Challenge Actions
Here’s my confession: I have been a DM for almost a decade, but am terrible at balancing encounters. I have read and re-read the guidance and the math for CRs again and again, and the numbers just don’t make sense to me. So I’ve come up with my own solution: Challenge Actions, a set of actions and reactions the DM can take during combat encounters.
This is a compendium of the tricks and techniques I’ve used over the years when a fight has been way too tough or way too easy. Think of them as tools for cinematic pacing. They’re not meant to trick or shortchange the players; rather, to help DMs who struggle with encounter prep to deliver the kind of encounter they and their players are hoping for, from the merest hallway skirmish to the most epic of battles.
— Smrvl
How to use these rules
DM Prep
Before an encounter, decide if it’s meant to be trivial, easy, medium, hard, or deadly. (This can be done before the session or as you realize an encounter is imminent.)
During the Encounter
Once the encounter begins, use the following actions to scale the challenge based on the pacing of the fight. To make a challenge harder or easier, use challenge actions from the associated list.
Using the Tables
At the start of a round when you want to adjust the challenge, roll on the tables below to determine which challenge actions come into play this round. If you are unsatisfied with the result of a roll, you may choose a different challenge action.
Initiative Order
Challenge actions are broken into 2 types: environment actions, which occur at initiative 5, and nemesis actions, which an important monster takes as a reaction after a player character attacks or ends their turn.
Repeating Actions
Once a challenge action has been taken, it cannot be taken again during the same combat encounter unless it has the repeat tag, in which case it can be used more than once.
Sources
- Challenge Actions by u/smrvl on reddit.
- Castle Defence image from wall.alphacoders.com
- Battle Against Orcs image from thenerdd.com
- Edition War image from www.tribality.com
Trivial Encounter Challenge Actions
End the fight abruptly or give player characters an overwhelming advantage.
| d6 | Action | At Initiative 20 | When Triggered |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Falling debris (environment) | Loose debris shifts overhead, or something above the encounter shifts, triggering the beginning of falling debris. | Large objects fall on enemy creatures, instantly killing them. Friendly creatures take no damage and the encounter ends. |
| 2 | Minions (environment) | The character with the highest passive Wisdom realizes these enemies look less tough than others of their kind. | The characters discover their enemy’s weakness. All enemies of your choosing have 1 hp. |
| 3 | Sudden collapse (nemesis) | The creature winces, breaks into a sweat, shakes violently, or shows other physical signs of distress. | The creature suffers a heart attack, flare-up of an old injury, or succumbs to the wounds already dealt to it. It dies. |
| 4 | Huge fans (environment) | Enemy creatures eye the characters and each other uncertainly, whispering to each other. | Enemy creatures drop their weapons, declaring themselves to be admirers of the player characters, either by reputation or simply based on their combat so far. They willingly let the party pass, and give them aid (but won’t endanger themselves to help them). |
| 5 | Rank incompetence (nemesis) | The creature jeers, bragging loudly about how easily it will defeat the characters. | The creature wastes its turn in an exaggerated display of showy flourishes with its weapon. Roll 1d4, with the following results: (1) The creature drops its weapon, which rolls out of reach. (2) The creature injures itself, dealing its own weapon damage to itself. (3) The creature loses the support of its followers, who disengage and flee the fight. (4) The creature lowers its defenses to engage in its performance; the next attack against it has advantage. |
| 6 | Sideswiped (nemesis) | A large creature or object moves at high speeds through the battlefield (such as an arcane train, a large predator, or a piece of debris). | The character steps into the path of the speeding creature or object, which knocks it out of sight and out of the encounter (possibly killing it). |
Easy Encounter Challenge Actions
Hinder the enemy, speed up the fight, or give player characters a reasonable advantage.
| d6 | Action | At Initiative 20 | When Triggered |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Onlookers (environment, repeat) | Passing creatures begin to gather at the edge of the battlefield, out of harm’s way, watching the combat. | Spectating creatures gather to watch the fight, distracting the enemy. Enemies making concentration checks must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution check or have their concentration broken, and the player characters all receive 1/4 cover. |
| 2 | Sun in Eyes (environment) | A source of light is revealed, or the enemy moves into a lit area. | Bright light shines from a natural source directly into the enemy’s eyes, triggering any features that are linked to bright light and giving player characters 1/2 cover. |
| 3 | Armor break (nemesis) | The creature’s armor is badly damaged, with cracks or dents marring its surface. | The creature’s shield, helmet, or other armor is broken by a player character’s actions, and must be tossed aside. If the creature has natural armor, a weak point has been opened which can be exploited. The creature’s AC decreases by 2. |
| 4 | Weapon break (nemesis) | The creature wields its weapon with wild vigor, launching massive attacks that shake the weapon from end to end. | The creature’s weapon breaks, and is no longer able to be used. The creature must resort to other weapons or unarmed strikes. |
| 5 | Guards! (environment, repeat) | Cries and commotion signals other creatures drawing closer. | New monsters join the combat on the side of the characters. These may be guards who take the party’s side or other creatures suitable to the environment. |
| 6 | Grievous wound (nemesis) | The creature is overconfident, exposing itself to danger as it attacks. | Decrease the creature’s hit points by up to half after the next attack that hits it, narrating even a simple hit as going deep and harming the creature greatly. |
Hard Encounter Challenge Actions
Help the enemy, slow down the fight, or give player characters a reasonable disadvantage.
| d6 | Action | At Initiative 20 | When Triggered |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reinforcements (environment, repeat) | Noise at the edge of the battlefield signals the approach of new creatures. | More enemies join the battle to fight the player characters. Choose monsters appropriate to the environment and roll initiative for each group of monsters with the same stat block. If there are monsters in battle of the same kind, place the new monsters at the same initiative as those already present. |
| 2 | New armor (nemesis) | A discarded piece of armor or bulky object lies on the battlefield, or the creature’s armor or clothing starts to faintly glow. | The creature finds a shield or helmet or other piece of discarded armor, or else magically bolsters its defenses. Its AC increases by 2. |
| 3 | Activated enchantment (nemesis, repeat) | The creature starts making somatic movements and muttering something under its breath. | The creature activates an enchantment, causing one of the following effects (each effect can only be used once): Magic armor: AC increases by 2 Precise weapon: Weapon adds +2 to hit Brutal weapon: Weapon adds another damage die Enchanted evasion: Creature does not provoke opportunity attacks |
| 4 | Sprung trap (environment, repeat) | The creature with the highest perception notices unusual features of the battlefield, such as an uneven floor or holes in the walls. | A trap activates, catching all the characters off-guard. All characters on the battlefield must succeed on a DC 12 saving throw or take damage from arcane blasts, poisoned darts, or acidic gas, which deal damage equal to an attack by the leader of the enemies. |
| 5 | Summoned beacon (nemesis) | The creature laughs as damage is dealt to it and its allies. | The creature summons a glowing orb, which must be destroyed before any damage can be dealt to the enemies. The orb shares the AC and starting HP of the creature that summoned it. |
| 6 | Unstable floor (environment) | Cracks form in the floor, and the ground starts to groan under heavy footsteps. | The ground gives way, crumbling to throw the whole combat to a lower level which is more advantageous to the enemy. The characters and monsters take falling damage if unable to mitigate it. |
Deadly Encounter Challenge Actions
Put the player characters at extreme risk or reduce their HP to 0.
| d6 | Action | At Initiative 20 | When Triggered |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Activated battlefield (environment) | The entire battlefield starts to show signs of upheaval suitable to the damage type you choose when triggered. | The entire battlefield becomes harmful, by being lit on fire, filled with toxic gas, or pierced with arcane blasts. Any creatures that remain on the battlefield take damage on their turn. |
| 2 | Deadly beyond death (environment) | Eerie whispers pervade the battlefield, and you see faint whisps of something stirring over the bodies of slain enemies. | When killed, enemies rise again in spiritual form and continue the attack. These enemies regain all hit points and their damage type changes to radiant, necrotic, or psychic. |
| 3 | Final form (nemesis) | As the creature begins to approach 0 hp, it seems to be violently unstable. | When reduced to 0 hp, the creature is reborn as a new monster. This may be its true form or a change wrought by magic and its will to live. Choose a different monster and place it on the battlefield as the new nemesis. |
| 4 | Death nova (nemesis) | The creature cries out (in words or simply through its actions), communicating its rage at the characters and unwillingness to accept death. | When reduced to 0 hp, the creature explodes violently. The characters must make a Dexterity saving throw or take damage equal to 3 x the creature’s attack. |
| 5 | Twinned enemy (nemesis) | The enemy seems undeterred by the actions of the characters, as if it knows a secret. | The creature magically splits into two copies of itself, or else calls upon a twin who was previously hidden from sight. |
| 6 | Abrupt isolation (environment, repeat) | Flying debris, magical walls, or shifting large objects create temporary obstacles on the battlefield. | A barrier appears between the characters, separating them into 2 or more groups. |
