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<blockquote data-quote="JiffyPopTart" data-source="post: 8069999" data-attributes="member: 4881">1. I tend to avoid any combat that doesn't have some sort of important narrative reason for happening.&nbsp; I think the players are more invested in a battle against &quot;the evil cultists we found in the process of poisoning the town well&quot; more than &quot;some random bandits we ran across on our way to stop the cultists from poisoning the town well&quot;.2. When it becomes apparent the combat has gotten stale (with everyone reverting to &quot;standard&quot; attacks or cantrips to win a war of attrition I might try to brainstorm an interesting tactic or goal for the bad guys to pursue.&nbsp; 6 wolves attacking a party, who end up standing toe-to-toe with them and dying of attrition is less exciting than 6 wolves attacking the party, and trying to drag off the halfling to eat in peace.3. When I can't use #2 to spruce things up, then the bad guys all of a sudden have less HP &quot;behind the screen&quot; or perhaps are defeated when they have less than a basic hit of damage left rather than sticking around for another round.&nbsp; If rounds and rounds of hacking away at the giant treant finally see it fall to the ground....its entirely possible the magic animating all the little shrublings dies out with it.4. Three (or more) way battles are a nice change of pace.&nbsp; Orcs vs. Kobolds vs. PCs can be fun....even moreso when a wyvern flies by and takes advantage of the carnage.5. When you have many small enemies fighting the party, mix/speed things up by having all the bad guys attacking the PC act on one die-roll.&nbsp; You can use whatever system you like...but maybe 4 wolves on 1 PC = 1 die roll with an extra +3 to hit and +3 damage narrated as the wolves nipping at the players heels when their back is turned.&nbsp; Then maybe later a trip, two grapples, and the 4 wolves run off with the halfling.&nbsp; Don't be afraid to improv some rules in combat, but don't make it unfair, impossible to defend, or only a bad guy option.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="JiffyPopTart, post: 8069999, member: 4881"] 1. I tend to avoid any combat that doesn't have some sort of important narrative reason for happening. I think the players are more invested in a battle against "the evil cultists we found in the process of poisoning the town well" more than "some random bandits we ran across on our way to stop the cultists from poisoning the town well". 2. When it becomes apparent the combat has gotten stale (with everyone reverting to "standard" attacks or cantrips to win a war of attrition I might try to brainstorm an interesting tactic or goal for the bad guys to pursue. 6 wolves attacking a party, who end up standing toe-to-toe with them and dying of attrition is less exciting than 6 wolves attacking the party, and trying to drag off the halfling to eat in peace. 3. When I can't use #2 to spruce things up, then the bad guys all of a sudden have less HP "behind the screen" or perhaps are defeated when they have less than a basic hit of damage left rather than sticking around for another round. If rounds and rounds of hacking away at the giant treant finally see it fall to the ground....its entirely possible the magic animating all the little shrublings dies out with it. 4. Three (or more) way battles are a nice change of pace. Orcs vs. Kobolds vs. PCs can be fun....even moreso when a wyvern flies by and takes advantage of the carnage. 5. When you have many small enemies fighting the party, mix/speed things up by having all the bad guys attacking the PC act on one die-roll. You can use whatever system you like...but maybe 4 wolves on 1 PC = 1 die roll with an extra +3 to hit and +3 damage narrated as the wolves nipping at the players heels when their back is turned. Then maybe later a trip, two grapples, and the 4 wolves run off with the halfling. Don't be afraid to improv some rules in combat, but don't make it unfair, impossible to defend, or only a bad guy option. [/QUOTE]

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