D&D 5E "Once an encounter begins, I will make changes to it for balance, fun, or rules reasons." (a poll)

[GMforPowergamers]

Poll #20 in an ongoing series. . ..

Premise:

True or False: "Once an encounter begins, I will make changes to it for balance, fun, or rules reasons."

Is an established encounter an established encounter, unchanged and immutable? Or as DM, will you tweak or change elements of the encounter or how they work based on how they're going?

if there is something that was in my notes but not shown off yet and I feel it would make the game less fun I might just retcon that out without the players knowing it was ever there...

 

[Maxperson]

I will do this, but I will also rebalance an encounter to increase "fun" in the sense that if it comes to the point where it's obvious that the players have won and all of the fun abilities from the monsters have been used, but the players figured out how to get to that point when there are mooks left on the field with too many hit points to be taken out in a single blow I'll either reduce their hit points or change up the original plans I might have intended for them. Like if I have a bunch of mindless undead left over after they take out the necromancer and it's just going to be a slog for them to finish them all off, then perhaps the death of the necromancer just makes all of the remaining zombies collapse. Or weakens them to where they can be taken out with a single blow. Or something to keep the combat from just being the PCs hitting sacks of hp just because I put them there.

Yeah. I don't rebalance, but what I do sometimes is when it's clear that the PCs have won and the only thing left is time and cantrip/sword swings, I will simply narrate the final few rounds as a victory, and if it's likely that they would still take some damage, I might tell them to mark of a few more hit points as the battle winds down. Making them take another 30 minutes to play out a fight that is no longer worth fighting can be a drag. It's not really a rebalancing, but it is in the interest of fun.

 

[Zaukrie]

Of course. The odds of me creating perfect encounters over and over are zero. Why wouldn't I? It isn't a competition, it's a time for fun. I literally can't think of any reason not to.

 

[TwoSix]

I voted true, because I rarely do enough prep to actually have the encounter statted up beforehand. I just tend to eyeball attack numbers, saves, etc. Once I set a value (like HP or saving throw values) I don't change them, though.

 

[overgeeked]

Not never, but mostly false. Let things play out. The dice fall where they may. If something doesn’t work quite right it’s a lesson for next time. Monster stats don’t change mid fight. If some side mechanic, alternate win condition, or skill challenge isn’t quite working then that can be tweaked.

 

[Mannahnin]

I imagined something like designing an encounter with a certain mechanic in mind (climbing up a cliff, being underwater, a wild magic zone, whatever) but then mid-encounter realizing you had it wrong.

Generally my answer would be False, but because you specifically mentioned rules reasons, like these, I answered True.

If I realize that I've made a genuine rules error which will make the encounter less fun or work way differently than I intended, then I'm willing to alter things.

 

[Plaguescarred]

False

I don't generally modify most encounter i design once it started.

 

[Hexmage-EN]

I'll modify an encounter to make it harder, but not the other way around if the party could flee.

 

[Vaalingrade]

True. I'm not so proud as to not fix my mistakes.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I'd like to think that I'd only do it in an act of desperation, if things have gone wrong. I'm willing to do it, and I'm sure that I have, but I don't think I do it often.