Leonine Roar

Wish your D&D game ran a little smoother?  Especially during combat? 

Sometimes – or often – turns lag with all the tactical richness that 4e offers.  You have a lot of choices in the moment to make.  And more than ever, teamwork is rewarded in D&D.  So it helps to think of your allies before, during, and after your turn.  Make this the good habit that it is, and you’ll find your playgroup’s turns moving along a lot more smoothly.  And smoother combats mean more time to ensure the precious balance of storytelling and game that has always been D&D remains intact throughout your game sessions.

Tactical Awareness

How many free, immediate and opportunity action powers have you forgotten or missed in the chaos of battle?  Or this or that hit bonus, damage bonus, or other temporary modifier? If you’re like me, your fair share.  There’s a lot going on, and every little bonus or penalty adds up – and everything you do impacts not just you, but your entire party too.

For example, your melee is going to want flanking opportunities to gain combat advantage as much as possible.  Flanking is one of those mechanics that requires help – a teammate.  You could say the same thing about many free actions and almost every immediate and opportunity action.  That help is usually some sort of combat situation or trigger and it’s important you be on the lookout for that “help,” both in and outside of your turn.  Your allies, your friends, are counting on you! 

Consider sports teams.  Better yet, consider a few of the arguably greatest and winningest sports teams either in the past decade or all-time: The New England Patriots and Boston Celtics.  A huge reason for their team success is that each individual:

• Recognizes he must strive to excel in his role to best help the team
• Values his teammates’ abilities, talents and contributions 
• Assists and supports his teammates for the team to reach maximum success 

There’s this awareness in great sports teams, and if your D&D playgroup has something like that, you’re going to play very efficiently together and have a lot of success together.  “Together” has big meaning in sports, and if you pay attention, you’ll often hear Doc Rivers, coach of the Boston Celtics, urge his team to play “together” in those team huddle live bites.

Why?  Because it’s also all about teamwork in D&D 4e.  It’s all about recognizing situations, valuing everyone’s talents, and helping eachother not just be better, but in the case of champions, achieve greatness.  The Celtics play to win basketball games and add to their championship legacy, while you play out D&D combats to achieve victory and glory – not so different, are they? 

Now sure, D&D and RPGs always are about teamwork to some extent, but the tactical strengths of D&D 4e’s combat system, highlighted by its myriad applied conditions (stun, daze, etc.) and power riders (additional situational bonuses), mean it’s critical to be a good, aware teammate when the blades start ringing and spells start flinging.

Tactical Drawbacks

So with all this tactical richness comes a cost: risk of information overload, analysis paralysis and time-consuming combat encounters.  That also means less time for other important parts of D&D: noncombat encounters (social interactions, riddles, puzzles, traps, etc.),  exploration, and advancing the story.  It’s something you need to consider as a player – it’s not just up to the DM to create a balanced D&D experience. 

Ask yourself, what can you do to increase your tactical awareness?  How can I get faster on my turn?  How can I make smarter decisions on my turn?  These simple questions might bring you to trying practical solutions such as visual game aids, or character-oriented solutions like taking more direct and straightforward powers and feats that don’t have a huge wall of text of conditions and triggers. 

Whatever your solutions, ask yourself: “How can I be a better teammate?”  That’s what the great ones – in any context – ask, all the time.  One way to go?  Start simple and easy with an index card and use it exclusively for tracking special and temporary combat modifiers, one for each or all combats.

Experiment with these ways to increase your turn speed and your tactical awareness, so you can help both yourself and everyone else at the table save session time and excel tactically together.  In short, that’s what makes you an awesome teammate in D&D combat; one of the absolute best compliments you can get in team sports or from your friends at the table after a blood-pumping epic battle.
 

Feel like a tactical master yet?  You’re on your way!  Here’s more ideas and a few easy, simple game aids you can easily use right now.  I go to these guys often for help and ideas as both a DM and player when it comes to amping up my own D&D game, and you should too!

The Speed of Choice: the Real Reason your 4e Fights are so Damn Slow @ At Will

Three Cheap 4e Game Aids @ Sly Flourish

 

This entry was posted on Friday, March 4th, 2011 at 6:00 pm and is filed under Design, Mechanics & Efficiencies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.