D&D 5E "When DMing I Avoid Making the PCs have 'pointless' combats." (a poll)

[abirdcall]

I also don't know what this means.

If it means random encounters they are far from pointless.

I personally find them as an almost essential element to a great game.

They aren't seperate for the story they are just as much part of it as anything else.

And their presence in the game means that the story is being created at the table and not preplanned. Having an adventure with random encounters means that adventure must be written to handle different things happening.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I tend to not use random encounters unless I'm caught flat-footed as a DM. But if we define pointless as a combat that they're easily going to win, I do include them. Because sometimes players like to feel powerful by whomping on some foes. And it makes those nailbiter battles feel that much more exciting by comparison.

 

[Celebrim]

Fascinating that it’s split at 50/50 so far. Might say a lot or nothing at all

The poll is only measuring how people interpret the word "Pointless" and how willing they are to accept that their combats fit however they interpreted the word "Pointless"

A more meaningful poll might ask, "Do you always skip combats that don't meaningfully challenge the PCs?" or "Do you avoid combats that don't advance the plot?"

 

[Charlaquin]

The poll is only measuring how people interpret the word "Pointless" and how willing they are to accept that their combats fit however they interpreted the word "Pointless"

A more meaningful poll might ask, "Do you always skip combats that don't meaningfully challenge the PCs?" or "Do you avoid combats that don't advance the plot?"

I would still find those difficult to answer, because in a resource management game like D&D, every combat contributes to the overall challenge, and in a game of emergent storytelling like D&D, everything that happens in the game is part of the plot.

 

[Li Shenron]

To me the only pointless combat is the one which is so easy that it leaves you with the feeling that you should not have bothered to use combat rules. And unless I make a huge mistake with stats or something, that kind of pointless combat happens only because the players choose to attack someone who is inoffensive for their level and not probably not supposed to be attacked. So I don't bother asking to roll initiative in that case but I don't "avoid" that it happens.

 

[Celebrim]

I would still find those difficult to answer, because in a resource management game like D&D, every combat contributes to the overall challenge, and in a game of emergent storytelling like D&D, everything that happens in the game is part of the plot.

I feel like those are straight forward answers that tell me a lot about your approach to the game. That is to say, not every GM is going to agree that D&D has or ought to have a resource management component, or that every combat meaningful taxes player resources. This is especially true in more modern editions where 'short rests' replenish considerable resources. Likewise, not every GM is going to agree that the plot is or ought to be emergent from the setting and instead is going to suggest that the plot is either emergent from the GM's conceptions of the story or from the players conceptions of the story. To suggest that the plot is what happens, rather than what happens should be the plot reveals quite a bit.

 

[Guest 7034872]

I try to avoid "combat just for combat's sake" as much as I can, but especially when the campaign first started, I did have a bunch of random encounters that I used just to show the party how I DM encounters and combat. So there the only "point" was to give them a feel for how I would run this stuff before I threw anything serious at them.

 

[DND_Reborn]

What starts as a "pointless combat" sometimes turns in the spark that ignites a campaign...

So, again, whatever the narrative/story/world-design demands is appropriate is what the characters get.

 

[Charlaquin]

I feel like those are straight forward answers that tell me a lot about your approach to the game. That is to say, not every GM is going to agree that D&D has or ought to have a resource management component, or that every combat meaningful taxes player resources.

Well, whether it “ought to” or not, D&D 5e is designed around a resource management model of difficulty. And it’s a rare encounter that doesn’t tax some resource, even if it’s only a few HP or a short rest recovery ability or whatever.

This is especially true in more modern editions where 'short rests' replenish considerable resources.

Sure, but managing resources between short rests is still a resource management challenge, and short rest HP recovery is itself a long rest based resource.

Likewise, not every GM is going to agree that the plot is or ought to be emergent from the setting and instead is going to suggest that the plot is either emergent from the GM's conceptions of the story or from the players conceptions of the story. To suggest that the plot is what happens, rather than what happens should be the plot reveals quite a bit.

Yeah, it reveals quite a bit in the discussion, but a simple poll wouldn’t reveal as much.

 

[Reynard]

True with a caveat: I totally admit to using "random encounters" to fill out the last 45 minutes of a session when I know I need to do some prep before the next one because the players have gone off on a tangent or otherwise moved in a direction I am not ready to improv on. So -- ninjas break in to the tavern!