Hey Pilgrims!
When someone mentions combat in role-playing games, what do you immediately think of? Do you think of sword swinging, spell slinging action? Do you think of a slog of effort to get through while you wait for your next turn?
Unfortunately for many of us, we have been in those situations many times before. Let me know if this situation sounds familiar:
“Player: “Ok, I rolled a 17 to hit?”
DM: “That’s a miss.”
Player: “Second attack is a 22?”
DM: “Hit, roll damage.”
Player: “14 Slashing and four fire.”
DM: “Anything else?”
Player: *sighs* “No, that’s all””
Now repeat that four more times for five more rounds. It can get boring, can’t it? It’s OK to admit it, I’ve been there both as a player and as DM running the encounter. Many times, combat can seem like an obstacle needed to soldier through to get back to the “story”.
But it doesn’t have to be that way!
Take the critically acclaimed PS4 game, God of War. Now, given I do not own a PS4 myself (PC Represent), I have still watched the entire story of the game as well as many other videos on YouTube highlighting side quest storylines as well as videos focusing on lore around certain characters.
This all started due to my love of Norse Mythology and the fresh take GoW put on the stories from the mythology, but there was one thing that kept me coming back. The Boss fights.
Whether battling the villainous Baldur across numerous realms or squaring off with Thor’s unruly sons, Magni and Modi, each of these battles in GoW is a thrill ride from start to finish.
Let’s examine one such Boss fight, WARNING! SPOILERS FOR GOD OF WAR!
Kratos & Atreus vs. Magni & Modi
Now in this fight we have Kratos and his son, Atreus confronting the sons of Thor, Magni and Modi. Having been sent by their uncle, Baldur, to seek out Kratos and Atreus, the brothers literally drop in on our heroes.
For those not paying attention to the in game lore, delivered masterfully by the disembodied head of Mimir (trust me, this game is amazing and I love the twists on Nordic myth), the brothers are described well as the golden child, Magni, and the unloved youngest, Modi.
After some brief dialogue, the fight begins proper. The biggest takeaway, is that you indeed fight both brothers at the same time, each with their own abilities and health. The tall, lumbering Magni with his wrought iron sword channels the energy of lightning. The smaller, more cowardly Modi, hides behind his shield and mace.
Luckily, your son Atreus is also valuable in the fight as well, stunning enemies and even fighting one brother while you focus on the other. So far, so normal D&D fight.
Next, however, is where things get interesting.
Something that is completely normal in video games occurs later, having hit a certain threshold of the brothers’ health, a cut-scene is triggered and moves us into another phase of the Boss fight.
The brothers recite a spell, strike their weapons together, and blind the heroes temporarily. Now, recovering from the blindness, Kratos and son take up a defensive position in a maneuver that gets its fair use in future Boss fights as well. Taunting from the shadows of the summoned storm, the brothers emerge, weapons swinging looking for a cheap shot at the heroes. With some on screen prompts as well as Atreus’ warnings (seriously, shout out a USEFUL companion in a video game), you fend off the attacks and the returns to “normal”.
Again, after more combat, the brothers use the same spell, sending Kratos and Atreus into another small storm. However, keeping the combat moving, when a brother runs to attack, they actually back off, having distracted you so the other brother can get in an attack. This, to me, is incredible! How often do we memorize attack patterns and simply hit the “correct” combos over and over until the end of the fight?
This boss fight took a tactic you had just learned and immediately throws a curve-ball with the “fakeouts” from the brothers!
After this sequence, we are returned to “normal” combat for the last time as once the health bars are depleted we are taken into a full cut-scene where Kratos easily dispatches Magni and sends Modi retreating in fear to be confronted two more times later in the game before his eventual death.
How to Apply to TTRPGs?
For something so normal in video games, why do we not see things like this in tabletop combat encounters? Why do we not see Boss fights that change into different “phases”? The closest thing we have so far, in D&D at least, is a lair action to shake things up mid combat. However, as most players will know, fighting a monster that HAS a lair, much less actually inside it, can be a very rare thing.
Instead, why not add in different actions and situations that can change up the way combat is done. Having played both marital characters and magical ones, too often it can feel like you just get into range and fire off spells until the enemy is defeated.
Let’s try to construct an example of an encounter with more dynamic combat!
Image Credits: Diablo 3
The party has tracked down the evil necromancer to the sewers beneath the city. The first few rounds go as normal, the necromancer casts some spells, the party rebuffs him, and his health drops to about half.
Now, instead of continuing the slog until his death (which, why would they?), the necromancer turns and runs off deeper into the sewer system. Giving chase, the party soon emerges into a large cistern where the necromancer stands high above the heroes on a raised platform. But, what’s this? The necromancer has used an arcane crystal to raise a group of undead soldiers to fight on his behalf. Fully concentrating on the undead and the shield produced by the crystal, the necromancer is temporarily invulnerable!
Now, the party must battle these new enemies! As the wizards blasts the last undead soldier, the crystal explodes! The shield dissolves as the necromancer is thrown from the platform, landing on the same level as the party!
From here, the fight can continue as normal, but with this small interlude, the fight felt more dynamic and the party had to work together to break the necromancer’s shield to begin their attacks anew!
This is only one such example, but there are plenty more, I could write an entire series of these breakdowns on the Boss fights with Baldur in GoW alone!
Hopefully, with this breakdown and example fight, you too can craft combat that will keep your player’s on the edges of their seats and make combat something that feels active and fun!
As always, keep wandering!
-Mike