Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Kage_Ryu 07-20-06, 02:35 PM	Alright, I'm sure you've all had phases where battles slowly become something boring, tedious to get through. I know my players enjoy it, but after a while I find it's terrible... I run out of things to say, ways of describing things, and it gets repetitive. And then there's keeping track of everyone's turn, and having like 16 characters in one battle makes things time consuming. How do you guys handle this? How do you keep things interesting? How do you speed up monster turns to allow players more time to have their own fun, but still keep the monsters interesting to battle? Lastly, a question on magic using enemies: I use sorcerors in battle, as an advantage, but usually with buff guys to help them. What happens when they get to the BBG when he's all by himself and a magic user? How do you keep him a challenge to face? The fighters, barbs, monks, and rangers always end up taking him out with only a couple of blows...
snakeman830 07-20-06, 02:44 PM	I think one way to have your battles go faster is to plan what the monster's are going to do, before it's their turn. Sometimes that can be dificult, but overall, it speeds it up considerably. As for your BBG problems, give him some magic items. A Cloak of Displacement is a really easy way to make half of the attacks void. Make him invisible as well and you get some intersting effects(remember, see invisibility doesn't help with displacement and true seeing doesn't work on invisibility).
mike_beavers 07-20-06, 05:21 PM	the bbeg should flee via d-door, fly, tport etc if caught without the meat shields about him. combat casting and lots of concentration should also be high on each spell casters list of feats to do. If you are grappled that could be a problem
ccerose 07-20-06, 05:27 PM	I regularly "borrow" fight descriptions from various Eberron and FR novels. When I'm reading, I mark the pages with a scrap of paper and then go back later and copy them down. I don't use colorful text to describe every single attack, but I like to throw them in when someone rolls a critical or deals a lot of damage. If the players get to the BBEG much sooner then they should, you could make him a a decoy. As soon as the killing blow is landed, have his illusion wear off, and describe the transformation as a drastic change from what they know the BBEG to look like. It's kinda cheap. You could always have him teleport away.
SokenzanMarauder 07-20-06, 05:36 PM	Well from skimming over it, here's a few suggestions: Descriptions: If you're running out, I assume you're describing what your player's characters are doing as well as the NPCs. Try having your PCs describe their own attacks (if they do well grant 'em an extra point of damage or two) and if they just say "I attack" then respond "Alright, you attack and deal X damage." PCs: 16. WOW. That's crazy. How about going down into four groups of four? 16 is just WAY to many if they're all together. -Gene