Questions tagged [tactics]

For questions about tactical play, relating to how combat is planned and played out in a game, in individual encounters or in larger group situations. This encompasses tactical concepts directly tied to game mechanics, as well as more abstract discussions.

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How to deal w/ extreme challenge

I play in a small group (3), in a long campaign (3.5y). This is my first campaign in DnD5e. We are at the 18th level currently and got a challenge, that seems impossible for me. I play a vengeance ...
huncyrus's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
462 views

Wall of Force Usage: Ankle Whacking

Me and my party are fighting a taller humanoid creature (haven't asked the DM if its large or huge). So I was wondering if it would be valid by RAW to create a floating wall of force dome that extends ...
Dekirun's user avatar
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-5 votes
1 answer
318 views

Rate my build - 5e New to DND need advice [closed]

Point Spread: Attribute /Ability Score/ Racial Bonus/ Total Score/ Ability Modifier/ Strength /8/ /0/ /8/ /-1/ Dexterity /15/ /2/ /17/ /+3/ Constitution /15/ /0/ /15/ /+2/ Intelligence /10/ /0/ /10/ /...
Chris Wilson's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
912 views

How can I effectively use the Darkness spell in a party not every member of which has True Sight?

My character in a 5e campaign (High Elven Arcane Trickster 13/Divination Wizard 2) recently helped out a celestial who in return granted him True Sight and the ability to cast the Darkness spell at ...
Joel Derfner's user avatar
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1 vote
2 answers
714 views

At 1st level, what lets a cleric help their friends the most?

Assuming a typical D&D party with some combination of ranged and melee attackers, which Divine Domain, racial choice (potentially including feat), spells, or actions/abilities at level 1 helps a ...
user2754's user avatar
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10 votes
3 answers
2k views

How to defend allies as a Fighter at level 1?

At first level, the chance for death is fairly high especially for the squishier members of the party. A fighter comes with high hit-dice, a self-healing ability, and starts with chain mail and a ...
user2754's user avatar
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31 votes
9 answers
7k views

How to have enemies that use tactics while also making sure that the encounter is fun for all players?

I am currently running a 5e game for a party of 5 players (level 3). I tend to make my enemies use tactics. My encounters involving a large number of low-CR enemies tend to have roles (so a tank, some ...
comedroidrive's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
3k views

How can we deal with being frightened?

Last session our party (totem barbarian, mutant (homebrew) druid, starry druid, soulknife rogue, fathomless warlock, conjuration wizard, all 14th level) just got completely pwned by a couple of ...
Jack's user avatar
  • 29k
8 votes
0 answers
181 views

As a PC, which creatures should I attack first? [closed]

Specifically when you’re engaged in an encounter that includes some clearly larger threats and clearly weaker threats, which creatures should I attack first? Does it make the most sense to focus your ...
James Wenzel's user avatar
31 votes
5 answers
4k views

Am I using my high level spells wrong?

I have been playing D&D 5e for only five months. I play a 5th level wizard. My warlock party member constantly berates me for using spell slots in encounters and says I need to "understand ...
Patti 's user avatar
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25 votes
6 answers
17k views

What countermeasures protect against Power Word Kill?

My group might be facing a lich soon (as part of a one-shot). Its ninth-level spell is power word kill: You utter a word of power that can compel one creature you can see within range to die ...
Dan B's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
779 views

Should Vow of Enmity or Hexblade's Curse be deployed first? [closed]

Imagine an Oath of Vengeance Paladin 3 / Hexblade 1. This is the big boss, and the character wants to use both Vow of Enmity and Hexblade's Curse on the same target. Vow of Enmity gives advantage on ...
RedGeomancer's user avatar
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6 votes
3 answers
309 views

What purpose does the quickling's Fade from View ability serve?

In Pathfinder 2e the Quickling has an ability called Fade from View which, as a free action, lets the quickling become invisible until it uses an attack, manipulate, or move action. The quickling can'...
Snakehelm's user avatar
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35 votes
8 answers
10k views

How can a single creature safely flee from a combat?

This question is really more of a tactics and plotting question than a rules question. In D&D 5e, a creature can avoid opportunity attacks when running away by using the Disengage action (although ...
RedGeomancer's user avatar
  • 6,481
24 votes
5 answers
5k views

How did towns mundanely protect themselves against Dragons or bring them to the ground?

Not every town has a party of adventurer's ready to take on big monsters. What methods are expected to be feasible in the combination of system (as of fifth edition) and setting (northern regions of ...
vicky_molokh- unsilence Monica's user avatar
19 votes
5 answers
3k views

Spread out AC or consolidate?

Imagine a Party with 4 characters. Each one has different AC: 14 AC/48 HP (squishy caster) 15 AC/50 HP 16 AC/50 HP 17 AC/54 HP (the tank) The Party picks up a Ring of Protection +1. Who "should&...
schroeder's user avatar
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6 votes
2 answers
2k views

How to surpass Construct's Hardness with no heavy-hitter at low level?

In Pathfinder 2E there are enemies like the Animated Armor, constructs with the defensive ability "Construct Armor" which reduces all incoming damage by an amount equal to the listed ...
Snakehelm's user avatar
  • 2,417
6 votes
1 answer
327 views

Can a Wizard ready a combat cantrip?

You can use Ready only for single actions: You prepare to use an action that will occur outside your turn. Choose a single action or free action you can use, and designate a trigger. Your turn then ...
András's user avatar
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3 votes
3 answers
636 views

How much does True Strike improve my DPR?

For simplicity, assume that there are no special effects on criticals, other than a doubling of damage. Without agile is good enough, but it would be welcome. (there are no circumstance penalties, and ...
András's user avatar
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19 votes
2 answers
2k views

What can Orcus do with Time Stop?

Last night I pitched the Demon Lord Orcus against my level 19 players. With a 26CR, I expected it to be a bigger challenge than it was. Orcus had a Wand of Orcus, and summoned a Nightcrawler, a Death ...
BlueMoon93's user avatar
15 votes
5 answers
3k views

What to do when I'm forced to make battle decisions by other players?

I've been playing a campaign in which there have been a few instances in battles where I feel like I'm being forced to make some non-optimal moves in battle by the rest of the PC group. For example me ...
user66539's user avatar
  • 167
7 votes
1 answer
241 views

How have Yuan-Ti communities defended their bases against attrition attacks? [closed]

My party are level 14 and we are running a high-level version of Tomb of Annihilation. Based on lore, The Yuan-Ti had superb intelligence compared to other races. The yuan-ti took advantage of ...
BlueMoon93's user avatar
29 votes
8 answers
7k views

How can I improve combat so my players don't always use the strategy of collectively focusing fire on one enemy at a time until it's dead?

I'm DMing a 5e campaign with a group of four players. We're all experienced in RPG in general but not specifically in 5e. Players are Level-4 Wizard, Fighter, Rogue and Druid, Circle of the Moon. My ...
Jorge Córdoba's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
153 views

Ranged combat in close quarters

This is a more specified version of this question. Short background: I am rather new to Pen&Paper, thus my tactical knowledge is rather slim. Ranged attacks in Rolemaster are modified by ...
Erik's user avatar
  • 301
6 votes
0 answers
120 views

Ranged combat - warrior mage [closed]

Background We're a group of four players new to Pen & Paper with a seasoned game master. Up to now we haven't had any active contact with magic skills during combats. Due to a mixture of bad ...
Erik's user avatar
  • 301
26 votes
4 answers
4k views

Self-Preservation: How to DM NPCs that Love Living?

I have it in mind that humanoid NPCs do not "rage against the dying of the light" as much as they should. Combat encounters frequently result in a full-on massacre, when realistically a single ...
Enoch's user avatar
  • 457
2 votes
2 answers
295 views

Players make a single plan with no backup plan, then complain about DM unfairness when their plan fails [closed]

I have been running a campaign that recently has had two very roleplay/exploration heavy arcs (really 1 arc, and the consequences of that arc). The arc in question was a heist, where the players were ...
Rerecros's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
255 views

Is there a guide to implementing realistic army logistics in D&D? [closed]

I just read Grain into Gold. If you don't know it, it is a guide for creating a realistic medieval/fantasy economy. I just wanted to know if there is any equivalent for fantasy army management, ...
anonyme's user avatar
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49 votes
10 answers
11k views

How can I discourage/prevent PCs from using door choke-points?

To keep this from being voted as a duplicate of this, let me clarify. The other question asks for DM tactics to battle chokepoints. Its answers are all focused on fighting at these choke-points. I ask ...
BlueMoon93's user avatar
12 votes
2 answers
510 views

What Design Decisions Produce a Strong Positioning Game?

Over the years, I noticed that some games produce a very 'trench warfare' or 'shooting gallery' kind of feel. The 'trench warfare' variant is where once a combat starts, nobody really cares about ...
vicky_molokh- unsilence Monica's user avatar
-1 votes
2 answers
320 views

I have no magic weapon; why might I melee a target who is immune? [closed]

Let's say I have a character with a non-magical weapon, and I find myself in melee with a target immune to non-magical bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage. What reason might I have for making ...
Davo's user avatar
  • 1,659
64 votes
10 answers
13k views

How can I engage players with melee monsters when players keep their distance?

So I am running a campaign as a DM, and one session my players were in a dungeon and spotted a Chuul in a water-filled area. The Chuul stayed deep in the pool, so the characters decided to drain the ...
Juicetin's user avatar
  • 4,125
6 votes
3 answers
2k views

Given that a Small creature cannot pass through a space occupied by a Tiny creature, but a Medium creature can, will this strategy work?

Based on this question: Given a space occupied by a Tiny enemy, is a Small creature unable to move through it even though a Medium creature could? Could I summon, say, 8 Sprites and have them ...
user avatar
61 votes
18 answers
19k views

How to break the "Death Loop" resulting from unfortunate initiative order

In a recent session, an encounter with a single particularly tough Orc (who was my doppelganger, trying to kill me) left the party dealing chip damage a few rounds at a time while they attempted to ...
Xirema's user avatar
  • 52.3k
4 votes
1 answer
324 views

How to handle player resistances as DM? [closed]

There are many threads which talk about NPC/Monster Resistances, Immunities, and Creature Tactics, but I couldn't find anything about the following: How do I, as a DM, handle PC resistances, ...
Lennart 's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
627 views

How do I ensure tactical combat is interesting for my large party?

I am writing a custom PbtA hack to reboot an old play-by-post-RPG that I used to run on a lightweight, but overly random original system. The party contains 8-9 players (which worked out before the ...
metacollision's user avatar
9 votes
5 answers
11k views

How to survive as a support character with low AC?

I'm currently playing curse of strahd as a college of whispers bard, our party just hit level 5. During our last encounter, I was getting swarmed by multiple ghouls and getting paralyzed every turn, ...
THOR'S AWAY's user avatar
22 votes
6 answers
4k views

How can I create encounters that encourage players to use non-Attack actions?

In D&D 5e, the players have lots of actions they can take within combat encounters besides attacking. I'm trying to figure out how to encourage them to use a greater variety of actions, especially ...
philosophyguy's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
5k views

How to determine when opponents attack unconscious player characters?

As a GM, how can I tell what monsters will keep attacking unconscious PCs? I am especially wondering what happens if a party all become unconscious during combat (that is, their HP all got reduced to ...
Nick Gammon's user avatar
9 votes
2 answers
199 views

Can a Hunter learn and use tactics by himself?

I'm about to play a game where there are several other players, but they play other creatures like Vampires and Demons making me the only Hunter. Is it possible for me to use tactics without the help ...
Waluigi Pope's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
2k views

Armor of Agathys and Damage Prevention [closed]

A character in my group has multiple ways to reduce/prevent incoming damage, among others the Heavy Armor Master feat and such things. This wasn't a big problem so far. I could just throw more bad ...
hohenheim's user avatar
  • 6,477
16 votes
3 answers
445 views

Hyperintelligent Tactics

In a game of Eclipse Phase I'm planning, the players are likely to run into a TITAN Delta Fork (a small fragment of the mind of a godlike AI). This Fork has very little access to tech (one or two ...
John Doe's user avatar
  • 1,358
32 votes
8 answers
7k views

How hard is too hard for monster tactics?

Fairly straight-forward question: How good should you make your monsters' combat tactics? I recently came across a situation similar to this... Party attacked by monsters. Party is taken off guard, ...
Sh4d0wsPlyr's user avatar
  • 6,927
15 votes
8 answers
5k views

I want my players to face clones of themselves as a Boss. How do I run them without making it too hard or going easy on them?

I'm running a custom RPG (based on the universe of Boktai, an old GBA game) with a group of six players. We are pretty far into the campaign and the players are getting pretty close to face the final ...
Cyrius N.'s user avatar
  • 348
5 votes
3 answers
5k views

How can a pugilist deal with flying enemies?

I started playing D&D a couple of months ago and I'm getting used to my pugilist character in my GM's homebrew campaign. But I always have a problem when we face flying opponents, and I know for ...
Laurens Wolf's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
199 views

How to best play the CON boost from a raging Chained Barbarian [closed]

When raging, HP increases from a boosted CON aren’t lost first. If the barbarian falls in a fight, when the rage is done that can mean that the barbarian suffers instant death. Obviously the ...
FrancisJohn's user avatar
  • 8,796
7 votes
1 answer
8k views

When is a lance's 10 feet reach helpful?

The lance is unique among weapons with similar damage dice by having a 10-ft. reach and being one-handed when mounted. But the 10-ft. reach comes with disadvantage when your target is within 5 feet, ...
Spellcaster's user avatar
  • 3,155
21 votes
2 answers
34k views

Can a short rope used with Rope Trick create a “safe space” during combat?

Rope trick in 5e says: You touch a length of rope that is up to 60 feet long. One end of the rope then rises into the air until the whole rope hangs perpendicular to the ground. At the upper end ...
Praxiteles's user avatar
  • 11.9k
1 vote
0 answers
6k views

Dealing with dragons [closed]

I understand that dragon encounters are supposed to be scary--DM plays them smart, etc.--but my question is how can (should) a party of adventurers prepare for a dragon fight (assuming it's ...
user2813274's user avatar
46 votes
11 answers
11k views

How to deal with sniping spellcaster PCs?

I am running my first campaign of D&D 5e. We have been playing for two years and I have maybe been a bit too generous with my players. We play with a projector and MapTool, so the players can see ...
Christoph's user avatar
  • 561