• Until an actual fight against fit opposition breaks out, don’t use the combat system.
• Instead, if you’re doing violence to someone, just make an appropriate attack roll against the appropriate defense, modified per circumstances as appropriate.
• On a hit, things go your way.
• On a miss, things get out of control. Like this:
• You accidentally hurt/kill someone (e.g., I only meant to knock him out!)
• They get away
• They sound the alarm
• They hit the deck/dig in/dive for cover
• They attack you

RAW 4e (and #e as well) is pretty much not going to let you do the “knock the guard out” thing. Unless all your guards are minions. That’s a possibility.

Because, lookit: if this were a movie, or any kind of media really, it would be possible to one shot snipe that big huge hobgoblin across the way. But, RAW, it’s not possible. (Unless maybe, maybe, you critted on two dailies, but why would you be doing that against a sentry?)

So above is how you fix it.

• When a character suffers damage and (after the damage is applied) is not bloodied, say how that character (choose one most appropriate to the fiction):
• Stumbles back
• Gets shoved down
• Drops his weapon
• Drops his guard
• Exposes a weakness in his armor
• Screams out in pain
• Backs off, breathing heavily
• Has something he carries break/shatter/fall off
• Loses track of something/someone
• Gets grappled/trapped/cornered
• When a character suffers damage and (after the damage is applied) is bloodied, say how that character (choose one most appropriate to the fiction):
• Has something happen off the unbloodied list
• Retreats post haste
• Screams out in pain
• Crumples to his knees
• Clutches his wound
• Eyes you like an animal (or, if an animal, a human)
• Has blood:
• Trickle down
• Stain clothes
• Get in eyes
• Flow down hair
• Spurt like a geyser
• Seep like molasses
• Spurt like water from a garden hose with you thumb stuck in the end
• Has bits fall off
• Cries for mercy
• Cries for mommy
• Crawls away from/toward source of pain
• Thousand yard stare
• Yammer/stammer/gibber
• Suicidal rage mode: activate
• When a character suffers damage and (after the damage is applied) is at or below 0 hp, say how that character (choose one most appropriate to the fiction):
• Suffers a grievous wound
• Gets knocked unconscious
• Passes out from blood loss
• Dies immediately and horrifically on the spot
• Does whatever the player says he does
• Surrenders and offers the PCs something he thinks will save him
• Retreats post haste
• Starts to die, not quickly
• Confesses to you

(I have no idea why WordPress is making my bullet points not align correctly.)

Anyway, this is intended to tie the mechanics more securely to the fiction. Some but not necessarily all of these selections could be accompanied by a +2/-2 circumstantial penalty to make them stick. Like, “he staggers back; he can’t take an opportunity attack against you.” Or “you bang his shield so hard, he can’t hold it in place; he’s got -2 AC if anyone attacks him right now.”

These choices also cover morale. Many of the bloodied choices imply giving up or otherwise becoming a non-present threat.

These should apply to PCs and NPCs alike, although, to maintain a heroic feel, you should use the softer bloodied and 0 hp options.

• When you begin an encounter, do not roll initiative.
• Instead, describe the scene: say what the characters see the monsters doing:
• Charging
• Cooking supper
• Cooking humans for supper
• Taking cover
• Readying the big bad thing
• Booking it
• Displaying destruction-demanding depravity
• Advancing in ranks
• Setting up sniper fire to cover the dudes just rushing in
• Ask the players what their characters do. Don’t worry about order. You will see a natural sequence emerge. If there is a question of order, roll off initiative between the relevant parties to settle it.
• Resolve the actions. If they just want to move, okay. If they want to shoot, okay. If they want to wade into melee, okay. Handle each situation one at a time. It’s okay if it’s a little chaotic. Embrace interruptions: “Oh, before he does that, I want to do this.” Great.
• When a PC succeeds at what he’s doing (hitting with an attack, moving, taking full defense, whatever), that’s it: move on to spotlight the next player.
• When PC fails at what he’s doing (missing with an attack, generally), hold the spotlight on that character a while longer.
• Something went wrong. Think what it was (losing footing, being overwhelmed by numbers, sipping on ichor, clanging into the chitin at the wrong angle). Whatever it was, it presents an opportunity for the monsters to nail him.
• Say what went wrong, and let that leads you into saying how it let the monsters mess with him.
• Think: earlier, before you asked the players what they were doing, when you said what the monsters were doing, were any of those monsters threatening the PC that just missed? (I mean threatening conceptually, not just being in melee range.)
• If not, think: does it makes sense for a monster to now threaten that PC? If so, say how. If not, lucky for him.
• If so, follow through on that threat: the arrow being aimed at him gets fired; the swords being raised at him give him a shave. Roll the relevant attacks versus him now. If he was surrounded by three minions, and the shaman was in back tossing lightning bolts to him like candy at a parade, make attack rolls for all four now.
• Move on to the next player.
• When you’ve spotlighted every player like this, the round ends. It’s now the next round.
• Repeat.

This is intended to make misses feel less like whiffs and more like “Oh snap I’m done for now.”

It’s also intended to keep you from having to track initiative.

It’s also intended to keep the fictional action less predictable.

• When you miss with an attack, you still do damage: roll its damage expression.
• When you hit with an attack, you do its full damage expression, no need to roll damage.
• When you crit an unbloodied enemy, do your attack’s full damage expression. If this does not bloody him, bloody him now.
• When you crit a bloodied enemy, do your attack’s full damage expression. If this does not take the enemy to 0 hp or below, immediately take him to 0 hp.

D&D combats (not just 4e) are possibly infinitely long. Say we have a PC fighter and a goblin. They both have, say, a 50% chance to hit. Every round, it’s possible that both miss. The sun could burn out before that goblin buys it.

In practice, it means that combats take longer than they should because, on likely a third of turns, nothing happens. Whiff. If you spent any time selecting powers, that time was wasted. That’s what these rules address. (And, if you want to be more severe, have crits mean insta-zero-hp period, skipping the bloodied step. Whether you apply this to the PCs or not depends on the aesthetic you’re wanting to evoke.)

And we should understand, in fiction, these changes don’t mean that the fighter cuts the goblin’s head off every time he hits. Hit points are abstract. One “attack” takes six seconds. Losing hp doesn’t even represent taking a hit. (I’d even have an informal understanding where “bloodied” means bloodied—for the first time. Before then, everybody’s dodging, blocking, getting flesh wounds and bruises. Then someone gets bloodied, and things get real.) It represents being pressured and wearied always and only sometimes suffering actual violence.

Revised: hp loss represents assault (usually with a deadly & magic weapon) and only sometimes battery.

All that to say: here, I think this will produce more engaging play.