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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Malmuria" data-source="post: 8405749" data-attributes="member: 7030755">I was one of the people I think who said questioned whether combat is fun im 5e.  I like tactical combat and I certainly think it can be fun!   But as you mention, I think combat is more fun when some thought is put into creating potential encounters, rather than just rolling up 5 CR-appropriate medium encounters and putting them somewhere.  For example, random encounter tables, as found in Xanather's, are a staple of dnd going back to early editions.  However <a href="https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/44578/roleplaying-games/whither-the-dungeon-the-decline-and-fall-of-dd-adventures" target="_blank">what's been lost </a>is the whole procedure of dungeon crawling that contextualized their purpose (as something that should be avoided in a dungeon) and fast combat resolution, with relatively fewer choices for players, that made them not tedious.  That's to say, "2d4 Grell" is not by itself an interesting encounter in 5e, for me.I think we are generally in agreement, but some more thoughts on things that make combat interesting:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">environments that include objects, varying terrain, natural constraints or edges, verticality, multiple exits--all of which can be leveraged by the players or enemies in creative ways</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><a href="https://www.themonstersknow.com/" target="_blank">monsters who know what they are doing</a></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">multiple resolution possibilities: I try to think of how any encounter might be approached by the players using combat, stealth, or social engagement.  Similarly, the resolution to an encounter can be either side running away, or a parlay.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">a DM that<a href="https://slyflourish.com/tips_to_speed_up_combat.html" target="_blank"> keeps things moving</a></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">narrative stakes: this doesn't have to be the sworn enemy of the PCs or the mini-boss of a dungeon.  Any encounter should tell the players something interesting about the world and give them clues that they can use going forward</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">combat as sport: interesting tactical combination of enemies</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">combat as war: ways for the players to approach combat in strategic, out of the box ways to stack things in their favor, or vice versa</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">dynamism: conditions and tactics that change round to round</li> </ul>Things that get in the way of combat being fun<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">random, "surprise" encounters where combat is the only path to resolution</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">medium difficulty encounters with high-HP monsters, where the outcome is evident from the start but resources need to be depleted</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">the vast array of abilities available to players leading to decision paralysis or confusion from players that don't know the rules as well (or rule look-ups for spells and such)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">players who want "combat as performance"</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">multiple rounds in which tactics don't change</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">monsters and enemies that have boring attacks and abilities (i.e. most of them, as written)</li> </ul>Some of this is related to what people have been saying in the <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/d-d-combat-is-fictionless.682704/" target="_blank">discussion on the fiction of dnd combat</a></blockquote>

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