Better Villans

Many of the ideas here came from Vivian N. Abraham's unpublished D&D 3.5 article "Making Better Villains" now sadly lost to time. While many of the concepts relate to D&D and its descendants, they can be carried into many other systems.

Before the Combat

Read the villains' stats. Read them again.
Prep an order of attack - Round 1, uses breath weapon. Round 2, targets spellcaster and focuses on them.

Running the Combat

Don't hold back. Roll where people can see and use everything your villain has at their disposal.
Ramping it up
- All the villains pile on the same character
- Villains focus on strong party goals, like stealing stuff, escaping with vital information, or harming NPCs the party cares about.
- Villains have time to prepare
Pulling it back
- Villains split their attacks between characters
- Villains focus on non-party goals like stealing stuff, escaping, or harming NPCs the party doesn't care about.

Creating the Villains

Upping the CR
- Give the monster a class level.
  - Why the heck can't we hit this red dragon? It keeps dodging us..? Oh, for the love of...it has a single level of Monk.
- Give the monster a template.
  - Tyrannosaur? or Vampiric half-dragon Tyrannosaur?
- Pile on the minions. 20 CR 1/2 monsters, one's gonna roll a 20 and hit, and they're hard to clear out.
- Give them a horrendous mismatch, but with unfavorables to hinder it - a Minotaur that's chained to the wall, polearm fighters in a confined space...

Planning Better Combat

Increase the stakes
Put the party on a timer
- As the party arrives, the High Priest holds their staff on high, and in 10 rounds, the stars will align, blazing down to the Gem of Recall that will rejuvenate the Undead Lich Emperor for another year.
For Pathfinder, I drop the 5' square mechanic, as it tends to slow things down. Instead, I use the concept of zones from Spirit of the Century RPG.
- The Insidious Doctor X has returned to the Planetarium and is attempting to fire the Reverse Light Zeiss Stereopticon Projector, destroying all the stars. Without interruption, it should take her a minute (10 rounds). There are three zones:
  - Ground level - the players start here, at the entrance to the Planetarium
  - The raising platform with the Projector.
  - The catwalk 30' up around the top of the dome, where Doctor X starts.
- Place a pile of minions on each zone, and the combat writes itself. Minions shooting from the catwalk, hanging from the platform, standing in the way of platform on the ground floor. Make it increasingly difficult to get on the platform as it raises. Give cover for the minions on the catwalk. Fight through the minions to get to the Projector and Doctor X.
- Terrain - Your environment in combat affects movement, cover, and special effects.
  - Movement - Sand or broken rocks slowing you down, a downward slope speeding you up, low-hanging rafters allowing acrobatic opportunities...
  - Cover - flipping over a table, hiding behind a bar, lying flat on a rooftop,
  - Special Effects - loose shingles on the rooftop requiring an acrobatics check to not fall off, underwater with its own set of rules, inside the alchemist's lair where every missed attach or bull-rush releases unknown reagents, in front of a glaring bright light that outlines your figure to the distance but blinds melee opponents.
  - Changing terrain - The gas jets bursting out of the wall of the old airship push you back as you approach the battle-scarred Sergeant Vile . As you draw your sword to engage, he draws a Lucifer from his shirt pocket, lights his cigarillo, and flicks the remains in your direction, turning the harmless jet into a gout of flames.
- Information - what can the party know?
  - Surprise - This isn't limited to the first round of combat; other opponents can join mid-combat for some lovely surprises.
  - Visibility - that fog rolling in works great to limit ranged attacks and targeting with spells, and gets even nastier for creatures that don't rely on sight for targeting.
  - Line-of-Sight - other creatures on the other side of a curtain or door, prepping to move in.
- Alternate goals
  - Preventing non-combatants from getting hurt
  - Protecting property
  - Willing to die to achieve their goal
  - Just looking to escape

Putting it all together

Allow the monster to use any special movement or senses -
- Fighting a dragon? Give them plenty of room to fly around; make the party have to hold their actions for a fly-by.
- The Behir has made a lovely nest of crushed metal armor, allowing it to electrify everyone standing on it with its lightning bolts.

Examples

So, I want a combat for a first-level Pathfinder party. Generally, these are pretty boring, so let's up it a little bit.

Advanced Examples

Tucker's Kobolds

Typical problems

The Slog

You miss, they miss, you miss, they miss. Maybe once in a while you hit, or when you do most of it is blocked. Maybe the party doesn't have the required weapons to get through the damage resistance, or the foes' AC is too high, it's just going to take forever.

The Massacre

Lucky or otherwise, this combat is over before one side even gets to act. This is nice occasionally as a morale boost, but if it happens too often, you should re-evaluate your tactics or your planning.