"Scripted Combat Actions"

[Philip]

I don't know if I would pay money for this kind of book. The trick to making challenging encounters at high levels is not so much knowing the monsters as knowing your players.

I always tailor 'highlight' encounters especially to the players, comparing their saves to the DC's of the BBEG primary abilities and thereby estimating the risks.

In 3.5 with the amount of options you get at high levels, some scripted tactics won't work at all, while others will work too well against a particular group of PCs.

 

[S'mon]

Hi Morrus - I agree, certainly challenging battles are fun for all, though the occasional easy win can be fun too, especially at lower levels - at higher levels setting up & running the battle takes so long that there's a "why bother?" feel to easy victories.

 

[Steverooo]

Gee, you said that so much better than I did...I should just change my post to:

"What EricNoah said"

I think the maxim you're searching for is: "No plan survives first contact with the enemy."

 

[Khairn]

I've suffered from this particular problem for many years, and its definately due to not having enough time to prepare ahead of time.

Now, when I do take the time to actually plan (script) encounters the results are very different and my players have come to fear our session that come after a 2 week break.

I remember playing the kobolds of Dragon Mountain (converted to 3E) so well, that even though they were all 3-5 lvs less than the lowest member of the party, they whipped my players from pillar to post. To this day my players are terrified whenever a kobold appears in an adventure.

 

[Plane Sailing]

"Scripted" combat actions for monsters that fully exploit their powers to maximum effect would relieve some of this burden.

Ah, like the MM 3.5 does then?

OK, it doesn't do it much, but it gives 4-round tactics for Balor, Pit Fiend, Mind Flayer and (I think) Titan. Does it do it for any others? I don't remember - but the tactics it gives for those creatures are pretty good.

Of course, the bigger problem normally occurs when a DM pits a single big creature against a party - the lower rate of actions for the single big creature dramatically reduces its threat value.

The corollary of this is that advice on running groups of creatures would be highly useful - whether mixed groups (Mind Flayer wizard sends his air elemental whirlwinds forwards into the fray and sends mind blast after mind blast in, knowing it won't hurt his elemental servants. Pair of medusae use a screen of Grimlocks as their protectors, keeping the fighters at bay while they get to stone people. Stuff like that, but including several rounds worth of tactics and a couple of options)

Cheers

 

[Morrus]

The corollary of this is that advice on running groups of creatures would be highly useful - whether mixed groups (Mind Flayer wizard sends his air elemental whirlwinds forwards into the fray and sends mind blast after mind blast in, knowing it won't hurt his elemental servants. Pair of medusae use a screen of Grimlocks as their protectors, keeping the fighters at bay while they get to stone people. Stuff like that, but including several rounds worth of tactics and a couple of options)

Cheers

Group tactics advice? Yes, that would be an excellent idea as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Darmanicus]

I wanted to pick up on something Ryan Dancey said in another thread.



Now, does anyone else have this problem when running a game? I most certainly do. In fact, just tonight one of my party faced an opponent 3 levels higher and completely trounced her. That, frankly, was due to the reasons given above.

I'm sorry!

Just remember that you did let us cheat by having the party buff me beforehand. I wouldn't have let me go 'get my halberd', instead I would have demanded that I fight there and then, brooking no argument from me.

And I agree on that Drow scenario, it was wicked; it felt SOOO good to finally vent my frustrations against that damned wizard after so many rounds of being slapped up!

 

[Janx]

I know I've missed special abilities on monsters that would've made a difference. It turns most monsters into running a simple fighter.

That's kind of the catch here. higher CR stuff has more options. For the DM, odds are good it will be the first exposure to those options. So the DM is more likely to forget things.

Some argue the solution is a simpler game, with fewer options, but how simple do you go? When a DM runs all the options correctly, he ends up with a good challenge, so there is value in it. DO you really want to simplify the game, so a 20CR monster is simply a big beast with high AC, BAB, Damage and HP?

I would agree that it would help a DM a lot, for each encounter, to roughly describe the NPC/monster's likely actions/abilities in common situations:

Preparation: if the monster knows the PCs are coming, what stuff does he use to prepare?
Mass Combat: if the monster is facing >4 opponents, what does he do?
Solo Combat: if the monster is facing few attackers, what does he do?
Ranged Combat: if the enemy is at range, what does he do?
Magic Combat: if the enemy is wielding spells, what does he do?
Escape Plan: if the monster is losing, what does he do/use to escape?

Answering those six questions should involve going over the monsters SAs and equipment. Preparation implies utilize any buffs and potions
Escape Plan is you chance to note that the monster has Teleport and will use it.

During the game, you've got to be looking at your answers to those questions (put it on your adventure notes somehow). This should not be a round for round script, simply a note of what the critter can do in each situation. This will REMIND you of what powers the critter has that would apply. You may still miss an ability, but you'll be more prepared and should notice an improvement in your usage of the critter's skills.

Janx

 

[James Heard]

Group tactics advice? Yes, that would be an excellent idea as far as I'm concerned.

Wasn't that sort of thing in Dragon for a while as an article though? Maybe it should be brought back, for Dungeon, as little "set pieces" or something.

 

[reveal]

Ah, like the MM 3.5 does then?

OK, it doesn't do it much, but it gives 4-round tactics for Balor, Pit Fiend, Mind Flayer and (I think) Titan. Does it do it for any others? I don't remember - but the tactics it gives for those creatures are pretty good.

I was thinking the same thing. For example, the Mind Flayer has a listing for what it does prior to combat and then for each of the first 4 rounds. However, that can change, as has been said before, depending on the PCs actions.

One of the things that has helped me is using DM's Familiar on my laptop to help run combat. I can look at all of a monsters stats and look up their special abilities quickly. That doesn't mean it's that much faster, as I still have to read over a lot of stuff.

The problem I can see with scripted combat for monsters, however, is that it can change depending on if their in a group of monsters or just by themselves. Sure I can script out what would happen for the Mind Flayer if it were just him and no one else, but throw in other monsters and the script goes out the window.

Maybe a book that has scripts for a Monster such as "Monster A in supporting role" and "Monster A in up-front fighter role" and "Monster A in spellcaster role" and the like.