D&D 5E How Often Do You Rinse and Repeat?

[ezo]

How often do you (as a player or DM) find the creature you are controlling doing the same thing each round?

It is a common thing in many RPGs IMO. While this is mostly concerning the rounds in combat, I could apply it to other situations where your strategy/actions become fairly routine.

PLEASE NOTE: You can't change your vote and you only get to pick one option. I know you might have one answer for one PC or creature, but a different one for another, so use your best judgement and vote what happens most often for you. Thanks!

 

[AlViking]

Depends on the monster of course but I try to mix things up. Even dumb brutes will mix it up now and then even if only with improvised actions. Don't always achieve that or even want to but that's my goal. Helps when the encounter is something other than kill the other side.

 

[R_J_K75]

Depends on the monster of course but I try to mix things up.

Yeah. The poll doesn't give an option that really fits the answer I'd give. It really all depends on the creature(s) and type of encounter. It really is a case-by-case basis for me, regardless of whether I'm running a PC or DMing.

 

[Shiroiken]

Since I DM more than play, I voted as a DM. Monsters generally don't have a lot of options, so I usually go with the best choice each round. This means I typically do the same stuff over and over again, but occasionally an ability will recharge or things will line up to use a non-standard ability better.

As a player, I'm only a sometimes. I like playing casters, and casters tend to have a greater variety of options. Even when I'm down to using cantrips, I often vary up which ones I'm using.

 

[Clint_L]

Every fight is different, but I always try to put myself in the antagonists shoes, and consider what is in their best interests, considering their world view and motivations.

They wind up running away quite a bit.

 

[GMMichael]

The only reason to do the same thing each round is if it's working. If the PCs can't recognize this, then Darwin wins again.

 

[Deset Gled]

Well, my current wizard character rarely does the same thing twice in a row. But my warlock that preceded him...

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[Hussar]

Considering that 5e monsters mostly only have two or three things they can do - sure, they do the same thing over and over again most of the time. I mean, how many different actions does an orc or a gnoll actually have? A wolf bites, maybe knocks something over, wash, rinse repeat. And that's how most monsters work.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

This was my main issue as a player with Dungeon World. I felt I could draft a flowchart that would 100% correctly pick out the best response for all combat situations, no matter how narratively interesting or engaging the combat might be, which was a bit of a damper on my enthusiasm. Fortunately, my GM worked with me and we found ways to address it with homebrewed compendium class stuff.

It's also why I can't really grok the enjoyment of hyper-simplified options like Champion Fighter. I get that people enjoy it. I just...don't really understand how, because it feels so painfully repetitious to me. There's only so many ways of saying "I hit it with my <axe/sword/etc.>" and "I dodge/raise my shield" before it has thoroughly worn out.

 

[R_J_K75]

because it feels so painfully repetitious to me. There's only so many ways of saying "I hit it with my <axe/sword/etc.>" and "I dodge/raise my shield" before it has thoroughly worn out.

Its only as repetitious as the person playing the character or the DM make it.

I was playing a 5E cleric a few years back. We got into a bar brawl that quickly turned lethal, but before that the DM described a few features of the taproom. A large taxidermized marlin hanging on the wall caught my ear. The battle went on for 4-5 rounds and by that time, firing off spells, shield bashing, and hitting with my mace got boring. So, I grabbed the marlin off the wall, ran the person I was fighting through, and pinned him to the wall. Much more fun and memorable than "I hit with my mace for 8 hp of damage".

Admittedly, not every combat is like this and repeatedly doing the same thing happens sometimes, but when it becomes more often than not is when I'll stop playing.