How to Use Mob Combat Effectively In D&D

Ulv’s Story continued

“Mother?” Ulv whispered as he moved towards the visage of his long-dead mother.

“It is I little snowhare,” Ulv’s mother said, using Ulv’s childhood pet name. When he was younger, his hair was so blonde it was almost white. His mother had taken to calling him snowhare when he was a baby. Even though he’d hated the nickname as a teenager, she’d still used it. Now, hearing that nickname pricked his heart and tears slowly formed at the corner of his eyes.

“Yes, young one. We have come to oversee your trial.” Said a much more masculine voice. Ulv watched as the visage of his father appeared next to his mother, his arm resting lightly on her shoulder. “Honestly son, we are disappointed.”

Ulv stared dumbfounded. He’d expected them to say something comforting, but instead, they were here to judge him?

“We expected more from the youth who downed a frost cat in his 11th winter. Truly, what have you been doing?” Ulv’s father continued.

Ulv’s mouth went dry. “I..I..”

“Son, you cannot sit in dreams forever. Herlia and Hipam both need your help.” Ulv’s mother admonished.

“Cojari needs your help son. The Kingdom of the Golden Deer needs your help.” Ulv’s father added.

“But aren’t you here for the trials?” Ulv asked, confused.

“We are,” Ulv’s father said as he looked at Ulv’s mother. “But this vision, it is only a part of your trial. It is the initiation. You aren’t supposed to complete the trial here. Your trial is set to take place with the help of your friends.” Ulv’s father paused. “Son, you can’t just keep wasting away your time. I know it’s hard. You failed. Judir is dead. Nothing you can do can change that.”

Tears began falling slowly down Ulv’s face.

“I’m so untouchable,” Ulv said, bitterness punctuating his comment. “Everyone around me dies or is lost to me. Why is it me that has to survive? Why can’t I pass on to the realm of the gods? Why did you have to leave me?” Ulv said as his knees buckled and he slumped down to all fours.

“Son, Judir made his own choice. As did we all. You’ve been saved for something else. It doesn’t matter who lives and who dies. What matters now is the present. What matters is that you have 3 friends who desperately need you. Save those that can still be saved.” Ulv’s mother whispered into his ear.

What would you like to do?

Intro

Welcome back, dungeon masters. Today, you’re with me, Justin Lewis as we discuss mob combat. We all love to watch movies with amazing battle scenes at the end. I’m talking about Lord of the Rings when Aragon charges Mordor with the armies of all men behind him. I’m talking about basically every Star Wars movie ever that ends with one side fighting another. I’m talking about Avengers End Game where all of the snapped people come back to fight the final battle scene.

In each of these scenes, we have the main characters who fight their adversaries. We also see nameless foes occasionally jump into the mix to fight the main characters. On an individual basis, these nameless enemies are no match for our heroes, but in the sheer volume in which they are usually present, they present a formidable obstacle. 

So, today, let’s talk about using Mob combat effectively.

What is Mob Combat?

In simple terms, mob combat is using many low-level adversaries in an encounter to pose a much larger threat when all combined. This is the idea of throwing numerous baddies at your adventurers that, when encountered alone, would be just one swipe of an axe, but together, are endless axe swings. This is the concept of numbers over skill. 

You can use mob combat in many different situations. It doesn’t need to be an enormous battle scene like any I’ve mentioned before. One example is a swarm of ravenous ants. Sure the players can swipe at each of them individually, but an area of effect would work a lot better, as would just running away.

Because you’re not fighting just one foe but instead are trying to keep your head above a “rising tide” so to speak, mob combat functions like a mix between a skill challenge and a combat encounter. In fact, in my opinion, there are 3 ways to actually do mob combat.

1: Combined Method: In the combined method of mob combat, you essentially think of the actual numbers of adversaries. For example, in my campaign, I used mob combat when my players were fighting these small automaton drones. Each drone was a very paltry fight, but together they were formidable. I calculated that my group would face 4 “masses” of drones. Rather than having them fight individual drones, I decided that they would fight 4 mobs. Each mob contained 20 drones. The way I did it was the AC of each mob was equal to the number of drones left alive. Each drone technically had 3 hitpoints so each 3 hit points killed a drone. The mob’s attack was equal to 10 plus the number of drones left alive. So starting out the mob would hit for 30 and do 30 damage, but fairly quickly in the engagement, the damage would decrease because the number of drones would die very quickly. 

The reason why this method is called the combined method is that you actually do the math to put together all the baddies. This means you can scale the fight to whatever your group can handle. If they are level 20 and fighting orcs just isn’t what it used to be, have them fight mobs of 20 orcs and see how that works.

2. Simple method: In this method, you forget the math. You essentially just create a monster that is a mob of other creatures. Think of a swarm of rats as an example. They function as one creature, but in reality, they are multiple. There are already some creatures like this out there, but you could easily create your own if you wanted. To start with, I would pick the creature you want to work with. Then the easiest place to start would be to increase its heath substantially. You’re going for more of a gut feel for what would be good rather than using math to calculate it all. Next if that isn’t doing it for you, you can raise their AC. I would only raise it a few points because you still want your heroes to kill lots of the members of the mob. Lastly, maybe think about raising the attack bonus and maybe the damage. There are a lot of monsters within the mob, so theoretically they should be able to swarm the heroes and do damage.

3. Skill challenge: In this method, you do away with a lot of the math and you only roll initiative to see who goes first. Instead of rolling damage and attack bonuses, you essentially just roll a check to see if the hero makes it through the combat without damage. For each round I would assign a DC and a relevant skill to use, or you could just use your players attack bonus. Then assign the mob a specific DC. if the player fails the DC then they do not kill any adversaries within the mob. I would probably split it into a tier. So if the player rolls at least 10 below the DC then the mob scores a critical hit and the damage is doubled. If the player rolls 5 below the DC then the mob scores a hit and deals damage. If the player rolls just under the DC then nothing happens. If the player rolls above the DC then some damage is dealt to the mob (as an entity) if the player rolls 5 above the DC then it’s considered a critical hit and double damage is dealt. With this last method, you can simplify combat a lot. You could even turn the adventurers into a mob and take turns having different players roll for the DC to see what happens.

Why Use Mob Combat

One of the most common reasons to use mob combat is to give variety to combat encounters. You don’t always want to have your heroes fighting someone of equal or greater skill proficiency. Sometimes, you just want to give your players a chance to lay waste to an entire army, much like the Avengers do. These mob rules could also theoretically be used for war combat in which so much is going on that you can’t really focus on one individual foe because you’re being harried this way and that.

The real reason to use mob combat is to shake things up for yourself. We’ve recently talked about losing your excitement as a DM and honestly, the best way to avoid that is to do cool new things that make your players stop and pay attention. You need to break their state of constancy, and honestly, you need to break yours sometimes too.

When should I use mob combat?

Mob combat can be placed in lots of scenarios. A rule of thumb is whenever a one-to-one fight isn’t satisfying enough. For example, you might consider adding some mob fighting to the big boss battle. Having your heroes harried by smaller adversaries while they are trying to focus on a bigger adversary. Or you might add mob fights when your characters are part of a larger engagement, like an alien invasion for example. Lastly, you could add mob combat when you want the stakes to be a little higher, or at least feel that way, without actually having to make the situation that much worse. It’s one thing to say you are now fighting a monster, and it’s another thing to say that you are now fighting a horde of monsters. Really, there are not too many bad places to put mob combat. If it can work in your story, then put it in.

How do I balance mob combat encounters in Dungeons and Dragons?

Naturally, with mob encounters, it helps to play test certain things out. Or, you just let things fall where they may in game (for better or worse) and then adapt next time. If it helps, you can pick a monster or group of monsters whose challenge ratings would create a good enough challenge for the heroes you are playing with. Then from there, just change their “skins” and maybe a few of their abilities and you should have a pretty well-balanced encounter. Of course, if you go the skill-challenge route, you need to think less about balancing the encounter and more about creating an encounter that is fun and interesting.

How do I create interesting and engaging mob combat encounters?

For me, the most engaging mob encounters are one that are 2 things: 1) they intensely story driven and 2) they feel real and scary. Let me give you a great example. The Famous Youtubers High Rollers from the UK did this in their Aerois campaign. Spoiler alert. They had the heroes go to a lost city of insane Warforged and had them fight a fallen angel type warforged all while being attacked by masses of these crazed robots. The masses were in mob form but the Fallen Angel warforged was a standalone monster. Because the entire campaign had show the dangers of a warforged going crazy you knew full well how many there were as well as how tragic it is that they had gone crazy. You also could understand that in an enormous city, there would be 10’s of thousands of them. They also did it very well in their encounter because they brought them in in intervals which likely allowed the DM to balance the combat by bringing in a new mob whenever things got too easy.

How do I make sure mob combat encounters are not too overwhelming or frustrating for players?

I like the method of bringing in mobs, and slowly adding more or taking away extra when you need to. Plus, as a DM, you can always fudge the numbers. If the encounter is going way too fast, either let it finish and move on, or you can make it harder. On the flip side, if your players are getting frustrated with the mobs more than they ought to, then have the mobs die a lot faster than you’d originally anticipated. Having that DM screen is nice because you can change things up at the moment without having to let your players know. It’s not their job to worry about the stats of all of the monsters. It’s their job to be the best player-character possible.

That said, playtesting things is always a good idea. Generally, it does take much more time though so I don’t think there’s anything wrong with just putting it in the campaign and making switches on the fly.

What are some common mistakes to avoid when running mob combat encounters in Dungeons and Dragons?

I think one big mistake that people might make is accidentally making the mob way too powerful. The mob should be a group of individuals that are easily taken down by themselves. So that means you should be able to narrate that with each swing, your PCs kill one or two at least. The whole point of a mob is to allow your PCs to feel like they are mowing down the enemies but there are so many enemies that it almost doesn’t matter. 

Another mistake I think you could make is not making the stakes high enough. Yes the party is supposed to be able to mow down the mob members, but they should still feel like their character is in danger.

How do I scale mob combat encounters for different party sizes and levels?

You can scale mob combate easily using 1 of 2 methods. The first method is to add more mobs as the encounter goes on. This means that you need to start slow and only throw in mobs when you are sure it’s time. You’ll also need to prepare this narratively. It won’t seem naturally for another mob of gnolls to show up out of nowhere in the middle of the desert when you described that they were only 4. 

The second method is to tweak the stats of the mob mid-combat. Just like the other method, you want to do this one slowly but at least you don’t have to set this one up narratively. Both of these methods can be done in combat or while you are playtesting. Otherwise, I’d just say to use the encounter builder at DnDBeyond.

How do I use terrain and environmental factors in mob combat encounters?

You can use terrain and the environment in many ways. This honestly could be its own entire podcast episode, but specifically with mob combat you want the terrain and the environment to highlight the feeling that fighting a mob brings. If you were to fight a mob in real life, you’d likely feel overwhelm, perhaps inevitability, maybe a hopeless at the sheer volume of creatures coming towards you. 

I would recommend using terrain to amplify or highlight these same feelings. So perhaps the adventurers are running out of safe places to stand and fight because the space they are in is filling up with baddies. Or maybe, you create some sort of shut-off valve mechanic, like the orcs can keep coming to the top of the city wall until the siege towers are destroyed. Something like that.

What are some examples of memorable mob combat encounters in Dungeons and Dragons?

I already mentioned one that comes from the High Rollers’ Aerois campaign with the crazed warforge. Of course, there’s the classic encounter that everyone has when they are in the sewers fighting swarms of rats. Also, a quick sidebar, even when a creature is made of a swarm of other things (swarm of bats, swarm of bees) that’s still technically mob combat. 

So there you have it. I hope I answered a few questions about mob combat and I hope that you put it into your games. If you do, take a picture of it and post it on social media, tagging howtobeabetterdm. I’d love to see what you get up to.

Also, make sure to send me any ideas on things I missed or even feedback about the show. If there’s one thing I’ve learned talking to listeners of the show is that at least half of you have much more experience than I do. We could learn something from you. Even if you want to record a small blurb and send it to me, there’s a good chance it will make it to the show :).

Thanks for listening to today’s episode. We’ll be back next week for another amazing show, but until then, let’s go ahead and roll initiative.

Mentioned in this episode:

Add the Magic of Sound to Your Gameplay

When you set the scene you need to tap into the five senses. When it comes to sound one of the best ways to do that is with music, sound effects, and ambience. That’s why we’ve teamed up with Monument Studios. Monument Studios provides an easy-to-use Soundboard perfect for Dungeon Mastering. If you want to see this in action, go to fantasy-plus.com and get 10% off of your first month of their Fantasy+ App by using the code BETTERDM at check out. Again that is fantasy-plus.com and BETTERDM at checkout.

Monument Studios

Signup for Our Email Newsletter

Do you love the show but can't always listen to it? Do you prefer written content? Go to session0studios.com/newsletter/ and sign up to get weekly tips and tricks sent to your inbox so you can become the greatest DM the world has ever seen.

Level Up Guide

Brought to you by Session 0 Studios

Visit session0studios.com for more information.