Combat in Dungeons & Dragons can be fun, but it can also be slow and complicated. This issue is exacerbated when a fight gets too large, such as during a siege or large-scale battle; thus, many DMs often seek out different mechanics to use in those circumstances that change the rhythm of combat. Employing large, cumbersome siege weaponry is one way of doing that, though in previous editions, the siege weapon options have often been either too slow to be effective or too low on damage.

The 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide aims to change that, with modified rules for existing siege weapons and three new options for players to wreak havoc with. The new options not only make siege combat more interesting, but they are also more powerful than their older counterparts, and add some magical spice that things like catapults or cannons lack. These changes should make huge battles much more fun, both for players to act in and DMs to run.

D&D's New Siege Weapons Add Large-Scale Chaos

Weaponizing Lightning, Fire, & Ale

The 2024 DM's Guide contains rules for ten siege weapons, three of which are entirely new. The new options are the Flamethrower Coach, the Keg Launcher, and the Lightning Cannon. Each is fairly self-explanatory, shooting electric bolts or launching poisonous ale over castle walls. But the most interesting is the coach, which doubles as a defensive vehicle and a weapon for burning things down.

The rules for each of these weapons include how many actions they take to ready and fire, as well as the damage they deal, and these three meet the best damage-to-action ratio out of the options presented. Still, old-school weapons like cannons and trebuchet remain viable because of their massive range and damage output, though they tend to be on the slower side. These new rules give players more useful options when it comes to taking down an enemy fort — or defending their own.

How To Run Large Scale-Battles With The 2024 DMG

Put Your Players On Offense Or Defense

Many of these siege weapons take multiple turns to load, aim, and eventually fire, which can give player allies and enemy minions quick actions to take during combat. This makes their actions impactful but still allows the players and the big bads to take center stage. This alone can be great for decreasing the time spent on each individual NPC in a big fight, but more than that, it can allow ordinary folks to keep up damage-wise with higher-level players.

By 10th level, most players will be superhuman in their combat abilities, and putting them up against a lightning cannon could be more threatening and fun than just a bunch of armored thralls.

And at higher levels of play, when players themselves become near-invincible, introducing weapons like this can keep the stakes high. The players themselves may be hard to kill, but threatening their carefully constructed base or hometown with destruction will make the threat feel dire. Whether they are being used by the players themselves or the villains working against them, these siege weapons can spice up Dungeons & Dragons combat and help balance out many different kinds of encounters.

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