General Villain (Fighter) Tactics?

[Wolffenjugend]

What are some very general combat tactics for a villain that is a fighter? I'm talking no specialized feat trees or special moves for that ethereal, flying, monk/barbarian/psionic/whatever. Just some ordinary fighter tactics, especially when fighting a party of 4 characters.

For instance, always 5-foot stepping to manuevre around the battlefield (yeah, I know veterans will assume this but a lot of new players/DMs don't realize its usefulness).

Any ideas?

(remember, keep it general so we can apply them to a lot of different scenarios)

 

[shilsen]

What qualifies as good tactics will also depend on the quality and nature of the opposition. What is the composition of the 4-person party? And what level and class is the villain.

One suggestion: Focus attacks on one opponent at a time and eliminate him. If there's one or more spellcasters in the group (which I would assume), those would be the people to target and nullify first. One way to nullify them is to make sunder/disarm attacks against spell component puches, holy symbols, etc.

 

[Wolffenjugend]

What qualifies as good tactics will also depend on the quality and nature of the opposition. What is the composition of the 4-person party? And what level and class is the villain.

I'm not specifying either so that the tactics, as I said, can be as general as possible.

However, your suggestion was exactly the type if thing I'm looking for...

 

[shilsen]

I'm not specifying either so that the tactics, as I said, can be as general as possible.

However, your suggestion was exactly the type if thing I'm looking for...

Well, let me rephrase my question then - what does the 4-person party look like? Just appearance, nothing else. A single fighter taking on a group of four will respond differently depending on whether all of them are armored and carrying reach and ranged weapons, etc.

Here's another suggestion - tanglefoot bags. If it's 4 on 1, and you're the one, you want to have to deal with as few of the enemies at the same time as possible. Tanglefoot bags are a great way to achieve that.

Another way to get some protection from spellcasters is to use a tower shield. Total cover can be a lifesaver. But there are a lot of ways to get around it too.

Another basic strategy when outnumbered - always try to use your opponents to give you cover from each other. It won't help much against spellcasters, but against ranged opposition it can be very helpful.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

A few tactics then:
Cognitive:
1. Guys with medium or heavy armor, holy symbols and simple weapons are generally clerics.
2. Guys with light armor and light (or finessable) weapons are generally rogues. Don't let them flank you or you'll regret it. OTOH, they tend to go down quickly and are consequently good cleave bait.
3. Guys or girls in skimpy, nonportective costumes with only a dagger, quarterstaff are generally wizards. If you can get to them without taking a pounding from AoOs, you want to get up close and personal with them and power attack them to death (generally, they have low AC and low hp--if they're polymorphed into lizardfolk form, they don't have low AC so don't power attack but they've still got low hp so you can quickly cleave into the rogue).
4. Guys wearing heavy armor and using martial or exotic weapons are often fighters. Guys wearing light armor and using non-finessable weapons are generally multiclased fighters or barbarians. They're able to both dish it out and take it which means you can't afford to ignore them and you can't afford to focus on them (the cleric will just heal them while everyone else pounds on you). You might try disarming them or sundering their weapon (especially if you have the requisite feats). That will reduce their hitting power without taking too many of your attacks away from squishies like the rogue.
5. If you see someone raging, power attack. Barbarians typically have rather poor ACs.

In general, if you're a single fighter up against a party of PCs, you're hosed. If you're going to win, you need to open up on them very quickly and very hard, and take down one or more of them in the first couple of rounds. If the wizard is bleeding and the cleric is spending all his time healing the rogue to keep him alive, your odds are much better.

Really, though, you'll want magic. Things like a potion of Blink or Displacement that give your foes a 50% miss chance will go a long way towards helping you out--especially if combined with a high AC.

Also, if you're facing four characters, you'll want reach too. A reach weapon like a guisarme or spiked chain with combat reflexes and improved trip can really help to even the odds (since you will often be able to stop one or more enemies from closing with you). Adding Spring Attack would let you move, stick the rogue (who tumbles through to avoid the AoO and thus can't easily be stopped) and move to threaten both spellcasters (forcing them to cast defensively).

 

[pawsplay]

Sunder. Lots of sunder.

If someone flanks you, bull rush the attacker who did not sneak attack you last round.

Reach weapon + combat reflexes + improved unarmed strike. You get AoO's when someone closes, and if they close, you can step and attack as usual, or if you get cornered, kick somebody. An archetypal black knight with Str 16 does 1d3 + 3 subdual just with his fist.

Quick draw. When you get a chance, mock your opponents' dead fathers and throw daggers at the spellcasters.

 

[silentspace]

Spiked chain + combat reflexes works good too.

Also spring attack (need dodge, mobility) + combat reflexes + reach weapon is good for a lone fighter against multiple opponents.

Of course that won't work against spellcasters.

Pretty much, a lone fighter against a party of four is hosed. If he's a crazy psychopath though, you can have him do a suicide attack on a low ac target.

Edit: Oops, sorry. You said no specialized feat trees.

 

[silentspace]

Seriously though, why no feat trees? Feats are a fighter's bread and butter.

 

[James McMurray]

Find a hard to reah location and stay there sniping, prefereably from behind an arrow slit. After each shot, maneuver so that your foes can't see you. For example:

Round 1:

MEA: Open the arrow slit
Standard: shoot somebody (preferably the wizard or the cleric).
Free: 5' step to the side, so you're no longer in the arrow slit.

Round 2:
Free: 5' step
Standard: shoot
MEA: close the shutter

Round 3:
Repeat round 1

Adding Manyshot to the equation can make this an even nicer setup. Your foes can stil hit you with readied actions and area effect spells sent through the slit, but their offense will hopefully be greatly reduced.

 

[James McMurray]

Almost forgot another great tactic when you're alone against many: hire some help. Even low level grunts can cloud the battlefield and make it hard for spellcasters to get a spell off without combat casting.