D&D General Two Simple Ways to Make Combat More Engaging

[DrJawaPhD]

Anyone have any hacks of their own they use to make combats more engaging?

In addition to some of the advice above, something I've toyed with for less-critical non-boss combats is rolling initiative and setting up the map, then at the start of each turn having every player simultaneously declare their action / bonus action (which can take several minutes for everyone to strategize together), then rapid-fire adjudicate all dice rolls and results in one big pile of action.

This works awesome for keeping everyone engaged and paying attention, and for generally speeding things up, but doesn't work as awesome for following the Rules As Written since the game isn't entirely designed to work this way. Some weird results can arise that need to be retconned, like a melee character declaring they will move to a spot and attack an enemy but it actually has higher initiative and moved out of range, stuff like that. This works well for lower stakes combats though, particularly near the end of a session where you want to speed things along to finish in time

 

[EzekielRaiden]

If you want combat to be engaging, it has to be worth engaging with.

Create genuinely varied terrain which actually affects gameplay--positively and negatively.
Use hazards. They're good. Make them worthwhile to exploit, and fearsome to ignore.
Forced movement. Just...seriously. Forced movement. Make the space actually matter.
Reward clever and creative choices--and actually REWARD them, don't do lip-service.

Most important of all though, indeed most important for making any part of the game more engaging, and I literally cannot stress this enough:

Be open-minded.​

Closed-minded GMs are the death of player creativity. You need--genuinely N E E D need--to be open to ideas that you personally find silly, ridiculous, unhinged, etc. That doesn't mean you shouldn't ask for justifications, you should do that! But you absolutely have to be open-minded and consider things, even things you yourself would never do or think of. If you don't give a fair shot to such things, you are guaranteeing, sooner or later, that your players just stop behaving creatively and instead follow rote patterns.

Closed-minded GMing is the second greatest scourge on the TTRPG space. It's why I'm such a massive advocate for...a number of things, really, but most specifically emphasizing to GMs that they need to say "yes", qualified or otherwise, rather than defaulting to saying "no", which is what I see over and over and over and over and over when people talk about GMing.

 

[Jahydin]

@Charlaquin
Love your initiative system, especially how size effects the first round's roll.

I ran something similar in my last 5E campaign (weapon damage die), but couldn't decide if any of the ability scores should modify it. I knew I didn't want it to be DEX (since it was already OP), but it seemed the right stat to use was always the class's main one. This effectively meant everyone got a +3/+4 bonus, so figured it was easier to just drop it all together.

 

[Jahydin]

@Benjamin Olson
Awesome list! I think I agree with every thing on it.

No house rules though; I can't imagine gaming without at least a few! Currently in my PF2 game, my dual wielder does the same exact routine every first round. Knowing that my description can change the outcome of my roll really keeps me from just playing on autopilot by just chucking my usual 5 dice, calling out the totals, then check out mentally until my next turn is up.

 

[Jahydin]

Allow use of a hero point to allow a character to go NOW! Handy for that wizard that sees the perfect setup for a fireball but somehow managed to roll last in the initiative order. Avoids the problem of that pesky barbarian running into the middle of the encounter before the AOE folks can act. Even if you don't normally use hero points, let each character start an encounter with a temp point that vanishes when that encounter is over.

Super clever - love it! Will see if my GM will allow this in our PF2 game...

If a player is taking too long to act, declare that character stunned and amazed and go the the next character in the order. Don't delay the game for several minutes because some player was lost in his phone and wasn't paying attention to the game. When the player finally has something figured out, he acts then and the character moves to that spot in the order.

Exactly what I've been doing. Also means magic users take a little longer to get ready, so will naturally go later, but I kind of like how it works out that way.

Avoid the everything fights to the death scenarios. Even animal intelligence critters can do a basic cost/benefit analysis and will run away if the prey is being too difficult. More intelligent critters might pull back to regroup, release the caged monster, send for help, sound an alarm, etc. The goblin running out the back tunnel followed a few seconds later by a loud gong and 'ALARM!' can make the encounter suddenly more interesting.

This is great point (love games with built in Moral rules), so much so I wish my list was three bullet points now...

Provide ways for the party to avoid combat encouters by stealth, diplomacy, etc. Let those rogues and bards earn their keep.

Preach!

 

[Jahydin]

I like your rule, but would like to mention that it is dependent upon the table.

Our current group has several people with anxiety or neurodivergent concerns, and pressure as a tool will just lock them right up.

For those folks I find one of the examples listed above to be best: i.e. talking them through it via in game terms.

Important point to make. Everyone is different; tailor your game accordingly.

 

[Jahydin]

Combat isn't engaging when people aren't f-ing ready to go. Not sure any of the initiative things helps this.

As GM, I immediately begin to take the monsters' turns until the player's are ready to go and stop me. So I would say so!

Example:
GM: "Snarl the Ogre has had enough. I rolled 10 for Init, unless someone beats me he's going to grab his mace and strut towards the fighter and swing..."
ELF: "I got 12! What are his minions doing?"
GM: "Nothing yet, want to wait a bit?"
ELF: "Yeah, I draw my bow and announce that the first one that budges gets an arrow from me."
Fighter: "I rolled lower, can still I try talking Snarl down before he gets to me?"
GM: "Sure, he's half way to you right now and looking pretty pissed, better be quick..."

 

[Jahydin]

In addition to some of the advice above, something I've toyed with for less-critical non-boss combats is rolling initiative and setting up the map, then at the start of each turn having every player simultaneously declare their action / bonus action (which can take several minutes for everyone to strategize together), then rapid-fire adjudicate all dice rolls and results in one big pile of action.

This works awesome for keeping everyone engaged and paying attention, and for generally speeding things up, but doesn't work as awesome for following the Rules As Written since the game isn't entirely designed to work this way. Some weird results can arise that need to be retconned, like a melee character declaring they will move to a spot and attack an enemy but it actually has higher initiative and moved out of range, stuff like that. This works well for lower stakes combats though, particularly near the end of a session where you want to speed things along to finish in time

That's a cool idea, but think my head would explode trying to keep it all straight, haha. I think I would have to have everyone write it down on index cards, sort them by Init, then resolve them one at a time.

 

[Jahydin]

Be open-minded.​

Agree! I'm lucky to never have had a close-minded GM in my life.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Agree! I'm lucky to never have had a close-minded GM in my life.

That you are, indeed.

I've had a few. Not bad people, but closed-minded about what is or isn't possible. I've seen it enough personally, and heard of it enough from others, that it's one of the biggest concerns I have WRT how GMing is done.