4 Underrated D&D Combat Tactics

[@TheMightyBattleSquid]

I've actually been prepping my first dnd campaign around those last two tactics. Way more "toys" scattered about battlefields and some lead to new NPCs entering the encounter. They're usually "neutral" and will attack either the closest creature or the one who caused them to come out onto the battlemap. Things like guardian constructs, beasts, and even members of a different faction than the one the players are currently fighting. It's more work than just tossing a random creature(s) into an empty featureless void but hopefully it leads to more fulfilling games in return.

[@bonniehammil2333]

I didn’t even think of trying to get npcs to help fight. That’s a great idea 😮

[@RoguesRollCall-Cam]

Right?

[@ericpeterson8732]

Nah, too dangerous. Unless it's a seven samurai situation (training farmers to repel bandits), I wouldn't do it. First, it makes you look weak. If there is any chance for a reward, any aid they give will be subtracted from that reward. Second, losing civilians is bad for NPC morale. Nothing shuts down a town more than losing favorite citizens. I'd definitely have the dead NPC's mother blame the party and badmouth them and badger them until they leave. "Some heroes, hmph!"

[@winnnathan3372]

very helpful for me. thank you :)

[@RoguesRollCall-Cam]

Thanks for watching 😀

[@anonymouse2675]

Make like it`s WW2. Use Foxholes for cover. If you are not playing a spellcaster, then take the Magic Initiate feat and pick up the Mold Earth cantrip. For the cost of one Action you can create a five foot deep hole and a five foot high pile of dirt. This potentially gives cover to two (or more!) characters. Depending on your character`s size it can give anywhere from 3/4ths cover for medium sized characters, to full cover for smaller characters. This works really well for both casting spells and firing ranged weapons from relative safety. Drop prone to impose disadvantage on ranged attackers. Again, for both spellcasters and ranged damage dealers. The Prone condition gives disadvantage to to all ranged attack rolls made against the prone character. Just stand up and cast a spell or fire your bow or crossbow, then move back to keep some distance and drop prone again. It basically acts like the Dodge action, only instead of taking up your Action it uses half your movement to stand back up. Obviously don't do this if you are in melee, because it does give advantage to melee attacks within 5 feet. Have a handful of agreed upon tactics for your party and stick with them. This could be anything from moving from cover to cover, focused fire, cover fire, scouting an area before the party goes rushing in, NOT rushing at a group of enemies right before the Wizard casts Fire Ball, etc... All the way up to coordinated grapple builds to take down tough enemies quickly. Whatever works for your parties composition. That little bit of coordination makes a huge difference.

[@ericpeterson8732]

Nice presentation. But I mostly subscribed for the art. Great choices.

[@agent7466]

If you can alter the gain on the audio output from your mic, you should try increasing it by 6-9db. Or you can run a compressor over the master audio channel to bring up the lows and squash the highs. Voice just seems quiet compared to the sfx. Interesting video, nice work❤

[@RoguesRollCall-Cam]

Yeah I noticed the audio was a bit off in this one, (after I finished editing 😂) I think it might have been a mic issue. Either way, thanks for watching and for the tips!

[@TheMightyBattleSquid]

The issue with cover rules is so many DMs don't provide cover on the map and even more don't use the rules at all. Even among them, the only time I've ever seen characters """allowed""" to act as meat shields it was moreso that they were forced to. As missed rolls would magically hit the person in front even if they failed to meet that character's AC. Even worse, low enough rolls, mainly nat 1s, from the character hiding behind this character would ALSO hit them. 🙄

[@TheMightyBattleSquid]

Something that has bugged me about the potion-drinking time debate since I learned about it is a rule regarding the "use an item action." You get one as a free action every turn to do things like pull a lever or open a door. Downing a whole ale is an example of using an item action elsewhere in the book. Yet for, presumably, balance reasons they made drinking potions that are sometimes even just tiny vials a whole action in '14. Now that we're taking so many things off of the action and bonus action slot and turning them into the free actions they always should have been in '24 rules, why go the opposite direction with potions and fill up the bonus action slot with them? Are rangers, monks, paladins, and rogues not expected to use them? That seems silly. Just keep them in the "use an item" slot.

[@Sephiroth517]

Yep, unless you use a big potion, and roll high enough, to outdone the damage you'd receive in the next turn, better avoid getting hit at all... at worst, you'd have saved that potion so a teammate can shrug it to you should you go down... and, also, if you're a dwarf, consider the Dwarwish Fortitude feat, so you can both dodge and regain some hp at the same time..