"Scripted Combat Actions"
- Thread starter Morrus
- Start date
Just wait for this one....
You got the book finally... Able to read the first few chapters...
BANG! Three of your players got the book 2 weeks before you and read the entire thing..
I find it invaluable just for me to take a few minutes and go over the monsters/npcs and figure out what they are going to do. I do use my own tool to craft the NPC's so I guess thats an advantage over most DMs. I can say this, since I started using it my players have noticed a huge different in the sessions. I now have time to sit down and work on the story and tactics of an encounter.
You got the book finally... Able to read the first few chapters...
BANG! Three of your players got the book 2 weeks before you and read the entire thing..
I find it invaluable just for me to take a few minutes and go over the monsters/npcs and figure out what they are going to do. I do use my own tool to craft the NPC's so I guess thats an advantage over most DMs. I can say this, since I started using it my players have noticed a huge different in the sessions. I now have time to sit down and work on the story and tactics of an encounter.
Kaodi
Legend
Question
On a related note, would you consider it underhanded to use your players characters sheets to test run the combat on your own...? Given what this topic is about, that may complicate things even further, forgetting *their* abilities... but still, given that a DM may have spent two years having their monsters stats handed back to them shredded, they may be fairly aware of the characters favourite tactics too...
On a related note, would you consider it underhanded to use your players characters sheets to test run the combat on your own...? Given what this topic is about, that may complicate things even further, forgetting *their* abilities... but still, given that a DM may have spent two years having their monsters stats handed back to them shredded, they may be fairly aware of the characters favourite tactics too...
Truth Seeker
Adventurer
Ditto, in fact...I never did use a script fully, expect for a here or there reference. That is it.EricNoah said:
I think if DnD were designed in such a way that good tactics would get a player something like +1 or +2 during the combat, then everything would be ok. Players, in that case, would still have an incentive to think about good tactics, while the bonuses for good tactics wouldn't be so outrageous that the DM got "trounced" for not being prepared.
The problem, IMO is with bonuses and feats that stack up in such a way as to reduce, to a ridiculous degree, the basic stats of hitpoints, saving throws, etc.
And there's the problem of level - it seems like every week there's a post to the effect of "I can't handle a character of level 20" or whatever. 99% of people out there, IMO, are not playing enough DnD to justify 20th level characters - the game is just as enjoyable at lower levels. DnD could stand a redesign to bring level advancement back to earlier edition standards.
The problem, IMO is with bonuses and feats that stack up in such a way as to reduce, to a ridiculous degree, the basic stats of hitpoints, saving throws, etc.
And there's the problem of level - it seems like every week there's a post to the effect of "I can't handle a character of level 20" or whatever. 99% of people out there, IMO, are not playing enough DnD to justify 20th level characters - the game is just as enjoyable at lower levels. DnD could stand a redesign to bring level advancement back to earlier edition standards.
James Heard
Explorer
Every so often I think it's fun (and good sense) to run a few of the new monsters against the PCs completely outside of the game. I mean just run a fight or three with any interested player(s) against some of the sorts of monsters/challenges you'll be using. We did that a LOT when the game first came out, but not only can you get a cleaner picture of what the monsters can do but most of my players just get major ya-yas out of no-risk tactical combat every so often. Since it's no risk I even encourage them to swap characters (or even swap their characters with me and let them run the monsters) so that everyone can get a better picture of ...everything. Mechanically sound players are happy players.
IronWolf
blank
EricNoah said:
I'm not so sure scripts are the answer for many of the reasons suggested. But outlining general overall tactics for a critter I think are helpful. For example, do they prefer to use their speed, reach, a combination of both, etc.
EDIT: Found the thread! Check here and look for Celebrim's posts.
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der_kluge
Adventurer
I think such a thing would be marginally useful, but it eats up too much time from the game, I think. I mean, you should be running the game, not trying to absorb a pattern for the monster while you run the game. Well, that came out obfuscated. Anyway, I tried doing something like this in my last game - I created strategies for some of my bad guys, like "round 1, open up with chaos hammer, if he hears the party coming, buff allies", etc, etc. IT was really kind of distracting, and I mostly ignored them.
I think the bigger issue at hand is the fact that high level combat in D&D is just WAY too damned complicated. I'll never run high level 3rd edition again. Ever.
I think the bigger issue at hand is the fact that high level combat in D&D is just WAY too damned complicated. I'll never run high level 3rd edition again. Ever.
Man in the Funny Hat
Hero
Agreed. The problem isn't really FORGETTING a monsters abilities but not knowing or realizing what they are in the first place.EricNoah said:
Now, I often do find it helpful in modules when the author will list several rounds worth of tactics but that doesn't mean I don't want or need to EXAMINE the monster/NPC anyway to see if the listed tactics actually are aggressive or easygoing (often completely ignoring the best abilities an opponent has) and whether the party's standard tactics and abilities are going to result in a good/bad encounter when the two meet. After all, no module author has the first clue what my players are capable of, what my campaign is like, why I placed a particular oppenent into an encounter, or what I might expect a given encounter to turn out like.
Frankly, the way the game is now structured I find that as PC's get into teen levels and up the players begin to lose track of everything their PC's possess and what they can actually do They have TOO MANY options and end up simply forgetting about many of them unless they find themselves regularly called upon to act in a genuinely wide variety of capacities that normal play simply doesn't require. The same applies to a DM when running opponents of PC's. They have so many abilities and combats are generally so short that most of those abilities are moot. It then becomes very easy for a DM to fall into running encounter after encounter in a very staid, straight-forward manner that both ignores M/NPC abilities that are less used as well as failing to ever test lesser-used PC abilities.
Ogrork the Mighty
Explorer
The players have an advantage in that they have experience (with their characters) on their side. In order to balance that, the DM should take a page out of their books and use the same tactics they use against them. While some might say that's cheating, in reality any character would develop the same type of tactics over time that the PCs use. If you know the PCs are always going to do certain things, have the monster/NPC prepped against it. It might not seem fair, but it does address the imbalance of the DM not having the degree of experience with the NPC/monster that the players have with their PCs.
Better yet, don't just prepare the NPC/monster stats beforehand, but prepare their tactics as well. It usually doesn't take long to write up a basic combat script and I find that I modify it over time as more things come to mind. If a PC has come up with some neat tactic, use it yourself. If the PCs never bother to use a particular tactic (e.g. sundering), then use it against them and catch them offguard.
I think the key to the original poster's problem is preparation, preparation, preparation.
Better yet, don't just prepare the NPC/monster stats beforehand, but prepare their tactics as well. It usually doesn't take long to write up a basic combat script and I find that I modify it over time as more things come to mind. If a PC has come up with some neat tactic, use it yourself. If the PCs never bother to use a particular tactic (e.g. sundering), then use it against them and catch them offguard.
I think the key to the original poster's problem is preparation, preparation, preparation.
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