Unearthed Arcana: Combat Velocity

[Flobby]

Mearls mention the "draw orcs into oil-soaked corridor and light them on fire" aspect of 1e and 2e combat (i.e., a good plan could end an entire encounter). I like that aspect, so if my players come up with a good plan (such as the one above), I turn every monster into a minion. Of course, XP is reduced accordingly, but the PCs advance pretty much unscathed.

Yeah I'd like to see more rituals that can be usable in combat. Doing something with Action Points to increase damage output might be cool too.

 

[Klaus]

Yeah I'd like to see more rituals that can be usable in combat. Doing something with Action Points to increase damage output might be cool too.

I wouldn't say rituals, but it'd be interesting to have something like terrain powers you can create.

 

[KidSnide]

Mearls mention the "draw orcs into oil-soaked corridor and light them on fire" aspect of 1e and 2e combat (i.e., a good plan could end an entire encounter). I like that aspect, so if my players come up with a good plan (such as the one above), I turn every monster into a minion. Of course, XP is reduced accordingly, but the PCs advance pretty much unscathed.

Personally, I think that's one of the major problems with defeating enemies in combat being the objective (i.e. the source of xp) in 3e/4e. Because the PCs fight enemies in order to harvest them for xp, it feels like "cheating" to kill all the enemies with a clever plan (and weirdly counter-productive to bypass combat entirely). These perverse incentives totally change how PCs approach combat, and not for the better.

The experience is much stronger if combat was merely a means-to-an-end (admittedly, a fun means) instead of an end itself.

-KS

 

[Aegeri]

As one of the first people here to rag on Wizards usually, I can't say I am disappointed by the article even if it wasn't anything new to me. For a lot of DMs, I imagine this information might actually be kind of novel and at least provide some ideas to go forward with. I would have loved some new rules or mechanics, but overall the advice works fairly well - though I think halving monster HP or doubling PC damage is not a good solution (because it makes encounters harder to design to be challenging).

Personally I'm thinking of my Eberron game 2 weeks ago, where almost 4 hours was used on one encounter. Nobody complained because it was arguably one of the most epic encounters I've ever run in 4E DnD to date (it had literally everything). I'll write that up in my session notes, but it did remind me that if combat is fun and interesting, it doesn't matter how long it lasts. It's the pointless "fight this thing with a billion HP you can't hit for 2 hours" (ala old paragon/epic combats from back in 4Es beginning) that make combat drag and feel awful.

 

[Nahat Anoj]

Mearls mention the "draw orcs into oil-soaked corridor and light them on fire" aspect of 1e and 2e combat (i.e., a good plan could end an entire encounter). I like that aspect, so if my players come up with a good plan (such as the one above), I turn every monster into a minion. Of course, XP is reduced accordingly, but the PCs advance pretty much unscathed.

If a player thinks up a clever plan to eliminate lots of monsters quickly, I'm actually inclined to not only give full xp for the encounter but also to award an xp *bonus* (or some other reward like a boon or treasure) for creative thinking. Who cares if it spoils a carefully thought out xp or treasure budget - if creative plans are something a DM wants to see there needs to be clear and immediate benefits to concocting those plans!

 

[LostSoul]

At the very least, I'd like to see a similar treatment to miniature-less combat. Futzing with position is part of what complicated D&D combats fun, but it's also part of what makes them complicated.

I use a system like this. Boiled down:
Everyone acts at once
You do what you said you were going to do
If you want to affect an opponent, you need to roll to hit

I'd like an "endgame" mechanic that lets me determine the resource cost to call it the end of an encounter.

I also have a Morale check mechanic.

I've attached the "Cheat Sheet" if anyone cares.

 

[S'mon]

I'm halving monster hit points rather than doubling PC damage, it's easy as the 'Bloodied' number is right there already. If a monster then feels too weak for his role I just Elite-ify him. If threat level seems too low I can use more monsters or run an adventure a couple levels above party level.

I think the game works a lot better with reduced monster hp. Strikers can actually kill foes in one hit, occasionally, and the 'padded sumo wrestler' feel vanishes.

 

[jbear]

As a player I feel quite protective over my healing surges. As a DM scratching them away from my players is a small triumph. As they celebrate their victory, every now and again when they are getting too cocky I quietly ask them how many surges they have left. When my players get into an adventure, I make it very tricky for them/undesireable to stop and take an extended rest after every one or two battles. In short HSurges are a very valuable resource.

Having them removed to hand wave a clean up, which I'm likely to get through without a scratch, just because I'm the closest one left to the remaining monsters, wouldn't sit right with me.

That kind of mechanic would have to be put in the players hands as an option, once the DM called "Morale is Broken" or something, to let the players know they can mop up. That "mop up" could perhaps comes with the risk of losing a valuable resorce like a healing surge, but having it be a given, or something the DM simply decides on a whim wouldn't be fair.

I haven't read the article, but I like the idea of double damage listed by Klaus. Let's say the DM rules that the result of combat has become a foregone conclusion i.e the monsters have lost. But sometimes the beaten creatures will react differently.Here are two possible examples that spring to mind to speed to the end of combat in a fun way.

1) Broken Morale: monsters know they have lost and lose hope or attempt to flee making themselves vulnerable.
Even if the monsters begin to flee PCs at this stage won't want them to flee, for various reasons. It's a good tactic to eliminate your enemies completely. Macchiavelli himself would agree this is a good tactic. So apply the DMs favourable condition:
+2 bonus to all atacks and PCs now do double dmg. You crit on 19-20; crits Auto Kill target.

2) Beserk Suicide: something snaps; monsters know combat is lost and go into a suicide frenzy. Combat should go faster but remain deadly/exciting/dangerous for PCs, though they have they should keep the edge over their enemies.
Monsters do double damage; PCs gain a +2 Atk bonus and also do double damage; 19-20 PC crit range; PC Crits auto kill.

If I wanted to add a new level of complexity to this I would probaly considering adding the Dice of Doom Morale check system to combat: Speeding up D&D 4E Combat: Morale | Dice of Doom
which basically adds a saving throw when a groups leader is cut down, or a certain amount of their allies die; a fail means the monster flees and fleeing cause new checks amongst its remaining allies.

As Aegeri said, a long combat can be awesome. It's a long boring combat that must be dealt with. My last combat was over 2 sessions, and at no stage was it boring. My players were walking on cloud 9 when they got through it alive. We all talked about it non stop for days afterwards we were all so excited about what had happened. In between session 1 and 2 the players even got together secretly to discuss tactics as the situation where we had left it looked very very grim indeed. It was awesome, epic and unforgettable. But not every combat is going to be like that. Which is when you can have a mechanic up your sleeves to move the 'middle bits' along at a swifter pace without bypassing them entirely.

If I didn't want the monster just to flee I could give him either the Broken Morale condition or the Beserk Suicide condition til the end of the encounter. So this could come to influence only individual monsters, and spread like a disease as their allies drop around them and morale crumbles into dust.

Anyway, like I said, I haven't read the article, but just those few lines from Klaus got me thinking all this ... so ... cheers Klaus!

 

[jbear]

[MENTION=386]LostSoul[/MENTION] : I care I love a lot of the ideas you have, and often find ways to get them into my own game. I'm reading your cheat sheet and already getting new ideas. I'm guessing this is form your 4eHack (was that what it's called) game, right? Some neat little mechanics in there, but it's not entirely clear how the morale system works without some explanation.

I like your system to determine DCs of 'improvised actions'.

Cheers for this. I have tried to XP both you and Klaus but I have to spread bla bla bla (which is wierd because I'm pretty open handed when it comes to giving xp, I should have spread enough around by now, since last I xp'd either of you ... wierd ...)

 

[jbear]

Another thing I did not to long ago, for a battle/encounter/situation that I didn't really want to be a battle:

I 'Skill Challenge-ified' it.

The DC was the monsters defenses. A hit bloodied a creature (1 success); A second hit killed the creature (1 success); A miss scored a Failure.

There were 3 creatures, so 6 successful hits were required to kill them all. 3 fails meant the remaining living creatures fled to alert their allies of the PCs presence, complicating their situation quite a bit. While the enemies were alive they fired off ranged attacks at the PCs.

Fast furious fun, and over in all of 3 or 4 minutes.