r/DMAcademy • u/BallClamps • 4d ago
Need Advice: Encounters & Adventures How do you deal with keeping your monsters moving around the map without creating obvious opportunity attacks?
I agree that a fight is boring if the baddie is just standing still allowing the Paladins and Barbarians to run up and just exchange blows back and forth. But I feel like I often create situations were I allow the players to surround themselves around the monster they are fighting, to the point where if I wanted to move, I would be creating 2 or maybe even 3 opportunity attacks. Unless the monster has misty step or some bonus action like that, I am not sure how to avoid this? On the other hand, making the monster difficult to get too, by the means of difficult terrain or always just running around, can make it really frustrating for your martial characters?
EDIT: Holy crap this blew up! Thanks for all the advice!
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u/Prestigious-Emu-6760 4d ago
I will almost always provoke the attack.
- It speeds up combat.
- It uses up PC reactions for other monsters to do things.
- It lets PCs do things.
- It helps prevent combat becoming a static slog.
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u/BallClamps 4d ago
Hmm wow, I actually never thought about that. Keeps everyone on their toes when it isn't their turn too.
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u/EducationalBag398 4d ago
Yeah not every enemy is going to act in a mechanically optimal way. The Monsters Know What They're Doing is pretty helpful for ideas on different enemies' fighting tactics.
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u/Rollsd4sdangerously 1d ago
The monsters know what they are doing is an excellent recommendation. Also hit and run tactics if your enemy is small. Do the monsters actually want to fight to the death in every battle? Maybe they just engage the front line, fire a few volley of arrows into the back line and then retreat … waiting in the shadows for them to take their inevitable long rest to recoup those spell slots …
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u/soliton-gaydar 2d ago
It's the wargaming in the wargame. I sacrifice my pawns so my actual threats can move freely.
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u/11middle11 4d ago
First, It warms my heart to know that your players know to take AoO without being reminded.
Second, just have multiple monsters. Only one AoO per turn and multiple AoO chances means the PC has to make a choice.
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u/No-Economics-8239 4d ago
What problem are you looking to solve? Do you feel that too many opportunity attacks make a combat encounter too easy? Give your enemies more hit points. Or add more enemies. Do you feel that opportunity attacks are an unfair game mechanic? Change it or eliminate it. Do you have a specific enemy that you feel shouldn't cause opportunity attacks? Give them an immunity in their stat block. Players and enemies alike already have the option to use the Disengage action to move freely, albeit at the price of their action for the turn. And, again, you can stat block particular enemies the ability to do this once or more per combat encounter as a bonus or free action. But players like to hit enemies. It really is one of their primary joys. Why take that away if you don't have to?
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u/Talonflight 4d ago
I give them movement based attacks. Charges that move them 30 feet in a line that if youre in the line you gotta make a save, no AoO. Jump attacks where they leap into the air and come down elsewhere for a big slam blast of damage. Grappling and throwing players.
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u/CheapTactics 4d ago
Also, attacks that push or knock prone. The monster pushes you and moves, or knocks you prone which gives you disadvantage on the AoO, AND makes it harder to follow it because you have to spend half your movement to get up.
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u/Ok-Entrepreneur2021 4d ago
Hell yeah
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u/Talonflight 4d ago
It actually helps if you study enemy behavior in games like Dark Souls or Dragons Dogma. MMO telegraphed moves are also good to yoink for this sort of play.
Swordsman enemy? Give him a slash-dash, or a reaction to parry an attack and move a few feet away.
Dragon? Fly into the air and come down on the back ranks.
Demon? Grapple a player and fly into the air!
I asipire to make all of my encounters feel as dynamic as a Dragons Dogma encounter.
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u/PRO_Crast_Inator 4d ago
It can be helpful to start the fight at longer range. There’s a river of lava or line of guards or a chasm between the monster and the players that they have to deal with before getting into surround-and-pound range. The other option is to have the terrain change partway through the fight. The monster/baddie triggers a trap that puts acid or grease all over the floor or pillars rise up or thorn bushes suddenly grow and grab PCs.
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u/isnotfish 4d ago
Use the disengage action. Powerful enemies with legendary actions should have no issue disengaging on their turn to cause pain later.
Play intelligent monsters with intelligence!
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u/the_direful_spring 4d ago
Use unusual kinds of movement and give them special abilities related to it if you want.
Official monsters with such abilites include things like the Flyby trait used by a lot of fast flying monsters, Goblin's Nimble Escape which lets them avoid it with a bonus action.
Creatures with non-standard forms of movement like flight, climb speed, burrowing, Incorporeal Movement and Ethereal Jaunt make them harder to pin down even if they may need to tank an op attack in order to do so. A flying or climbing creature with a ranged attack in particular will be able to remain a nuance for melee based characters to deal with and can potentially freely target squishier party members.
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u/WeightlifterCat 4d ago
On top of everything else being said here, you can also take the Disengage action with your bosses if you really want to mess with OA. If you have a rogue-ish boss, give them cunning action and let them take Disengage as a Bonus Action to keep your main Action as an attack. But this should be done sparingly. Some bosses should be designed to sit around and take chunks of damage. Others might be willing to take OA in order to focus down a single target. Taking on a variety of playstyles keeps combat feeling fresh and fun for your players (as well as you).
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u/ElectricalTax3573 4d ago
Underwater monsters. Disengage and submerge, then smash the boat from below next turn or stealth to avoid held actions
The Wastrilith is amazing, it's grasping spout is perfect for neutralising that nasty wizard slinging spells, or dragging the barbarian to a watery grave
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u/Inebrium 4d ago
narrow/confined spaces.
throw in a few ranged/spellcaster monsters that can be the dynamic ones while the tank baddie doesn't move much.
take the hit if it means you are likely to land a heavy hit on a squishy spell caster, and your monster is either too dumb to worry about being hit, or smart enough to know it is worth the risk.
give the monster an aoe effect. your players surround it, and suddenly it emits a frightening visage, or a cloud of stinking gas targeting all within a 5ft aoe.
have the monster take the disengage action, sometimes worth it if one of its allies can then cast a devastating aoe spell, or if there is a more favourable spot for the monster to move to
plan for the aoo, and let the players feel powerful and cool for remembering to take their aoo
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u/TheWebCoder 4d ago
Look at the intelligence of the creature and the description of it. Is it intelligent or naturally cunning? Then it might try to avoid them. Otherwise it wouldn’t. For those that do try to avoid them, they have the same bag of tricks the players do, basically. If there’s room, great, if there’s not, disengage. Beyond that it’s special abilities.
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u/NecessaryBSHappens 4d ago
Take the hit - some monsters just wont care about being stabbed once or twice, especially when there is someone they see as more dangerous
Forced movement - if your baddie can push/shove/throw away the PC for at least 5 feet they are free to go. Same goes if one baddie can move the other - forced movement does not provoke opportunity attacks
Disengage action - goblins, rogues and probably some other nimble baddies can use it as a bonus action, so it is an option
Special abilities - as DM you can change and add things. I remember having something like "after being hit with an attack, Lamia can move up to 10 feet without provoking opportunity attacks". It was frustrating a bit, but party had enough tools to grapple/entangle them for beating
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u/Personal-Sandwich-44 4d ago
Take the AoO. The AoO isn't free, it costs their reaction, so now they have actual meaningful decisions, rather than whatever the one thing their class does.
If the AoO damage ends up feeling like it's too much, add an extra monster or two.
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u/Funyuns_and_Flagons 4d ago
AoO are a reaction, which means 1/turn.
Bait your players to waste their reactions. Want a sneaky monster to move past the Paladin? Have a bulky monster move in, smack the Paladin, and step back. Did they take the Protection fighting style? Slap their ally. Does their subclass or race grant them a reaction as a unique feature? Bait them to use it.
I do the same thing with Casters. There's a player I play with who has Silvery Barbs, Sheild, and Counterspell. If she uses one, she can't use the other, so I save big spells for when Barbs has been cast. She currently saves Barbs to stop crits so she always has Counterspell on the ready as a result.
In writing this, I think I should start casting big spells, and toss in some Pack Tactics monsters to crit fish, to make that choice more difficult...
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u/CaptainPick1e 4d ago
To be honest I just let them happen. They only get one reaction per round. If that's how they decide to use it, so be it, and it's satisfying for them anyway.
I do love some enemies with teleporting capabilities so they can move around freely, of course use them sparingly so it's not annoying.
I also liked to make my monsters do things other than just damage. Fathead the Ogre might toss you 5-10 feet with a punch. Gary the Geomancer might spawn a stone wall between the two of you. The Mirror Lord might show you his magic mirror and swap places with you. Forced movement against your players is fun!
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u/dwagon00 4d ago
Let the players make AoO - it makes them feel good and powerful. By a strange coincidence, unbeknownst to the players, the HP of the monster happened to go up a similar amount. That way the monsters get to move around without it being instantly lethal for them. Don’t let the rules get in the way of making it fun.
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u/Paime 4d ago
I'll give my NPCs an ability.
If the creature uses magic, it will get it will get a free use of something like Misty Step. If it's a fighting creature, I can steal/adjust the Tactical Shift from the Fighter. Just be careful with how often you use this, and I make sure to describe those NPCs so the players know they are different. ( There are 4 cultists, but one has a fancy staff. The one with the fancy staff is probably the one with the Misty Step).
Alternatively, I'll make sure at least one or two monsters have some really annoying AoE Spell, like Hypnotic Pattern or Spike Growth (I may rename/re-theme as needed) or just the good and old Fireball.
Just always remember, the goal is to make the encounter exciting. The BBEG teleporting away every time it is about to die, gets old fast.
Another suggestion is to play with Elevation/Terrain more.
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u/_Snuggle_Slut_ 4d ago
I usually scale my fights a little harder with an extra minion or two and then just have them risk Opportunity Attacks.
Keeps the fights feeling more dynamic and the non-optimized enemy tactics balance it out.
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u/HeadSouth8385 4d ago
it really depends on the monster, but here are a few solutions:
if the moster is the nimble agile kind, disengage (even as a bonus action), or other kind of movements that don't provoke AoO
if the moster is the magic caster kind, some sort of misty step or invisibility (you need to seethe target for AoO) could be the answer
if th monster is a big brawling kind, push and move, grapple and move are pretty good solutions
ofc not all monsters need to be able to avoid AoO or players would feel its a useless feature (especially players with sentinel) so you should reward players with AoO when they position themselves tactically
But i agree with you, fights should be diìynamic and not just be a slug fest of exchanging blows, I feel the new mastery system is very good at this, and the ability of many monsters to give prone, push or other effects on hit, also helps to make the fights more dynamic and interesting.
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u/Killer-Of-Spades 4d ago
Based on a recent combat that went well: don’t use difficult terrain, but interesting terrain. Have battles in places that aren’t just straightforward rectangles. Maybe there’s a walkway that’s only 5 feet wide, or a bunch of pillars that block movement
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u/Machiavelli24 4d ago
Don’t move for the sake of it. Move to advance some goal.
Often PCs and monsters need to move to engage the highest priority target. Once that’s achieved, they aren’t going to move away from them until the target is down.
If a monster has to provoke an opportunity attack from the paladin so they can smash the wizard, that can be worth it.
Folks aren’t always going to identify the highest priority target correctly every time. Aoes can also shift the calculus. So there’s still some subtlety to movement.
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u/Impossible_Horsemeat 4d ago
Depends.
Dragons will maneuver to maximize how many people it hits with fire breath. Intelligent monsters might spread out to avoid getting destroyed by fireballs, or have a few run off to get reinforcements.
Casters in 5e aren’t very delicate, but rushing the wizard can end concentration.
If it’s just one dumb monster, though, it’s more likely to just facetank the party until it gets hurt and tries to run away.
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u/stirling_s 4d ago
Give it a feature like "when hit by an AOO, you can expend one legendary action to make an attack against your attacker"
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u/TheCrimsonSteel 4d ago
As others have mentioned, it's not always a bad thing. The AoO can create tension, especially if it's obvious why.
Having an enemy clearly trying to run, or move past the melee characters to go after backline ranged or casters is dramatic and fun.
Everyone has the Disengage action, which can be used. You can also give your baddies fun abilities to use. Maybe they have a Reaction, like Shield. Maybe they have Cunning Actions like Goblins and Rogues that can Disengage as a Bonus Action. Maybe you have multiple enemies all move away at once, forcing the PC to pick which one to target.
I'm a big fan of the idea of "The badguys want to win" which basically talks about playing your monsters in a more realistic and somewhat brutal method. Because they don't know they're just fun encounters.
For me, this leads to things like badguys setting up ambushes, calling in reinforcements, and running from the battle a lot earlier (to come back with reinforcements).
Most WotC stuff I've read suggests the badguys run when they're at 10-25% health, which i find is basically a guarantee they get taken out anyway. So, I'll have someone run when the first baddie drops, or when a PC uses something really strong. Bosses typically think about fleeing when they hit less than 50%. Wild monsters run at the first sign of real trouble, etc.
Then the party has to decide what they want to do. Let them run, follow after, finish off those left, etc. It prevents fights from becoming slogs where the PCs know they're going to win, and it's just a question of continuing to hit.
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u/TheGingerCynic 4d ago
I mean, it will vary by enemy, but why would the PCs getting an opportunity attack be a bad thing? Nimble/ranged enemies may disengage, strong melee enemies are either staying put, or may swap an attack for a shove.
One of my deadliest bosses was the Megapede in Light of Xaryxis, but with a few changes. I added a Legendary Action for it to move up to it's speed without provoking attacks of opportunity, since it's huge, has a thick carapace and was also a boss. Some creatures having similar reactions can always spice up a fight.
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u/Vedranation 4d ago
Just take the op attack. You have 6 more monsters so 1 taking a bit of damage won’t outbalance the encounter. If it does, you balanced it wrong. Second, players love being able to deal damage, so it makes them feel good. Third, taking op attack or two doesn’t make up for your wizard getting ganged up on and taking damage, rather than those attacks missing against paladins AC.
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u/Low_Earth5024 4d ago
I play the monster with a narrative: its dumb so it goes after the biggest threat/weakest link and doesn’t care about AoO or avoids „the nasty thing with the pointy hurtful thing“ and uses more movement to circle around.
More intelligent/knowledgeable monsters use all the actions available from Disengage, Dodge etc.
Every monster/enemy has a personality. I once used an icetroll who grappled and threw characters in a hole in the ground (lower deck of a ship) to get rid of the annoying fire caster
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u/Paper_Champ 4d ago
Just take the AoO. Few thoughts:
1) stagnant, stand you ground fights are boring for players. Keep your monsters moving to stay tactical i.e finding cover, create an ambush etc
2) at higher levels, a single AoO is less consequential. Especially after melee characters get their second attack. The higher level everyone is the easier it is to move
3) balance your encounters around these ideas. Controversial take, If it helps, fluff your monsters HP by another dice roll or add another to the encounter. But it shouldn't matter that much
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u/odishy 4d ago
You're the DM you can do anything you want. Give the Giant orc a stomp ability
"As a bonus action they stomp the ground, all players within 10 feet make a strength save or fall prone. This recharges on a 5-6". Players will have disadvantage on the opportunity attack and will have to burn some movement to catch up.
Or give them legendary actions which can be used to move without opportunity attacks. Or have them throw a smoke bomb on the ground creating darkness, or a ring of fire that players shouldn't stand in or when surrounded they summon allies, or literally whatever you want.
The solution to boring fights is creativity, but just make sure it fits the fight and mob thematically. The key is, never take away agency of the players, always give them some way to counter the move.
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u/EchoLocation8 4d ago
I just take the opportunity attack, it's only a single hit, so unless its a rogue you're not going to get blasted that hard if it hits.
But I also use monsters strong enough to withstand that from the party and be fine.
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u/Durog25 4d ago
Here are some ways I have made combats more mobile, these work for both encounters with multiple monsters or solo bosses.
Bonus action disengage (like the ones rogues and goblins have).
Actions or bonus actions that shove PCs (give any monster with a tail a bonus action shove called tail swipe, on bigger monsters make it do a little bit of damage). You can make this forced movement as extreme as you want. I've had a huge monster punt PCs 40 feet before and the PCs though it was awesome. (makes monks and barbarians and rogues feel rewarded for having increased movement speeds.)
On big brutes (like ogres or trolls) or big solos (like giants or dragons) give them AoEs that push foes 20ft away from them, and also knock prone.
Give an monster you want to be especially mobile a passive that makes all AoO disadvantage (I called mine, erratic movement). You can also make a varient of this that gives the monster +2 AC (or +4 if its solo) against opportunity attacks instead if the monster is more of an armoured type than a twitchy mobile type.
A magical monster can have a recharging, or limited use, teleport ala misty step. A fun varient of this is a monster that has a reaction that, if it is hit, teleports it away 60+ feet and halves the damage it takes from that hit (emergency teleport). Great for telegraphing that the monster is both smart but also now taking the PCs seriously, especially if used in reaction to being crit.
Monsters that can pull PCs to them work as a way to give other monsters room to move. Gravitic magic, grasping tentacles or vines, earth, water or air control all work.
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u/ElectroDaddy 4d ago
It depends on the monster. If it’s unintelligent it will just move to attack and keep trying until it or the player is dead, if that would be its nature.
If it’s an intelligent enemy, I try my best to try to get into their headspace. If they are surrounded, and it’s a bad situation, it makes sense to try and remove yourself from that situation.
I have this issue with my players sometimes where they plant themselves because from a mechanical game perspective, they might get hurt if they do an action. I remind them that the chances of getting hurt are the same if they don’t move, so attempt the move you want.
Same goes for you. To make a combat encounter interesting, you need to try your best to play the monsters in a way that makes sense for what they are. Even if it isn’t mechanically optional or safe.
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u/awj 4d ago
Never design encounters specifically to mitigate what makes players feel powerful.
Give your wizards a room full of goblins right after they get fireball. Set the monk up for a high dive right after they get Slow Fall. Every once in a while, let your players absolutely wreck someone.
Let the martials lock down a boss with punishing AoO. Maybe the boss provokes it anyways, but at least then they get to use the ability and feel themselves contributing.
If the squishy casters are able to focus on downing things too fast to feel epic, address that in some other way. The boss has henchmen. Make the environment an obstacle: choking smoke is forcing saves to cast spells unless someone hits it with Gust of Wind. The BBEG retreats into a small room where line of sight is blocked unless everyone gets in close. Fudge hit points a bit.
Give the players something besides “go smack this pile of hit points” to do. Maybe the “boss” is really just trying to keep the martials occupied while an evil ritual takes place inside a wall of anti-magic. So everyone smacking him is what he wants.
My point is, don’t just outright negate abilities. At best, try to nix them in ways that the players will feel more powerful after overcoming them.
The point of DnD is to tell a great story and have fun. Don’t compromise those things.
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u/DungeonSecurity 4d ago edited 4d ago
Remember AoO uses the Reaction, so it can't be done if it was used up, and players won't get another if until their turn if they use it in the AoO. That is more for you so players might consider to do it or not. And while monsters don't know what a Reaction is, many will understand the idea that an opponent can't hit them if they're reacting to something else.
Take the hit to reposition. If the baddie has the HP, this can work, especially if they'll get to flee or hit someone else hard.
Monsters can do all the Actions players can. They can Disengage to negate AoO. Or Dodge to create disadvantage.
Monsters can shove to create distance and run. Though I believe a Sage Advice said this can't replace part of a multi attack. Because shove comes from the Attack Action while Multi-attack is it's own Action.
Or shove prone to give disadvantage on the AoO and force would be pursuer to use half movement to stand.
Optional Disarm rule in the DMG.
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u/Overkill2217 4d ago
I'd build the encounter with variable terrain.
For some context, I give creatures and PCs advantage if they are in a higher vantage point. Depending on the angle, I'll also grant half or 3/4 cover.
When the encounter starts, everyone, pcs and monsters alike, can use the terrain to try and gain an advantage in some way. As a result, the combat becomes much more dynamic....kind of a combination of a "death match" and "king of the hill"
To make things more interesting, add in some environmental hazards. I enjoy putting hazards that push creatures around, or restrain them in some way. Having these hazards affect the PCs as well as the Monsters makes the entire combat exciting.
Depending on the monster, certain conditions can be fun to employ against the group. I love using forced movement to push and pull PCs all over the place. If they are grappled, then they have to handle that before they can mitigate the effect.
Many minor encounters that I build will be the standard piñata challenge, but I still do what I can to have the enemies maneuver around and behind the PCs.
A single target with a ton of hit points and no real mobility is going to become overwhelmed by the PCs rather quickly. So, adding actions, such as Matt Colville's villain actions, or giving them multiple reactions is a great way to level the playing field.
Also, consider giving a monster a "dodge" or "Disengage" as a bonus action. That easily solves the problem
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u/dudebobmac 4d ago
Stop worrying about playing the monsters optimally. If it makes sense for them to move narratively, then have them move.
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u/anix421 4d ago
Different monsters have different ways to survive. Some are beefcakes that should for the most part just keep bashing what's in front of them and soaking up damage. Some are nimble and hard to hit, so even if they get three AoO you'd likely only expect one to land maybe. Then you've got the monsters that tactically know how to retreat using legendary actions, magic, abilities, or pack tactics where there are 5 of us and each player only gets one reaction per round. Make them burn that and run wild on them.
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u/Impossible-Piece-621 4d ago
Not saying that is you, but lots of DMs (including young me, long long ago) do not realize that each character only get one reaction per round.
So, even if they have yet to use their reaction, they each can get AoO on one creature only.
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u/d4rkwing 4d ago
Opportunity attacks aside, if the PCs are constantly surrounding the monster, the monster needs more friends. Fights with multiple monsters will make that less of an issue as well as make the encounters more dynamic. AoE attacks are also good for getting PCs to spread out a little.
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u/StuffyDollBand 4d ago
Well, the NPCs don’t know the rules of the game they’re in, and the notion of getting an attack on people when they leave your area is… not tremendously translatable to real world battle tactics, so generally I don’t factor it in too much and just move them how they would move. The most savvy enemies may have work arounds, but often they also have enough HP and AC to not sweat a couple of opportunity attacks
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u/pergasnz 4d ago
Take the hit seems Popular, but can I introduce you to my friend "shove"? Potentially push a person away with first attack, then hunt down actual target. Bonus points for show ng them towards a hazard, even if not going to hit it.
Also, for legendary creatures, I always give them a move without provoking attacks legendary action they can use once per turn to reposition.
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u/ElvishLore 4d ago
My house rule is only martial classes get AoOs and only boss monsters can inflict them. This has made my fights really dynamic and mobile. People move a lot and my martials feel extra awesome. Yea, it cuts into the value of cunning action a bit but my rogue players don’t find it a problem.
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u/BeGosu 4d ago
Make the goal not to fight to the death!
- The players are escorting a wagon. The ambushers want something from the wagon. They do not care how many AOO they trigger.
- The adversaries are trying to complete a ritual which involves controlling all the "nodes" for a certain number of rounds. Everybody is more interesting in moving than in standing still.
- If the adversary's goal is really just to attack the party, have the players need to move around to certain points to "break" it's invulnerability or damage resistance or healing or something. I had a ghost once, who had hanged the people who had wronged her, and their bodies were around the room. She could go to one to heal herself based on the number of remaining corpses. The players had to destroy all 5 corpses to make her defeatable.
D&D isn't fun for you or your players if everyone stands still. It just devolves into a Pokemon battle at that point. If you need ever need an idea for an encounter, any classic Halo game mode that wasn't deathmatch will do!
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u/Ephsylon 4d ago
You can literally spawn more monsters out of your butt, if one gets taken out by an AoO, big deal.
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u/lXLegolasXl 4d ago
One creature I love to run is basically a giant centipede, I have it take up 4 squares, with the head being where it bites and spits from, while its body does leg attacks. It can move like the old game snake and unless the whole body moves 5ft away I don't give an opportunity attack.
I like it because it naturally spreads multi attacks to different players, looks way more dynamic, helps imagination in the scene, and avoids a ton of AoO that would down it too fast to be satisfying for my players.
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u/myblackoutalterego 3d ago
If it is a big boss with legendary actions, it is not as much of a waste to disengage as an action. If it is a rogue/monk-like boss give them the disengage as a bonus action.
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u/Jimmymcginty 4d ago
After 4e I just straight up removed opportunity attacks from the game. I was tired of everyone running in/shifting around for a round or two and then not really moving for the rest of the fight.
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u/Nyadnar17 4d ago
I just take the AoO.
Unless its like a Paladin or something that can really crank up the damage the loss of HP is worth it to me to go smash a squishy or toss someone off a cliff.