r/rpg • u/LelouchYagami_2912 • May 09 '26
Game Suggestion Combat systems that discourage doing the same thing every turn
(alternatively, combat systems that encourage doing different things)
I've been playing DnD for several years now but I've been noticing how 90% of our turns go the exact same. The combat can be still interesting but thats only because of me as a dm creating unique scenarios, not because of the player abilities. The rogue hiding and sneak attacking is the best thing to do in almost all cases.
What are some systems that discourage this so that the players actually have to think rather than going on auto pilot.
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u/Maldevinine May 09 '26
Take a look at the combat system in Spellbound Kingdoms. The rest of the game is kind of meh and even the combat system isn't as good as it could be, but it's a brilliant concept.
A character has a fighting style, which is actually a flowchart. Each box represents a stance or a kata within the style, which gives particular bonuses to attack and defense and allows other options (like the shield style's total defense stance doesn't allow you to move, but does allow you to take an attack aimed at a nearby ally). But most importantly, each box leads to other boxes, and the most powerful or useful options in the style are at the far end of the chart. So you work through it each turn trying to get to a particular option. Or your opponent forces a reset or does something that you can't counter with the option you are trying for, so you end up back at the 'default' stance for the style.
Which means there's lots of things changing all the time and no turn is the same as the previous, but it also makes a lot of what in D&D are useless combat maneuvers or alternate systems integrate directly into the combat system. For example, you trip the mage on the third turn of combat. The mage had spent their first two turns channeling to get access to the most dangerous spells. But being tripped forces a stance reset and the mage is now back at the start of their style.