I am GM'ing an A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying campaign for a handful of friends, and though my group appears to have fun most of the time, the sessions have become more or less the same: the group investigates dodgy happenings and uncovers vague clues of crime and conspiracy here and there, they make some risky or even unwise choices, they get in trouble, and they try to fight their way out.
Most of the party members are not terribly skilled fighters. They are decent at best, with most of their points put into the more social- or utility-oriented skills. However, they do have one competent warrior in their midst; in fact, he is so competent that he survives even those encountered designed specifically to outmatch the group (that is to say: when a group of guards led by a skilled knight attempted to arrest them for stirring up a great amount of trouble).
Thus when I create combat encounters meant to pose a challenge to the group, they become quite drawn-out and even boring, seeing as all the party members are knocked unconcious quite early on, except the super-soldier who ends up standing there with 1hp and blood up to his elbows.
Now, I do not want to kill the guy, however there is no real consequence for the PCs commiting tons of crimes (including breaking into the mayor's house, robbing him, binding and beating him, as well as forcing wine down his wife's throat, effectively giving her alcohol poisoning), because they can always rely on their own Sandor Clegane to fight their way out of it. Additionally, there is not really anything else the OP warrior guy can do, because he has only allocated experience points into killing and not getting killed; I sort f feel I "have to" create crazy combat situations for there to be any point in him showing up at all.
How can I create engaging and balanced combat encounters for my players without the combat ending up being one guy against a small battalion?
Best Answer
How can someone fight their way out of crimes?
So let me get this straight. The party has done breaking-and-entering, robbing, assault, torture, and murder.
And there have been no consequences because this one warrior can fight his way out of it? (Add "resisting arrest" to the list of stuff he's done!)
Why hasn't the entirety of the Seven Kingdoms already declared all of the party members wanted outlaws, and sent some kind of an army against them? Clearly they're a threat to the well-being of everyone.
I just can't imagine anyone talking and/or fighting their way out the crimes you've described. The social PCs would have to pull off some pretty hefty intrigue if they wanted to avoid the consequences of murdering a mayor's wife in such a brutal fashion.
If they got caught, their reputation suffers and they make enemies, period. What comes after is just damage control.
If they didn't get caught, well that's a plot well executed.
It's okay to have a killing machine PC
In SIFRP, it is very easy to make a combat-invincible character. Fighting 7 + 3B gives the character an average result of 30.09, standard deviation 4. Against an "average" Combat Defense like (say) 12, that means four degrees of success. Quadruple damage against most foes means instant death. This is just one example of how deadly combat-optimized PCs can be. Of course, if they're up against similarly optimized NPCs, the situation is a bit different.
But fighting against the laws is much more difficult than fighting against enemies.
And? What happened after he won? What is expected to happen when a troublemaker resists arrest? If this happened within city walls, there'd be consequences. Next time they send a bigger group of guards. His reputation is tarnished after all the trouble he's made. And as we know, reputation and status are very important in Westeros (and SIFRP).
The battles of SIFRP don't just happen on the battlefield. They happen in discussions, debates, negotiations, courtships, what have you. That's why the rules of intrigue are in abundance: because they play a major role in the game.
So if this Sandor Clegane does whatever he wants because he thinks he can fight his way through it... he's going to die a knave's death. He'll die an honorless death, with no allies to defend him.
(To drive a point home: Imagine if, in our modern world, someone was armed to the teeth with guns and explosives, and performed crimes because he thought he could fight his way out of consequences. Yeah, good luck with that. He can try, and may even pull it off, for a few hours. Eventually, he'll be killed with no trial.)
Sounds like a good party balance to me. The rest of the party surely appreciates the great warrior amidst them, and the warrior relies on his allies in settling the problems he can't solve with violence.
Challenging this PC in combat is a lost cause
So how can this PC be challenged? You said it yourself. He's put all his experience into being a killing machine, and nothing else.
Give him a non-combat challenge. Assuming the party can't help him, of course.
So does that mean there will be no more combat, ever?
Of course not. You don't remove all combat-related challenges from the adventures just because one of the PCs can solve them.
Here are some ways to make combat interesting again: