Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Robtheman" data-source="post: 5610095" data-attributes="member: 89625">Spicing up combat in 4eHello Recidivism! Thanks for posting this topic. I really enjoy creating dynamic and fluid combat encounters so this should be fun!Let me address one thing right off the bat. The primary challenge I see is that you let your players get away with it. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />Perhaps we should start with the ranged combatants. The following techniques should keep them guessing and on their toes. Using one each encounter, or possibly two if you really want to strain them, should force them to develop some new strategies.- Swarming ranged attackers with minions that can shift, phase, fly, teleport, burrow or charge through the front ranks.- Messing with the terrain so they are forced to move each turn and potentially lose the best strategic position.- Giving them a dose of their own medicine but cheat. Give your ranged guys murder holes or crenelated walls.- Give your bad guys tower shields, energy fields, flaming spheres, or gusts of wind that cause many of their shots to miss, bounce off or be consumed.- Use misdirection to confuse them. Think funhouse mirrors. Perhaps the party has to figure out a puzzle related to targets not being where they seem to be.As for the "Tanks" up front, you simple need to knock them down harder. If they can min-max their character sheet you can darn well min-max your monster block. Bad guys think, learn and adapt. They talk to each other back at camp. They conduct recon when their buddies disappear.  Consider the following.- Cheat. Break the rules. Ignore the rules. Give hps to monsters. Take them away. Add powers on the fly if you realize you need them. - They have perfect combat advantage set up? Blow up a wall! Everyone slides 2 squares and is prone, including the monsters. They will scramble for new cover.- If you can't seem to hit the tank, have the monster get a +2 to all attack rolls when it is bloodied. Increase the damage dice.- Give occasional encounters that are tailored to force one player to use a new tactic. Pick their favorite move and give a monster a counter to it. They will curse you, but if you give a fair way of using a different skill or power they will thank you later for a challenging fight.Most of the Keep on the Shadowfell encounters are boring as all get out. They are also very similar in design. Consider some of the following.- Play with terrain. Have it change mid-fight (exploding floor when monster gets bloodied).- Make some encounters completely easy and full of minions. Follow it with a stupidly hard solo that flees half way through the fight. - Make the boss easy and shielded but his guards super difficult. The party can take down the shields then drop dailies on the boss only to have the guards come in later on in the encounter.- Add monsters in stages. I do this all the time. When the party expects me to do this I stop and just make the existing monsters enrage at bloodied. - Use lots of elite controllers. They die fast once they are vulnerable, but they also are fantastic at manipulating the PCs with debilitating powers or forced movement.- Have a running fight without a battlemap where the players have to flee from or chase down the bad guys. Each round still follows initiative but it could combine skill checks until they catch up or are caught with running shots or preparing of impromptu ambushes. Level DesignThis last bit deserves it's own paragraph. One of the largest differences between the previous editions and 4e is the need for wide open spaces. The number of movement powers encourages an exciting flow of battle. If the party is fighting in a traditional setting (we'll use your library as an example) the most important thing to consider is how you will entice the players in to the setting (in this case the middle of the stacks). The players know they dont' want to get trapped. Moving 1 or 2 a turn is certain death. Therefore they will sit tight and wait if you give them an option.As you design your encounters consider this one challenge. "What excuse do I have to make the room wide open, with dynamic terrain and interesting features?" You will probably get annoyed with this, however the game really does flow better for you and for your monsters. That said, some times a tight space is ideal; for an ambush. I don't mean the kind your players set either. As long as the bad guys can shift and move better than the players (home field advantage) you should have cursing you in now time as the baddies phase through walls or stealth through hidden passages.I hope these suggests help you to remedy some of your concerns with combat in your campaign. Your attitude is great though! It really is all up to you to set the scene. I'll close by saying that 4e is a super fun way to play DnD but it requires a bit more effort to cover up the set and create a suspension of disbelief. The trick that I've found is to pack each encounter full of surprise attacks, changing environment, lots of minions, ticking timers, and intelligent, colorful monsters. I avoid traps (unless they are essential), small rooms, high AC monsters and static environments because they encourage a sluggish pace. Anything that makes the players think more about what they can't do than what they CAN is a no-no in my book.Good luck and have a great game!</blockquote>

Verification