Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
House Rule: Faster minor battles
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 5886568" data-attributes="member: 20323"><p>I halve most monster HP anyhow so I can confirm that will speed up your fights. Doubling damage I've heard makes the game lethal... A weird side effect of implementing these changes only in minor battles is that your players will eventually notice the difference and adopt a different strategy for minor skirmishes: the all-out offensive.</p><p></p><p>Anyhow, as far as not using a map for fights, I've read several blog posts of folks who do this successfully and I've done it a couple times. It requires the players trust their DM. What I sometimes do is design combat "zones" which require either a move or double move to transition between; each zone has different properties, for example: <em>Parapets: anyone subject to >1 square forced movement on the Parapets must make a save or be tossed over the edge, falling 40' to the ground. The Parapets connect to the Ballista Tower (double move) and the Outer Bailey (move, Acrobatics 30' fall).</em> </p><p></p><p>You could make these even more generic if your group want s'more granularity, turning zones into "melee", "close", or "far" range from a reference point.</p><p></p><p>One thing you'll want to pay attention to is encounter design, using lower level opponents with half HP is a great start, but you'll also want to be picky about what monsters you choose:</p><p>* Use soldiers and controllers sparsely</p><p>* Incorporate minions or the equivalent</p><p>* Minimize monsters that inflict conditions</p><p>* Avoid especially complex monsters</p><p></p><p>Also consider that even if you double damage, the PCs are likely to win these sorts of fights. So what's the point of playing it out if the conclusion if pretty much foregone? The key IMO is to threaten the quest more than you threaten the PCs. This means interesting combat objectives...escort the miners to safety, convince the kobolds your cleric is the avatar of their god...that sort of thing.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Quickleaf, post: 5886568, member: 20323"] I halve most monster HP anyhow so I can confirm that will speed up your fights. Doubling damage I've heard makes the game lethal... A weird side effect of implementing these changes only in minor battles is that your players will eventually notice the difference and adopt a different strategy for minor skirmishes: the all-out offensive. Anyhow, as far as not using a map for fights, I've read several blog posts of folks who do this successfully and I've done it a couple times. It requires the players trust their DM. What I sometimes do is design combat "zones" which require either a move or double move to transition between; each zone has different properties, for example: [I]Parapets: anyone subject to >1 square forced movement on the Parapets must make a save or be tossed over the edge, falling 40' to the ground. The Parapets connect to the Ballista Tower (double move) and the Outer Bailey (move, Acrobatics 30' fall).[/I] You could make these even more generic if your group want s'more granularity, turning zones into "melee", "close", or "far" range from a reference point. One thing you'll want to pay attention to is encounter design, using lower level opponents with half HP is a great start, but you'll also want to be picky about what monsters you choose: * Use soldiers and controllers sparsely * Incorporate minions or the equivalent * Minimize monsters that inflict conditions * Avoid especially complex monsters Also consider that even if you double damage, the PCs are likely to win these sorts of fights. So what's the point of playing it out if the conclusion if pretty much foregone? The key IMO is to threaten the quest more than you threaten the PCs. This means interesting combat objectives...escort the miners to safety, convince the kobolds your cleric is the avatar of their god...that sort of thing. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
House Rule: Faster minor battles
Top