The Art of Combat - Strategy and Tactics for Intelligent and/or Organized Enemies

[LumenPlacidum]

It can be difficult to challenge player-characters (or other entities with their level of power). You are running a game, and you know that it shouldn't be possible (or at least not easy) for your PCs to storm a castle and demand an audience with the king by literally slaughtering everyone who gets in the way on their way to the throne room. But, it can be difficult to think on the spot for how the intelligently organized forces arrayed against the PCs should respond to the level of power that the PCs can bring to bear.

So, I want to write up a collection of notes and thoughts on how intelligently organized NPCs would realistically respond to the threat of PCs or other small-ish groups of potent individuals (a mated pair of dragons, a coven of hags and their minotaur bodyguards, or whatever). I also want to encourage others to add their own thoughts regarding how an intelligently organized group of NPCs would react to PCs.

In dealing with these strategies, we must always consider the costs to the organization in question, which are frequently quite different from the costs that the PCs typically have to consider. An organization of NPCs has to think about Money, Bodies, Morale, and Information, as well as the other common in-combat resources like Hit Points, AC, Actions, and Recharge Abilities / Spell Slots.

I should also mention that these strategies are not meant to be fair. Most of D&D is played against opponents who are not like this. These strategies are here for the sake of verisimilitude. It is simply unreasonable to expect that a D&D military or thieves' guild or whatever will not have considered dangers like those that the PCs represent. In my games, intelligent and organized foes are far more scary than just another 20-foot-tall monster. And, I think my players know that it would be a bad plan to fight against the church and its knights whereas they're perfectly fine attacking a wandering monster five CR above their level.

If you choose to implement some of these strategies for actual foes that your player characters might face, I recommend that you warn your players in-game. In an easier encounter, let the players see the organization of the NPCs in action. Hell, have it happen while they're allies! Have a grizzled veteran tell the players of the tactics that the hobgoblin army uses. It becomes a part of the contour of the decision landscape when the players know that they will not survive a pitched battle against these foes. Instead, they will turn to other avenues for dealing with the threat.

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When the PCs are an unknown foe
Every effort should be to remedy this and turn the PCs into a known foe.

Know Thy Enemy
A big part of being able to respond with the necessary amount of force to defeat your opponent is knowing A) that opponent is there, and B) how much force is actually required? The worst case scenario for any engagement is to lose resources without improving the odds for future engagements in some way. Knowing at least the general dynamic for the PC group is critically important for countering them. This comes down to the NPCs figuring out things like PC classes and party roles. A critical component of an organized anti-PC-level strategy is information-gathering. Having access to divinations is important enough to keep such diviners in positions of strength. Once a the PCs are identified, simply having them followed so that you know where they are at all times is a critical part of planning against them. No action against the PCs should be attempted before knowing what they can do, where they are, and how strong they are.

Fall Back to Organize
All strategies should be designed in such a way that if an engagement goes badly, then at least the organization must learn something about how to conduct the engagement differently in the future.
Every soldier should be trained to evaluate when an opponent is acting in an obviously-superhuman capacity. Soldiers who were not expecting such foes should be under standing orders to scatter and retreat. Sudden attack by spellcasters should trigger this response immediately! Monsters should trigger this response immediately. Facing an opponent who can lift a castle portcullis on his own should trigger this response immediately. A large force should trigger this response immediately. A group of rank-and-file soldiers is not prepared to deal with such threats without being specifically organized to do so. Heroism in the face of overwhelming odds is actively detrimental to the organization unless in a last-stand sort of scenario.

Multiple Power-Bases
The intelligently organized NPC organization does not keep all of its strength in one place. If all of its strength is in one place, then it doesn't have the ability to extend its power beyond its own holdings! Better would be to have 40% of the organization out and leveraging its power, and the remaining 60% centralized in three groups of 20% each! The 40% that's 'out and about' retreats immediately when faced with PC level power (since it's fractured into tiny groups). They alert one or more power bases. The alerted power bases make sure to alert the other bases. All of the bases then proceed to watch the PCs via stealth or magic. If the PCs act offensively, then the attacked power base digs in while the other two sortie to its aid. In doing this, the group can bring a disproportionately large amount of its resources to bear against the PCs in a fairly short time.

Nested Strong Points
All fortifications should be designed so that the outer fortifications can be observed directly from the inner fortifications, and any situation in which this is not the case (sudden fogs or darkness) should be considered a time of high alert or outright attack. When there is a disturbance at a fortification, then a small portion of each guarding force should retreat to alert the defenses. Furthermore, all fortified access points, such as gatehouses, should be designed with at least two contingents of guards observing it, each physically separate from one another (one group on the ground and the other on the wall, or one group in front of the portcullis and the other behind the portcullis, or something like that). The control of the access point should be granted to the more protected group (i.e. the gate controls should be inside the walls, dummy!). It is also important to have strong points to slow down or dissuade PCs who give chase to the scattering defenders.

When the PCs are adequately known
It is now possible for a force to be brought to bear against them.

Double-Tap and Recovery-Prevention in General
Intelligent NPCs recognize that PCs can get back up after dropping them. They don't allow them to do this by spending a turn's actions delivering a coup de grace to a downed PC. Organized NPCs may actually have their conscripts and less-well-trained troops support the elites in battle by moving in exclusively to do this. If a PC is down and resists the coup de grace, then the conscripts may have orders to simply surround the downed PC, preventing healing from coming to them as easily. Covering downed PCs with obstructions can allow noncombatants to serve a useful role. The obstructions prevent healers from being able to touch or see their downed ally, which can shut down the possibility of bringing them back into the fight. Extremely well armored PCs covered with obstructions can continue to have more things layered atop them until they are smothered or outright crushed to death--no attack roll required.

Actions and Elites
Any organized force should recognize that in any situation in which two allies are varyingly-effective in terms of attacks, having the less-effective one use a Help action to provide advantage to the attack of the better one is generally more efficacious than having each attack independently. A hobgoblin bruiser paired with a goblin conscript should have the goblin continually use the Help action to aid the hobgoblin in landing his greataxe attack rather than the goblin attacking independently for scimitar damage. Similarly, a highly valuable elite should be protected defensively in this way as well, with the Help action being used to provide disadvantage to attack rolls against them. The choice of one or the other should depend on whether or not the unit is engaged as a delaying tactic (disadvantage to PC attack) or as a spearhead (advantage to NPC attack).

One resource that the organization has in spades is bodies with which to perform actions. Some of the most effective actions that can be performed are simple and don't do any damage.

Break the Dynamic
If the dynamic of the group is to have a PC or two concentrate on important spells, then ambushes should be laid for those spells. Elites should reveal themselves to provoke the spellcasters into casting their concentration spells. Once they have done so, units of ranged attackers and area attackers should reveal themselves to hit those mages while the Elites retreat. In general, when the PCs' full might is brought to bear, scatter and retreat.

Trap the Skirmishers
If there are any highly mobile PCs whose role it is to move forward to engage soft targets, then when they are overextended, the entire might of the engaging force should be brought to bear against them. Surround them if possible. Grapple them if possible. The only exception is that elites and support casters should be used to keep the other PCs from coming to the aid of their overextended ally.

Flexible Defense
A force that regularly retreats can lay some excellent ambushes by beginning with a retreat. Draw out the faster PCs and cut them off by having flanking forces separate them. Turning a retreat into a counterattack is an excellent way to show how savvy these NPCs are.

Victory in Detail
When a PC is exposed, always bring all available might against them. Even if the PCs are too strong when all of them are up and acting, they can be brought low one at a time if the entire strength of the NPC force is arrayed against them one at a time.

Spellcasters are Dangerous
When an enemy spellcaster is identified, the NPCs should break formation and move from cover to cover, to help with Dexterity saving throws. A small contingent (maybe one for every five combatants) should be held in reserve to prevent mass effects like Hypnotic Pattern. This is the best use that I have come up with for a high level Sun Soul monk, who can damage huge groups for only a little damage, thus lifting such spells that are broken by damaging effects. If something like Hypnotic Pattern does shut down an entire unit, then the contingent moves forward and shakes people out of the spell. This is a good use for conscripts.

If you must engage in a pitched battle that involves a powerful enemy spellcaster, then at least a few ranged combatants should be tasked with shooting that spellcaster every turn. If they cast the Shield spell, which is probably a visible effect, then the archers switch to the next target until their next volley. This will constantly threaten Concentration, which is important. If the NPCs have access to fairly inexpensive AOE damage, then subjecting the caster to any damage at all, turn after turn, is an effective use of that special support unit.

If Desperate, Make Sacrifices
Separating the weak PCs from the resilient PCs can be done, and is useful. Sometimes the best way to do this is to regularly engage the strong PCs with weak NPCs who will take a hit, explode, and absorb one of the PCs' attacks or actions. Such distractions should be Dodging to prolong their tactical effect. They should form a literal wall between the strong PC and their weaker companions. You can turn and engage the strong PC after their companions are dead.

Play the Attrition Game where the PCs are Weak
If the intelligently organized group of NPCs is doing what is best for themselves, they will be keeping tabs on where the PCs are. If the PCs suddenly disappear, then bring in a support unit to cast Dispel Magic wherever they last were seen (pesky Rope Tricks...) while supported by whatever great strength you can muster. If the PCs disappear into a dome of opaque energy, then don't go near without cover. Push or build cover around the dome. Prepare for them to come out. They will have to come out. The point here is don't let the PCs recover while they are in your domain of strength! All the lives you sacrificed lowering their hit points and spending those spell slots will be wasted if you let them recover!

Let the Environment Be Your Weapon
If the PCs hunker down in a way that cannot be breached, don't dive headfirst into their trap. Use the environment to fight for you. If the PCs have hunkered down in a cave with their Big Scary Fighter in front, protecting the mages while they recover, behind a barricade and with only a single way in toward him, don't send your soldiers in. Pour in a lot of water. Build a fire and fill the cave with smoke. Collapse the entrance. Any enemy that is stationary for a long period of time has lost the initiative and will lose in the end. The more they cut off your approaches, the more they cut off their own escape.