a couple of published adventures, DMsGuild or Adventure A Week are good sources for free and inexpensive one, and see what they do. Look there for some good examples. Then browse this post and see what inspires you; lots of good links there for basic and advanced topics; https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?36014-GM-Advice

 

[Quickleaf]

New to d&d, new to DMing. All our encounters are the same and very boring.

"X amount of enemy appears, roll initiative"
Player - I walk up to this one and attack with my axe then walk back.
Player - I walk to this one and attack with my rapier then walk back.

This fashion for whole fight, every fight. In my inexperience please could someone give me some suggestions on maybe specific enemies, or locations to start combat, or anything to try and make it interesting and entice my players to use a more imaginative approach than "movement, attack, retreat, repeat"

Hi Glomb, it's great you're stepping up to DM

Why don't you briefly walk us through a recent encounter (or better yet, one that may be upcoming in your games)?

Then, we can offer advice tailored to your scenario. I've found teaching DMs through experience - rather than, say, giving you a list of 12-20 things to remember (which hardly anyone ever remembers) - is by far the more effective teaching technique.

If you're not up to doing that, here are 4 "tips" I often recommend:

1. Come up with an interesting objective for the combat besides "kill all monsters."
2. Create a map / terrain / scenario that encourages movement.
3. Throw enemies at them from unexpected directions / stagger the arrival of enemies in waves.
4. Remember that roleplaying includes interacting with NPCs and exploring, not just combat.

 

[ccs]

Start the party in a crowded tavern (like this one)
https://tse3.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.RebTDRbRPen7wAmz_cQTBQEsDJ&w=278&h=186&c=7&qlt=90&o=4&pid=1.7
Fill it with minis - about 1 mini per 3 squares.

Replace the fireplace along the top wall with a small stage & several musicians. One of these musicians is a drunken bard who sounds a Horn of Valhalla (color doesn't matter).... X enraged orcs/berserkers/etc (whatever will provide a good fight for the party) are summoned about where the front door is, displacing any other minis as needed.
Round 1 = surprise for everyone. Everthing pauses while everybody processes what just happened.
Round 2 = the orcs have the initiative - and charge the stage. All orcs move in a straight line towards the bard intent upon killing him. They pause to attack any mini they come into contact with, continuing to move if they down them.
Players act.
NPC crowd acts. Move each NPC mini randomly as they panic. D4 for direction, d4 for # of squares. The idea is randomly shifting terrain that the PCs have to navigate around/shove their way through (win grapple check to displace an NPC, repeat as oft as needed depending upon PC movement).
Round #3 - Roll proper initiative for everyone. NPC crowd moves about as 1 entry.
Encounter ends when all of the orcs are dead, all of the PCs are down, or the bard on stage is killed.

Oh, and a crit miss (IE; a 1 on an attack from the PCs)? Downs an NPC crowd member that's within reach.

 

[hawkeyefan]

Think of action scenes from movies or books or comics that you enjoy, and borrow from them. Create dynamic encounters by having the environment be a factor.

Start off with some basics. A fight atop a cliff, and the enemies try to push the PCs over the side. Jot down the basics about grappling and pushing with your notes, and you're all set. Don't make the fall fatal, just make it hurt a bit and a pain to get back to the fight.

Add some difficult terrain, or other obstacles. Hazards like a pool of lava, with bubbles that burst every four rounds and do damage ro anyone within 15 feet. Even just some areas of raised elevation with archers on them can make an encounter stand out a bit. It honestly doesn't need to be much, just a little something different from one fight to the next.

Once you have those basics down, then you can try for more elaborate things. A recent elaborate encounter I had was along the inside of a vertical shaft that was 100 feet deep and 50 feet across. The bottom of the shaft was actually a great pair of doors that would open when the light of the full moon shone upon them. So the PCs had to make their way down the shaft, jumping along platforms apaced along the walls. This required Athletics/Acrobatics checks, so some made their way quickly and others went slow, so that kind of spread the party out. That's when the monsters attacked.

I went with carrion crawlers who laired beneath the ledges. They attacked as the PCs jumped from the ledge, hoping to paralyze them and cause them to fall. Once all theh PCs made it to the floor, the moonlight hit, and the floor split in the middle and each half moved 5 feet each round toward the wall. So the PCs had to finish the crawlers off and also figure out a safe way to descend into the opening pretty quickly.

An encounter like that can take a lot and usually requires a map and minis or some other visual representation, but they can be a lot of fun. However, it doesn't take all that to make a fight seem unique. Start simple and build up as you get more comfortable.

 

[hastur_nz]

Don't start encounters with "roll for initiative" - describe what the group sees, then ask "what do you want to do?" That gives players a chance for something other than just killing everything in sight. Try and give your monsters goals, and then their actions become much easier to judge, e.g.
a spider might be hungry, but is it prepared to die in order to try and get a meal? does it ambush a lone PC, or hiding in its webs, or scuttling past, or?
let your humanoids speak at least a smattering of common, to talking is always an option, and think of what their motivations are e.g. guarding the boss vs family vs passing through vs whatever