The environmental mechanics sound really fun to play with, I will definitely add them to my sessions as well. A great way to add flavor to simpler fights against bandits and combats alike.
An ambush by bandits who fight until they die is one thing. A group of bandits who fire volleys from across a river and who scatter as soon as their leader is incapacitated is suddenly an incredibly engaging encounter
Only issue I could see happening with "DM rolls during the player's turns" is it does add mental load to the GM to process what rolls will be needed based on what the creature is likely to do while also helping resolve a player's turn, any questions they have and whatever game mechanics or abilities are involved
Agreed! That's why it works best with a straightforward monster like a dragon, which you know is either gonna bite-claw-claw or maybe use its fire breath if it's recharged. And if you end up not using specific rolls this turn, just save the numbers and use them next turn. The issue is when you get monsters with spells or multiple actions and it becomes a nested decision tree
I only keep track of initiative for creatures opposing the players. A pre-selected player tracks players and allies. The highest number between sides starts combat and after a member from one side goes, a member from the other side goes. Prevents dogpiling and speeds up sorting out turn order.
Huh! That always keeps the momentum swinging back and forth, prevents dogpiling like you said, and engages a player on a meta-level who takes ownership of the players' initiative. I like it!
Strangely, I like the Dedicated Huddle. That was my favorite GM strat of the four in this video. I can see where some tables might hate it enough to mutany. I dont have a specific strat for speeding up combat, because this varies a lot from one system to another. I run a variety of games. In D&D, one thing I will often do is simply not take initiative rolls. I will use initiatives of a situation narratively requires it, like an Old West shootout where the quickest draw is usually the only person to get an action. 9/10ths of the time, we just don't need it. Neither if my two favorite systems use initiative rolls every time. The adventurers can go first in any order they like, and then the NPCs take their turns in any order that makes sense to me. It's an artificial advantage for the players, but it's so minor that it does not unbalance the game anywhere near as much as my garbage dice rolls. The elimination of init nakes for one less roll for the players to make and a lot less bookkeeping for me.
The only issue I'd have with that is that it removes any initiative-boosting features from being useful, unless you incorporate that into the narrative weighting of who goes first. But at the end of the day that's such a minor issue that I kinda agree to just skip initiative all-together!
One boss I threw at my Radiant Citadel party I made up was Yanwu, a Adult Green Dragon, who served as the BBEG of an arc. They had to go through a ton of stuff just to get to the point of backing her into a corner and forcing her to have a boss fight in the first place, but well...she's a Green Dragon, if a Green Dragon is fighting like a brute, you're not playing a Green Dragon correctly. The x-factor was she intentionally set it up so the fight took place in a crowded theater where she could use the audience as meatshields to prevent them from using any attacks with a splash radius, having told the audience she'll kill them all if they so much as move. She even flew up on stage and put the party between her and the audience and forced them to fail the save on her Breath Weapon or she'd fire into the crowd. The party had to lure her into the tunnel they'd used to get up to the theater and collapse the stage under her to plunge them both into the caves beneath so she couldn't do that anymore. She then entered her second phase by drinking a bunch of potions to power her up, using the fact she was an alchemist in her human disguise, adding another x-factor because they didn't know WHAT powers she'd gained from the potions. The party loved it because the first phase forced them to find out a way to remove the audience as a factor because Yanwu was exploiting it.
@@Godzillawolf1 That sounds incredible! I always love hearing about the crazy fights folks run, cause using the AUDIENCE as a point of leverage is something that fits perfectly but I don’t know if I’d ever consider it myself
@@AroWrites Thanks. It was something I realized when setting the encounter with her in the theater and realized a Green Dragon WOULD do that. And really I feel like another big way to make combats better, which you kinda alluded to with the Shadow Demon, is that if you're running all the enemies as just interchangeable hitpoint bags with different powers, it's a real waste. Yanwu was an Adult Green Dragon, so her entire time as the Arc Villain was spent playing into them being manipulative diabolical masterminds who are constantly playing chess, and I didn't want to have that end when the boss battle started. In a later encounter, the party ran into Draconians. They were way too high of a level for Draconians to pose a real threat, but I exploited Sivak Draconians' shapeshifting to have them pose as guards brainwashed by the Aurak Draconians leading them, who do have Dominate Person on their spell list. This lead to the players playing around them, trying to deal with them, but still gave foreshadowing that something was amiss when someone tried to charm them to nonlethally deal with them, but it didn't work due to the Auraks' Aura of Command. When the jig was up, I had the Sivak Draconians start laughing with reptilian roars interspaced in as their faces ripped open into draconic teeth before they assumed their true forms. And when someone asked about the guards? Draconian: They were delicious. Monsters all have unique personalities and abilities, so if you want unique encounters, it's a really good thing to look at.
EDIT: Nice vid, well made. Good advice and well put. That's not bounded accuracy, you described the power of action economy. Bounded accuracy refers to the reduction in the range of possible attack bonuses and AC compared to previous editions (and pathfinder). In other words bounded accuracy means weak players and monsters still have a reasonable chance to hit stronger/better armored ones, and stronger can still miss weaker/lower AC ones. Little-to-no +20s to hit or 32 AC.
You're absolutely right! Bounded accuracy led to the issues I described with the action economy, but they're two separate things. Totally forgot, thanks for the reminder!
Omg thank you so much for going more in depth of "make the combats matter" tip because EVRYONE just throws that ou there like it is the holy grail but never actually tells how to do do it, like do I make only lore heavy fights? Sounds impossible, make every combat a "you win or the whole world ends"? That will work for like, 3 times max But you actually went there and gave great a great example on what you should do, props to you pal
This video needs more comments, so I will throw in some cliffnotes of my own! Tip 1: Add elements, or elemental damages. Fighting near a fire? Someone can be pushed into it, or they were grilling pigbits on a stick and someone will now wield flaming porkdrippings to skewer someone else! Tips 2: Add additional enemies! Goblins vs shadow demons, a rival adventuring party interrupts the fight, maybe the druids think you are too much murderhoboing and the easy-peazy 5 goblin combat is now a marathon! Tip 3: Pre-rolling (or using the avarages) are good ideas, and I find myself really loving the idea of the Players rolling to avoid a static damage or passing a static number easier. Tip 4: Have a time for planning the combat. I would maybe steal some idea from a Wuxia game (forgot the name, seth skorkowsky made a review of it!) And literally split the combat into phases. Like instead of "Roll initiative!" You could have the huddle, "You prepared for this over your travels, take ~5 to set up a plan", then, maybe throw in a moment where the players get to trashtalk the enemy and vice versa, whoever wins gains some boon! (Maybe the enemy is too angry to see the obvious trap, or maybe the players step in their own trap, or they lose initiative!) And absolutely allow players to go "You alive?" "About half health" / "Ready for Plan 'Throw the bottles'?" "Do it!"
@@gendor5199 The idea of a dedicated phase of combat for trash talk, dialogue, and/or interacting with the enemy to gain mechanical bonuses is a fantastic idea. Could even be entirely narrative and just change their behaviors, but that in-and-of-itself is both cinematic and engaging
Okay, but imagine a mundane skirmish with goblins when suddenly a forest fire breaks out and even breathing is difficult? Cinematic and mechanically terrifying!
@ Had one fight where a Warlock set off a Fireball indoors and set fire to the mansion they were in. Pretty soon the battlefield was completely untraversable and both sides were retreating to escape the blaze. The best part was that the party’s Ranger was unconscious forcing the Paladin to stop and drag him out.
I do like the idea of rolling the monster before it’s my turn, but I feel like I might have to do it a couple of times so I can adjust depending on what my players decide to do in their turns. I feel like there’s a way to do it though so I have a couple of options or if I did it only during the players turn who goes right before me. But I do really like the idea for making combat faster. I’m trying to get better at using the environment as part of the encounter because that always seems like it adds an extra bit of fun. I love seeing my players get to do cool things and I want them to feel like the epic main characters. I get so excited when they succeed because they get so excited!!
When it comes to adding environmental aspects, an easy thing to do is to add a static obstacle. A river, a massive statue, two-stories in a building. Then have the NPCs interact with it in a way that the party HAS to follow them, so the players learn "oh, we can USE the environment!" And DMs who get excited when their players get excited are the light of the game, carry that with you and never let it go out
Holy crud... These are not only amazing ideas, they are original(to me atleast), while I dont play dnd, I do want to find more narrative things to take ideas from!
@@gendor5199 Well thank you! Bit of secret advice, most of the videos I make are actually just writing advice framed towards D&D. So if you’re looking for inspiration or ideas, check out some other videos!
@@AroWrites I think something extra valuable would be a table of things to include in combats to turn them up. It is easy to say that a combat takes place in location X, but to also inspire players to say "Well,this is X, I want to find Y item and use it!" Or just have a rolltable of things like "There is a huge fountain with a statue in the middle, a great place to get advantage to any and every action, but it would be a King of the Hill area!"
@@AroWrites 2d10 fantast system where the attributes used to cast are picked by the player and determine how spells are cast, the class determines what spells.
One thing you touch on is that making combat fun isn't about having MORE it's about having DIFFERENT, having OPTIONS, and having CHALLENGES/PROMPTS (that encourage people to come up with creative solutions) The players (generally) aren't going to appreciate nor experience all the effort you put into deciding which traits and stats to give a monster, that's not what's memorable. It's important for a DM to keep in mind if what they are focusing on during prep, is actually something that is going to impact the player experience. (and HOW it will do so, how that contributes to overall tone etc.)
Exactly! Variety is the spice of life, and a diverse range of encounters is what takes combat from being "alright" to the highlight of a game. Particularly when you start incorporating non-mechanical solutions to the combat, like a puzzle or mid-fight negotiation
When going into dungeons, I like to just let everyone use 10 + their initiative modifier. It saves us a lot of crucial time from all the small combats that will inevitably happen. But that's only for dungeons, during other combat I tend to roll, and that can take a significant amount of time, especially because i keep forgetting to roll initiative for my monsters... Maybe I should just roll initiative for them and write it down in the beginning
The way I do it as a dm I completely removed initiative and when my players attack the hits they get are based on main stat with d 20 mixed with enemy ac as well as making sure that damage is based on rp like hitting a specific part of a creature to make it more interesting
@@AroWrites i just like the system for races and the options plus its easier to just get all my players to use dnd beyond for a lot of rolls since most are beginners
I just dropped initiative in my most recent game pretty much. I describe what all the npcs do and then I let the players collectively tell me what they do and then back to the npcs. Is it balanced? Prolly not. Does it step on some builds toes? Definitely. I say good.
My philosophy is that as long as the players are chill with it, it's fine. So even if it steps on the toes of an initiative-maxing optimized build, that doesn't matter if none of the players have that as their character
I am not a fan of DM rolling the dice as it distracts it from what is going on during the players turn. I prefer asking the players to roll their AC vs the attack of the monsters, that way I simply state: "wizard, two goblins jump out of the corner and try to stab you twice, fighter, three goblins go for you, make your armor saves!" That way the rolling and math goes into the players, who also know their AC unlike me who i need to constantly ask "does a X hit?" How it works is that they record their AC modifier in their sheet, which is the AC-12. Then the "DC" to avoid attacks is the monster's to hit bonus +10. So if a goblin has a +2 to hit, and a player has 14 AC, this transaltes to the player rolling a d20+2 vs DC 12, on a success it blocks the attack
Huh... That sounds like it's just having the players roll the attack rolls for the monsters, unless I'm misunderstanding. Which, yeah, that absolutely would speed things up and gives a weird sense of agency to the players!
I'm actually unfamiliar with AHero, so sorry to disappoint! Average damage is another way to speed things up! Personally I don't like how static it is, but it sure gets the job done
I really liked this! And I'm going to steal that "shadows bargaining for their lives with the goblin gold" encounter 😂 that's so simple and great!
Listen, they stole that treasure fair and square, they can spend it how they wish!
The environmental mechanics sound really fun to play with, I will definitely add them to my sessions as well. A great way to add flavor to simpler fights against bandits and combats alike.
An ambush by bandits who fight until they die is one thing. A group of bandits who fire volleys from across a river and who scatter as soon as their leader is incapacitated is suddenly an incredibly engaging encounter
Really good advice. And i think rolling for enemy actions while players are planning could be a great combination
no no, they got a point
Vtuber wisdom, you love to see it
@@emilstvring7577 It’s so rare, I know
Only issue I could see happening with "DM rolls during the player's turns" is it does add mental load to the GM to process what rolls will be needed based on what the creature is likely to do while also helping resolve a player's turn, any questions they have and whatever game mechanics or abilities are involved
Agreed! That's why it works best with a straightforward monster like a dragon, which you know is either gonna bite-claw-claw or maybe use its fire breath if it's recharged. And if you end up not using specific rolls this turn, just save the numbers and use them next turn.
The issue is when you get monsters with spells or multiple actions and it becomes a nested decision tree
I only keep track of initiative for creatures opposing the players. A pre-selected player tracks players and allies. The highest number between sides starts combat and after a member from one side goes, a member from the other side goes. Prevents dogpiling and speeds up sorting out turn order.
Huh! That always keeps the momentum swinging back and forth, prevents dogpiling like you said, and engages a player on a meta-level who takes ownership of the players' initiative. I like it!
Strangely, I like the Dedicated Huddle. That was my favorite GM strat of the four in this video. I can see where some tables might hate it enough to mutany.
I dont have a specific strat for speeding up combat, because this varies a lot from one system to another. I run a variety of games.
In D&D, one thing I will often do is simply not take initiative rolls. I will use initiatives of a situation narratively requires it, like an Old West shootout where the quickest draw is usually the only person to get an action. 9/10ths of the time, we just don't need it. Neither if my two favorite systems use initiative rolls every time. The adventurers can go first in any order they like, and then the NPCs take their turns in any order that makes sense to me. It's an artificial advantage for the players, but it's so minor that it does not unbalance the game anywhere near as much as my garbage dice rolls. The elimination of init nakes for one less roll for the players to make and a lot less bookkeeping for me.
The only issue I'd have with that is that it removes any initiative-boosting features from being useful, unless you incorporate that into the narrative weighting of who goes first. But at the end of the day that's such a minor issue that I kinda agree to just skip initiative all-together!
One boss I threw at my Radiant Citadel party I made up was Yanwu, a Adult Green Dragon, who served as the BBEG of an arc. They had to go through a ton of stuff just to get to the point of backing her into a corner and forcing her to have a boss fight in the first place, but well...she's a Green Dragon, if a Green Dragon is fighting like a brute, you're not playing a Green Dragon correctly.
The x-factor was she intentionally set it up so the fight took place in a crowded theater where she could use the audience as meatshields to prevent them from using any attacks with a splash radius, having told the audience she'll kill them all if they so much as move. She even flew up on stage and put the party between her and the audience and forced them to fail the save on her Breath Weapon or she'd fire into the crowd. The party had to lure her into the tunnel they'd used to get up to the theater and collapse the stage under her to plunge them both into the caves beneath so she couldn't do that anymore.
She then entered her second phase by drinking a bunch of potions to power her up, using the fact she was an alchemist in her human disguise, adding another x-factor because they didn't know WHAT powers she'd gained from the potions.
The party loved it because the first phase forced them to find out a way to remove the audience as a factor because Yanwu was exploiting it.
@@Godzillawolf1 That sounds incredible! I always love hearing about the crazy fights folks run, cause using the AUDIENCE as a point of leverage is something that fits perfectly but I don’t know if I’d ever consider it myself
@@AroWrites Thanks. It was something I realized when setting the encounter with her in the theater and realized a Green Dragon WOULD do that.
And really I feel like another big way to make combats better, which you kinda alluded to with the Shadow Demon, is that if you're running all the enemies as just interchangeable hitpoint bags with different powers, it's a real waste.
Yanwu was an Adult Green Dragon, so her entire time as the Arc Villain was spent playing into them being manipulative diabolical masterminds who are constantly playing chess, and I didn't want to have that end when the boss battle started.
In a later encounter, the party ran into Draconians. They were way too high of a level for Draconians to pose a real threat, but I exploited Sivak Draconians' shapeshifting to have them pose as guards brainwashed by the Aurak Draconians leading them, who do have Dominate Person on their spell list. This lead to the players playing around them, trying to deal with them, but still gave foreshadowing that something was amiss when someone tried to charm them to nonlethally deal with them, but it didn't work due to the Auraks' Aura of Command.
When the jig was up, I had the Sivak Draconians start laughing with reptilian roars interspaced in as their faces ripped open into draconic teeth before they assumed their true forms. And when someone asked about the guards?
Draconian: They were delicious.
Monsters all have unique personalities and abilities, so if you want unique encounters, it's a really good thing to look at.
EDIT: Nice vid, well made. Good advice and well put.
That's not bounded accuracy, you described the power of action economy.
Bounded accuracy refers to the reduction in the range of possible attack bonuses and AC compared to previous editions (and pathfinder).
In other words bounded accuracy means weak players and monsters still have a reasonable chance to hit stronger/better armored ones, and stronger can still miss weaker/lower AC ones. Little-to-no +20s to hit or 32 AC.
You're absolutely right! Bounded accuracy led to the issues I described with the action economy, but they're two separate things. Totally forgot, thanks for the reminder!
Omg thank you so much for going more in depth of "make the combats matter" tip because EVRYONE just throws that ou there like it is the holy grail but never actually tells how to do do it, like do I make only lore heavy fights? Sounds impossible, make every combat a "you win or the whole world ends"? That will work for like, 3 times max
But you actually went there and gave great a great example on what you should do, props to you pal
Why thank you very much! There's more than one way to make an encounter matter, and sometimes that literally just means spending less time on it
Damn this actually helped me as a new dm, most videos are about this are really overly complex and don't offer very concrete solutions
The hope is that even someone who's never DM'd before can watch this and go "oh, that makes sense"
This video needs more comments, so I will throw in some cliffnotes of my own!
Tip 1: Add elements, or elemental damages.
Fighting near a fire? Someone can be pushed into it, or they were grilling pigbits on a stick and someone will now wield flaming porkdrippings to skewer someone else!
Tips 2: Add additional enemies! Goblins vs shadow demons, a rival adventuring party interrupts the fight, maybe the druids think you are too much murderhoboing and the easy-peazy 5 goblin combat is now a marathon!
Tip 3: Pre-rolling (or using the avarages) are good ideas, and I find myself really loving the idea of the Players rolling to avoid a static damage or passing a static number easier.
Tip 4: Have a time for planning the combat.
I would maybe steal some idea from a Wuxia game (forgot the name, seth skorkowsky made a review of it!) And literally split the combat into phases. Like instead of "Roll initiative!" You could have the huddle, "You prepared for this over your travels, take ~5 to set up a plan", then, maybe throw in a moment where the players get to trashtalk the enemy and vice versa, whoever wins gains some boon! (Maybe the enemy is too angry to see the obvious trap, or maybe the players step in their own trap, or they lose initiative!)
And absolutely allow players to go "You alive?" "About half health" / "Ready for Plan 'Throw the bottles'?" "Do it!"
@@gendor5199 The idea of a dedicated phase of combat for trash talk, dialogue, and/or interacting with the enemy to gain mechanical bonuses is a fantastic idea. Could even be entirely narrative and just change their behaviors, but that in-and-of-itself is both cinematic and engaging
My favorite environmental factor to use is fire. Players never forget their first inferno.
Okay, but imagine a mundane skirmish with goblins when suddenly a forest fire breaks out and even breathing is difficult? Cinematic and mechanically terrifying!
@ Had one fight where a Warlock set off a Fireball indoors and set fire to the mansion they were in. Pretty soon the battlefield was completely untraversable and both sides were retreating to escape the blaze. The best part was that the party’s Ranger was unconscious forcing the Paladin to stop and drag him out.
I do like the idea of rolling the monster before it’s my turn, but I feel like I might have to do it a couple of times so I can adjust depending on what my players decide to do in their turns. I feel like there’s a way to do it though so I have a couple of options or if I did it only during the players turn who goes right before me. But I do really like the idea for making combat faster. I’m trying to get better at using the environment as part of the encounter because that always seems like it adds an extra bit of fun. I love seeing my players get to do cool things and I want them to feel like the epic main characters. I get so excited when they succeed because they get so excited!!
When it comes to adding environmental aspects, an easy thing to do is to add a static obstacle. A river, a massive statue, two-stories in a building. Then have the NPCs interact with it in a way that the party HAS to follow them, so the players learn "oh, we can USE the environment!"
And DMs who get excited when their players get excited are the light of the game, carry that with you and never let it go out
super great advise! i will try these
Holy crud... These are not only amazing ideas, they are original(to me atleast), while I dont play dnd, I do want to find more narrative things to take ideas from!
@@gendor5199 Well thank you! Bit of secret advice, most of the videos I make are actually just writing advice framed towards D&D. So if you’re looking for inspiration or ideas, check out some other videos!
@@AroWrites I think something extra valuable would be a table of things to include in combats to turn them up. It is easy to say that a combat takes place in location X, but to also inspire players to say "Well,this is X, I want to find Y item and use it!" Or just have a rolltable of things like "There is a huge fountain with a statue in the middle, a great place to get advantage to any and every action, but it would be a King of the Hill area!"
@@gendor5199 Exactly! It's a matter of blending the descriptions of the environment with the mechanics of the fight
We’re working on a ttrpg where every player gets two actions and group initiative.
Well do go on
@@AroWrites 2d10 fantast system where the attributes used to cast are picked by the player and determine how spells are cast, the class determines what spells.
One thing you touch on is that making combat fun isn't about having MORE it's about having DIFFERENT, having OPTIONS, and having CHALLENGES/PROMPTS (that encourage people to come up with creative solutions)
The players (generally) aren't going to appreciate nor experience all the effort you put into deciding which traits and stats to give a monster, that's not what's memorable.
It's important for a DM to keep in mind if what they are focusing on during prep, is actually something that is going to impact the player experience. (and HOW it will do so, how that contributes to overall tone etc.)
Exactly! Variety is the spice of life, and a diverse range of encounters is what takes combat from being "alright" to the highlight of a game. Particularly when you start incorporating non-mechanical solutions to the combat, like a puzzle or mid-fight negotiation
When going into dungeons, I like to just let everyone use 10 + their initiative modifier. It saves us a lot of crucial time from all the small combats that will inevitably happen. But that's only for dungeons, during other combat I tend to roll, and that can take a significant amount of time, especially because i keep forgetting to roll initiative for my monsters... Maybe I should just roll initiative for them and write it down in the beginning
Anything you front-load before the session is something you don't gotta worry about during it!
The way I do it as a dm I completely removed initiative and when my players attack the hits they get are based on main stat with d 20 mixed with enemy ac as well as making sure that damage is based on rp like hitting a specific part of a creature to make it more interesting
That sounds cool, though at that point I'm curious as to why you've stuck with D&D? There are other systems that support that style of combat better
@@AroWrites i just like the system for races and the options plus its easier to just get all my players to use dnd beyond for a lot of rolls since most are beginners
I just dropped initiative in my most recent game pretty much. I describe what all the npcs do and then I let the players collectively tell me what they do and then back to the npcs. Is it balanced? Prolly not. Does it step on some builds toes? Definitely. I say good.
My philosophy is that as long as the players are chill with it, it's fine. So even if it steps on the toes of an initiative-maxing optimized build, that doesn't matter if none of the players have that as their character
I am not a fan of DM rolling the dice as it distracts it from what is going on during the players turn.
I prefer asking the players to roll their AC vs the attack of the monsters, that way I simply state: "wizard, two goblins jump out of the corner and try to stab you twice, fighter, three goblins go for you, make your armor saves!"
That way the rolling and math goes into the players, who also know their AC unlike me who i need to constantly ask "does a X hit?"
How it works is that they record their AC modifier in their sheet, which is the AC-12. Then the "DC" to avoid attacks is the monster's to hit bonus +10.
So if a goblin has a +2 to hit, and a player has 14 AC, this transaltes to the player rolling a d20+2 vs DC 12, on a success it blocks the attack
Huh... That sounds like it's just having the players roll the attack rolls for the monsters, unless I'm misunderstanding. Which, yeah, that absolutely would speed things up and gives a weird sense of agency to the players!
Have you heard about Nimble 5e or dc20 by dungeons coach?
@@mikko272 I’ve heard of DC20, though I can’t claim to be familiar. If anything from them is applicable, by all means feel free to share!
this is AHero isn’t it
Also I just use avg damage for everything :3
I'm actually unfamiliar with AHero, so sorry to disappoint!
Average damage is another way to speed things up! Personally I don't like how static it is, but it sure gets the job done
@@AroWritesJust me hoping they make a return to TH-cam one day…but I like that you remind me of them! Great videos.