Creating the Perfect Encounter

[nakedonmyfoldin]

What can a DM do to turn any encounter into a great one? What is needed in any encounter? I want to become a better DM so i'm overhauling my style and am currently taking tips from DMs and players alike. I just want my encounters, combat and noncombat, to be interesting, deep, and one of a kind. Thanks for the help!

[Maginomicon]

Whores. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNAk39Jm88Q)

...

Okay fine... *grumbles*

Make antagonists (even minor ones) have depth. One way to do this that's worked for me has been to give them motivations (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=283341). It's very easy to make even a "good" party find a villain in the form of a Lawful Good paladin who's simply motivated by things other than the party's personal ideals. Backstory is nice if you have a group that would ask about that sort of thing, but what's more important is that you build a memorable personality for them to talk to.

Oh, although if you make any village drunks, remember that there's this thing called "Alchemist's Mercy" that's an instant cure for a hangover.

Base your encounter design around the party's capabilities. If there's a designated party "face", The Giant's persuasion variant (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=9606632&postcount=2) may be of use to you. If there's no one in the party that can handle traps or locks, don't include traps or locks in your campaign.

Don't let people metagame by telling them what a creature is. Don't let people metagame by referring to characters by their class. Don't let people metagame by telling everyone "hey guys I'm at -8 HP here could someone come heal me before I croak?"

Everything (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9G5PjlCMlGw) this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tc8Ubesn9GA) guy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNrU0_A-PFk) says (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVxkpOolpKw) is (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw84Kusbr5g) pure (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-TWXdSQYxU) gold (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFnTRfR46Gc), seriously (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQMTw45l84g).

[prufock]

Great encounters use one or more of the following, in my experience. The encounters that I remember as a player, and the ones my players seem to enjoy when I am the DM, have a mix of these elements.

1. Interesting foes. This can mean a lot of different things, but your adversaries should be smart, motivated, and have a memorable personality. Or at least have capabilities that set it apart from "ho hum, another orc." There may be standard grunts in a given encounter, but they should be led by an interesting boss or mini-boss. It helps a lot if the PCs have some history with this enemy, not a random encounter (random encounters are rarely memorable, in my experience).

2. Interesting locales. Trudging through the forest or delving through yet another dungeon becomes forgettable. As a DM, you should make the fight scenes take place in a more distinct spot. You should also include details about the terrain and surroundings, and use those both in tactics and description. Make the characters interact with the environment in unusual ways.

3. Interesting fights. I've mentioned tactics in both of the above, but it deserves its own category. Enemies that rush in and fight until death are rarely memorable. Those that light tubs of oil on fire in a wagon and roll that wagon down the hill at the PCs, however, are memorable.

4. Interesting rewards. I don't mean reward as in loot, although that can certainly be one type. Why are the PCs involved in this encounter? What do they have to gain? Information, helping the villagers, glory/fame, MacGuffins, and princesses are all good - if common - motivations. The more important and unusual you make the reward, the more memorable the encounter. Make them want it.

[nakedonmyfoldin]

yeah, i'm still waiting for character creation day so I can really get a good idea and put in the minor details

[Lightlawbliss]

... If there's no one in the party that can handle traps or locks, don't include traps or locks in your campaign....

I wouldn't take it so far as to say don't have them. But I would say be careful with how you use them. The occasional trap against a party with no trapper can be a good addition.

[John Longarrow]

For myself, the most memorable encounters are the ones where the characters have a reason other than "Kill monster, get loot and XPs" to fight. The other aspect that keeps fights interesting is when monsters do something besides "Kill PCs, get loot and XPs".

Let your monsters have a reason to fight and a fall back if the fight doesn't go well. Few things can keep encounters more intersting than having both sides in a mentality other than "Kill or DIE". Have badly injured monsters attempt to retreat. Have smart monsters play to their strengths. Have some fights where the PCs get to blow through a horde of weak critters and another where they have to bring their "A" game to face off.

Most importantly, have some encounters where the PCs can talk their way through.


One very fun version of the last was a "Challenge" type encounter I had. Party faced a medusa. Medusa came out of her temple in full armor (including concealing helm). Players came in to range and she stated she was going to have them face the test of her god. She took off her helm to use her gaze. Two PCs get turned to stone, the other's use diplomacy. Some good rolls and some good roleplaying had the medusa put her helm back on then aid the players with returning their party members to normal.

Hey, from her perspective they passed her gods challenge. For the players it was a "Hey, we don't have to go in an kill everything" kinda moment.

[Oko and Qailee]

I think one of the best things you can do s to make the encounter non standard, even if it involves DM fiat to do so, this is especially effective at low levels.

I made a thread on this before:
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=287215

At high levels encounters are already interesting, bc spell casting.


Also, making enemies people instead of encounters. What I mean by that is, try to make them ave goals, motivations, etc. Obv you don't need to do this for everything, but t really helps. Some enemies can be blood thristy savages, only interested in murder and will give up their lives to kill their foes. Others may run away, or hide, etc.

[nakedonmyfoldin]

I read some stuff posted by the Angry DM, and he seems to support ideas similar to this. Almost everything has a goal in an encounter, and sometimes giving something as simple as a giant spider a reason why he wants to kill the PCs makes a world of a difference.