Make fights more interesting

[Xalos]

I've been told by some of my players that i am great with story-line and things but during big fights they get bored.... is there any strategies to making big fights more interesting and fun?

[Mcdt2]

Well it depends why they are bored. Is the fight ending too quickly? Going on for too long? Are too many enemies mundane/blasting/otherwise lacking in options other than "deal damage"? Do they have too many good abilities like black tentacles/entangle/etc. that lockdown the players? Do you use lots of solo enemies, and they want hordes to cleave through, or vice versa?

Maybe it's on the players. Are they playing mundanes/basic blasters/otherwise lacking in options beside pure damage? (Note that I don't dislike mundanes, I love them, but sadly outside ToB or homebrew most lack in options). Are they underoptimized compared to you and can't do much effectively? Too over-optimized and the fights are cakewalks?

In other words, I can't really give advice without seeing what is going on in detail. I know that in my group, they like (or at least don't get bored with; annoyed but engaged is better than bored) having stupid strong enemies that can kick their butts if they don't have a way to nullify what they are doing (and having a way to counter the enemy in some way is very important). But I don't know your players, I don't even know their characters, so I can't really say.

[sideswipe]

i have found if you really try to get in the heads of your players, find what they hate and want to protect, then they will be more emotionally involved with the encounter. if they are they will get bored less. also you may want to impose turn time limits on the encounters to stop combat being bogged down.

if the combat is smooth and quick, they want to fight it and it is more than just two fighters having a slugfest then it will be enjoyable.

[Xalos]

Well it depends why they are bored. Is the fight ending too quickly? Going on for too long? Are too many enemies mundane/blasting/otherwise lacking in options other than "deal damage"? Do they have too many good abilities like black tentacles/entangle/etc. that lockdown the players? Do you use lots of solo enemies, and they want hordes to cleave through, or vice versa?

Maybe it's on the players. Are they playing mundanes/basic blasters/otherwise lacking in options beside pure damage? (Note that I don't dislike mundanes, I love them, but sadly outside ToB or homebrew most lack in options). Are they underoptimized compared to you and can't do much effectively? Too over-optimized and the fights are cakewalks?

In other words, I can't really give advice without seeing what is going on in detail. I know that in my group, they like (or at least don't get bored with; annoyed but engaged is better than bored) having stupid strong enemies that can kick their butts if they don't have a way to nullify what they are doing (and having a way to counter the enemy in some way is very important). But I don't know your players, I don't even know their characters, so I can't really say.

its more of its just plain and simple just roll damage nothing really happens there isn't that spark of awesomeness in most of my fights.... I mostly just have them go through the dungeon and just fight and i cant really think of ways to make it more fun and not just bland old fighting... I'm mostly just looking for ideas on how to make it different and more fun.... I don't know if that helps at all....

[draken50]

Variety is key.

Vary the environments in which the fights occur. Try to use environmental set pieces that are easy to imagine, and affect the fight in some way.

A fight on-board a sailing vessel should feel different than a fight in a city street, which in turn should be different than a fight in vast swamp, or along a narrow pathway.

Vary your use of enemies and their behavior. Use clever fighters that disarm or trip. Great barbarians that Sunder, or tribes of small creatures that hit and run.
Will the enemies retreat after being bloodied? Fight to the death? Sacrifice themselves in an explosion?

Vary the timing of the fights. Make a fight occur right after the last. Deny the players time to prepare. Give the players ample information and time to prepare. Give the players wrong information.

Improve the descriptions of what is occurring, make sure the players feel agency, and feel that the fights have stakes. Make defeat a real possibility.


And, while that all helps. Ask your players why they're bored.

Edit:Or just the above stuff, as I didn't see the responses after the OP.

[Xalos]

i have found if you really try to get in the heads of your players, find what they hate and want to protect, then they will be more emotionally involved with the encounter. if they are they will get bored less. also you may want to impose turn time limits on the encounters to stop combat being bogged down.

if the combat is smooth and quick, they want to fight it and it is more than just two fighters having a slugfest then it will be enjoyable.

hmmm that may work... any ideas on ways to get into their minds?

[Xalos]

Variety is key.

Vary the environments in which the fights occur. Try to use environmental set pieces that are easy to imagine, and affect the fight in some way.

A fight on-board a sailing vessel should feel different than a fight in a city street, which in turn should be different than a fight in vast swamp, or along a narrow pathway.

Vary your use of enemies and their behavior. Use clever fighters that disarm or trip. Great barbarians that Sunder, or tribes of small creatures that hit and run.
Will the enemies retreat after being bloodied? Fight to the death? Sacrifice themselves in an explosion?

Vary the timing of the fights. Make a fight occur right after the last. Deny the players time to prepare. Give the players ample information and time to prepare. Give the players wrong information.

Improve the descriptions of what is occurring, make sure the players feel agency, and feel that the fights have stakes. Make defeat a real possibility.


And, while that all helps. Ask your players why they're bored.

Edit:Or just the above stuff, as I didn't see the responses after the OP.

wow that helps a lot thanks...

[sideswipe]

well as for getting in their heads. i have (on monday) done this. i took aside one of the players and involved him in my DMing side.

(this was a different system but it can all still work)

he essentially was playing a clone of himself and was meant to look like he was helping the party for them to trust him like nothing had happened. then after helping them through a hard encounter they found the real him. i took him aside as i said and i told him that essentially he has to role play both, and get both to try and make the group believe him and kill the other.

having the party divided (yet united at the same time) will both messing with their minds and tearing them apart, and keeping them united and solving the encounter.

explain to the player that if his party finds the correct one and kills it, all the glory and spoils will be theirs. but if the clone wins, he will get a very significant bonus to his next character (or something you know your player will absolutely love!) for example, next character comes in without a level penalty, and either +25% more gold or a special item or a free +2 LA template or race?

so he will be torn between living and real shinies!

as an encounter, the original is split somehow, they find him (a doppleganger or someone who is meant to be a clone of him and his powers) and he role plays that one for a little. then his original shows up and BAM! head play starts.

a few things like assume quirk and stuff can make it so he acts exactly like the original.

you like? :smallwink:

[Eldariel]

Also, if PCs are attacking a monster lair, it stands to reason the battlefield is in the monsters' favor. Small tunnels only Kobolds can traverse, various webs spiders are immune to, illusionary maze of real and fake in an Aboleth den, etc.

Also, spell-using monsters and especially spellcaster enemies can make fights a lot more interesting. Focus on status effects (dominate, web, glitterdust, stinking cloud, silence, that sort of thing), illusions, etc. Suddenly the game is about more than numbers.

Also, don't tell players off-hand what the enemies are; ask for Knowledge-checks and give information based on what their characters know (and ask them to play accordingly).

And you can give monsters class levels.

Also, alchemical items, reach weapons, various minor magic items.

[AlanBruce]

How do you make fights interesting? There are many ways. Many which have already been outlined in great and effective detail above.

Fopr me, it's immersing the PCs and by default the players, into it.

An example from one of my campaigns- the end of an arc. The totemists pseudodragon friend was caught inside a ruby goklem and used to fuel its power. Any attack that went directed at the golem, was instead directed at the dragon. The party deduced that a special version of break enchantment would release the dragon from the golem, allowing them to finish off the construct for good.

This meant avoiding him and keeping to higher ground (they were in the lobby of a palace, so stairs aplenty while the bumbling construct walked up to smash someone).

The second fight involved a Julajimus (MM2) that had kidnapped a bunch of fey children and had one of them- an npcs's daughter- transformed into a meenlock and riding his back.

Meenlocks can DD at will, so the beats, rather than stay in place, had the tiny trabnsformed fey move him and her around the battlefield as he used his chains and reacxh to bring pian to the party while taunting them ion some ol fey ruins.

The party had to find a wat=y to remove the meenlock from the beast's hide by magic or brute force- no easy task- but accomplished at the end with flying colors. My players still remember that fight for how intense it was.

[Piggy Knowles]

Something I like to do when I'm designing encounters is to think a lot about where they are fighting. Environment is key. Walk into any room in your house and look around. Now imagine a pitched battle taking place there. People jumping on the furniture, kicking over tables and chairs, smashing the TV as they dodge and parry. Do this when you walk down the street, or you're on a hike through the woods. Really take the time to imagine how a fight would play out.

Then, add those details in! You can represent most things mechanically by either difficult terrain or tactical height advantages, but where it really counts is in the descriptions. Make the place where you're fighting a lived-in space. Are you fighting a battle in a crowded tavern? What are the bystanders and onlookers doing? What noises and smells can you expect? Does the floor get slippery as a keg is punctured? Again, the more real you make it, the more engaging it will be for your players.

Next is to make sure that you understand the rules down more or less cold. When a player asks to do something, nothing breaks immersion more than stopping to look things up. If you're 90% confident and the player disagrees, tell them you're going to play things your way for the moment just to keep things moving, but that after the session you'll sit down with them and look it up. But this only works if you know your stuff. Read your DMG. Browse the boards. See if you can sit in on a Skype game under a DM you respect.

Finally, encourage your players to feel like there is something at stake. I think random encounter syndrome is what really leads people to get bored with D&D, where encounters just sort of happen arbitrarily because the DM knows that the players expect an encounter or two every session. Blech. If an encounter feels arbitrary, then why should your players care what happens? Make the encounters matter. I don't mean that every encounter has to be a big part of some overarching plot - that leads to its own kind of fatigue and boredom. But make them matter. Intelligent creatures don't risk life and limb for no reason. Think about the narrative of your encounter as much as you think about the mechanics. Ask yourself why the encounter is happening. Ask yourself what is at stake for the party - is this an encounter they could reasonably just walk away from, and the only reason they're fighting is because it's expected of them? If so, scrap it (unless the point is for them to walk away). Think about the larger picture.

[Magma Armor0]

Most of this has been said, but:

Use the environment. If certain areas (the high ground, etc.) are more desirable, use that to spark a fight. Or the alternative: if the volcano is erupting, suddenly a slow effect means instant death.

Abandon the "rule" that all combat is good guys versus bad guys. Add a third party, who is neutral but could help either side if persuaded properly. Add a second good party, put a bounty on the bad guys' heads, and suddenly it's a race between two parties to get the kill first.