"Scripted Combat Actions"

[Stalker0]

I think a book dedicated to monster tactics would be a cool idea. Dragons for instance, are notorious for being underplayed. A good tactical dragon can take on parties 4 higher than its CR and still be a decent challenge.

 

[Eye Tyrant]

Morrus, I am right there with you man! I am about to wrap up a game wherein the PCs are constantly trouncing my superior bad guys. Do I suck as a DM? Probably a little bit... But the fact remains that the players have nothing better to do then "tweak and geek" their PCs to perfection while week in and week out we (as DMs) have to learn a whole new gammit of monster tactics. Sure, I might get the better of my players now and again, but at higher levels it is really tough. I am about to start a new campaign where I will only allow the Core and Complete books. I am hoping this will make my job a little easier.

 

[pogre]

I agree Morrus - I think this is a great idea. Monster tactics/scripts for 12th level on up would be a time-saving boon for me.

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

For higher level npc's I use scripts, but they are more a tactical overview; for e.g. I've got a young adult green dragon and it would go something like this:

* (Relevant knowledge for tips?)

* Buff with mage armour
* Seek battle in & above forest & lake
* Avoid missile exchanges (bw range too short)
* Use stealth, swim, or flight over canopy to close using blindsense
* Hover blowing up debris and/or fear
* Bw into clumped foes
* Launch full attacks with blindsense & blindfight
* Heal with clws, detect magic & appraise to pick choice treasures

I've just put that together now but it looks pretty good & I've managed to put it in aproximate chronological order for ease of use.

****

Possibly a better way to approach would be:

1) Standard of typical preparation of the npc
2) Priority of attack:defence
3) Post combat routine (including means of escape)

 

[Hypersmurf]

It's happened to the best of us. We pick out this really nasty critter who is going to show the PCs who's boss. The encounter comes, and the creature is killed without any problem. Then you look down and notice that one ability, a spell like ability, maybe some DR or SR you overlooked, or a slew of other possibilities that would have completely turned things around. Then you sigh, swearing you'll never make that mistake, then make it again next session. Ah, I know it too well.

Heh.

Our 3rd level party took on a bearded devil. We were way outclassed. But fortunately, the Web slowed it up for a few rounds - long enough for us cast some cures and get set up for it, and we just scraped through.

After the session, I commented to the DM "I was surprised he didn't just teleport out!"

The DM froze, and flipped open the MM, and just stared for a while.

-Hyp.

 

[S'mon]

I dunno... I'm more likely to purposely underplay a monster/NPC on the basis that it isn't very smart and wouldn't likely come up with brilliant tactics. I don't recall ever forgetting DR or SR, but certainly I may not use all the spell-like abilities of a MM demon or whatever. As long as the PCs get a fair XP award for the actual challenge, I don't see a problem. What I dislike is when I'm told "This 10th level druid white dragon is CR 24" and in-play it turns out more like CR 18 ("An Icy Heart", a free adventure on the WotC site) - I ended up giving the PCs around 4 times more XP than they deserved, because I didn't think fast enough to adjust the listed CR.
I don't really see the game as adversarial so I don't worry if the PCs win more easily than expected; it's better than the alternative. On Sunday I played a 6th level Conjurer NPC to his full power against a party of 4th level PCs and it was a horribly difficult encounter, with 1 PC nearly killed (using Fate Points - she ended up with 0 FPs and stable at -18 hp), the PCs were lucky to win. So I think it all balances up.

 

[Li Shenron]

Of course, I have the problem with high level monsters, too. Expecially outsiders with a large slew of abilities. And don't even start talking about high level spellcasters! Players have access to a slew of books containing spells, PrCs, feats and so forth (and I'm just talking about WotC's books here). They need to master a small selection of that - the bit which applies to their character. I need to master the whole damn lot at some point or other!

There are a few published adventures in which at least the author has included simple tactical suggestions for each encounter's monsters/npcs, in the form of "the evil wizard starts the combat by doing this...", "if the players... then the wizard..." or sort of.

IMO this is great help even when the tactics are very simple. What I would like to see is this sort of help used regularly in every published adventure, with a sidebar for each encounter.

It would not only help me run the monster close to its full power, but when coupled to encounter environment it can suggest tactical ideas that I would not think of.

One solution, naturally, is to cut down on the number of books used. Using just the three core rulebooks would help alleviate the problem for me. Even so, I'd still find it difficult, I think.

Well, this is not really a problem. Why should you use other books at all for your NPCs? If you want to use your supplements, you can always concentrate on one single feat or one single spell per NPC, and base the whole tactic around that. But if you pretend to run an NPC wizards whose 2/3 of spells is from Complete Arcane and you haven't had time to know it well, of course you're having problems, but you have a choice

I need D&D to be easier. Not less complex. Not with less options. But easier. And that ease, I believe, can be provided with "advice based" entries for each monster. Still doesn't help with NPCs, but perhaps a selection of "spellcaster templates" each of which deals with a different "style" of spellcaster (the blaster, the necromancer) and the strategies and combinations available.

Indeed that would have been nice. IMHO it would have been enough if they did so with about 50% of the MM creatures when they did the revision, but they only did so for very few of them.

 

[the Jester]

A script goes out the window after the first round of combat. PCs are too unpredictable to make it work very well. I'm not saying I wouldn't want a product that made running high-level monsters easier, but I don't know if scripts are the way to go...

I often script out nasty intelligent monster tactics ahead of time. Only once ever did I get to play out the entire "list," and that was with an encounter that started at several hundred yards and began with monstrous amounts of giant-hurled missile fire.

 

[Timeboxer]

I'd pay money for this sort of book.

Alternately, I suppose someone could set up some sort of Wiki, and people could help work out tactics for all of the OGL monsters...

 

[Morrus]

I don't really see the game as adversarial so I don't worry if the PCs win more easily than expected; it's better than the alternative.

Oh, I agree. It's not about wanting to "beat" the NPCs. But my players certainly dreive a great deal more enjoyment out of the evening when the challenge is tough, exciting and unique. A quick few rounds of dice rolling followed by an easily killed opponent isn't really fun for them.

For example, a couple of weeks ago I managed to run a great encounter with 3 drow NPCs as the opponents. It was one of those situations where I got it just right; the NPC wizard used his spells well and tactically (heck, he had an Int score of over 20 - he should do!) and the players had to pull out all the stops to win the encounter. That sigh of relief as the bad guy finally goes down is one of the best things about D&D.