Advice on this arena-fight?

[Sir-Carlos]

Hey, can I get some feedback on this arena tournament? It will have 3 rounds. The players are level 7. They don’t have many magic items yet, but the Rogue has a short sword that does 2d6 additional damage. And one is a very single-target control focused Bard-Order Cleric multi class with silvery barbs.

First one is 4 monsters of cr4. Every player will be given control of a monster. The party will battle the surviving monster in the next round. Thought that might be fun (not sure though)

Round 2: the Cr 4 monster and two hellhounds of cr 3.

Round 3: boss fight. 1 Djinni and 2 air elementals. The Djinni has lair actions, like summoning difficult terrain, or some mephits.

How can I spice this up a bit? Should I change some things? Any ideas tips/thoughts?

[Unoriginal]

Hey, can I get some feedback on this arena tournament? It will have 3 rounds. The players are level 7. They donÂ’t have many magic items yet, but the Rogue has a short sword that does 2d6 additional damage. And one is a very single-target control focused Bard-Order Cleric multi class with silvery barbs.

First one is 4 monsters of cr4. Every player will be given control of a monster. The party will battle the surviving monster in the next round. Thought that might be fun (not sure though)

Round 2: the Cr 4 monster and two hellhounds of cr 3.

Round 3: boss fight. 1 Djinni and 2 air elementals. The Djinni has lair actions, like summoning difficult terrain, or some mephits.

How can I spice this up a bit? Should I change some things? Any ideas tips/thoughts?


I would say that you got an interesting setup and the fights can work very well (although Round 2 will likely be very short and one-sided in favor of the PCs, which isn a bad thing but it needs to be taken into account).

What I would add is, in the words of Megamind: Presentation!


An arena battle is a spectacle, and it should be presented as one, and "combat as spectacle" is a trope with a whole bunch of associated characters you can draw inspiration from, such as:

-The Announcer: generally a single person or a duo, with or without a couple of assistants. The Announcer will often be hammy, exhuberant, and/or overexited when announcing, and it can be an act they put on or they could be like in their daily life too. Some are more professional and subdued but still working to hype the events as they're happening, and others still can be dour, gloomy, uninterested in the events or the like, generally as a deliberate contrast to the expectationspeople would have for this character type. If they're a duo, then they can either be similar or set up as foils to each other.

The Announcer will generally have an "I've seen everything" attitude toward arena events, describing them as a well-oiled routine they nevertheless find impressive. If something surprise them, they can try to bluff that they've seen it before and make stuff up, or play up how new and unusual it is. If something manages to trully make them speechless, you know things have left the realm of ordinary.

They may be blatantly biased toward the one the odds are in favor, or a fan of the underdog, or more neutral. Their bias will often change to follow the sudience's preferences, but sometime not if they have an agenda to push and the audience isn't agreeing.

-The Guest Announcer: also a potential foil for the Announcer, the Guest Announcer will generally be someone with actual experience in the (blood)sport they're presenting, or a member of the business/government which is profiting from the arena.

Who they are influence their interaction with the Announcer quite a bit: a former champion may be hero-worshipped by the Announcer, they may be antagonistic if the Guest is a rival or roughly on the same rank in the pecking order, and if the Guest has both the power and the inclination to remove people who mouth off against them, the Announcer can go servile bootlicker or subtle snarker.

-The Referee: usually come in three flavors: would enforce the rules but easily distracted/bullied into seeing nothing, will enforce the rules with authority and no exception, or will enforce the rules with an iron fist agaibst the side they've been convinced to make fail while allowing the other side to go wild.


The Patron: a rich/powerful person who is sponsoring the event. Some are the dignified type and don't get swept up by the energy of the event, others go as wild as anyone else with the cheering and booing and the like, and there are a lot of middle grounds between the two.

If they're a business, they usually are happy so long as the event makes money, unless they're using the event to prove the supremacy of what they're selling, in which case beware outperforming it. If they're a government, they are often pushing a narrative and are dispoeased if the siruation does not get their way, but the most savvy ones will be able to turn the end situation to their advantage regardless (ex: gaining popular support by being a graceful loser).


And many more.

[Sir-Carlos]

That is some good advice, thank you! I will play the atmosphere up as much as I can. Cool that you think it would work :D. Do you think the battle as a whole is too short? It is this big event in the city ans should be a highlight.

[Unoriginal]

That is some good advice, thank you!

You're welcome.

There's plenty of examples in cartoons, anime or the like if you want some direct inspiration.



I will play the atmosphere up as much as I can. Cool that you think it would work :D. Do you think the battle as a whole is too short? It is this big event in the city ans should be a highlight.

You mean the final battle? Or Round 1 + 2 + 3?

[Sir-Carlos]

You mean the final battle? Or Round 1 + 2 + 3?

I mean all battles counted together

[Unoriginal]

I mean all battles counted together

You could probably add "off screen" battles before or in-between. Or other (non-violent) spectacles like bardic performances or an aerial show from flying mount rider.

[Sir-Carlos]

You could probably add "off screen" battles before or in-between. Or other (non-violent) spectacles like bardic performances or an aerial show from flying mount rider.

I will do that, thanks. That already gave me some ideas 😁

[Mastikator]

Dynamic environment with hazards, moving ground, walls appearing or disappearing. That can spice things up. You can also put powerups into the arena, potions that give buffs/healing but can only be consumed in the arena. They can be placed in awkward positions or appear randomly as a part of the dynamic environment.

[Sir-Carlos]

Dynamic environment with hazards, moving ground, walls appearing or disappearing. That can spice things up. You can also put powerups into the arena, potions that give buffs/healing but can only be consumed in the arena. They can be placed in awkward positions or appear randomly as a part of the dynamic environment.

Any tips on how to implement dynamic environment mechanically?

[Mastikator]

Any tips on how to implement dynamic environment mechanically?

On specific initiative count a random effect happens. Roll dice for fire blazing up, or tiles moving, or walls going up or down. Perhaps on initiative 20 the environment changes and on initiative 10 an object appears on the arena. Every round.

[J-H]

Things happening on init 10 and init 20 are good, as mentioned.
For a module that does a great job being a crazy arena, allow me to recommend Trap-Trap (https://www.dmsguild.com/product/286828/Traptrap--A-koboldthemed-oneshot)!

[Skrum]

I've run a lot of arena combats, and my top recommendation is to use a modified initiative. If one side "wins" initiative, like 3 of their side gets to act before the other side acts at all, the battle will be extremely anti-climactic. So, what I do is have everyone roll initiative as normal, but then sort it by alternating sides so neither team gets to make multiple actions without the other team getting to answer.

Example - PCs A B C and D roll 18, 14, 9, and 3, respectively. NPC's W X Y and Z roll 21, 13, 10, and 8, respectively. The initiative order would then look like

W
A
X
B
Y
C
Z
D

Yes, if there's multiple PC's who have invested in winning initiative, this will hurt them. One high initiative character is still useful as they can win the "team initiative," but yes, other high rolls will be wasted. In an arena setting where everyone is aware of everyone else and are in a tight space, the swingyness of initiative is especially impactful and IMO, makes for less fun battles.