Not every fight should be about grinding the villain down to a pile of broken hit points. That's the old way. Lazy. Predictable. Give the players something else to bleed for.
Maybe there's an ancient idol in the chamber, humming with corruption, making the monsters untouchable by magic. Maybe there's a rusted lever across the battlefield that could drop a portcullis and change the entire flow of the fight. If someone’s brave enough to get there first.
Suddenly, the answer to survival isn’t on the character sheet. It’s out there, in the world, waiting to be noticed. Waiting to be risked for. This is where the story lives. Not in who rolls the highest attack, but in who sees the real danger, and dares to act.
I've used the every round initiative before and really like it, as did my players. The possibility of two attacks back to back could drastically change the fight. The formation rule makes sense, since flanking is a thing for a reason. With that and losing opportunity attacks, it should encourage more movement leading to more engaging and creative combat. Good luck play testing these rules
Creating more rules to encourage new behaviour is not always necessary. It’s easier to model the behaviour by having opponents use the ground tactically, or to engage as a formation.
You miss out on some things magic users can do in a fight that make a big difference. They can throw a flask of oil and light the pool on fire to create an obstacle to protect the fighter’s flank or keep opponents from getting past them. They can throw a net over opponents to disrupt their formations and stop one from attacking. They can throw daggers at opponents (because they can’t use bows in most games).
But how do you convey this to the players without them feeling railroaded? Maybe just letting them see enemies apply them so the think it’s their ideas when they ask, “Well can’t we do that too?” 😈
Good summary to start this article. I get it. I like the attacking formation rule. Something similar should happen for defenders next to one another.
Not every fight should be about grinding the villain down to a pile of broken hit points. That's the old way. Lazy. Predictable. Give the players something else to bleed for.
Maybe there's an ancient idol in the chamber, humming with corruption, making the monsters untouchable by magic. Maybe there's a rusted lever across the battlefield that could drop a portcullis and change the entire flow of the fight. If someone’s brave enough to get there first.
Suddenly, the answer to survival isn’t on the character sheet. It’s out there, in the world, waiting to be noticed. Waiting to be risked for. This is where the story lives. Not in who rolls the highest attack, but in who sees the real danger, and dares to act.
I've used the every round initiative before and really like it, as did my players. The possibility of two attacks back to back could drastically change the fight. The formation rule makes sense, since flanking is a thing for a reason. With that and losing opportunity attacks, it should encourage more movement leading to more engaging and creative combat. Good luck play testing these rules
Creating more rules to encourage new behaviour is not always necessary. It’s easier to model the behaviour by having opponents use the ground tactically, or to engage as a formation.
You miss out on some things magic users can do in a fight that make a big difference. They can throw a flask of oil and light the pool on fire to create an obstacle to protect the fighter’s flank or keep opponents from getting past them. They can throw a net over opponents to disrupt their formations and stop one from attacking. They can throw daggers at opponents (because they can’t use bows in most games).
Be careful with your overuse of "kind of" as it comes across as you lacking confidence in the ideas being proposed.
But how do you convey this to the players without them feeling railroaded? Maybe just letting them see enemies apply them so the think it’s their ideas when they ask, “Well can’t we do that too?” 😈
Overall I'd just let them know these rules up front like they're part of the overall combat rules.