Spicing Up One-On-One Combat

[Fauchard1520]

I find it difficult to make one-on-one combat exciting. If the duel is between evenly matched opponents (mechanically speaking), there's a 50/50 chance that a PC is gonna die. But if it's tilted in the PC's favor, it's hard to make 'em feel like they triumphed in an actually-dangerous situation.

So my question: What's the best way to run one-on-one combat? How do you help your big-damn-hero PC to feel like a badass without oops-he's-dead?

Comic for illustrative purposes.

 

[Bilharzia]

Just use a better system than dnd, practically any other system is going to be more interesting and nuanced.

 

[Umbran]

But if it's tilted in the PC's favor, it's hard to make 'em feel like they triumphed in an actually-dangerous situation.

So... don't tilt it in their favor?

 

[opacitizen]

Two tips that may work sometimes (but don't overuse them):

1. Introduce and use a countdown clock. It's a 50/50 fight (or worse), but both sides know a 3rd party capable of subduing both sides is on its way, so the combat won't (likely) result in the death of either party. The city watch is heard coming running, they'll arrive in 5 rounds. A vengeful, undiscerning ghost is rising from the dungeon, and will arrive in 1d10 rounds. A xenomorph or a terminator is breaking down the blastdoor two rooms away, and will be here in d6 rounds.

2. Make it known that the enemy, be they as brutal as they are, is not aiming to kill its opponents in general (or just in this specific case). It aims to disable, maim, and/or rob. "Old Nosechomper the troll won't leave you dead. It will beat the naughty word out of you and bite off your nose." "Rozzo will defeat you, but instead of killing you, he'll carve his mark, an 'R' in your forehead, and take all your magical weapons." And so on.

 

[TheSword]

Here’s a controversial idea. Allow any character with proficiency with the weapon they’re using to use a maneuver from the battle master subcclass by spending a HD. Their HD is the roll they use for the purpose of the feat.

Parrying, tripling, pushing, extra damage, precise strikes, intimidation all become feasible in combat then.

It wrecks the battle master subclass but who cares.

For bonus points, allow inspiration to be spent for the same effect using a 1d8

I actually think this might deserve its own thread to discuss.

 

[Bacon Bits]

Change the turn structure to give each character half a turn each initiative. Each turn a creature has two options each half-round:

1. Take a normal action.
2. Move or use a bonus action. You can use a bonus action that your last turn may have triggered (e.g., off hand attack with two weapon fighting).

Finally, some additional rules:

1. Half-rounds are 3 seconds.
2. You can't do the same thing two turns in a row, with some exceptions (e.g., a Rogue can move and the next turn move as a bonus action, taking the Dash action is different than moving, attacking with an off-hand weapon as a bonus action, etc.). That is to say, you can't have two half-rounds do more than what you could normally do with a full round. The opposite might be true, so you might be able to do more in a round than you can in two half-rounds.
3. You only get one reaction and one free object interaction every two half-rounds.
4. Spells that last a number of rounds last twice as many half-rounds.

This is way, way, way to fiddly for more than two participants in a battle, but if you've got exactly two characters it might be more interesting to see how that plays out.

There's a decent chance this really doesn't work well at all, but it sounds interesting.

 

[Jd Smith1]

House-rule 5e into something that approaches a decent combat system. Start with making death permanent, so the player is risking everything when he commits his PC to any fight.

As to feeling badass, that's the player's job.

 

[aco175]

I was thinking two smaller opponents. Not the same as 1:1, but the threat of two attacks against the PC is weighed against the lower HP and To Hit bonus. A 5th level PC going against two 4th level fighter-types may work. The player has options to focus on one and hope to kill him and then the other is a lot easier.

 

[Fauchard1520]

So... don't tilt it in their favor?

Typical encounter design favors the party over the monsters. You provide a bit of challenge without seriously threatening death. And when we're talking about a group overcoming challenges together, the issue of "we're stronger than the monsters mechanically" usually disappears into the details of complex combat. It's a lot harder to cover that mess up when it's just one dude fighting a single opponent.

 

[Jd Smith1]

Typical encounter design favors the party over the monsters. You provide a bit of challenge without seriously threatening death.

Speak for yourself. My encounters are designed to kill PCs, because the NPCs in question are trying to kill the PCs. It's up to the players to get their people out alive, and if they don't, that's on them.