This Day We Fight! (a practical guide to Pathfinder encounters)

[Ailowynn]

So I made a guide to encounter-building, specifically in Pathfinder, though it should be useful for other systems to some degree. I basically did this for two reasons.

The first is that I've been in campaigns where the encounters are absolutely terrible; and the worst part is that some of those terrible encounters are from published adventures. I don't want the entire system to fall into that rut. And it's especially pronounced when you play under a good GM in another system--Star Wars Saga, Mutants and Masterminds, Shadowrun; all somehow tend to have more interesting and exciting encounters (even though most are based less around encounters than Pathfinder is).

The second reason is...hard to explain. To help people out? Yes, but that's not quite it. To help myself out? To a certain degree. I guess I really wanted to...well, to make a guide to encounters. That's what my playgroup seems to complement me on most.

So, without further ado, here it is:
This Day We Fight!: A Practical Guide to Encounter Design in Pathfinder (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Iaav8f7Iuk84DsT0buaUX737CWI83wWIlP-JD1spsyc/edit?usp=sharing)

Suggestions? Comments? Questions? Ratings (*crossing fingers* please be good, first ever guide written by me that's not in any way an orthodox guide to optimization or anything else that there are usually guides for! :smallbiggrin: )

[Kane0]

It's a good read, and has some gems in there.

Oh, one thing you can add to your intiative ideas:
If you want a quick combat and your group is ok with simplifying the process, roll for initiative and go around the table from the highest result (clockwise or counterclockwise at your option, it might follow the next highest result if you want). It makes things far faster and easier to know who is next and when a round ticks over.

[Ailowynn]

Oh, one thing you can add to your intiative ideas:
If you want a quick combat and your group is ok with simplifying the process, roll for initiative and go around the table from the highest result (clockwise or counterclockwise at your option, it might follow the next highest result if you want). It makes things far faster and easier to know who is next and when a round ticks over.

That's a fine idea, sir.

*Heads of to edit handbook*

[The Boz]

I like this. A lot.

[Ailowynn]

Thanks, Boz:smallsmile:

[Cwymbran-San]

As for the "bookkeeping" aspect of encounters, i really PF Battle. I have it running on a tablet for all game sessions and it keeps track of initiative, hp, conditions, you could even use it to roll attacks, saves etc.
The database contains every Monster up to Bestiary 3, so it is quite exhaustive.
And the price tag is waaay below that of any of the books, around 5 €.

[H. Von Studley]

This is great, and ties in nicely to other editions as well. I've *casually* suggested to my 5e DM that he take a look. He's a good guy, and tries hard, but I don't think he realises there is a world beyond empty square dungeons and barren wilderness locales.

[Amphetryon]

So, every room/encounter area needs to be 30' x 30' or more (else everyone's cramped in Optimal Fireball Formation and it's boring) AND fully drawn on the grid/hex before the combat starts (else the game crawls to a halt while the GM draws) AND feature a variety of opponent types (else there's no thrill in killing Troll #3 of 5) or the GM is Doing It Wrong and making combat boring?

I'm glad that works for you.