Brief Encounters

   When I was a whelp at my mother's knee D&D encounters used to go like this. Listen at the door, open and charge in and kill any monsters inside, count treasure. After a few years this became boring and we slowly drifted off to other pursuits. How to stop this occurring in these heady days of personal jet packs and the inter-web I ask? Let's take a look...

  Encounter Reaction.

  Unless the heroes go flying in hacking and slashing then stop to do this first. Instead of going straight to an Initiative roll first take a roll on an Encounter Reaction Table. This immediately gives us a range of possibilities to work with. Given that the monsters may not rush to attack that means the heroes have an opportunity to barter, threaten or persuade their foes to allow them to complete their goal. If they achieve a means of bypassing the monsters still award the Xp as this will encourage the players to seek more imaginative ways to interact with foes in the future.

 

  Combat.

  How about going back to Group Initiative as a way to spice up combat? Roll 1d6 for the monsters and whoever roll 1d6 for the party. Highest roll goes first, re-roll every round. The party can then decide as a group how to tackle the foes in front of them. The group can act in any order they wish and so can use tactics to take down their foes and keep everyone involved throughout. If the tie is a draw then complete the attacks in order from highest Dexterity to lowest until all the combatants have acted. If any spell-casters take damage before they have acted then they lose the spell slot they would have used to cast that round. Ouch! If combat is going badly or the players just don't rate their chances they can always flee. As long as their speed is greater than their opponents they can leg it at any time. If not make a roll on the Reaction chart to see if they pursue and how diligently. 

  Morale. 

  When any monsters take half of their Hp in damage, lose half their number in combat or have their leader die or flee combat make them take a Morale Test. Monsters don't want to die and unless they are undead will not mindlessly soak up damage until they drop. This handy little rule is tucked away at the back of the DMG and helps bring some verisimilitude to your encounters. Roll a Wis DC 10 Saving Throw. If they make it they carry on fighting but if not they will either make a run for it or surrender. What happens next is down to the heroes but I always make prisoners stay put, quietly or if given the chance, flee never to be seen again. Full Xp awarded of course.