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

Order of Combat
Any effect that would normally occur at the start of a creature’s turn occurs at the start of the round on which that turn will take place. Any effect that would normally occur at the end of a creature’s turn occurs at the end of the round on which that creature’s turn took place.

Initiative
At the start of the first round, roll a die based on your character’s size to determine your Initiative.



SizeInitiative Die
Tiny1d4
Small1d6
Medium1d6
Large1d8
Huge1d10
Gargantuan1d12

Creatures take turns in ascending order of Initiative. If two or more PCs have the same Initiative, the players decide what order their characters take their turns in. If two or more monsters or NPCs have the same Initiative, the DM decides what order they take their turns in. If any PCs have the same initiative as any monsters or NPCs, they take turns in descending order of Dexterity scores, with PCs winning ties.

Your Turn
On your turn, you can move up to your speed and take one action and up to one bonus action. The actions and bonus actions you take during your turn determines your Initiative on the following round.

Attacks
Whenever you make an attack on your turn, roll the damage die of the weapon used to make the attack, or 1d4 if the attack was an unarmed strike. The highest result rolled this way on your turn becomes your Initiative on the next round.

Spells
Whenever you cast a spell on your turn, roll 1d4 if the spell requires verbal components, 1d4 if it requires somatic components, and 1d4 if it requires material components, and add the results together. The total is your Initiative on the next round.

Items
Whenever you use an item or activate a magic item on your turn, roll 1d6. If the item had to be retrieved from a pack or other container, roll another 1d6 and add the results together. The total is your Initiative on the next round.

Other Actions
If you take any other action during your turn, or end your turn without taking an action, roll your Size-based Initiative die. The total is your Initiative on the next round.


Other Actions
If you take more than one of the above actions on your turn, use the highest result rolled as your initiative and ignore the rest.
Reading this made me think of Legend of the Five Rings 3rd edition. It has a few ways for players (and enemies) to interact with Initiative after the fact.

The first is Tides of Battle - At the end of each Combat Round, any character that did not receive damage may make a Tides of Battle Roll. In game this is a d10 (it isn't a d20 system), in a d20 system I would use a d4 or d6. After Rolling they may choose to add that roll to their initiative, or subtract it from the initiative of a character they dealt damage to.

The other common method of altering initiative is by spending a Void Point. These are a pool of points you may spend each day to fuel abilities or alter rolls slightly (like action points in other systems). After initiative is rolled, or at the end of any round, you may spend a Void Point to swap initiative with any willing participant.
 

log in or register to remove this ad

A few of my tricks:

1. Ditch or minimize initiative. I've come to loathe WotC-style sequential initiative where everyone stops to generate initiative scores at the start of a fight and spends the next 15 minutes-1 hour stuck in the same dull sequence. Generally, the aggressors go first as a group and then the opposition. Repeat. After a round or two, when the combat inevitably breaks down into smaller skirmishes and face-offs, I mixed up the order to amp up the intensity.

2. Don't stop roleplaying. Don't stop describing. If the PCs are fighting goblins, give each one a distinctive feature. Give them personalities. Have them react to hits and misses believably. If a goblin scores a hit, have it laugh sadistically or make a cruel joke or just laugh gleefully. Invite the player to respond.

3. Don't count squares. Some people like the tactical mini wargames. I do not. If it's close, it's close enough. Make a quick decision on if something is doable, requires a roll or is impossible and MOVE ON.

4. Don't open the rulebooks during combat. Combat is what is happening RIGHT NOW. This goes for spells and powers, too. Players are responsible for knowing what their PC can do and have their notes ready to go. If they can't or get it wrong, their action likely fails automatically. It's harsh, but it's in everyone's interest for the game to proceed quickly. I still have nightmares of the 3e druid that would take 30 minutes for their turn (figuring out what they would wildshape stats, figuring out what animal they were summoning, attacking with the animal companion, and whatever else).

5. Be lenient when in comes to combat stunts. If you saw someone do it in an action movie, you can probably try it in my game. This goes for enemies as well. Have the push, knockdown, disarm, or what not the PCs with their actions in lieu of straight damage.

6. Remember that context is important. Never just put a combat in because it feels that there should be a combat at that point in the adventure. This speaks to the goals of the party and that of their adversaries. And, possibly, there might be other ways of accomplishing that goal other than combat. Context also means the setting (arena) and the scenario. Find what is specific to this combat, and accentuate it. The PCs might fight goblins a lot, but they only hold back the goblin horde at the Thunder Bridge, allowing the refugees of Halford to escape, once. Make it memorable.

7. Be lenient with retreating. If the party wants to retreat: let them--and let them take any fallen comrades. Hit them with a bit of extra damage if you must, or do some skill checks or equivalent to lose pursuers, but give them an out. Let monsters flee automatically as well. Don't have retreating monsters return to further menace the party except when circumstances demand it as players will inevitably do all they can to get rid of the threats here and now.

8. Raise the stakes or difficulty. A few rounds in, reinforcements arrive, a new weapon is unleashed, or the arena is transformed. To be used sparingly, but can turn an ordinary combat into an extraordinary one.
 

That's the thing though, you don't really need to keep it all straight, you mostly just let the players manage their own results.
This is huge. If you give the players the notion that you're going to manage everything, then they can check out until it's their turn to roll a die. If you put a scene in their heads and ask them to interact with it, ask them questions about what's going on and let them imagine outcomes, they'll be right there with you.

1. Get rid of Initiative rounds
Nothing is more boring then pausing the game right when the action starts to figure out everyone's order.
Agreed. Can we keep them engaged by asking them what their results mean as they roll?
"(First PC to roll), what are you doing as combat starts?"
"(Next PC, who rolls higher), how did you get the jump on (First PC)?"
"(Third PC), that's a low roll. Was something distracting you?"
Etc.

There's quite a few ways to do this. Some of my favorites:
  • Just let the PCs go first and get on with it!
  • Split actions up and narrate in loose order using common sense and what's fun. (For instance, initiative could go: Movement -> Missile Fire -> Melee -> Magic)
  • Everyone rolls for Initiative, but the GM just starts going. He can be interrupted at anytime by anyone who rolled better than him and is ready to take their turn. (My absolute favorite)
  • Popcorn Initiative
  • Lightest weapons strike first. Unless you're approaching someone with a longer weapon, then the longer one goes first.
  • Mix and match any of the previous!
Good suggestions. Except for the weapon sizes. That opens up a level of simulationism that could get painful - unless it's codified. "A ten-pound pike strikes faster than my dirk? What if I throw it? Let me look up the throwing rules . . . "

2. Make combat descriptions matter
When players take the time to describe their attack in a way that seems beneficial, uses a weapon that seem perfect for job, or comes up with a clever idea not covered in the rules, reward them!

With the first two examples, I usually give a +1 or +2 bonus in secret and just narrate it as being "effective" in some manner. For the clever ideas, I'll usually tie it to a Skill Check and keep the effect close to the power levels of what's normally available in the system. If it's something that player really likes to do, I'll take the time to flesh out a whole new mechanic.

This goes a long way in encouraging players to think about what they could do on their turn other than just "attack". Complete game changer in OSR systems to add depth as well as to more complex games like PF2 to add variety to the same "routine" the PC is built to.
It's crazy what happens when Matt Mercer isn't there to describe your entire attack for you! I would like him to do sound effects in my game, though. Player descriptions have a weird side effect of inspiring the other players and fleshing out the narrative. Win-win, when they see their descriptions affect the game.
 


Agreed. Can we keep them engaged by asking them what their results mean as they roll?
"(First PC to roll), what are you doing as combat starts?"
"(Next PC, who rolls higher), how did you get the jump on (First PC)?"
"(Third PC), that's a low roll. Was something distracting you?"
Etc.
I like a lot of the suggestions, but this one doesn't work for me. It adds more character but it slows the combat down. The main reason I'm disengaged during combat is because my turns don't come up very often, not because it isn't immersive enough.

A really common version is the 'describe how you kill it' (curse you, Mercer!). I always feel like, why are we spending time on this? He's dead or he isn't, and we're ready to move on.

I think I have the minority view here, so I'm not saying you're wrong! Just sharing my perspective.
 

I am of the opinion that there is a time and a place for being descriptive, and for keeping combat moving forward.

Generally, I don't like when every single defeated enemy gets a long winded 4K HD description of how they died. Usually I will save that for the final combat kill of the encounter, or when I think it will be interesting for the players. I also don't just gloss over everything either however, like "he takes 12 damage, next action."

When players are being descriptive, I usually just let them have fun, unless its getting on the absurd side.
 

Remove ads

Top