Taking 20 Podcast - Ep 101 - Designing Better Encounters Part 1

Episode Date: November 28, 2021

This episode is a deeper dive into what makes for a good encounter and how we GMs can make them more memorable by adding variety to the monsters, the location, the motivations and the stakes of the encounter.

This week on the Taking20 Podcast. There are a ton of possible ways to vary your monsters. I'm going to break it down into leaders, lieutenants, spellcasters, and allied creatures. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to episode 101 of the Taking20 Podcast. This week, designing better combat encounters. First of all, I want to thank our sponsor, Snow. You should be really careful spending time outside when there's a lot of it. After all, with great powder comes great responsibility.

Welcome to the beginning of the next 100 episodes, and we're beginning with a two-parter. This, sure as hell hell wasn't my plan, but I started putting my thoughts together, doing research, collecting data. It's just too damn much to squeeze into 20 minutes. Sprinkle tips and recap at the end, and this has just got to be a two-parter. Sorry, everybody. Gonna break this one up. I put this pair of episodes together because too many DMs either design boring combat encounters or run the same monsters with the same stat block through the same encounters over and over and over again. It's boring. It's predictable. Your players learn the stats of the monsters purely through repetition. And repetition's great when you're

learning a new language or learning how to play a musical instrument, but it's shit for RPG encounters. So how do you make good encounters? In a word, good encounters require variety. Variety of monsters, environments, and steaks. That's S-T-A-K-E-S. Although I'm sure a variety of steaks would be lovely as well. I'll take a porterhouse, probably cooked about medium rare to medium, and I would like some mixed veggies on the side and a salad with ranch.

Thank you. Fuck, I'm hungry. Anyway, how do you vary up a monster? The stat block in the monster manual or whatever third-party website that you wind up getting it from, that's always for a generic example of that monster. Think of it as a representative sample of that type of monster. But the specific monster the characters are fighting could be generic, or they could be stronger or weaker versions.

Anything and everything in the stat block can be changed before the encounter starts. Ability scores, hit points, saving throws, abilities, class levels, anything on the stat block can be changed. You can add equipment, You can add abilities. You can change up the equipment that they're using. Not every 5th edition lizard folk needs to use a shield and a heavy club. That'd make no sense. Why not have one using a longbow or a trident and a net?

Or maybe they fight with daggers. Not every starfinder dragonkin uses a magnetar rifle. Why not a yellow star plasmaray or a Dashko instead? And finally, not every Pathfinder Frost Giant needs to wear a Breastplate. Frost Giants have it a complex society of their own. Wouldn't there be Scouts who would wear lighter armor, and maybe Vanguard's that are armored to the teeth? Varying up your monster stat blocks means more work for you as the DM. Yes, it's hard, but anything that's good usually is. Giving variety to your monsters keeps your players

on their toes. It keeps things fresh for them and for you as the DM. So what are some ideas to vary up your encounters so that even if you're fighting the same monsters, it doesn't feel like it's the same thing over and over again? There are a ton of possible ways to vary your monsters. I'm going to break it down into leaders, lieutenants, spellcasters, and allied creatures. Let's start with the leader or boss. To quote the movie Airplane, the boss, the head man, the top dog, the big cheese, the number one. If there are a group of non-mindless creatures participating in a fight, there will almost always be someone or something in charge. Most creatures have a system to determine who's the boss. Strength, intelligence, cunning, skill, accomplishment, experience,

nepotism, cronyism, democracy, a farting contest, whatever it is. Usually there's some way of deciding who is the alpha and who isn't. I mean, it's true for this world. Wolves have an alpha. Most companies have a boss or a board of directors that lead them. Sports teams have captains. I mean, okay, I could get into the psychological phenomenon

of the tendency to follow leaders for the next hour, but that's not why we're here. Why wouldn't, I don't know, a Kuo-Toa have a leader, a matriarch, a shaman, a head priest, or some other fish person in charge? And by the way, when I read the stat block, as written, Kuo-Toa tend to form societies around religious practices, so it probably makes sense that the leader of worship would also be the leader of society, but that's also not why we're here. Leaders or boss characters, by the way, are generally statted up to be the hardest to kill. They have better stats,

higher class levels, more hit points, better equipment. They likely have access to things that the rank and file just don't. Further, if you're fighting in their lair, creatures like this will have access to areas of the lair that others don't. In these locations, they could have escape routes, situational magic items, equipment maybe they only need occasionally, and other resources that the rest of the nest or rest of the clan just simply do not have. That being said, the strongest or highest level creatures in a community likely aren't going to be part of every single fight.

They usually stay home and let the minions venture out as needed. There could be exceptions, like the leader proving her strength, or they're traveling to a rival partner or group to negotiate a truce or something like that. Another way you can think of it is that the leader of an encounter may not be the leader of the entire city, clan, tribe, den, or whatever group they're in. It's just the leader of the pack. And here's where I would insert song lyrics from a song of the same name by the Shangri-Las, I think, in 1964. But that's before some of my listeners' parents were born. Not only am I hungry, fuck, I am old.

Anyway, if there's a leader, there's likely going to be lieutenants as well. The lieutenants are responsible for keeping track of the rank and file. The queen's not going to do that. She has lieutenants to take care of that. She's busy ruling and shit. Proclamations don't write themselves. So lieutenants are powerful creatures in their own right. More powerful than the rank and file, but maybe not as powerful as, say, the leader of the clan. Same thoughts apply, though.

Class levels, more hit points, better armors and weapons, better, the leader of the clan. Same thoughts apply, though. Class levels, more hit points, better armors and weapons, better magic items, and so forth. And you scale them appropriately for your encounter level. I would only have leader and lieutenants on the battlefield if the encounter had a ton of enemy combatants. One of the things that the older editions of Dungeons & Dragons did really, really well was to provide statistics for a standard group of creatures. Kobolds, for example, see episode 99 for more about those interesting little buggers,

in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons were listed as being found in groups of 5 to 20, so that's 5d4, as raiding and scouting parties, or tribes of 40 to 400. 5th edition and Pathfinder don't always have that information, so it leaves it up to the DM or GM. My advice would be if you have a large group, you absolutely have them led by a powerful representative with some underling lieutenants who manage the rank and file. But if you're running a small group of creatures, just have a single leader that maybe is a sergeant or lieutenant back home, but it happens to be the leader of this small group. One of the suggestions I received from the contest was from a listener named Ross who

asked how to build mini-bosses like lieutenants that are weaker than the big bad. How do you differentiate lieutenants and mid-level monsters from both high-level leaders and common troops? It's a challenge because it's a balancing act you have to walk. First things first, lieutenants are never alone. They have worked hard, maybe fought or studied, and they've become leaders in their own right. They're not going to risk their necks being caught alone when there are others on the battlefield who can support them and take the fire for them. So all of those support creatures that I talked about, the spellcasters and pets, may be near the lieutenants as well, who may also be near the boss if they're present on the battlefield.

It's also likely that some of the creatures will want to impress the lieutenant by rescuing them in a dangerous moment. They'll likely stick pretty close to them. Lieutenants are going to use smart tactics during combat. They're not going to randomly pick who they attack. combat. They're not going to randomly pick who they attack. They will focus on individual enemies within the party using enemy priorities and targeting of the most dangerous party members. They'll use stealth and cover tactics to give themselves and even their minions the greatest chance of survival. Most importantly, how do you balance the stat blocks of a lieutenant that occupies that middle ground? First things first, give them close to

maximum hit points. Give them class levels depending on what kind of leader they are and what their society values. In a group where you gain rank by fighting your way to the top, give them levels in Barbarian, Fighter, maybe even Rogue or Ranger. If they outsmarted their peers to get to the top, consider giving them levels in classes like Wizard or Investigator. Give them additional hit dice. Make them bulkier, stronger, faster, smarter, and generally more capable on the battlefield. Lieutenants will have slightly better gear than the rank and file will, like they may have masterwork gear, or depending on your campaign, maybe even low-level magic items. They will almost surely have healing potions and other similar magic to increase their survivability. masterwork gear or depending on your campaign, maybe even low level magic items. They will almost surely have healing potions and other similar magic to increase their

survivability. Finally, a simple way to make lieutenants stronger is to increase their hit points by 25-50%, give them a bonus for damage or increase the die of damage that they can do, and give them one step better armor than most of the similar creatures. Also, make their abilities harder to defend against so they have a higher DC to save against. Give them abilities that you like that think might fit with a stronger creature, but maybe they aren't necessarily written into the stat block. Maybe give them a ray attack.

Give them something that makes them more dangerous at range. Give them the ability to buff or strengthen the other allies that they have to make them harder for your PCs to kill. Ross, I hope that helped answer the question, and if it didn't, please let me know. Reach out to me, feedback at taking20podcast.com, and if you'll like, I'll dedicate more time to the topic. Another thing you can do to vary up your encounters with monsters is to have spellcasters. Most intelligent races will have some sort of spellcaster that supports the group. They can have wizards and sorcerers that give them different capabilities and party roles

for the NPC party just like the one sitting around your table. You can have wizards and sorcerers or arcane spellcasters that are damage dealers. Most PC groups love Fireball. I mean, why wouldn't you? The image of rolling up a bit of bat guano and sulfur, saying some words, and tossing it unerringly to the exact spot you want, and having it explode in a ball of flame is iconic. It's been around since D&D First Edition. Plus, it's damage in a radius. You can end a combat with a snap of a wizard's fingers. But if the PCs love it, wouldn't enemy spellcasters love it too? I mean, Glurk the Firemaker lives and dies with fireball and burning hands and can really cause headaches for PCs because he likes to set things on fire.

Other spells that they could bring to bear would be magic missile, cone of cold, ray of frost, chromatic orb, flaming sphere, yes please, yes! Rain fire and rock down on the arrogant PCs who leave a swath of destruction everywhere they go. Punish them for their hubris, thinking

they alone have access to these powerful magics. Drown them in blasts of water and ice shards, and make their families wonder what happened to them as their bodies are used for food and skulls are used for wine and they're passed around to members of the scouting party who wear their stuff and skulls for helmets and... Or you know, just use the spells to damage the party, you know, like they do to others, you know, or not, it's okay just to kind of have them do that.

SURPRISE DISINTEGRATOR MOTHERFUCKER! Wait, that word's a bridge too far? Okay, or not. It's okay just to kind of have them do that. Surprise! Disintegrator! Motherfucker! Wait, that word's a bridge too far? Okay, got it. Okay, so besides damage dealers, we have battlefield controllers. Spellcasters that can affect the battlefield in whole or part. Think about spellcasters that can cast these wall spells. Wall of thorns, fire, force, wall of stone, that kind of thing. They can cut off part of the battlefield, divide it in half, and put one or more PCs behind a damaging or dividing wall. Another thing they can do is spells that affect vision, like obscuring mist and invisibility sphere. It is hard to kill, follow, or capture what you can't see. They can have spells to make it hard to move around the battlefield, like transmute rock to mud or black tentacles. That's tentacles with an N. If you replace the N with an S, you have the name of a

starring. Okay, fine. I'm sorry, honey. I'll behave. Other spells, blade barrier, cloud kill,'ll behave. Other spells. Blade Barrier, Cloud Kill. Any spell that can make the battlefield segmented, difficult to move through, and limit the effectiveness of the opposing party that's sitting around the table. The goal for these spellcasters is to make it harder for the PC to use standard tactics. Easiest way to do that? Split the party, and a wall spell is great for that. The gnolls gang up on the rogue and grease the squares between the party and the rogue, making it difficult for the party to come

to the rogue's aid. Most of the monsters that live in large groups aren't stupid. They may practice, train, have standard tactics, just like your PCs do. They should show their capabilities to work as a team when they're fighting for their lives against these murder hobos that happen to invade their den. Some spellcasters are buffers. Baddies with class levels like Bard, Cleric, Arcane spellcasters, any of them can be specced out to be good buffers. They make others better at what they do with spells like Haste, Bless, Enlarge Person, Enhance Ability, and other spells to give ability score bonuses like Bull's Strength and Cat's Grace. Blur, Invisibility, Tensor's Transformation, whatever you'd like. Anything that benefits their side and makes it harder for the opposing side.

Depending on their build, they may stay in the back, close to the boss of the group, and rally others to fight for the cause. Spellcasters could also be healers. They could be healers individually or use channels to heal in an area. A lot of times adventures are written where the enemy clerics only channel negative energy. Unless they're only surrounded by undead, that doesn't really help the other combatants that may be going against the PCs. Give some of them the ability to channel positive energy. That way they can heal creatures on that side. And let me tell you, your PCs will sit up and take notice when,

oh shit, there's a healer on the field. Anytime you have any kind of spellcaster on the field or in battle, it requires the PC to rethink their tactics. They can't just charge in headlong and hope that more hit points eventually wears it out. Not when you have a spellcaster on the other side that could paralyze them, or give them some sort of debilitating disease, turn them to stone, or what have you. Another thing you can add for variety is to add creatures allied with the NPCs. These creatures change the dynamic of the entire battlefield and come in different categories. Another thing you can add for variety is to add creatures allied with the NPCs. These creatures change the dynamic of the entire battlefield and come in different categories.

I'm going to start with mounts. Put the leaders or powerful creatures or scouts or whatever on horseback or boarback, eagleback, antback, oliphantback, or whatever. It increases that creature's mobility on the battlefield, helps them get away if things really go south, and potentially gives them additional attacks like Overrun and Trample. The PCs like to group up. Here comes an elephant that stomps on all of them. Another option is to give the creatures pets. I'm not talking like the king has a teacup poodle.

The figures have pet wolves, or slugs, slurks, hawks, carrion crawlers, or other creatures literally or figuratively on a leash. It's not uncommon for hunting parties to have dogs here on Earth. They hear better than we do, can smell things better than we can, and make it easier to retrieve prey. Why the hell wouldn't goblins do the same thing with goblin dogs? Typically, you'd choose whatever is appropriate for the environment that they're in or the creatures that they are or where they come from.

But you may have creatures that have stupid, rich displays of power or wealth where they have really, really exotic pets. Think about those people who walk around Los Angeles with hyenas on a leash. Or the commercial where the Russian actor is surrounded by everything gold and has a little teacup giraffe. Although, who wouldn't want a little teacup giraffe? Cute little spindly legs, stretches long neck to reach up to leaves

on a bush 20 inches high. I want one. Oh, sorry. But give them pets that can participate in the battle, that can harry the PCs, that can flank with the creatures. It just changes the tenor of the entire combat. Another thing you can do is have hirelings or minions. Sufficiently powerful leaders will have the money to hire troops, experts, specialists.

They may even have them with them on the battlefield. These experts can fill in traditional party roles that maybe aren't otherwise present in the bad guy's party. Maybe the kobolds are having trouble finding a cleric, so they hire a cleric to serve as their worship leader, if you will. Not to mention back at home, they'll have workers and farmers and cooks and armorers and goodness knows whatever other non-combatants keeping the home fires burning. Hirelings and minions are great complications to add to a combat. But lastly, I want to talk about summoned creatures.

I talked a lot about summoned creatures in episode 95, and the same benefits that these summoned creatures can supply to an adventuring party can also be supplied to the baddies. Suddenly the enemy druid brings forth swarms of wasps to poison and deal constant damage to the party. The PCs have trouble focusing on the enemy combatants because these swarms are doing constant damage to your cleric and he's about as fragile as a house of cards on a diving board. Hey Ali Shaba, duck so I don't burn your face off. Alright, so that's the swarm.

Now for those goblins, and fuck, they're gone. Okay, then. Summoned creatures are great complications to add to a combat, especially if you use them to provide... You know what? You're going to have to wait until part two to hear the rest of that tip. And all the other tips I have

about designing better encounters. A rare cliffhanger for the podcast. I promise it'll pay off next week where we'll talk about changing a lot of the non-living parts of encounters. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider giving it a comment, like, rating, or review,

whatever you found us. If you're watching this on YouTube, please consider giving it a comment, like, rating, or review, whatever you found us. If you're watching this on YouTube, please hit that little subscribe button. That way you get a little notification whenever I release a new video. But before I go, I do want to thank our sponsor, Snow. Don't try to make any plans with it. It'll just flake on you. This has been Episode 101, Designing Better Combat Encounters, Part 1. My name is Jeremy Shelley, and I hope that your next game is your best game. The Taking 20 Podcast is a Publishing Cube Media Production.

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