RUNNING MEMORABLE GAMES

Running Memorable Games: Bigger Combats

Introduction Minions
The goal of a good session of Dungeons and Dragons is to In order to create a minion, first select a base creature. Then,
make an impression on your players. It is a game, so having remove multiattack and give it the following feature:
fun is a given - but we aim higher than that. As DMs, we Minion. This creature dies if it takes damage from an
entertain, and we create memories together. Memories that attack or due to failing a saving throw or ability check.
hopefully will last a long time after the campaign has ended. In other words, all it takes to kill a minion is one swipe
One way to make sessions more memorable is to escape with a sword or a one-way trip down a cliff. Notice that a
the routine. Every so often, you can throw a really big combat minion doesn't immediately die to a single magic missile or
at your players, as they fight a multitude of enemies to tick of spike growth, because that is neither interesting nor
recover the sacred relic or disrupt the unholy ritual. fun.
Unfortunately, the rules of 5th edition don't lend You don't have to track HP for minions in these cases,
themselves particularly well to larger fights. More enemies instead make a quick judgement call on whether they live or
means more things to track. Combat slows down, and what die. All three darts from magic missile at a goblin minion?
was meant to be an epic moment becomes a slog instead. Sure, it's dead. Similarly, orc minions can't survive a fireball,
4th edition had an interesting solution to this issue. They even if they make a successful saving throw, because regular
introduced minions, creatures that are simple to run and die orcs can't either.
easily, but bulk up your combat to make it seem like the party Minions should be melee cannon fodder. Expendable
is cutting down hordes of enemies. creatures that get in the way, slowing down the party's
In this document we present an adaptation of those rules advance towards the caster in the back. Low-tier undead,
to 5th edition. We also introduce the concept of Squads, for humanoids, and beasts make great minions.
even bigger combats. By combining 10 enemies into a single Avoid creatures that have high AC, or high-impact abilities
unit, a squad packs the same punch but is much easier to such as a shadow's strength drain. They are there to die and
run. to give the feeling of being outnumbered.
To design encounters with minions, go through your
Streamlining Big Combats normal process using the regular version of a creature, and
then replace them with three minions each. We suggest using
Before upscaling the size of your combats, we should minions when the PCs are level 5 and above, so they can
examine ways to make combat run faster and smoother. With benefit from extra attack and big AoE spells.
more enemies, the longer it takes to resolve a monster's turn,
the longer a player has to wait before their turn comes
around. And waiting is no fun.
Plan your monster's actions ahead of time. Have a default
action that they will use, and don't worry about making them
optimal. Most enemies are not tactical geniuses, and it's more
important to keep the game flowing.
In particular, don't worry about spreading out your enemies
to avoid AoE attacks. I guarantee that your wizard player will
remember the day he toasted 10 goblins at once with a
fireball.
Another simplification you can use is to take the average
damage from attacks, which is listed on monster stat blocks.
It saves time when a fight has several monsters of the same
type. If you want to roll damage for important creatures, you
can still save some time by rolling the attack and damage
dice simultaneously.
Accelerating Initiative
The first thing you want to do is group your enemies by type.
Trying to figure out which goblin is which on the initiative
order is a waste of time. Avoid using too many types of
monsters at once, to keep things simple. We normally use
between two and four types per encounter.
Next, consider grouping a player's summons and allies as
well. When a PC's turn comes around, also resolve the
actions from their summons, familiars, intelligent mounts,
and henchmen.

2
This is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used
are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.

Squads
Sometimes, the narrative calls for even more monsters, such
as when 50 goblins or undead descend upon a village. Even
using minions, combat would still grind to a halt. The next
step on the abstraction ladder is to group these enemies into
squads of 10, which are treated as a single enemy.
Before discussing specifics of how that works, let's
consider the design goals. First, this squad needs to feel like
the individual monsters that compose it. So they keep all of
their normal abilities.
Second, the mechanics need to feel like you're fighting
several creatures at once, even though they are represented
by a single token. Their numbers should dwindle as they take
damage, with the squad becoming less powerful over time.
Another way in which a squad can feel like multiple
monsters is to give a bonus to AoE damage, since it would
affect several of them at once. When describing the combat,
emphasize that they are fighting a group of monsters, with
their attacks cutting them down one by one.
Creating A Squad
To make a squad, first choose a base creature, which should
be size Medium or Small. Then make the following changes:
• Increase its size to Huge.
• Multiply its HP by 10.
• Multiply its damage dice by three. For example, 2d6+4
becomes 6d6+4.
• Give it the following features:
Squad! This token represents 10 creatures working
together. It can move through the same areas that a single
creature could. It shrinks to Large size when it is reduced to
half HP or less.
Vulnerable to AoE. A squad takes four times as much
damage from area spells and effects that target at least half of
its squares.
Multitasking. Whenever the squad takes the Attack action
while it is above half HP, it can use a bonus action to take
another Attack action.
Squad Resilience. A squad ignores conditions and other
debuffs that would affect less than half of its members.
Final Considerations
Certain unique abilities require special treatment when in a
squad. For example, a vampire spawn's regeneration or
sunlight hypersensitivity. As a rule of thumb, multiply such
effects by a factor of 4.
Some spells and abilities can eliminate a creature outright,
such as flesh to stone or power word kill. In such cases, the
squad loses HP equal to 10% of its maximum, representing
one creature being removed.
The key to the squad mechanic is that it is just an
abstraction, meant to facilitate encounters that are otherwise
unwieldy. Feel free to improvise such that everyone buys in to
the scene.
For example, consider a player that repeatedly attacks a
squad with a weapon that causes the poisoned condition.
Even though a squad would normally be immune to that
ability, maybe it could have an effect. It could have
This is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used
are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.
disadvantage on its next attack, or even eventually get
poisoned anyway. Don't bother tracking this too closely,
relying on your gut feeling instead.
Make sure your players don't feel disadvantaged by the
simplification. For example, a player with a controller-type
wizard that specializes in single target debuffs would
normally be useless against a squad. You can allow single-
target buff or debuff spells to affect a squad when cast using a
spell slot two levels higher than normal.
Most importantly, have fun and enjoy your Bigger Combats!
Goblin Squad
Huge group of goblinoids, neutral evil
Armor Class 15 (leather armor, shield)
Hit Points 70
Speed 30 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
8 (-1) 14 (+2) 10 (+0) 10 (+0) 8 (-1) 8 (-1)
Skills Stealth 6
Senses darkvision out to 60 ft., passive Perception 9
Languages Common, Goblin.
Challenge 1/4x10 (500 XP)
Multitasking. Whenever the squad takes the Attack
action while it is above half HP, it can use a bonus
action to take another Attack action.
Nimble Escape. The Goblin Squad can take the
Disengage or Hide action as a bonus action on each
of its turns.
Squad!. This token represents 10 creatures working
together. It can move through the same areas that a
single creature could. It shrinks to Large size when it
is reduced to half HP or less.
Squad Resilience. A squad ignores conditions and
other debuffs that would affect less than half of its
members.
Vulnerable to AoE. A squad takes four times as much
damage from area spells and effects that target at
least half of its squares.
Actions
Scimitar. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5
ft., one target. Hit: 12 (3d6+2) slashing damage.
Shortbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5
ft., one target. Hit: 12 (3d6+2) piercing damage.
Credits
Written by - Apacolyps and Zrave (Shadow Lab Games)
Cover Page Art - DMsGuild
Page stains - Jared Ondricek CC BY 4.0
Adventurers Fighting - DMsGuild