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<blockquote data-quote="Neonchameleon" data-source="post: 5945834" data-attributes="member: 87792">When I run 4e I do extremely little mechanical prep for non-capstone combat encounters*.&nbsp;&nbsp; There's a secret to running a good encounter on the fly.&nbsp; You need one interesting/interactive terrain feature and a hook.&nbsp; The interesting terrain feature is normally something to push the monsters (or the PCs) in/on/over/off but may as easily be a sniper tower that makes a magnificent vantage point or a bunker with arrowslits - something to encourage movement and give the PCs better options than just &quot;I hit him&quot;.The hook is something that's going to impact the fight.&nbsp; It may be a motivation (trying to assassinate someone - he's trying to escape and hide behind his guards).&nbsp; It may be an escalator (reinforcements arriving/the building catching on fire (with the fire being the interactive terrain feature).&nbsp; It may be a condition (there must be no survivors works - as does making sure either a specific monster dies or even that a specific monster survives).&nbsp; The hook as often as not can come from the players and their plans.As for monster balance, I just grab a handful that fit together thematically and should be there of at least two types most of the time (counting standard brutes and soldiers as a single type in most cases and minions as a single type).&nbsp; Any two of (brutes/soldiers), skirmishers**, artillery, and lurkers ganging up are going to make for interesting tactics (just artillery and lurkers is brutal) and a controller should make the fight interesting even with just one other type.And with the 4e monster manuals being as useful as they are, I can do all this at the table literally in a matter of seconds.&nbsp; (On a couple of occasions I didn't have the hook until I'd started drawing out the map).What prep I do is therefore story and worldbuilding.&nbsp; Or I just run on the fly with an already existing world (we currently have alternating DMs with my group so if one of us is unwell the other can step in).* A capstone encounter would be a major boss fight or trying to stop an army.&nbsp; I prepare those quite seriously of course.** Skirmishers IME come in two types - &quot;vanilla skirmishers&quot; who just do medium damage at range and in melee and &quot;advantage skirmishers&quot; who do low damage without CA (or some other condition) and high with it.&nbsp; Vanilla skirmisher + brute or vanilla skirmisher + soldier doesn't make much of a fight.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Neonchameleon, post: 5945834, member: 87792"] When I run 4e I do [I]extremely little[/I] mechanical prep for non-capstone combat encounters*. There's a secret to running a good encounter on the fly. You need one interesting/interactive terrain feature and a hook. The interesting terrain feature is normally something to push the monsters (or the PCs) in/on/over/off but may as easily be a sniper tower that makes a magnificent vantage point or a bunker with arrowslits - something to encourage movement and give the PCs better options than just "I hit him". The hook is something that's going to impact the fight. It may be a motivation (trying to assassinate someone - he's trying to escape and hide behind his guards). It may be an escalator (reinforcements arriving/the building catching on fire (with the fire being the interactive terrain feature). It may be a condition (there must be no survivors works - as does making sure either a specific monster dies or even that a specific monster survives). The hook as often as not can come from the players and their plans. As for monster balance, I just grab a handful that fit together thematically and should be there of at least two types most of the time (counting standard brutes and soldiers as a single type in most cases and minions as a single type). Any two of (brutes/soldiers), skirmishers**, artillery, and lurkers ganging up are going to make for interesting tactics (just artillery and lurkers is brutal) and a controller should make the fight interesting even with just one other type. And with the 4e monster manuals being as useful as they are, I can do all this at the table literally in a matter of seconds. (On a couple of occasions I didn't have the hook until I'd started drawing out the map). What prep I do is therefore story and worldbuilding. Or I just run on the fly with an already existing world (we currently have alternating DMs with my group so if one of us is unwell the other can step in). * A capstone encounter would be a major boss fight or trying to stop an army. I prepare those quite seriously of course. ** Skirmishers IME come in two types - "vanilla skirmishers" who just do medium damage at range and in melee and "advantage skirmishers" who do low damage without CA (or some other condition) and high with it. Vanilla skirmisher + brute or vanilla skirmisher + soldier doesn't make much of a fight. [/QUOTE]

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