An issue I run into when trying to keep Dungeons & Dragons combat fun and engaging for my players is that we will be three or maybe even four rounds into combat, and they will use up an item, a high-level spell slot, or a class ability to deal a ton of damage to a monster, but it won't quite kill it.
I hate when this happens. It turns what would have been an awesome story into a sad and deflating moment. We move on, and the rogue sneak attacks (again) and kills the monster. Thank God combat is over.
Here is the best fix I have found. Quick disclaimer, this is not an original idea by any means.
Instead of using the average monster health as a target for death, use the range. Let's take a Basilisk as an example.
Basilisks have 8d8 + 16 hit points. So when we are prepping monsters for our combat encounters, instead of using the average (52 HP), we use the range (24-80).
If every monster's hit points follow the formula:
X * Y + Z = HP
Then we can determine the range with a pretty simple equation:
X * 1 + Z = Minimum HP, X * Y + Z = Maximum HP.
In our Basilisk example, that would look like:
8 * 1 + 16 = 24, 8 * 8 + 16 = 80.
So, why does this range solve our problem? Because it completely changes the core mechanic of combat. Instead of a hard target that the players must meet to fell a monster, we can determine whether or not a monster is dead based on how satisfying the death would be to the narrative.
For the Basilisk, it cannot be killed before it has lost at least 24 Hit Points, and it cannot continue to live after it has lost 80 Hit Points. If it has lost between 24 and 80 Hit Points, any sufficiently awesome blow could kill it.
Using a scale like this is a great tool. Is combat taking too long, and people are starting to zone out? Use the lower end of the scale. Is your party absolutely destroying the monsters in your epic combat encounter? Go with the higher end of the spectrum!
Using a sliding scale for monster HP allows us to better control the narrative of combat while still working within the rules of the game and not totally throwing away all crunch in favor of the story.
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