D&D 5E Solving Static Fights

[Cap'n Kobold]

Here we are.

 

[S'mon]

My 5e fights tend to be pretty dynamic. I use 4e tricks like multiple-room encounters with lots of enemies for the big dramatic Marvelesque beatdowns.

One thing I did is make standing from prone provoke OAs, this encourages shield bashing etc to get enemies down which looks and feels very dramatic, & I've not found it unbalancing.

 

[Fenris-77]

Here we are.

Looks solid, I'll check that out. I also find that 7th Sea is a good resource for ideas about cinematic swashbuckling combat.

 

[Blue]

I found that there is an out-of-scale fear of OAs. Once someone (player or DM) gets over it, the others see it's not so bad and do as well.

Combine this with ranged characters who are trying to stay away from melee - on both sides -- and you get a bunch of movement.

Then there's plenty of good DM moves (that others have mentioned) that will help it from there.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I found that there is an out-of-scale fear of OAs. Once someone (player or DM) gets over it, the others see it's not so bad and do as well.

Exactly what I was coming here to say.

People are terrified of OAs waaaaaaaaaaaay beyond what is, in most cases, reasonable.

If people start going "I'll risk it..." then they see most OAs aren't super-threatening (esp. if you have a decent AC), and don't stop you moving, and then suddenly things start going again. The difference in 4E particularly was that Defenders typically had a way to ruin your day with an OA, often ending your movement or teleporting you or something extreme like that. In 5E, with a feat, you could have your movement ended, but that's about it. Most of the time provoking an OA tends to mean just eating a basic attack with no riders.

But people act if it's something super-fatal. Because occasionally it is, so use judgement, but they're mostly not that bad. And you only get one and only if you didn't use your reaction on something else.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Having played 4e and liked it I also come to like more static fights a lot. Tracking little moves is too time consuming for my tastes and requires a battlemap.
Whenever we move to battlemap however, fights become dynamic. Cover, concealment, thereats of AoEs, light sources, summons, trying to remove the enemy caster first, saving innocents, grabbing and dragging, pushing and tripping all play into this. Is everything always a thing. Hell no, but those things make it really dynamic.

 

[Weiley31]

Romeo and Juliet: Enemies that are linked in some way and must be defeated within X rounds of each oth

If the party is fighting Castor and Pollux, for example, both Castor and Pollux must be reduced to zero HP at the same time or within a round of each other. Otherwise, the brother that is still standing will auto-revive the other back to full health.

It doesn't help that the brothers provide each other "Pack Tactics" when they are fighting close together.

 

[GMMichael]

The fights are getting to be really static. I don't know if this is all the fault of attacks of opportunity, encounter design, or the lack of more push/pull type basic effects, but too many fights are just becoming lock down stand out slug matches. This has been happening with both an almost entirely new group, and with a group of veteran players. . .

I just [had] a hydra fight that felt suitably challenging and a little scary (A CR 8 in favorable circumstances against a party of 5 level 5s should have felt threatened), but they met it in melee and no one moved the whole fight (except the ranger's hawk that had fly-by attack).

Just looking for some ideas. I'm tempted to remove opportunity attacks. I'm tempted to reintroduce acrobatics checks to avoid OAs or diverse Move Actions. I'm definitely going to be rethinking encounters more as well.

Are you using a grid? It's easy to be stuck in your space when that space is clearly designated on a map.

Try giving effects to attacks in addition to the normal damage benefit. Nope, scratch that. Make misses have non-damage effects.

PC: I attack the hydra's nearby head with my vorpal mace!

GM: You miss. Do something cool.

PC: Sweet! I make a broad swing, and in trying to avoid it, the hydra's head gets tied up with the next one over.

GM: Well that one is out of the fight for a bit. You'll have to move over to reach the next one.

 

[Lanefan]

Most of the time provoking an OA tends to mean just eating a basic attack with no riders.

Yes, but if it's an attack you don't need to eat, why eat it?

In 3e we tried to stay as still as possible in combat and let the opponents do the moving, because provoking AoOs against ourselves was just plain dumb when we could be giving them out instead.

If you want to promote movement in combat, just get rid of any OAs that are provoked by moving past an opponent. It's that simple.

 

[Shiroiken]

I think part of it might be group dependent and the other part DM design. My group tends to have a lot more movement than others might. We use Withdraw, Dodge, and take attacks of opportunity as needed to position ourselves into more tactical locations, or to stand over fallen allies to protect them in case the DM decides to attack them.

DMs (including myself) seldom use solo monsters, preferring instead to use a variety of enemies, forcing the party move about, rather than holding a choke point (unless the PCs figure out how to use a choke point to their advantage). Forcing the group to split up causes a lot more movement overall.