Simple Tips that Make Running DnD Combat Easier 

I appreciate your videos so much dude. I don’t have too many sessions under my belt, but your video on legendary actions, resistances and layer actions really opened my eyes as to why my bosses were basically getting jumped 🤣

I have two suggestions that could help. The first one comes from some RU-vid channel, I am pretty sure that it comes from Deficient Master channel. - If you as a DM like it, and the table agrees: you could at the beginning of every round "pause" the combat to make everyone think together to what to do in their respective turns. This avoids players to wait for others thinking, helps the teamplay, and makes turns quicker. - I find that spell cards could be a great help, especially when you have to deal with disorganized spellcaster players. Maybe even better, spell cards with simplified/summarized descriptions P.s. very good channel and contents, keep it up!

Rather than bookmarks on monster entries, I add an abridged stat block to my homebrew adventure notes for each monster in order to have everything I need for the session in one document, digital or printed. In addition, typing or writing a stat block helps you remember what a creature can do a bit more than just reading through it beforehand.

Tip if you are going analog with the books or want to have a easy way to quick reference your monsters use a sheet that tracks initiative so you can put just the basic Info needed. I make index cards for monsters with alot of info so I can pull it out for spells and any extra info but use the tracker sheet to see there basic attacks movment, modifiers, and list of special things they can do no details just names. If I forget what they do I just get my index card out. Good thing about them if I need the monster again (zombie) i can pull out the card for the game It stops me from picking up the phone or book to look up something witch takes longer and is more noticeable.

been loving the content, keep up the good work!

I've always used the Condition cards provided in the Essentials Kit to track conditions, especially because it also describes what they do.

Tip 2, I found the cheap magnetic bookmarks work for marking pages. Hit the discount stores after Christmas or Back to School Sales to get them cheap. Also in my notes I will do this Aarakocra AC 12 HP 13 CR 1/4 MM 12 Tip 4. At cons I will just insert the monsters’ initiative at 10 and 1. But this various with how big a table I have. Tip 5 I have players put initiative on the battle map. And have them self-police each other. So the fighter kicks the warlock under the table to put down the phone before his turn. Tip 6. I created a condition sheet and printed out copies for the players. Soda bottle rings work well for indicators. And each person can have their own rings depending on how often they bring bottles to the game. Tip 7. Also I rank the spells. Or know the first two they going to use. Tip 8. I have a white board and stand. One player is in charge of tracking monsters AC and HP. And since they are in the open, some pcs will focus fire.

I admit to making things slightly more complicated but reduce mobs taking forever to run. I use numbered bases from the Pathfinder Pawns, and break them down on the initiative as Even, Odd, and Special (so bosses or something much different from the other mobs) so that it's three different groups instead of everything happening on one turn.

A brilliant and concise video! Thank you!

I usually simplify the available spell options for enemy spellcasters to 1 spell per slot level they have, this way they became simpler to run

Firing at the evil cult leader?? You must have some crazy players!

I would definitely recommend using condition trackers, you can buy a big box of rings (medium sized creatures) for $20

To maintain player engagement and reduce mental load on the DM, designate a player to be your initiative tracker captain: they can keep track of all the initiatives AND have 3 pre-rolled initiatives for all players and DM. Have another player be the Condition Captain to keep track of conditions and concentration. Have a third be the Damage Tracker Captain. They track the DAMAGE (not the HP) that the enemies and PCs have taken and they read out loud how much total they have taken. If it matches or exceeds that PC or NPC, they are down! Rotate the responsibilities per session to different players if you have more than 3 PCs and reward extra XP or Inspiration for helping out!

New upload, hell yea!

On tip #2, I use the books on dnd beyond so I just have tabs open for each creature 👍🏼 same tip, just converted for online users too!

Great tips! Another great video.

To simplify combat I have color coded & numbered tokens on the table that represent enemies & a corresponding sheet where I have their basic stats & track damage. Instead of all the enemies having different stats & AC’s I just make all of them the same. Bandits? They all have an AC of 13, HP? They all have ten, damage? They either do 1d6 or 1d4. Sometimes on the lesser enemies like goblins I just count every successful hit as an automatic death, this really helps the PC’s to feel more impowered to do great amounts of damage. The boss bandit? I may give him a few more HP & AC. I also rarely roll for initiative, I point to the PC closest to the nearest enemy & say “what are you doing?? If they can’t say something & start rolling in 10 seconds then the enemy gets goes first (unless someone has obvious surprise). Sometimes players get skipped altogether if they’re taking too long to decide & believe me, this really cuts down on the “ummmm let’s see what spell do I want to cast” factor. Not only does this speed things up immensely but it also adds a certain amount of chaos to the combat which is good, combat shouldn’t be well ordered & step by step. This is knock down drag out D&D combat not chess.

That pop-up at 2:36. Why do you need to have a "guaranteed TPK" encounter ready at all times?

Stats are an illusion. Use the lore to tell you the logic of how the monster works, and go.

I started to track initiative on scrap notecards, and next to each creature in initiative I have active effects, concentrations, and how much damage they've taken. Putting active effects next to HP and initiative keeps me from forgetting because every time I scratch some damage on a spellcaster I see "oh, they're concentrating!" or I go to look whose turn is next and see "ah, gotta roll damage for being on fire."