Welcome to Our Guide on Meaningful D&D Combat Encounters
So many players long for the experience of truly epic D&D battles. We picture our characters epically tumbling through the melee, thwarting interesting and deadly enemies with a flourish like their favorite movie scenes. The problem is that, if we’re not mindful of it, combat encounters can fall flat, becoming a “slogfest” of dice rolls where we’re just waiting for it to be over (been there?) This guide will give you some recipes for success to take your D&D combat encounters to the next level… bringing the right story, and combat elements together for a nice, spicy mix. Whether you’re a player or a dungeon master, this guide has something for you.
D&D Combat Encounters Guide – Monster Mash
Let’s start by talking about what it is that your party may be fighting. Will be just one massive opponent like a fire giant dreadnaught or shall we skirmish with several squishier enemies like a horde of goblins? Both bring different challenges to your party of adventurers.
Choosing to Create a Fight With a Big-Bad
Engaging a large baddie gives you the ability to create a feeling of finality. The classic example is a confrontation between your party and a single bad guy to end a certain story arc. An interesting alternative could be introducing the “big bad guy” to the party in combat where the party is supposed to lose (gasp). This can give the group a quick sense of purpose in a D&D campaign which can be hard to create especially with a group that wanders off easily.
Battles With Lots of Enemies
Ahh, the fights with lots of mooks, how we love thee. Beware your combat pacing on this one. One issue that may bog down gameplay is keeping up with several different monster stats and rolling for each attack. The Dungeon Masters Guide has a solid recommendation for dealing with this. In short, use a quick reference table to determine how many monsters hit based on some “law of averages” math, use middle of the road damage for these hits, and keep the action moving and the immersion flowing. These can keep the fights feeling epic while felling hordes of lower-level monsters.
Hybrid Battles – Big and Small Targets
Mixing the two is a very viable option that gives the best of both worlds. Having a single large threat accompanied by secondary and tertiary level threats create a feeling of importance and epicness in one swoop. Giving your players options on which type of target to fight gives great tactical depth too. For example, the wizard may choose to fireball the horde of goblins swarming down the mountainside, while the paladin might choose to square up with the behemoth in the front of the party to go toe to toe.
D&D Combat Encounter Environments – Watch Where You Step!
The environment where your players are fighting can create a nice challenge in addition to the monsters they are fighting! Imagine the party is trudging through a lush jungle when suddenly they are attacked by something crazy from the random encounter table! The wizard, wanting to back away to stay safe, may want to use his movement to back away his full 30 feet when the DM describes how stepping over the vines and underbrush proves to be more challenging than expected. Difficult terrain. This cutting in the movement to half can add an extra level of strategy to the combat encounter.
The environment doesn’t always mean invoking difficult terrain. What if the party is sailing on the high seas when a sea monster attacks? The movement of the party is drastically cut short by the small quarters of the ship’s deck unless your party prefers to fight a sea creature in its home turf.
How High Are the Stakes?
A large piece of crafting story centered encounters is curating a reason why that fighter in the party is stabbing the orcs mercilessly for the 15th time. Is the reason the players are fighting the orcs to survive? Are there more ulterior motives? A quest to find a lost sibling may have dramatically more emotional pull than one where the party is just going out to “clear a local threat.” Of course, the promise of treasure for the party to find in the monster’s lair is a classic (and effective!) way to reward your players for the battle.
After the Dust Settles
Choosing to make the decisions, and the effects of the party’s combats matter in the game world can make an awesome experience. I want to do this more myself as a dungeon master. Not every skirmish with a group of sleazy goblins results in the fall of civilization but larger battles can have some effect on the local area.
For some examples, if the party topples the head of a crime syndicate in a small city, the sudden void of power could create a power vacuum in this small city that can lead to a turf war of rival gangs vying for the top spot. Maybe their successes have other unexpected complications for them to handle. Eradicating a large creature in a habitat could disrupt the balance of the ecosystem such as killing a Froghemoth in a swamp. The animals that the Froghemoth would keep in check could raise up in numbers in a few months and take over the swampland.
What’s in it for Me?
My last piece of advice here in creating more engaging combat encounters is to connect your player’s backstories to the fight. This might be the X factor to really bring up your players’ level of engagement. Be creative here, it doesn’t have to be elaborate but if your players backstories are weaved in, they will love it! Maybe the bandit captain your party defeated has a love letter from your wizard’s mentor?
Finding a delicate balance of when to pepper in a backstory connection is key. Put in too many, your players will start to expect every battle to have some connection to the players, too few and you may run the chance of your players losing interest. Remember, your players want to feel connected to the story and world you created!
Recap – A Recipe for an Engaging D&D Encounter
- A good monster(s) for the team to squash
- Challenging environments
- Give the WHY for the combat encounter
- What is the aftermath if any?
- Connect your players to the combat