3D D&D
When the Dungeon Master says those fateful words, “Roll for initiative,” for the first time everyone at the table's heart starts beating faster. Combat has begun, the characters have an opportunity to use their cool abilities, and the stakes are life and death. But over time as we have more and more experiences with our PC, the party, and the play style, combat can begin to become repetitive and even, heaven's forbid, boring. Few things are worse than the players zoning out or staring at their phones unaware and unengaged until their turn comes around, then doing the same attack they've done a hundred times, and checking out again until the next round. One quick way to make combat more dynamic and get the players paying attention again is by adding dimensionality.
Whether it is playing out on a gridded battle mat, an elaborate map, or theater of the mind, a lot of combat in D&D happens in two dimensions. Simply by making use of the third, a dungeon master can create a much different kind of encounter and give their players a new experience.
Simply draw a couple curving dotted lines across your map and suddenly the battle field has topography. Grant a +2 bonus or even advantage to attacks made from higher ground and watch as PCs start moving way more than they usually do in a typical fight. Make a hill or a ziggurat with room at the top for only one medium sized creature and now we're playing king of the mountain.
Or instead of up, go down. Drop a pit trap, a moat, or just a cliff onto the map and have a strong monster shove a PC down there. When they stop standing on the edge of the cliff, grapple and drag them over. A few d6s worth of falling damage and now they have to figure out how to get back on the field as the battle rages on above them.
Grab or cook up a monster that can climb, burrow, or fly and have them popping in and out of range or line of sight. Maybe have the party think they've pulled the same boring random encounter, “2d4 wolves again? Yawn!” But then the ground opens up beneath a wolf as it disappears into the earth with a yelp and out of nowhere the party and the wolves or whatever are surrounded by Ankhegs or Bulette erupting from below. Or a shadow passes over, blocking the sun for a moment, and the party has one round to wonder why the enemies are all running away before the wyvern or roc swoops down on them from above.
You can combine this use of the third dimension to almost any encounter to instantly make it more interesting. Don't be surprised if some of the players start adapting these tactics and thinking in three dimensions as well, making combat even more dynamic. Next time we're going to talk about how to make things even more engaging by utilizing the fourth dimension: Time.
