6 D&D Monster Tactics to Take Your Encounters to the Next Level

Tags Running Monsters author-kyle-shire

The first round of combat almost always elicits an air of excitement from players and Dungeon Masters alike. But whether or not that electrical charge remains after rounds two, three, or five can rest on whether the DM is able to consistently raise the stakes for their players and the NPCs squaring off against them.

While many of the dangerous creatures in the Monster Manual or other sourcebooks come loaded with incredibly nasty abilities that can terrify your players when appropriately used, here are a few fun monster tactics you can lean into that'll make combat more engaging.

A Note on Challenge Rating

Some of these tactics may drastically increase the difficulty of these encounters, even if the challenge rating matches the party's level. If your players are struggling with their encounter, consider letting them retreat and devise a more tactical strategy to approach their foes next time!

  1. Slow-Moving Pincushions
  2. Exhaust Exhaustion
  3. Disarming Disengagements
  4. Flyby Night
  5. Shadowboxing
  6. False Senses of Security

1. Slow-Moving Pincushions

A group of druids casting the spike growth spell

Use difficult terrain and ranged attacks to make pincushions out of the characters. Perhaps the party has been ambushed by bandits, one of whom is a mage capable of casting spike growth. Open the enemy's turn by having the spellcaster center spike growth on your party, and then have the rest of your baddies launch a volley of arrows at them from afar.

If your players want to get out of the kill box, they'll have to find a creative solution or endure 2d4 piercing damage for every 5 feet they run. If you're feeling merciful, entangle or plant growth achieve the same effect but are slightly more forgiving in terms of damage output.

2. Exhaust Exhaustion

In Dungeons & Dragons, if your character takes enough damage, they could die, and you don't want your beloved character to die. This is the dramatic underpinning behind every combat. But damage is not the only way a character can die. Exhaustion is a condition that, if used properly, can severely hamstring the characters and eventually cause death. This is a tactic that cunning adversaries can employ to demoralize and disorient your players without ever doing papercut's worth of damage.

There are six levels of exhaustion, and every time a player takes one, a new adverse effect stacks on top of the last. When a character reaches six levels of exhaustion, they die immediately. Additionally, only one level of exhaustion is removed by a long rest, so if a character suffers two or more levels of this effect, they will need days of rest or some greater restoration spells to recover.

Exhaustion Levels

Level Effect
1 Disadvantage on ability checks
2 Speed halved
3 Disadvantage on attack rolls and saving throws
4 Hit point maximum halved
5 Speed reduced to 0
6 Death

A splash of sickening radiance can dole out levels of exhaustion to anyone caught within its 30-foot radius sphere. Arrows or blades dipped in special poisons could also be a sneaky delivery mechanism for exhaustion. Dogged enemies could even chase down your party for nights on end, denying them the benefits of a long rest.

3. Disarming Disengagements

Give your band of brigands Disarming Attack from the Battle Master fighter archetype and the Cunning Action ability from the rogue's kit. Remember that you can pick up one carryable item per turn with a free object interaction. Have your cunning cutthroat use Disarming Attack on your player, forcing them to make a Strength saving throw. If they fail, they are forced to drop one item of your choice that they're holding. You can then have your rogue pick up the dropped weapon from the ground and Disengage, robbing them of their weapon and their opportunity attack.

Sure, this would be frustrating for fighters or barbarians losing their precious melee weapons, but remember: It's a Strength saving throw. There's a decent chance your melee fighters will make the save. Your spellcasters, on the other hand, may find it difficult to cast spells if their component pouch, arcane focus, or divine symbol is knocked out of their hands and taken from them, as they are likely to have a low Strength score.

Additionally, you can be more sneaky about disarming your players if you want. Keep track of your players' passive Perception and have a Thief rogue sneak up on them in the heat of battle. Roll for Stealth and Sleight of Hand for your crafty little thief with advantage because their target is distracted by combat. If both rolls are higher than your player's passive Perception, you could rob your player without them even knowing.

This could lead to an impactful and terrifying reveal for your spellcaster when they proudly declare, "I take out my wand and I cast fireball!" And you say, "Well, actually, you reach for your wand, and you suddenly notice it is missing, and from above, you hear chuckling. You look up and see a goblin hanging from the rafters, happily picking their teeth with your wand."

4. Flyby Night

 A ranger aims a shot at a manticore using its wings to stay out of range.

Flyby is a dastardly mechanic in D&D. It allows for a creature to attack from above and fly away without provoking an opportunity attack. If the characters are getting pecked at from above, there are only a handful of options they can lean on. Most player characters don't have access to flight, and even if they do, they have to catch the flying monsters first. They can try ranged combat, or they can Ready their melee attacks and swing as a reaction when it makes another dive, but even then, they only get one shot at a time (even if their class grants them multiple attacks). The nuclear option could be attempting to ground the creature with a grapple, or even an extremely situational spell like earthbind. But what do all of these counters have in common? They rely on line of sight.

So what if your flying creatures possess darkvision, such as a gloamwing or a druid Wild Shaped into a giant owl, and they decide to swoop down on their prey in the dead of night? You could put your players in a terrifying position where the enemy can see their characters, but they can't see the enemy.

The most diabolical version of this flyby night ambush, in my opinion, would be to use a flock of spined devils, who are capable of even seeing through magical darkness and have magic resistance. Unless all of the characters possess darkvision, they'll be forced to find a way to illuminate the battlefield before they can even begin to hack away at them. If any of your savvy players bust out the light cantrip, or light a torch, have your spined devils focus fire on them from afar with their Tail Spines. Or, if your spined devils are accompanied by an infernal warlock, or a devil-conjuring wizard, have them cast darkness over your party since the spined devils can see through it regardless.

5. Shadowboxing

Continuing with the theme of employing darkness as your ally, a sudden nighttime ambush from a band of shadow monks can be as disorienting as it is deadly. The Way of Shadow monk subclass yields an incredible ability that allows a monk to effectively teleport up to 60 feet from one shadow to another, and they get advantage on the first attack they make after using this feature.

One or two shadow monks can easily seem like five or six attackers if they're in dark or dim lighting, and especially if they choose to fight in close quarters. They need only be able to see where they're teleporting, so if they have darkvision, they could punch-punch and then teleport to a shadowy space in the rafters as a bonus action.

6. False Senses of Security

Two women drinking tea surrounded by mimics

Anytime you see a creature with the False Appearance trait, take note, and consider using it as a sort of living trap set for the players. While motionless, creatures with this trait are indistinguishable from benign objects, so unless you have a paranoid player who is actively looking for evidence of, say, a mimic, gray ooze, vine blight, or rug of smothering, you can just describe the object as it appears and provide absolutely no other hints about its true nature.

When used as a defensive measure by a creature, gray oozes are particularly nasty because they corrode metal with every touch and will eventually break it. A creature could lure your party into a fight with multiple oozes, causing their weapons or armor to dissolve, rendering them much easier to pick off one by one.

Keep It Scary, But Solvable

You don't need to have elaborate encounters to spice up combat; you just need to pick a specific tactical gimmick and lean into it. That said, don't purposely build every encounter to be deadly and demoralizing. Your players are there to have a good time and live in a power fantasy. You should give them that! Especially if that group has approached an encounter in a creative and intrepid manner.

Highly organized and tactically sound enemies should be used at the right moments. For your average D&D group, try balancing every nightmare mode encounter with at least one or two less difficult encounters so they can feel the heroes they are meant to be. But if you have a table full of experienced pros who crave a challenge, exploiting a few well-chosen tactics can be all you need.

If your players feel just as exhilarated at the end of an encounter as they do at the beginning, congrats, you've won D&D.

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Kyle Shire (@kyleshire) is a contributing writer to D&D Beyond and a producer for Critical Role. In the past, he worked as a producer, writer, and host for Machinima Studios and Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment. He's appeared on HyperRPG as the Mayor of Kollok and the Saving Throw Show. He currently lives in Los Angeles.

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