[RPG] How to improve combat so the players don’t always use the strategy of collectively focusing fire on one enethe at a time until it’s dead

combatdnd-5etactics

I'm DMing a 5e campaign with a group of four players. We're all experienced in RPG in general but not specifically in 5e.

Players are Level-4 Wizard, Fighter, Rogue and Druid, Circle of the Moon.

My players have come to the conclusion that, given the mechanics of the game, it is much more effective to focus all the fire power on a creature at a time and avoid spreading damage. Their logic is it really doesn't matter if a creature has 1 or 80 HP left, as long as it has over 0 HP it has full capacity to do damage. In effect, creatures are binary: they are either alive and therefore have full capacity to act, or dead, in which case they don't.

Unfortunately I agree with this assessment but I feel it makes the game less fun, for both me and them. (The comment has actually come up from a player so definitively they enjoy it less.) Not because I'm looking for super realistic combat but because it limits the combat strategy to "drop them one at a time".

As such, they tend to not distribute their efforts or engage separately but, instead, swarm a single enemy, concentrate all the attacks on it and then move to the next. This feels to me like the more effective tactic but also the least "fun" and role-playing way of doing combat.

Is my players interpretation wrong or am I handling the combat in the wrong way? What am I missing?

Best Answer

"Focused Fire" is a legitimate technique.

But there are many ways to deal with it.

If your Combats are small skirmishes, with all participants within reach of each other then the PCs all piling on to one foe at a time will work. And this sounds like the "less fun" problem you are having

Some of the techniques I have used are:

  • Use the same tactic against the PCs! All the foes focus on one PC! (This can make the PCs think about other Actions, such as Trip, or ways to slow down the assault)
  • Put a Sniper behind cover.
  • Outflank the Tanks and go for the 'squishy' (usually the Wizard)
  • Use Terrain: Forests with large trees will make it difficult for everyone to focus on one foe. Dungeons with narrow corridors limit how many PCs can attack.
  • Have Foes use other Actions apart from Attack. An enemy Spell Caster may be Concentrating on a Spell. A PC may not be able to kill them in one blow, but forcing them to make a Concentration Save is worthwhile. As above, have the Foes Trip PCs, cause non-lethal, but Inconvenient, Conditions.
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