What are your party's combat tactics?
- Thread starter shadowthorn
- Start date
Tactics? What tactics?
Let's see... charge nearest enemy with greatsword... lather rinse repeat.
That's about my group's philosophy. I (wizard) tend to stick back and use my spells sparingly, and instead use my crossbow a lot. If the sh*t hits the fan, I cast expeditous retreat and book it.
Let's see... charge nearest enemy with greatsword... lather rinse repeat.
That's about my group's philosophy. I (wizard) tend to stick back and use my spells sparingly, and instead use my crossbow a lot. If the sh*t hits the fan, I cast expeditous retreat and book it.
arcady said:
Good call, arcady... and some nice tactical options... I try to make good use of them whenever I DM.... but as for PC tactics? WHEEE!
Our group has a genius ploy that we've only recently begun to rethink. You see, we have a general mix of front-line combat characters, and then support characters (mages with fireball,archers....)
The front-line characters DO NOT ever form a defensive line to protect the weaker..... there's a 50% chance they either scatter in random directions to garner the most individual kills, or circle-kick something really dangerous, like a goblin. The weaker folk, who can't get into hand-to-hand without losing a limb either: (1) put themselves in the most dangerous posistion possible and yell "help"; (2) forget they only have 4 hitpoints at first level, and charge the ogre; (3) move as far away from the party as possible, and proceed to accidentally toast half the party with area effect spells. There's an equal chance of these options occuring.
Clerics, Druids, and other bastions of healing deserve special mention - they generally move far, far into the fight and wait until the PC's are at -8 to run and heal them.... 150ft away.
Of course, there are a few gems in our group - we DO have a player who would randomly decide with percentile dice what to do in any situation. NOW THAT'S TACTICS!
shilsen
Adventurer
Group I'm playing in (avg. party level 7-8):
Next to no tactics whatsoever. Run in and start hacking, casting spells, etc. I'm playing the rgr/rog, and have finally managed to get them to flank once in a while, but that's about it so far. We're midway into the RttToEE campaign, and I'm just waiting for the bad guys to steamroll us sometime.
Group I'm DM-ing for ((avg. party level 2):
Similar situation, except they use even less tactics (if possible) than the above party. Not surprising, since they're the same group of players, and as DM, I don't get to contribute to party tactics. Since I roll dice in the open, I expect major fatalities all the time. I'm planning to have the party run into a group of lower-level, much more tactically sound NPC adventurers and have the tar beaten out of them. Maybe that'll teach 'em
Next to no tactics whatsoever. Run in and start hacking, casting spells, etc. I'm playing the rgr/rog, and have finally managed to get them to flank once in a while, but that's about it so far. We're midway into the RttToEE campaign, and I'm just waiting for the bad guys to steamroll us sometime.
Group I'm DM-ing for ((avg. party level 2):
Similar situation, except they use even less tactics (if possible) than the above party. Not surprising, since they're the same group of players, and as DM, I don't get to contribute to party tactics. Since I roll dice in the open, I expect major fatalities all the time. I'm planning to have the party run into a group of lower-level, much more tactically sound NPC adventurers and have the tar beaten out of them. Maybe that'll teach 'em
James McMurray
First Post
Generally, my party's tactics have been: see a dragon, kill a dragon.
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Just kidding B.A.D.D., please don't come to my door with bats and knives!
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Just kidding B.A.D.D., please don't come to my door with bats and knives!
arwink
Clockwork Golem
My initial reaction is to say that none of the groups I'm involved with tend to use tactics. The truth is they do, but the tactics aren't terribly cohesive as a group.
In the game I DM, the party tends to fight in three groups of two. The cleric/rogue and the monk tend to be the frontline pair. The cleric/rogue takes point, and the monk (+20 movement, then add on boot of skating from the psi book) uses tumble and her superior movement rate to set up flanking attacks. Once they're in place, it tends to be a free for all of sneak attacks, flurry of blows and stunning attacks. Despite their absence of heavy armour, they've become surprisingly good at this. I've seen them take down characters with nearly double the attack bonus and hit dice of both characters combined.
The druid works with his sole animal companion (originally a wolf, then an elf, and now a wild boar. Far to much use of reincarnate). Usually, he tends to buff up the pig with any available spells, cast entangle or briar web on opponents if space allows (and sometimes when it doesn't), and then support his companion with a long spear or longbow.
The sorcerer and Psion/psi war tend to hang back. The most common spells they use are magic missile and various forms of concussion. Most of the time, the psion/psi war will alternate his abilities with missile fire (pretty much where his feats were sunk). Their job is to wear down melee combatents so the clr/rog and monk can take them down faster.
In the planescape game I play, the tactics are less logical. Everyone's been bonded to the party mage's soul, and it's been revealed that he's slowly turning into a demon. Hence, no-one really all that concerned about the possibilty of death. My half-dragon sor/brd's standard tactic is to bet the gnoll fighter 5gp that I'll reach the other side of the battlefield before him. The gnoll then goes beserk trying to win 5gp, and I tend to clear up the mess. Whenever possible, we load up with bull's strength and Cat's grace spells, Keen Edge spells and other enhancement bonuses. Due to the large number of creatures with spell resistance we encounter, we try to keep the wizard well stoked with foxes cunning spells and potions of intelligence, just to keep the DC's up.
Arwink
In the game I DM, the party tends to fight in three groups of two. The cleric/rogue and the monk tend to be the frontline pair. The cleric/rogue takes point, and the monk (+20 movement, then add on boot of skating from the psi book) uses tumble and her superior movement rate to set up flanking attacks. Once they're in place, it tends to be a free for all of sneak attacks, flurry of blows and stunning attacks. Despite their absence of heavy armour, they've become surprisingly good at this. I've seen them take down characters with nearly double the attack bonus and hit dice of both characters combined.
The druid works with his sole animal companion (originally a wolf, then an elf, and now a wild boar. Far to much use of reincarnate). Usually, he tends to buff up the pig with any available spells, cast entangle or briar web on opponents if space allows (and sometimes when it doesn't), and then support his companion with a long spear or longbow.
The sorcerer and Psion/psi war tend to hang back. The most common spells they use are magic missile and various forms of concussion. Most of the time, the psion/psi war will alternate his abilities with missile fire (pretty much where his feats were sunk). Their job is to wear down melee combatents so the clr/rog and monk can take them down faster.
In the planescape game I play, the tactics are less logical. Everyone's been bonded to the party mage's soul, and it's been revealed that he's slowly turning into a demon. Hence, no-one really all that concerned about the possibilty of death. My half-dragon sor/brd's standard tactic is to bet the gnoll fighter 5gp that I'll reach the other side of the battlefield before him. The gnoll then goes beserk trying to win 5gp, and I tend to clear up the mess. Whenever possible, we load up with bull's strength and Cat's grace spells, Keen Edge spells and other enhancement bonuses. Due to the large number of creatures with spell resistance we encounter, we try to keep the wizard well stoked with foxes cunning spells and potions of intelligence, just to keep the DC's up.
Arwink
Drakmar
Explorer
The parties that I have been in have used quite good tactics depending on each situation.
In one situation our party of 4 3rd and 4th level characters cleared out a maze of minatours (6 of them) in one day. It helped that we had a cleric of a war god with a dwarven warax.. and the fact that we got something like 20 crits total in all 6 fights (that was some good rolls) however the DM frequently said that the way we fought made the CRs totally usless.
In one situation our party of 4 3rd and 4th level characters cleared out a maze of minatours (6 of them) in one day. It helped that we had a cleric of a war god with a dwarven warax.. and the fact that we got something like 20 crits total in all 6 fights (that was some good rolls) however the DM frequently said that the way we fought made the CRs totally usless.
In one of my groups, the main tactic is "Charge!" from the paladin who is trying to reach the main bad guy no matter what, either right away or after a lengthy discussion. The rest of the party follws after, with the swashbuckling fighter entering melee after emptying his two hand crossbows, the archer trying to stay back and letting lose with arrows, hopefully not hitting his allies, my bard getting out her bastard sword and either covering the archer or going after a spellcaster until she is needed as a healer. The party psion is not that often there, but last fight he took to the air and mass concussioned the enemy before he closed into melee.
The other group I am playing in has less cohesion. "Charge!" is heard often from the knight and the cleric, followed or predated by "Fireball" from the party sorceress. The duelist normally stays back, or even out of the fight if it does not look too threatening, then tumbles and tries to engage in single combat. The rogue is trying to flank with tumble, and use his short sword. A chaotic mix of melee, spells and sometimes ranged combat.
Both groups try to drop the main threats first, which means spellcasters of any type most of the time.
The other group I am playing in has less cohesion. "Charge!" is heard often from the knight and the cleric, followed or predated by "Fireball" from the party sorceress. The duelist normally stays back, or even out of the fight if it does not look too threatening, then tumbles and tries to engage in single combat. The rogue is trying to flank with tumble, and use his short sword. A chaotic mix of melee, spells and sometimes ranged combat.
Both groups try to drop the main threats first, which means spellcasters of any type most of the time.
Black Omega
First Post
Early on my group had some moments of really awful tactics. Making fights that could have been easy tough and sometimes life threatening.
That's changed alot lately. They now use some set standard tactics. The Vanara Shaman is turned invisible to run around healing whoever calls for it. Bull strength is cast on the Crab Samurai. The three fighters protect the spell casters and use bows until the bad guys close to melee range. The Bard Cleric sings and uses a wand to disrupt spellcasting. The wizard doesn't have the high damage spells, but he uses illusions and other support spells like Web well.
Luckily I roll better than most of the players, so it evens up some.
That's changed alot lately. They now use some set standard tactics. The Vanara Shaman is turned invisible to run around healing whoever calls for it. Bull strength is cast on the Crab Samurai. The three fighters protect the spell casters and use bows until the bad guys close to melee range. The Bard Cleric sings and uses a wand to disrupt spellcasting. The wizard doesn't have the high damage spells, but he uses illusions and other support spells like Web well.
Luckily I roll better than most of the players, so it evens up some.
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