Neither of my groups just want to resort to outright violence and so I don’t force combat. Between 2 groups I only have 1 player who’s more the murder hobo type of player, but he’s generally quelled by the rest of the players in the group.
"You are just as dead if you buy the farm in an 'incident' as you are if you buy it in a declared war." - Juan RicoThere are no pointless combats in my view.
For me, the "story at hand" is just whatever the PCs are doing and have done. So any given combat encounter is just another part of that story.“Pointless” is a loaded word, TBH.
How many would change their answer if the question was “All my combat encounters are directly related to the story at hand”?
Random encounters actually serve a lot of useful purposes. Per the DMG, they create urgency, establish atmosphere, drain resources, provide assistance, add interest, and reinforce campaign themes. So sure, they do sap resources, but they do a lot more than that.I minimize pointless combat. Pointless combat, to me, is combat that doesn't add anything interesting to the game or else move the story forward. A lot of random encounters fit this bill. They're time-wasters that exist only to sap player resources. I use them sparingly.
That's a far deeper question, actually.“Pointless” is a loaded word, TBH.
How many would change their answer if the question was “All my combat encounters are directly related to the story at hand”?