So your GM has turned up the heat. Now it’s your turn. Here’s a handful of hints and tips that should prevent your hero becoming a weeping heap o’crud on the floor no matter what the GM throws at you. Old hands will no doubt be chuckling at the obviousness of some of these scribblings, but hopefully you too will pick up something along the way. Read on!
Teamwork
An old motivational speaker I once worked with used to say “there is no F in team” and he’s right – all too often in D&D there’s no effin’ team at all. Each player sees their character front and centre, with those “other guys” as little more than shadowy figures at the edge of their vision. Get to know your team, and know them well.
It may help to keep a mini-statblock for the rest of the party on your character sheet. This will remind you of their relative strengths both in and out of combat. If the players need incentive to do this, the GM could award Minor Quest XP to the character who puts it together for the group. It doesn’t need to be complex – something like this, perhaps:
Abbas, Human Warlord-1, Battleaxe, Trained: Athletics, Diplomacy, Endurance, Heal, Intimidate
Bjorda, Eladrin Bard-1, Quarterstaff, Trained: Arcana, Dungeoneering, History, Perception, Streetwise
Connor, Half-Elf Rogue/Wizard-1, Daggers & Hand Crossbow, Trained: Arcana, Acrobatics, Athletics, Bluff, Perception, Stealth, Thievery
Ducartes, Gnome Fey Pact Warlock-1, Club, Trained: History, Insight, Intimidate, Religion
This is of immediate use when it comes to Skill Challenges as players can suggest uses for each others’ Trained skills, making sure that the team uses the right person for the job every time. “Ducartes, can you tell if he’s lying?” is a much better thing for Connor’s player to say than “I roll Insight to see if he’s telling the truth.” as Ducartes is trained in Insight, and Connor isn’t – and you’ve got that information right on your crib sheet.
It goes beyond the simple mechanics of the game, of course. Abbas is now “that Warlord with a Battleaxe who is good at Diplomacy” instead of just being “Steve’s Character”. Add more information as you needs (“… allergic to Goblins. They make him sneeze.”) to personalize the characters further.
Aid Another
I know I keep on banging the Aid Another drum but it really is one of the most important yet neglected rules in the game. Make a DC10 check, and someone else gets a +2 on their next roll. It’s as mechanically simple as it is elegant, and is a terrific way to help the next guy ensure his big-hitting Daily Attack Power doesn’t miss.
That’s another common complaint (and myth) about 4e D&D – the game isn’t fun because missing with a Daily Power sucks. Yes it does, but if it misses that’s because you’re doing it wrong (unless you roll really, really badly). These are your big showpiece attacks, so do all you can to make sure they don’t miss! Ask another player to use Aid Another on their turn to set you up for the attack – or better yet, move into position to Flank then roll Aid Another. In role-playing terms the other guy is distracting and harrying the poor victim so you’re set up to sucker punch him. This gives you a total +4 on your attack roll. If you miss with those odds, it’s time to microwave your dice.
Aid Another is also great to use in Skill Challenges too. In the crib sheet above both Connor and Bjorda are trained in Arcana. If one makes a check to Aid Another (“I’m helping Connor in the Tower Library.”) it’s more likely their check will crest over the next DC value to reveal deeper information. It’s better for one person to beat DC25 than two guys beat DC20 and get the same information twice. Teamwork at work.
Prone, Dazed, Immobilized and more
It’s a fact that 8 out of 10 adventurers hate the Dazed condition in 4e D&D. Yet 9 out of 10 adventurers don’t use it against their foes effectively, if at all. Whenever a monster Dazes you it’s effectively saying “I am better at fighting than you. You suck.” and you know what – he’s not wrong.
Every class has Powers which will put a foe at a disadvantage. The trick is to know when to use them, and press that advantage as soon as you have it. Don’t leave a Dazed or Prone monster just laying there – hit him, hard! Yes folks, it’s ok to kick a monster when he’s down. You heard it here first.
Know what the conditions mean, and you’re halfway there. Here’s a quick summary. A * means it grants Combat Advantage, giving a +2 to anyone who attacks you and setting them up for a Roguely Sneak Attack smackdown:
Blinded*: Can’t see, -10 to Perception, can’t Flank
Dazed*: Can only take one action, can’t Flank
Deafened: Can’t hear, -10 to Perception
Dominated*: Dazed & controlled by another. At-will attacks only
Dying*: Make a death save each round
Helpless*: Can be coup de grace’d
Immobilized: Can’t move (suggested House Rule: and can’t teleport either)
Marked: -2 to attack anyone other than the marker
Petrified: Resist 20, cannot take actions
Prone*: CA against melee attacks only, can’t move, +2 defenses vs Range, -2 to attack
Restrained*: Can’t move, can’t be forced to move, -2 to attack
Slowed: Speed 2
Stunned*: Can’t take actions, can’t Flank
Surprised*: Can’t take actions, can’t flank
Unconscious*: Helpless, -5 to all defenses, can’t take actions, can’t Flank, fall prone
Weakened: Attacks deal half damage
There’s quite a few, but the ones you really need to know are Dazed, Marked, Prone, Surprised and Weakened. As a team, if you can aim to get at least one of those against a foe each round the battle will be won before it’s even begun.
Surprise!
Getting that all important Surprise Round is a great way to start a battle. That’s partly in the hands of the GM – we GMs do like a good ambush!. If you make sure that the PC with the highest Perception score is up front (and the one with second highest at the back) and they’re actively watching and scouting ahead for monsters, there’s a good chance that you’ll hear them before they hear you. Having an Elf in the party helps by giving the entire group a +1 on their Perception checks. I think he hands round contact lenses or something. I dunno.
While on the subject of things Elvish – a Drow Rogue makes a great forward scout with his +2 DEX and Stealth bonus, not to mention Darkvision. Take Occuption:Criminal to get a further +2 to Stealth and take Distant Advantage as your Feat. Flanking Sneak Attack with a Crossbow from 50′ away? Yes please! A DEX 20 Drow Rogue built like with would have +14 Stealth, more than enough to approach most monsters undetected even at full speed. This is a Rogue who could come into firing range of a bunch of Orcs, Sneak Attack one of them with his crossbow using Surprise Round Combat Advantage then lure them back into an ambush set by the rest of the party – where they get Surprise Combat Advantage too! When the battle is on he moves to get Flanking from a distance and picks off targets from the shadows while the melee-fighters set him up for the kill.
Teamwork, even from a Drow. Wow drow, wow.
Training together
Planning your tactics in advance is a great way to find killer Power combinations between the team members. Once you’ve found that deadly combination of attacks it’s a part of your repertoire which you can use again and again. I recommend that GMs award Minor Quest XP for parties who think about such things and set aside downtime for their heroes to train together.
Top of the heap when it comes to teamwork Powers has to be the Warlord’s Commander’s Strike At-will Power. This grants another member of the team a free basic attack on the Warlord’s turn, with additional damage equal to your INT bonus – and it’s an At-Will. This effectively means that the Warlord can stand at a safe distance from the action and order his “troops” into battle. Build an INT 20 Warlord and pair him with a heavy hitter such as a Greataxe-wielding Barbarian, and you’ve a pretty unstoppable combination using Commander’s Strike alone.
Alternatively, pair him with a Rogue and use Wolf Pack Tactics to help him get into position then burn an Action Point to use Commander’s Strike and give him a basic attack plus Sneak Attack damage this round, and he’s also set up to do Sneak Attack damage on the next too. Nasty.
I’ve already seen three Half-Elves who took Commander’s Strike as their Dilettante Power just so they could use it once per Encounter. Sometimes, that’s enough to turn the tide of battle in the heroes’ favour.
When it comes to the other classes, there’s always something you can do to help another hero. When it comes to a Wizard’s Spells, Chill Strike is a great choice as it leaves the poor victim dazed for a round. That should be the signal for the rest of the team to target that one creature and hit it with everything they’ve got – then burn an Action Point and hit him again just as hard. For example, that Wizard could cast Chill Strike then spend an Action Point to cast Horrid Whispers. That’s one monster who is Dazed, Slowed, at -2 to attack and Prone. And that’s before the other heroes close in to take him apart.
This is just one way to take down that pesky Elite or Solo monster who Just Won’t Die. A little planning goes a long way, and it sure beats the heroes attacking poorly at random and letting the battle drag on. I’ll say it again: if combat is taking a long time, you’re doing it wrong. Think tactically, look out for each other, find killer attack combinations and unite to bring down the big monsters and the battle will be won in double quick time.
Till next time!
Teamwork
An old motivational speaker I once worked with used to say “there is no F in team” and he’s right – all too often in D&D there’s no effin’ team at all. Each player sees their character front and centre, with those “other guys” as little more than shadowy figures at the edge of their vision. Get to know your team, and know them well.
It may help to keep a mini-statblock for the rest of the party on your character sheet. This will remind you of their relative strengths both in and out of combat. If the players need incentive to do this, the GM could award Minor Quest XP to the character who puts it together for the group. It doesn’t need to be complex – something like this, perhaps:
Abbas, Human Warlord-1, Battleaxe, Trained: Athletics, Diplomacy, Endurance, Heal, Intimidate
Bjorda, Eladrin Bard-1, Quarterstaff, Trained: Arcana, Dungeoneering, History, Perception, Streetwise
Connor, Half-Elf Rogue/Wizard-1, Daggers & Hand Crossbow, Trained: Arcana, Acrobatics, Athletics, Bluff, Perception, Stealth, Thievery
Ducartes, Gnome Fey Pact Warlock-1, Club, Trained: History, Insight, Intimidate, Religion
This is of immediate use when it comes to Skill Challenges as players can suggest uses for each others’ Trained skills, making sure that the team uses the right person for the job every time. “Ducartes, can you tell if he’s lying?” is a much better thing for Connor’s player to say than “I roll Insight to see if he’s telling the truth.” as Ducartes is trained in Insight, and Connor isn’t – and you’ve got that information right on your crib sheet.
It goes beyond the simple mechanics of the game, of course. Abbas is now “that Warlord with a Battleaxe who is good at Diplomacy” instead of just being “Steve’s Character”. Add more information as you needs (“… allergic to Goblins. They make him sneeze.”) to personalize the characters further.
Aid Another
I know I keep on banging the Aid Another drum but it really is one of the most important yet neglected rules in the game. Make a DC10 check, and someone else gets a +2 on their next roll. It’s as mechanically simple as it is elegant, and is a terrific way to help the next guy ensure his big-hitting Daily Attack Power doesn’t miss.
That’s another common complaint (and myth) about 4e D&D – the game isn’t fun because missing with a Daily Power sucks. Yes it does, but if it misses that’s because you’re doing it wrong (unless you roll really, really badly). These are your big showpiece attacks, so do all you can to make sure they don’t miss! Ask another player to use Aid Another on their turn to set you up for the attack – or better yet, move into position to Flank then roll Aid Another. In role-playing terms the other guy is distracting and harrying the poor victim so you’re set up to sucker punch him. This gives you a total +4 on your attack roll. If you miss with those odds, it’s time to microwave your dice.
Aid Another is also great to use in Skill Challenges too. In the crib sheet above both Connor and Bjorda are trained in Arcana. If one makes a check to Aid Another (“I’m helping Connor in the Tower Library.”) it’s more likely their check will crest over the next DC value to reveal deeper information. It’s better for one person to beat DC25 than two guys beat DC20 and get the same information twice. Teamwork at work.
Prone, Dazed and Immobilized – use ’em!
It’s a fact that 8 out of 10 adventurers hate the Dazed condition in 4e D&D. Yet 9 out of 10 adventurers don’t use it against their foes effectively, if at all. Whenever a monster Dazes you it’s effectively saying “I am better at fighting than you. You suck.” and you know what – he’s not wrong.
Every class has Powers which will put a foe at a disadvantage. The trick is to know when to use them, and press that advantage as soon as you have it. Don’t leave a Dazed or Prone monster just laying there – hit him, hard! Yes folks, it’s ok to kick a monster when he’s down. You heard it here first.
Know what the conditions mean, and you’re halfway there. Here’s a quick summary. A * means it grants Combat Advantage, giving a +2 to anyone who attacks you and setting them up for a Roguely Sneak Attack smackdown:
Blinded*: Can’t see, -10 to Perception, can’t Flank
Dazed*: Can only take one action, can’t Flank
Deafened: Can’t hear, -10 to Perception
Dominated*: Dazed & controlled by another. At-will attacks only
Dying*: Make a death save each round
Helpless*: Can be coup de grace’d
Immobilized: Can’t move (suggested House Rule: and can’t teleport either)
Marked: -2 to attack anyone other than the marker
Petrified: Resist 20, cannot take actions
Prone*: CA against melee attacks only, can’t move, +2 defenses vs Range, -2 to attack
Restrained*: Can’t move, can’t be forced to move, -2 to attack
Slowed: Speed 2
Stunned*: Can’t take actions, can’t Flank
Surprised*: Can’t take actions, can’t flank
Unconscious*: Helpless, -5 to all defenses, can’t take actions, can’t Flank, fall prone
Weakened: Attacks deal half damage
There’s quite a few, but the ones you really need to know are Dazed, Marked, Prone, Surprised and Weakened. As a team, if you can aim to get at least one of those against a foe each round the battle will be won before it’s even begun.
Surprise!
Getting that all important Surprise Round is a great way to start a battle. That’s partly in the hands of the GM – we GMs do like a good ambush!. If you make sure that the PC with the highest Perception score is up front (and the one with second highest at the back) and they’re actively watching and scouting ahead for monsters, there’s a good chance that you’ll hear them before they hear you. Having an Elf in the party helps by giving the entire group a +1 on their Perception checks. I think he hands round contact lenses or something. I dunno.
While on the subject of things Elvish – a Drow Rogue makes a great forward scout with his +2 DEX and Stealth bonus, not to mention Darkvision. Take Occuption:Criminal to get a further +2 to Stealth and take Distant Advantage as your Feat. Flanking Sneak Attack with a Crossbow from 50′ away? Yes please! A DEX 20 Elven Rogue built like with would have +14 Stealth, more than enough to approach most monsters undetected even at full speed. This is a Rogue who could come into firing range of a bunch of Orcs, Sneak Attack one of them with his crossbow using Surprise Round Combat Advantage then lure them back into an ambush set be the rest of the party – where they get Surprise Combat Advantage too! When the battle is on he moves to get Flanking from a distance and picks off targets from the shadows while the melee-fighters set him up for the kill.
Teamwork, even from a Drow. Wow drow, wow.
Training together
Planning your tactics in advance is a great way to find killer Power combinations between the team members. Once you’ve found that deadly combination of attacks it’s a part of your repertoire which you can use again and again. I recommend that GMs award Minor Quest XP for parties who think about such things and set aside downtime for their heroes to train together.
Top of the heap when it comes to teamwork Powers has to be the Warlord’s Commander’s Strike At-will Power. This grants another member of the team a free basic attack on the Warlord’s turn, with additional equal to your INT bonus – and it’s an At-Will. This effectively means that the Warlord can stand at a safe distance from the action and order his “troops” into battle. Build an INT 20 Warlord and pair him with a heavy hitter such as a Greataxe-wielding Barbarian, and you’ve a pretty unstoppable combination using Commander’s Strike alone.
Alternatively, pair him with a Rogue and use Wolf Pack Tactics to help him get into position then burn an Action Point to use Commander’s Strike and give him a basic attack plus Sneak Attack damage this round, and he’s also set up to do Sneak Attack damage on the next too. Nasty.
I’ve already seen three Half-Elves who took Commander’s Strike as their Dilettante Power just so they could use it once per Encounter. Sometimes, that’s enough to turn the tide of battle in the heroes’ favour.
When it comes to the other classes, there’s always something you can do to help another hero. When it comes to a Wizard’s Spells, Chill Strike is a great choice as it leaves the poor victim dazed for a round. That should be the signal for the rest of the team to target that one creature and hit it with everything they’ve got – then burn an Action Point and hit him again just as hard. For example, that Wizard could cast Chill Strike then spend an Action Point cast Horrid Whispers. That’s one monster who is Dazed, Slowed, at -2 to attack and Prone. And that’s before the other heroes close in to take him apart.
This is just one way to take down that pesky Elite or Solo monster who Just Won’t Die. A little planning goes a long way, and it sure beats the heroes attacking poorly at random and letting the battle drag on. I’ll say it again: if combat is taking a long time, you’re doing it wrong. Think tactically, look out for each other, find killer attack combinations and unite to bring down the big monsters and the battle will be won in double quick time.
Till next time!
Good advice for those who play World of Warcraft.
.-= EltonJ´s last blog ..Aquatic Humans =-.
i take umbrage, sir, at your blatantly stereotypical portrayal of my kind as incapable of teamwork. i’ll have you know that we are more than capable of such, and you surface dwellers shall rue the day that we destroy your cities and plunder your hoarded pittance.
in the meantime, i agree with everything you’ve written. my group played part two-thirds of a one-shot side adventure last night, and the effectiveness of the one-shot PCs working together was monumental, and i think eye-opening. i think this will carry back into our regular cast of PCs.
between the barbarian and two rogues, the monsters spent most of the melee either prone, dazed, gushing blood (jagged weapons ftw), or some combination of those. i love my paladin, and am looking forward to playing a warlord, but i think rogue has become my favorite 4e class.
The mini-stat blocks is a great idea to help foster in character discussion and make teamwork flow more readily when it comes to using skills. I will begin working on making sheets for my E6 3.5 game this evening, and will likely make some for the Pathfinder game I am playing in as well.
If everyone at the table has access to a computer it may be possible to use Obsidian Portal for this as well.
Its been a little while since the last time I took a look at Commander’s Strike but for some reason I thought it was a Melee power.. meaning that in order to use it you had to be ‘attacking’ the same creature. I assumed it was basically a glorified Aid other which isn’t bad but doesn’t allow for the standing out of the way tactic. There could be errata however.
.-= DarkTouch´s last blog ..Lady Bee =-.
@Elton Fourth Edition D&D is NOT World of Warcraft. It’s a whole different beast. If you want to make it WoW, that’s your choice, but it’s capable of much more than that.
@drow Your race’s love of distrust and backstabbing is legendary :D It’s great to see that your group gave teamwork a chance. It really is the difference between success and failure.
@Katallos Great idea, and good call on suggesting Obsidian Portal.
@Dark Touch It uses a Melee weapon as its implement, but the target is just “one creature”, and an ally makes a basic attack against that creaure. After much discussion, our group ruled that the creature had to be in Melee range of the attacking creature (of course), not the necessarily Warlord.
I was under the impression that Commander’s Strike required both the Warlord and the ally to be in melee range of the target. Nevertheless, when we’re talking about my warlord’s d8+3 damage versus the whuppin’ that one of our strikers can lay down, the choice is simple: Commander’s Strike = Fire when ready, my friend!
.-= anarkeith´s last blog ..Getting Started in D&D 4e: Entry 2: Power Cards and the Magic: The Gathering effect =-.
it’s not so much that we gave it a chance, but that the particular characters involved had the proper tools. in contrast, our regular cast PCs have been built in bits and pieces over time, upon a messy foundation. it’ll take some retraining and swapping out one or two PCs, but i think we have a clearer vision of what we should be aiming for to make the DMs life miserable. :)
@anarkeith I guess if you interpret Commander’s Strike as being that the Warlord needs to be in melee range too you could always arm him with a Halberd of Spiked Chain so he’s got Reach :D
Actually, that’s not such a bad idea….. I feel a Spiked Chain wielding Warlord build coming on. Yum!
Robin, that’s exactly what folks have done with Warlords to exploit Commander’s Strike. You can stand in the second rank and whack at targets, shielded by your tanks, and help them bring the pain when the opportunity arises.
I’ve always just used it as combat flavor with my character. It brings a happy smile to another player’s face when you tell them they can make another attack this turn.
.-= anarkeith´s last blog ..Getting Started in D&D 4e: Entry 2: Power Cards and the Magic: The Gathering effect =-.
Awesome post once again, thanks for this.
.-= Mike(aka kaeosdad)´s last blog ..Fantastical Languages =-.
Great post, as are most of your posts, but I have to tell you, this is exactly why Old-Schoolers don’t think 4e is real D&D. All of this tactical talk reads like commentary on a chess match. I have heard it said, not as a criticism, that 4e players talk about their combos and combat strategy more than the adventure itself. Old-Schoolers talk about lucky die rolls and clever play, but normally in context of the adventure, not by itself.
@jdh417: Old Schoolers often say that “4E is too soft”, and they have to survive by cleverness and such. Well, here players are being taught to be clever in order to survive, but using more complex (and complete, and coherent, etc) rules.
Nice post, thought not as useful as the previous ones – my party never had teamwork problems, from the start. And both me (when I DM) and my usual DM (when I don’t) make sure we need to.
I would not use the mini-sheets, thought. We usually know our characters well enougth, and sometimes can even guess their skills. Also, it’s good for dialog both in and out of character: it’s kind of cool when a character yells at another “Do you think you could do this?”.
It’s ironic that the “old-schooler’s” complain how the 4th edition has travelled so far from D&D’s roots and yet D&D started as a wargame.
argh… bravura warlord, or tactical? tactical is indisputably awesome, but bravura has a couple of charge powers which mesh well with warforged juggernaut. decisions, decisions…
I love parties with multiple leaders. Each of them has such great ways to build synergy. Another great thing about Commander’s Strike is that you can use it to get in another attack when a character has a bonus that will expire before his next action.
And of course the encounter power Hammer and Anvil is the best way to enhance a flank.
Artificers aren’t bad either. If you give them a reach weapon they can often give three or four players a bonus when using their at will Magic Weapon.
“Fourth Edition D&D is NOT World of Warcraft. It’s a whole different beast. If you want to make it WoW, that’s your choice, but it’s capable of much more than that.”
That’s not what I meant. I mean there’s little teamwork in World of Warcraft’s raiding (which is a sport). When you wrote the article, the only thing I could point to was your first paragraph, which had the most relevance to me. Why you connected World of Warcraft to the whole of D&D 4th Ed and started defending D&D 4th Ed as it not being Warcraft means that I put too little information into my response.
(Yes, I accept responsibility for your reaction response, so I am sorry if I hurt your feelings, but that wasn’t my intent. *grins* )
.-= EltonJ´s last blog ..What do you think about this quote? =-.
@ By_The_Sword said:”It’s ironic that the “old-schooler’s” complain how the 4th edition has travelled so far from D&D’s roots and yet D&D started as a wargame.”
Actually, I got into Swords and Wizardry as my RPG of choice now because I wasn’t happy with how I participated on the official boards and helped create 4e. Somehow, I thought to myself, I helped create something I don’t find any empathy with.
I wanted some freedom with RPGs, and so Swords and Wizardry offers that to me. It’s free, it’s easy, and I can do anything I want with it without spending hours creating a monster.
That doesn’t mean that I don’t want to try 4e, but it also means that by gaming with Swords and Wizardry, I recognized that the play is the thing and not the rules to play by.
.-= EltonJ´s last blog ..What do you think about this quote? =-.
@drow I think that’s a common problem where players have built their characters as individuals rather than as a team. That’s something I expect to change now that 4e has firmly taken root.
@Mike Glad you like it my friend :D
@jdh417 It’s a shame that many old schoolers think this way (and I agree, they do) as they’re missing out on a game which hearkens back to the very roots of D&D itself. The tactical elements in 4e add a whole new layer to the game that’s reminiscent of Chainmail and classical wargaming. And that’s without taking a single thing away from the whole D&D experience either – the tactical element is an addition to an already great game, and one I’ve come to like.
@Elda It sound like your group has teamwork nailed, so I guess this post is preaching to the already converted :D
@by_the_sword Absolutely! 4e D&D is much more old school in it’s roots than Third Edition ever was. 3e looked at AD&D and how to improve it. 4e looked further back for inspiration.
@drow I’m a fan of the Tactical Warlord – I just wish the class had more CHA-based Powers (especially At-wills) so I could build a good high Charisma, low Strength battle leader.
@Philo Good tactics! Duly noted. I really need to look over the Artificer sometime. That’s a class which has passed me by so far.
@Elton No offense taken :D The comparison between WoW and 4e has just been done to death now, I think. Thanks for the clarification! And I agree entirely – “the play is the thing”, indeed.
Thanks, all!
@drow:
Throw out all warlord options and make your own.
.-= EltonJ´s last blog ..What do you think about this quote? =-.
I feel compelled to pull out my old post on the range of Commander’s Strike.
http://neartpk.blogspot.com/2008/08/reading-exceptions.html
I’ll also point out, it’s far more tactically interesting to have to worry about the position of both the warlord and the beater, and whether the warlord has reach (he should, it rules).
Also, the question you have to ask yourself if you’re letting the warlord use CS outside melee range is “What IS the range?” 5 squares? 10? 20? Line of sight? There’s no answer in the power description because the real answer is “however far his melee weapon can reach” (see post linked above for much over-analysis of this point :) )
.-= Chuck´s last blog ..Playtesting the Scorpire Vampion =-.