We’re now into what Dungeons and Dragons considers to be their three pillars of the game. And this is pretty true for most RPG systems. So even if you aren’t a Dungeons and Dragons Dungeon Master, these Dungeon Master tools are still going to be useful. And the first one we are going to tackle, because it’s maybe the biggest one to get “right”. And we’ll talk about why combat is maybe more challenging than some other elements of the three pillars here.

Dungeon Master Tools – Combat

We all know what combat is, so we’ll kind of skip over that detail, right? Well I think we generally know what it is there is a mindset that it means “beat the bad guys”. Combat certainly has that in it, but I think it is better defined as taking actions in conflict with an aggressively hostile party to end the hostile situation.

Now that is a bit of a mouthful. But the reason for that is that often “beat the bad guys” but it might be, escape through a group of hostile enemies, or run away from the combat. Or it might be protect an NPC who is trying to get to an objective or needs time to complete an objective, so you need to defend them. And it is even the situations where you beat someone down enough that they beg for mercy or a truce when they k now they are defeated.

How To Do Combat

So let’s start out with some basics again here. We now know what combat is, so how do you do combat. And I want to talk about two ways and suggest you do the second one.

The first way is to have a battle map. This is going to require minis, things on the map to denote enemies or terrain and things like that. It’s going to be a bit more complex because as the Dungeon Master you need to plan this out ahead of time to have everything ready.

The second way is theater of the mind. This is where you know what the battle is like in your head. Everyone imagines what it looks like and you work through it that way. Now there is a drawback of this is that it is a skill to be learned. It’s not always the easiest to do right off the bat, but it is simpler than always creating a combat.

Theater of the Mind

So we know what theater of the mind is. So you want to do that, how do you keep track of everything?

The first way is to simply add it into your notes as you go. When players and enemies roll for initiative I write that down and as combat goes, I might draw a line between player characters and enemies who are adjacent to each other. That way I can keep track of who is who. The more you run theater of the mind, the easier that is going to be to keep track of who is where just in your head.

That is going to be the simplest way of keeping track by drawing lines. Another way, if you want to help with that theater of the mind element is to create your own battle map. If you are fairly confident a battle will happen in a session, or you do this on the fly, you draw up where the player characters and enemies are. Then you just erase and move them as they move and attack and die. This is more work, but might be a decent first step.

When To Use Battle Maps

Now the answer for you might be never. I rarely use battle maps because I plan my combats on the fly. But if I know there is a big set piece, I am more apt to use a battle map. And I understand the desire to use a battle map. A big map and set-up is fun for players as the Dungeon Master alike.

So I believe in using them sparingly. I use them for a bit boss combat. If you return to the story arc article, each arc maybe has a final fight. Let’s look at this example again.

Example Arcs

• Find treasure
• Fight Mid-level boss
• Learn about Big Bad
• Search for way to stop Big Bad
• Get information from wizard
• Find artifact
• Confront big bad

Find a treasure doesn’t seem like it has a combat. Well, it can. And this is a great time to talk about another element of combat that I already talked about some.

Vary Combat Objectives

What do I mean by vary combat? I mean create the escort or protect someone combats. Create a combat where the players are overwhelmed and they need to get something and get out. Now, I lean towards combat where you beat the enemy more often than not. Whether that ends in knocking out the enemy or killing them or getting the fight to end through violence or spells, whatever that might be. But throw in other combats as well where players need to think through what they are doing.

So let’s talk about that “find treasure” scenario as an example.

Example – Find Treasure

This might seem like it doesn’t have that combat element to it. Or it might not be a set piece. But I think that it can be a very good set piece scenario. So let’s talk about building out that scenario and it might not all be known to the players at the start all of this, but I want to make it simple if I can for a new Dungeon Master, that’s the whole point.

The Objective: Get in and out as fast as you can with the treasure.
The Set-up/Description: You open the door to a hidden room in the crypt, unfortunately it’s guarded by undead. As you watch for a second, you see there are hallways and other crypts off to the side with more undead.
The Complication: There is no limit to the undead. Every round 1D4 undead are added into the mix. So even if they take them all out more will keep coming.

Now this is great because it can work well either as theater of the mid or in a set piece with a battle map. If you do a battle map create some terrain and bottle necks in there. The bottle necks can be where the undead come from off to the side. So players, theoretically could block one of them up by placing a tanky player character in front of it. But to win it is really get in and get out.

Enemy Actions

This is the second to last thing that I want to talk about before I wrap up combat. And this is where you really can develop, I think as a Dungeon Master. It is an area that I want to develop in more as a Dungeon Master as well. But give your enemies different flavors as you work.

Let’s use our undead as an example. And you might want to add this to your notes as the Dungeon Master as you think about the combat. But how does an undead fight? And are these undead mainly just reanimated corpses or zombies with an objective, or intelligent undead?

In my example, I see them as unintelligent undead. They are the corpses from the crypts who are awakened via magic. So I want them to attack whomever is closest to them. If players aren’t careful that means that one player might get surrounded which is bad at low levels. And I expect this to be an encounter for low level characters that they can’t win, again because there are always more undead. But that does mean that they aren’t going to target a healer or caster off the bat since they likely won’t be the closest.

Adding In Theme

Once we get past the differences between theater of the mind versus a battle map, the big thing that I’m trying to do by varying combat objectives and enemy actions or behaviors is to create fun thematic combat experiences. And I know I want to get better at this as well.

Why, I think that it makes combat more fun for both the players and the Dungeon Master. If I know something about how the enemies are going to act that the players need to figure out, that is fun for me. And for the players, it’s fun to have enemies that do varied things, to varied characters but are doing it for a reason. It isn’t fun when the enemies always ignore the tank and rush past to get to the healer and caster.

So, to wrap it up, come up with one element to add in theme to your combat. Whether that be hordes of undead who keep coming no matter what or an intelligent rogue who is always trying to drop into hiding and move their position around a crowded warehouse, give the players something to remember the combat by. And if you just happen to have group of street toughs who are just straight forward basic combat, that might standout too.

Final Thoughts on Combat

Combat is going to be a part of your game. I didn’t mention it yet, but I’ll say it here quickly and then again in the last topic, the meta game, but how much combat you have might vary a lot. I know in the Dungeon Master Guide and other D&D books they say 4-6 small combats a day. The idea is to use up player resources. That might work, or it might not, for your group. You need to figure that out, and we’ll talk about how in that meta game article coming out soon.

What I didn’t cover was encounter creation in terms of enemy power. The easiest way, I find is to use a tool like: https://kastark.co.uk/rpgs/encounter-calculator-5th/. It let’s you punch in details and see how hard your combat is going to be. Especially for combats where players need to beat the enemies by force.

So what is coming next for Dungeon Master Tools?

• Exploration
• NPCs/Social Interactions
• Meta Game and Players at the Table

Let me know if there are other things to cover as well that you want to know more about, or help with. I think that there are a ton of different things that new Dungeon Masters are curious about or that feel intimidating. So I hope that I can help make them clearer and simpler for you.

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