When combat is too easy

Writing good combat encounters is hard. Writing good combat encounters for a single player is very hard. Writing good combat encounters for a single wizard without a companion character is near impossible.

When we first started playing, we used Keep on the Shadowfell. For those who don't know it, it's a published adventure containing many combat encounters. At first I tried to ease the encounters by removing monsters, replacing monsters by minions and fudging the dice, but it soon became clear: my player needed a companion character. I gave her a fighter, who has since been known as Master Dwarf. Since that time, writing good combat encounters is merely very hard.

Fighting the Bullywugs

Take for example one of last weekend's combat encounters. Before it was played out, I was very excited about it, as I had closely followed all the tips I found on building encounters.

For starters, the terrain and situation were exciting. My player was escorting a trade caravan through the marshes, when they stumbled on a small river and a broken bridge. Combat started while she was busy hauling the carts to the other side.

She was attacked by Bullywugs, frog-like creatures that perfectly fitted the setting. To her, they were new and exciting monsters. I had carefully considered the roles of the different creatures, I had an elaborate tactical plan, and I was certain my player would have a very hard time.

Three rounds later she was considering opening a French delicatessen specializing in frog legs.

Lessons learned

I think there are three reasons while the fight went so much better for her than I had anticipated.

First of all, in the previous adventure my player had leveled up and gained a new encounter power: Stinking cloud. This is actually quite a powerful spell against certain opponents. As it turns out, Bullywugs are among them. During my preparations, I never even looked at the current powers of my player.

Secondly, the adventure provided ample rest between encounters. My player felt no need to use her powers sparingly, and managed to use all her firepower in just three rounds. In retrospect I should have upgraded the encounter to "quite hard" instead of "moderate".

And finally, there is the matter of luck. For example, Bullywug Muckers actually hurt themselves when failing a Bullywug rush. In the end, my player was lucky and the Bullywugs weren't. It is impossible to prepare for that.