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<blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 8487283" data-attributes="member: 20323">We had an interesting combat last session that involved barely 3 rounds. All the party fought were a pair of thugs (who I'd each given a feat). What made it interesting was the story surrounding the confrontation:The PCs were on the trail of a tiefling criminal at the docks, and knew that he had 2 cronies – a half-goblin, and a &quot;man with a griffon scar.&quot; The cronies (thugs) confronted them when the PCs crossed the river, each throwing off the cloak &amp; hat of a boatman, and closing in on the PCs. During the fighting some of the PCs had a sense of deja vu around the faces of one or the other thug – and made Intelligence saves to try to remember where they knew this person from (e.g. the ex-slave minotaur PC recognized one as having fought a griffon in the fighting pits of Pax Imperica). What made it so interesting was that during the fight the personality and motives of the thugs was revealed to be one of misguided loyalty to the tiefling who'd liberated them from slave fighting pits. The interplay of the environment helped too, with some of the battle happening on boats. By choosing to spare the thugs (and ultimately release them), the PCs gained valuable information that they eventually used to talk down the tiefling when they faced him.All those ideas you have are golden – definitely use them! – but never underestimate the power of strong narrative, scene framing, and stakes building to make a short combat really come alive.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Quickleaf, post: 8487283, member: 20323"] We had an interesting combat last session that involved barely 3 rounds. All the party fought were a pair of [B]thugs[/B] (who I'd each given a feat). What made it interesting was the story surrounding the confrontation: The PCs were on the trail of a tiefling criminal at the docks, and knew that he had 2 cronies – a half-goblin, and a "man with a griffon scar." The cronies (thugs) confronted them when the PCs crossed the river, each throwing off the cloak & hat of a boatman, and closing in on the PCs. During the fighting some of the PCs had a sense of deja vu around the faces of one or the other thug – and made Intelligence saves to try to remember where they knew this person from (e.g. the ex-slave minotaur PC recognized one as having fought a griffon in the fighting pits of Pax Imperica). What made it so interesting was that during the fight the personality and motives of the thugs was revealed to be one of misguided loyalty to the tiefling who'd liberated them from slave fighting pits. The interplay of the environment helped too, with some of the battle happening on boats. By choosing to spare the thugs (and ultimately release them), the PCs gained valuable information that they eventually used to talk down the tiefling when they faced him. All those ideas you have are golden – definitely use them! – but never underestimate the power of strong narrative, scene framing, and stakes building to make a short combat really come alive. [/QUOTE]

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