Posted by Kromey at 3:24pm Sep 23 '11So, I run a weekly D&D game with [private] and a few of our friends. Lots of fun had by all, even if we are playing 4e instead of something good....
Anyway, two sessions ago we had a rather fun combat that (although I don't think the players were fully aware of it) came in two stages, and an exceptional show in the first stage could have ended the combat much earlier. Basically, we had the players and an NPC ship's crew on a ship, and they were being attacked by pirates trying to board the ship and plunder the booty.
Stage 1 of the combat was ranged-only, with pirate archers picking off crew members that were trying to repel the grappling hooks being tossed at the ship, and then heaved to bring the ships close enough to board. The players and NPC crew did a pretty good job of fending this off for a while, but failed to fully prevent the boarding. Thus instigated Stage 2, where a general melee ensued on the PC's ship as pirates leapt aboard and began trying to murder everyone. This is where the PCs just totally kicked ass, and in just a couple of rounds the pirates were in full retreat, barely able to escape at all (the PCs almost scored themselves their very own ship!!). Unfortunately, in their haste to escape the pirate helmsman screwed up and got the two ships' riggings tangled, and in their fear of the continuing PC onslaught the pirate ship simply pulled itself free, all but destroying the riggings on both ships. With their sails and masts in tatters and most of the ship's crew dead, the PCs limped slowly onward to their destination, only starving a little bit.
Last session saw another interesting fight, although it was completely unexpected. One of the PCs stole an item, but in broad daylight and to the proper owner's face. An owner who not only knew that PC, but knew his association with the rest of the party! Naturally, he enlisted some local mercs and went after the party who, oblivious to this threat, were split up and wandering around town shopping. Fast forward to the mercs having captured the archer ([private]) and the thief now trapped (but unseen) in the tiny shed that served as the mercs' headquarters. 2 squares by 4 squares is very tight place to have a fight between 2 PCs and 4 NPCs, especially when one of the PCs is an archer and is thus basically useless in such close quarters, but clever use of pitch black darkness and surprise turned the tables and resulted in the PCs capturing all 4 of the NPCs.
Notice the key similarity between these two fights -- neither was a typical slug-fest, both used unusual elements that made them unique and memorable. Another good example from long ago (and a previous campaign) was while the PCs were exploring some deep tunnels, and were attacked by a [private] slime -- a creature that, with a simple minor action, can extinguish even magical light sources. Cue frantic battle between the party's wizard casting Light and the party frantically slashing at the slime before it can extinguish the wizard's spell and once again plunging the tunnel into pitch blackness, which coincidentally totally neutralized the wizard (at least from dealing any damage to the slime -- all he could do each round was cast Light on something).
Here's where you come in: Help me create unique and interesting fights!! Here's some I've got outlined already ([private] stop reading now!):
The Mirror Monster: Based on the creature Conan fought in the wizard's tower in Conan the Destroyer, this monster emerges from the mirrors lining a room and attacks the party. It is completely immune to all of the party's attacks, but howls with rage when a mirror is broken; break all the mirrors, and now the monster loses its immunity and can be killed normally (hey, I said it was based on Conan's mirror monster, I didn't say it was an exact copy!).
The Elemental Shards: A mob of crystalline shards representing every element descends upon the party. The shards are immune to attacks of their own element, and of the element of nearby shards -- e.g. a water shard is immune to fire attacks if a fire shard is nearby. Additionally, the shards heal 1 HP for each shard of the same element nearby (excluding itself). Thus as the shards are whittled down, they start to lose potency and become less of a threat (disproportionate to just the reduction in numbers).
So, who's got ideas for more interesting fights? There's of course the done-to-death "any damage you do to me I just shunt to one of my underlings instead" (our previous DM used this many times, resulting each time in tremendously frustrating fights), and there's always the "hold off the never-ending tide of advancing enemies as long as you can while the refugees escape" (which I hope to work in somehow; also some larger battles where the PCs have to pick a particular area to throw their influence into, but they can't be everywhere at once).
So, 4K, what are some ideas? I'll take interesting-and-unique monsters (the mirror monster, the elemental shards, the [private] slime), I'll take interesting-and-unique scenarios (never-ending tide of enemies; grand battle that the PCs have to pick their place to influence), even unusual terrain features (such as... okay, don't have any examples for this off the top of my head), or whatever else you can think of that would make a fight more interesting than a simple "you're fighting a warband of goblins armed with axes" kind of a thing.
Anyway, two sessions ago we had a rather fun combat that (although I don't think the players were fully aware of it) came in two stages, and an exceptional show in the first stage could have ended the combat much earlier. Basically, we had the players and an NPC ship's crew on a ship, and they were being attacked by pirates trying to board the ship and plunder the booty.
Stage 1 of the combat was ranged-only, with pirate archers picking off crew members that were trying to repel the grappling hooks being tossed at the ship, and then heaved to bring the ships close enough to board. The players and NPC crew did a pretty good job of fending this off for a while, but failed to fully prevent the boarding. Thus instigated Stage 2, where a general melee ensued on the PC's ship as pirates leapt aboard and began trying to murder everyone. This is where the PCs just totally kicked ass, and in just a couple of rounds the pirates were in full retreat, barely able to escape at all (the PCs almost scored themselves their very own ship!!). Unfortunately, in their haste to escape the pirate helmsman screwed up and got the two ships' riggings tangled, and in their fear of the continuing PC onslaught the pirate ship simply pulled itself free, all but destroying the riggings on both ships. With their sails and masts in tatters and most of the ship's crew dead, the PCs limped slowly onward to their destination, only starving a little bit.
Last session saw another interesting fight, although it was completely unexpected. One of the PCs stole an item, but in broad daylight and to the proper owner's face. An owner who not only knew that PC, but knew his association with the rest of the party! Naturally, he enlisted some local mercs and went after the party who, oblivious to this threat, were split up and wandering around town shopping. Fast forward to the mercs having captured the archer ([private]) and the thief now trapped (but unseen) in the tiny shed that served as the mercs' headquarters. 2 squares by 4 squares is very tight place to have a fight between 2 PCs and 4 NPCs, especially when one of the PCs is an archer and is thus basically useless in such close quarters, but clever use of pitch black darkness and surprise turned the tables and resulted in the PCs capturing all 4 of the NPCs.
Notice the key similarity between these two fights -- neither was a typical slug-fest, both used unusual elements that made them unique and memorable. Another good example from long ago (and a previous campaign) was while the PCs were exploring some deep tunnels, and were attacked by a [private] slime -- a creature that, with a simple minor action, can extinguish even magical light sources. Cue frantic battle between the party's wizard casting Light and the party frantically slashing at the slime before it can extinguish the wizard's spell and once again plunging the tunnel into pitch blackness, which coincidentally totally neutralized the wizard (at least from dealing any damage to the slime -- all he could do each round was cast Light on something).
Here's where you come in: Help me create unique and interesting fights!! Here's some I've got outlined already ([private] stop reading now!):
The Mirror Monster: Based on the creature Conan fought in the wizard's tower in Conan the Destroyer, this monster emerges from the mirrors lining a room and attacks the party. It is completely immune to all of the party's attacks, but howls with rage when a mirror is broken; break all the mirrors, and now the monster loses its immunity and can be killed normally (hey, I said it was based on Conan's mirror monster, I didn't say it was an exact copy!).
The Elemental Shards: A mob of crystalline shards representing every element descends upon the party. The shards are immune to attacks of their own element, and of the element of nearby shards -- e.g. a water shard is immune to fire attacks if a fire shard is nearby. Additionally, the shards heal 1 HP for each shard of the same element nearby (excluding itself). Thus as the shards are whittled down, they start to lose potency and become less of a threat (disproportionate to just the reduction in numbers).
So, who's got ideas for more interesting fights? There's of course the done-to-death "any damage you do to me I just shunt to one of my underlings instead" (our previous DM used this many times, resulting each time in tremendously frustrating fights), and there's always the "hold off the never-ending tide of advancing enemies as long as you can while the refugees escape" (which I hope to work in somehow; also some larger battles where the PCs have to pick a particular area to throw their influence into, but they can't be everywhere at once).
So, 4K, what are some ideas? I'll take interesting-and-unique monsters (the mirror monster, the elemental shards, the [private] slime), I'll take interesting-and-unique scenarios (never-ending tide of enemies; grand battle that the PCs have to pick their place to influence), even unusual terrain features (such as... okay, don't have any examples for this off the top of my head), or whatever else you can think of that would make a fight more interesting than a simple "you're fighting a warband of goblins armed with axes" kind of a thing.