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<blockquote data-quote="Rhenny" data-source="post: 6779345" data-attributes="member: 18333">Good advice.&nbsp; If an encounter ever gets to the point where it is just a mop up, I like to have the foes run, surrender, or attempt to bargain for their lives (especially the intelligent ones).Also, Iserith has given advice in the past about changing the victory condition for the encounters so I'll add that here.&nbsp; Not every encounter has to be kill the monsters.&nbsp; Some can be hold them off so that one or more of the party can get somewhere or capture a necessary item, or to rescue an npc and escape, or to just cause chaos and fade into the night.&nbsp; Sometimes alternate victory conditions can be met without longer combats.Also, if you are using a lot of foes, pepper in some minion type creatures that the PCs can handle more easily along with some of the more challenging foes.&nbsp; If the players can kill a number of softer targets, they will feel as if they are making progress.&nbsp; One more...set up ways for the PCs to use the terrain to gain advantages or use features as improvised weapons that can deal with a number of foes in one action.&nbsp; For example, place foes on scaffolds so if a smart player decides to hack at a support beam, the entire thing falls and all the foes on the scaffold take damage, or use large ceiling fixtures that can be shot loose sending 10' radius iron chandeliers plummeting down upon a group of foes, or have pits of fire that PCs can push foes into (or cliffs, etc.).&nbsp;&nbsp; I love when a player in my group tries to do something other than attack with his/her weapon.&nbsp; It makes the encounter more exciting and sometimes it speeds up the combat too.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Rhenny, post: 6779345, member: 18333"] Good advice. If an encounter ever gets to the point where it is just a mop up, I like to have the foes run, surrender, or attempt to bargain for their lives (especially the intelligent ones). Also, Iserith has given advice in the past about changing the victory condition for the encounters so I'll add that here. Not every encounter has to be kill the monsters. Some can be hold them off so that one or more of the party can get somewhere or capture a necessary item, or to rescue an npc and escape, or to just cause chaos and fade into the night. Sometimes alternate victory conditions can be met without longer combats. Also, if you are using a lot of foes, pepper in some minion type creatures that the PCs can handle more easily along with some of the more challenging foes. If the players can kill a number of softer targets, they will feel as if they are making progress. One more...set up ways for the PCs to use the terrain to gain advantages or use features as improvised weapons that can deal with a number of foes in one action. For example, place foes on scaffolds so if a smart player decides to hack at a support beam, the entire thing falls and all the foes on the scaffold take damage, or use large ceiling fixtures that can be shot loose sending 10' radius iron chandeliers plummeting down upon a group of foes, or have pits of fire that PCs can push foes into (or cliffs, etc.). I love when a player in my group tries to do something other than attack with his/her weapon. It makes the encounter more exciting and sometimes it speeds up the combat too. [/QUOTE]

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