Creativity in Battle, Be Reasonable

Look no matter if you are brand new to the TTRPG scene or if you are old school, you quickly realize that any combat can become very repetitive no matter what class you play. Some of that is because as players we try for the optimal. We mix in a bit of gamer mentality from other areas of our life - obviously, the thing that does the most damage or the spell with the most damage for its level is the best way to go. I can't count the number of times I have heard, or in fact made, the joke about all wizards do after a certain level is cast fireball. I also would go cross-eyed trying to track in my combat notes the number of times it says that my Mombarian Nakon attacks with her Acid Battleaxe twice while raging. Yes sometimes the mindlessness of not needing to make decisions in combat is actually very zen and peaceful, it lets me focus on RP and making sure my fellow players feel supported to try some of their crazy abilities or spells.

Then I asked myself why was my assumption always that Nakon would rage and hit two times with her axe? During level ups I had scooped up the Charger and later the Sentinel feats. I did this because after thinking for awhile about my character I realized why I assumed that. The obvious answer would be she is a barbarian, that's just what they do. Now outside of me unpacking why that assumption is super wrong for now and gliding past it for another blog post rant later - I thought about her motivations for what she does. I call Nakon a Mombarian for a reason. She is the mom of the group keeping the chaotic kids in line. No rogue we can't start fires and burn down the city because people are dodgy about answering our questions. Maybe we don't dare a guy to eat the mummy's heart? (granted that one happened anyway and spoilers it didn't turn out well) When it comes down to it Nakon is traveling with this pack of high chaos stirrers because she doesn't think they'll live long otherwise and while a lot of what they do tends to end with us in some sort of fight, she recognizes that they are good. Even if their methods are questionable their intentions are in the right spot while she slowly conditions them into better ways. Which means yeah I'll rage but you know what? I am an Ancestral Guardian Barbarian which means the first creature I hit after raging has disadvantage on attacking my friends. So I'm going to pop that rage on and Charge right thru to the biggest threat to whamp it twice. Then that creature is going to be pissed at me, can't hit anyone else and isn't going anywhere if it tries to get out of my reach. I'm still the tank but my actions aren't repetitive because now I know I'm going to make sure Nakon is perceived as the biggest threat by the biggest threat in the room. She makes noise, chucks barrels and crates, shouts insults in draconic, tackles spell casters posted up in the back, and goes at each round of combat knowing its her job to soak up as much damage as possible as she deals it out.

I think that is something that every player should do as an exercise with a character they have had a chance to play for awhile. Really think not about WHAT your character SHOULD do in combat but WHY they would do anything in combat at all. You'll find your options open up a lot even for those classes that we assume our combat actions are kind of already predetermined for. Alot of the reason I am able to do this is also because I have an amazing DM for that game and its a game I've been playing in for going on like 4 years (holy shit that is longer then I thought).

Which lets me have a nice lead in to the next part of this big rant. How to handle creativity in battle as a DM, I know it was a super long lead in for this but that's why I call the rambles and rants. Zooming out to a macro view for a moment you know I love to define things before we really dig in. Creativity in battle means using a feat or ability to try and turn the tides of things, or shift the balance of power in an encounter. It means using spells in ways within the conflict that they maybe weren't intended for (within reason, always). This also includes you setting up the shot for your players by making the ENVIRONMENTS OF ENCOUNTERS DYNAMIC. Okay so that's a lot of definitions in one go but you know the next step - the breakdowns.

Feats and abilities in the game can be seen super-specialized, overused, or useless depending on the player and the subject in question. I understand some of it because having two melee characters with the Sentinal feat locking down the battlefield all the time could be very frustrating. But the reasons those characters do it might simply be holding the front line while the other players do their thing. So the intention is good but maybe needs to be redirected with help from those nifty environment tweaks we will talk about later. An Actor feat might seem like a non-option in combat at first but what about mimicking the commander's voice to order his men to stand down? It might not work forever but it might confuse them enough to buy you enough time to either GTFO or to set up a really nice surprise attack by another player. That is a feat we often only think of in terms of RP or social encounters, maybe intrigue trying to bluff your way into a place. With some reasonable logic its clear its useful in combat too. I know my monk fans love using stunning strike (I mean come on its the bee's knees) which can feel a bit like spamming A in street fighter but if they are going after the creature doing a lot of damage or dropping characters it makes sense. They are the only one that can do that outside of something like Hold Person to lock down something temporarily. But what if their environment gave them other monk ways to do that as well?

Creative uses of spells. I know, I know I heard all of that groaning from here and here isn't technically even here cause internet and things. But I heard it! Yes players who play spell casters will often try and stretch a spell out beyond its capabilities. "Hey DM can I cast Shape Water on that dude?" "Uh... why?" "I want to fill his lungs with water." "...Okay but he will get a save against it." "But its water in his lungs! He should insta-die!" "First its a cantrip, no cantrip is going to insta-kill anything. Its why its a cantrip. Second, its a spell trying to affect a person so they get a save, if he fails he'll be incapacitated a few rounds while he coughs up water but if he saves he fights the spell off." "That's not fair!" A scenario that has been making the rounds again as of late, I've seen a few TikTok videos on it. But trying to stretch what a cantrip would be able to do or how powerful it is, well that's a tale as old as time. I have the same argument with Shape Earth all the time in my Cross & Axe game. Even in the above scenario though I think the way the DM handled was way more than fair. He took what the player was trying to do into consideration, took the spell and its level, and gave the player a possible effect it could cause to help the situation. That's the best way to handle spell creativity when you are just starting to get your feet under you with this whole creative use thing. To that I might add one other piece though. Outside of the above 'effect attempt too strong for the spell level' I often see trying to stretch a spell a little outside of the way the spell was worded. I know a lot of people in that case are going to default to the spiel about well then they can make a spell in game that does the thing. Which yes I agree with 100% BUT how do you think they discover the idea of what to research or attempt again to be able to do that. The first time a player asks about trying something outside of the way the spell is written I take into account how far off it is, if its reasonable I have them do some rolls to determine if they can bend the weave enough to pull it off. If it happens great its solved but even if it doesn't well now they have a brain worm about something they want to dig into and make a thing they can do in a repeatable way which means spell research and creation, BAM! This of course comes with needing to be comfortable enough with whatever system you are playing in to know what does and doesn't break things, to know what the right roll calls and DC stakes are, and what if any consequences there will be if it doesn't go off the way it wants. If people want I can do a whole spell research for players blog to give examples and more in depth on but for now we are moving on to what I think is a pivotal piece that DMs can do.

ENVIRONMENTS OF ENCOUNTERS DYNAMIC! Please for the love of all that is good, it doesn't take a whole lot of extra time or effort to do but it will make your combat so much more enjoyable for everyone involved. I know DMs hate how robotic combat can feel, just as much as players do. So what do I mean? Let's take an example every DM runs at some point - bandits on the road. Its a classic especially for low level characters traveling. The normal encounter would be lets say 5 bandits ambushing the group either on the road or while they are camping, attacking them to either slaughter or subdue to steal and GTFO. Typically that would play out with just lots of damage, whamping from both sides, and hopefully no character deaths (don't ask). Pretty standard, pretty boring, and repetitive rounds of combat. But if we add horses, that's a creature that either side could use to their advantage. Spook a house with a bandit rider to incapacitate them or run them off. Run down a player while on horseback who thinks they are a safe distance away from the action. Next lets switch it up and remember despite most of us playing on 2D maps online at the moment that we do have the Z axis to play with still. Okay we will have 3 of the bandits on horseback charging and corraling the players, and 2 in trees out of reach providing cover fire as either casters or range fighters. I also like adding potential additional waves of enemies if it seems the players are destroying the encounter but to a lesser extent and as a random chance. For this lets say that means backup swinging into the scene via a grapple and rope. All of that makes for a very different experience then just a default bandits on the road. Give your players surprises but also give your players something else they can interact with, deal with, or take advantage of. Go knock off one of the tree shooters and become one yourself. Grab that rope from the guy that just swung in, kick him in the gut and take off across the battlemap. Unseat a bandit from their horse and become a mounted fighter yourself or use it to pull a fellow player on and call a retreat. Now I know I said not a lot of additional prep, and its not if you include the logic of it in your encounters while you are planning them anyways. But even easier things to do is to add things in the environment that players can actually interact with, just be prepared for what that might cause. Hay bails near torches, spikey walls, ledges, barrels or crates near stairs. Small things that you can drop down on the map that when seen and known to be an option for combat sparks tons of creativity from your players. And lets be honest might be a good way to lead them off the murder hobo road with a carrot... or have them burn down an entire village its like 70/30 unless you combo it with other carrots and possibly sticks if you really need to.