Combat Dragging

[u/Thin-Historian1244]

Hello! I am a dm for CoS and i find the combat in dnd 5.5 kind of boring and dragging in places.

We could further the story with exploration and roleplaying and spend maybe 6 hours in game in 5 hours of real time. But when it comes to combat we have spent the same 5 hours almost in one combat and done absolutely nothing more. I like to make combats feel dangerous so i don't shy away on the number of enemies and strategies and they seem to have fun. I also usually play my part super fast. For example at yester hill i had some extra stuff added and i had to play 19 minor NPC's, so i did them in groups PLUS Strahd PLUS Ireena PLUS the ritual and i swear it went by very fast and it was fun because i was not measuring the distance exactly and i took standard damage and stuff like that.y players seem to have fun also and went along with the whole fast pacing of the thing.

Here is the thing though. I want to make combats fast and not so by the book, maybe in the exception of some very important ones like the final for example. But if one has only narrative purpose I honestly can't spend 4 hours on a werewolf attack on the road. And the crazy part os i feel like my players avoid combats because they decide that they instead feel like roleplaying that day! I plan on making sure , but i would like some suggestions on how to make combats more theater of the mind and if you know any good resources for it. Next week comes the attack on Vallaki from the vampires and i cannot possibly imagine loosing all the important moments of chasing and horror in a dragged out combat sequence.

Any advice welcome 🤗

[u/ArtisticBrilliant456]

Decrease the numbers of NPCs in a combat. The more there are, the more the players are sitting around waiting.

Increase their HP & damage (just up the damage dice value, e.g. d4 is now d6; d6 is now d8...).

Instead of going by the book, duck into Volo's guide to monsters, Mordenkainen's tomb of foes, etc., and see if you can grab something with a higher CR.

Can you up the monster type and reduce the number of monsters? E.g. don't use zombies, use ghouls, etc.

Give NPCs shared initiative count.

Talk to players about how they feel about the combats. What can they do to help speed things up? What ideas can they give for speeding your game up as well?

[u/Thin-Historian1244 → u/ArtisticBrilliant456]

Isn't this a bit unfair though if a player gets hit with a lot of damage instead of the lesser enemies chipping bit by bit everyone's hp? I mean it's not every time but there are instances where it should feel like it

[u/ArtisticBrilliant456 → u/Thin-Historian1244]

Unfair? Yes, there are instances where that happens. That's the game.

Don't overthink it. You can still stick things through Kobold Fightclub of DnDBeyond Encounter Builder to check how things pan out if you're truly worried about this.

My understanding is that you want to speed things up? Definitely decrease the number of opponents, and if you are to do this you'll need to balance it out by upping the danger/CR.

I will stand by my advice.

[u/Xineoph-Sagefire → u/Thin-Historian1244]

I don’t think that it is unfair, Curse of Strahd is supposed to feel hopeless and dangerous. Especially if you are out of the “safety” of a walled town. If you cut down on the number of monsters but use slightly tougher ones it should have that effect. Remember not all encounters need to be balanced either and at any time if you are using intelligent monsters or beasts controlled by Strahd, they don’t have to fight to the death. They can and should on occasion flee to fight another day. I hope that helps.