PS:T combat encounter design is practically non-existent. It is regrettable — since preexistent Fallout did a better job of balancing dialogue, questing, exploration and combat — that dev-cycle emphasis on dialogue, lore and writing in general detracted from the effort that should have been put into the most important aspect of an A/D&D campaign.
Furthermore, what combat there is that manages to spark interest in fans of BG and IWD, is ruined by:
the abysmal pathing routine (worse than even pre-patch BG)
broken inventory mechanics (buff or heal as many times as we like per round; multiple quaffings stack)
clunky portable pop-up (below-pictured)
no combat feedback in the dialogue window
limited spell ranges / special abilities
lack of buff/negative status effect indicators on the portraits (we won't even know what's going on half of the time)
absurd Final Fantasy-style cutscenes that trigger scripted and pre-rendered FMVs every time we cast an epic spell
spell effects that obscure the on-screen action (can't see what is going on!)
stat-screen doesn't even show adjusted THAC0
...
PS:T combat is just completely uninspiring and yawn-inducing. Remembering that it was released several months after Tales of the Sword Coast, there are no notable mage duels à la Davaeorn...
... there are no interesting set-piece battles or boss encounters (Warders/Aec-Letic)...
... there are no rival adventuring parties to pit TNO's crew against...
... and there is almost no terrain to be employed by the player for tactical purposes. Instead, combat encounters are usually staged in wide open areas and largely consist of one benign trashmob (that might bleed into an adjacent, identical trashmob), one toughie and his crew, one super-toughie all alone, or just a full-blown horde such as the one in Curst prison: no fewer than 57 hostile Curst Guards.
