Comments on: Speed Up Your Game: Know When to Call the Fight

By: In Anticipation of GenCon: Convention Tips 6 for Players, 6 for DMs — Dungeon's Master

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 13:32:09 +0000

[...] easiest way to gain time during combat is knowing when to Call the Fight. When the combat become a war of attrition then it’s time to call it and let the PCs move [...]

By: 6 D&D Convention Tips for DMs — Dungeon's Master

6 D&D Convention Tips for DMs — Dungeon's Master — Sun, 26 Dec 2010 01:22:01 +0000

[...] easiest way to gain time during combat is knowing when to Call the Fight. When the combat become a war of attrition then it’s time to call it and let the PCs move [...]

By: Greatest Hits 2010: Eight Rules To Make You A Better DM — Dungeon's Master

Greatest Hits 2010: Eight Rules To Make You A Better DM — Dungeon's Master — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 17:35:13 +0000

[...] the PCs have expended their daily and encounter powers, and there is only one NPC left to kill, call the fight. The exception to this rule is if there is a realistic threat and a strong possibility of a PC [...]

By: Eight Rules That Will Make You A Better DM — Dungeon's Master

Eight Rules That Will Make You A Better DM — Dungeon's Master — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 14:02:42 +0000

By: Ameron

Ameron — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 12:21:49 +0000

@Toldain
I like the idea of holding back something big (like an encounter power). I may try this the next time the PCs get into a fight with a monster who is nothing more than a big-bag-of-hit-points. It’s funny how tactics change if the PCs think dropping a monster to 0 will cause something bad to happen. Ever thrown a Balor at your PCs? Watch how quickly they change their usual routine.

By: Toldain

Toldain — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:16:15 +0000

Possibly as a DM running such encounters, you can manage things to make them more interesting. For example, hold back a really good power until the PC’s think they’ve hit easy street, then confound them by pulling a new power out of nowhere, and maybe send in reinforcements. It’s all about what serves the story.

Instead of shaving HP off a boss, maybe let them regen their power, or have an item they can use. Remember, the players find it fun when they have had to overcome more obstacles. Who knows, maybe the boss triggers some kind of doomsday spell or device when he hits “0 hit points”.
.-= Toldain´s last blog .."I Don’t Make Games, I Make Toys" =-.

By: Ameron

Ameron — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 13:36:00 +0000

@newbiedm
With 7 PCs I can see why you’d want to call the occasion fight and keep things moving. I’m sure you’ve come up with many other ways to keep the game moving. Please feel free to share your ideas so that we may all benefit. If you’ve already got an article with your tips, post the link.

@Lurkinggherkin
I think far too many monsters fight to the death in D&D. At least in some adventures the author has provided a reason for the fight-to-the-death mentality. I think if intelligent monsters and NPC surrendered more often the PCs wouldn’t know what to do. If you’re half way through a dungeon crawl and the evil priest (not the big boss) surrenders, what do you do with him? I think this is one of the big reasons most PCs kill everything.

Escape routes are good. Nothing upsets PCs more than a bad guy who gets away. Especially if he’s got good magic loot.

@Mike
Here’s how I handle a near-death attack. When a monster is brought to 10 hit points or less, I drop him. But I take his remaining few hp and add them to the monster standing next to him. This give the PCs the satisfaction of a good kill, but makes them still deal with those 6 hit points.

I agree that if you call a fight too soon then the PC may end up earning XP without doing the amount of work expected. As long as you’re not calling a fight every game this shouldn’t be too big a problem.

@Phaezen
In the three examples I talked about none of them had any interesting terrain. It was just a big empty room. Had there been pits, ledges, hazardous terrain, difficult terrain, object creating cover or anything of the like I’d be less interested in calling the fight. Cool terrain inspires cool ideas and cool role-playing. A 10 x 10 room does not.

@Rook
The problem with shaving the hp at the get-go is that you never know how the fight will play out. For all you know the fight may never get to the “boring” stage and shaving the monster’s hit points right off the bat just means the bad guy falls faster. The up side of lowering hit points right off the bat means that the monster has the same number of hit points before its bloodied as after its bloodied. Since many monsters and PC have powers and effects that change when either is bloodied it’s important to let the monster keep swinging when its bloodied and not just say “ok, it’s bloodied, lets call the fight.”

By: Rook

Rook — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 23:30:05 +0000

A great many bloggers have suggested shaving monster hp from the get go, down to ¾ of normal. Whether you do it initially or wait till combat runs too long, it works quite well.

However, since I am all about the story, rather than the mechanics, I usually opt to have the monsters retreat or surrender, which ever is most likely, rather than fight to the death. This is especially true if your group manages to nail the leader/master of the opponents. Besides, if some should get away, plaguing the PCs with a rematch later on is always fun.
(I do so love re-occurring villains)
.-= Rook´s last blog ..My Foray into 4E: My Iconic Character(s) =-.

By: Phaezen

Phaezen — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:01:54 +0000

A way to keep fights interesting from round 10 onwards is to make liberal use of page 42 of the DMG. Once you have weaned players off the reliance of what on their character sheets and have them looking at the terrain of an encounter you will find things really kick up a notch.

Other than that, monsters are not only there to die, have then run away or surrender as appropriate when it is clear they have lost the fight. If you do this well, you might find that your players start acting in the same way occasionally. This is one of the areas where DMs need to take the lead.

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:42:28 +0000

Combat for me is usually around 5 rounds of combat [Warlord, Warlock, Rogue, Cleric, Fighter, Wizard, Ranger] and each combat is a good 45-60 minutes.

I’ll kill off a monster if its 5hp away from dying, i see no point in keeping it around for another combat (unless its a elite or big fight)

Knowing when to let things die is important but one thing to consider is has the party used enough resources for the experience?
.-= Mike´s last blog ..Minion Mondays: Cackling Fiend =-.