@@DabroodThompson If you want low power it would probably be a good idea to try another system. The problem with dnd is that much of the things destinguishing different characters are unlocked at higher levels. You would really want a system that distinguishes evasion/armor AC, a point with the differences in weapon damage types and any other change that creates variety. There is nothing wrong with enjoying low power dnd, but one shouldn't be afraid to look into other systems either. DnD is only considered the best because it's so good at those sweetspot levels.
@@ltloxa1159 I will readily admit that I haven't tried enough other rpg's to compare them fairly, but from my limited experience outside of DnD and my extensive experience within it, my very favorite play style is low-power, low magic, high grit. For me, there's no better game to play or run than 5e with moderate to high realism and no full casters. edit: because let's be honest, it's not the martial characters who "break" games. I love full-casters, but I like the gameplay better without them.
I had a shining moment in a dungeon a while back. With a Warforged Spore Druid, I had encountered a room full of corrupt vines meant to grapple and suffocate the party. I had cast the spell Speak with Plants to communicate with the whole room at once. Learning the vines had been grown there for one sole purpose, my Druid offered the plants a better life if they merged with him. They accepted the offer and my DM had me take necrotic damage for every 5ft of vines, as well as become “enlarged” for a time with the extra mass of vines. The effect wore off as soon as my Druid came back to the surface. It really helped me feel like the protector of nature. Turning angry and corrupt life and freeing it from its bonds.
@@michaelgroce966 www.dndbeyond.com/sheet-pdfs/DaKraut_52708577.pdf The idea came to me when choosing the race. I knew I want we to be a Druid, so I thought “What would make a better druid than one MADE of magical wood?”
One of the funniest rogue stealth moments I've had as a DM was during a surprise round them surprising the enemy, and the rogue hiding in a tree, that turned out to be a hostile awakened tree that rolled low on initiative. The rogue was able to hide and shoot twice before getting attacked by his cover.
At one point, my players were relying too much on invisibility. My solution was to have the guard captain call for the K-9 patrol. Invisibility doesn't help much when dealing with creatures with keen senses of smell. Dogs are low level creatures that can be trained to have bonuses to detect invisible creatures. Sending them in pairs gives you double the chance of finding sneaky PCs.
@@destinpatterson1644 If you use the sidekick rules from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, you can give the guard dogs increased levels, hit points, and feats like alertness and toughness. A pair of such dogs can give even high level thieves all they can handle.
@@robertbailey5239 it would be so cool to run a stealth/intrigue campaign, now I have another idea for a campaign that I want to run for my players lol, I'll have to throw it on the pile
Just remember by RAW... Even if you could see an invisible creature. They still apply the effects of Invisibility. You will have to cast Dispel Magic on an magical invisible creature. Otherwise, you will always attack it with dis adv.
Talking about creative use of spells and abilities reminded me of one session, when our party was travelling of the beaten track through the snowy mountains. To make our travel faster our Cleric casted Water Walk to make us not fall deep into the snow and my Druid aided him by using Control Water time and time again to shape the snow into the stairs. Later that day, having no safe place to rest, my Druid spent like an hour using Control Water again to work with snow and shape it into an igloo, so we were not only safe and warmer, but also practically invisible from the distance, as the igloo blended nicely with the snowy environment. We didn't have to fight a bunch of Frost Giants because of that.
And your story just made me imagine then they because of this the party accidently gets stepped on my a frost giant (I don't know how big a frost giant is the average PC just was a funny mental image. Them all suddenly getting cartoonishly squashed flat)
That sounds like one of the most boring sessions of Dungeons & Dragons I may have ever heard. You, and your party of fellow adventures, would rather hide then fight Frost Giants??? What are you a scared little 5 year old girl or a badass adventurer. I would have never returned to that table had my group decided to hide instead of battle. Please don't ever be the scared pussy at the table that is trying to convince everyone to hide and not start a fight. Not a single person at the table will like you. If you want to hide go play hide and seek. PS. Everyone hates you if you are a rogue who is constantly railroading every session by interrupting other players and continuously demanding them to stop their plan because you, the Rogue, wants to be sneaky and avoid combat like a little bitch. No one likes to sit silently for literal hours while the DM and Rogue have a sneak around session. Inexperienced DMs will let a rogue do this and not realize that their entire session revolve around the Rogue in the DM while the other players just sat there twiddling their thumbs.
For the [High Armor Class] segment, I would also like to remind DMs that Grapple and Shove do not care about your player's AC. Furthermore, if you're surrounding them with cannon fodder there are plenty of bodies to perform the Help action and give others Advantage in trying to hold him still or knock him prone. Once you have a prone/grappled warrior, now his more squishy party members are going to have to be the ones rushing in to save him and everyone feels like they accomplished something, even the seemingly ganged up on warrior who was fighting off goblins with everything he had.
Monsters sometimes have special attacks that come with an autograpple if it hits, but there is nothing stopping them from foregoing that and do the standard skill check grapple.
I recently let Hold Person work on a Green Hag boss encounter because I forgot they're Fey and not Humanoid. It's a distinction I and my players have called out many times over the two years of this campaign, but it slipped all of us anyway. I immediately started worrying that they'd trivialized the encounter, but then the hag's pet Giant Ravens caused about 250 points of fall damage over the next two rounds. Turns out we had all miscalculated who was really in charge of that coven.
Another thing that can help the hit chance of low level minions is throw a priest with bless or something like the Hobgoblin Captain's Leadership feature. Suddenly taking +3 or 4 up to +4 to 8, and making an encounter where they want to deal with the tougher captain first to stop the minion damage
Our DM loves sending in waves of minions, usually with a "Sargeant" type monster in the final wave to either directly back up the main baddy or replace them of they get taken out earlier. It ends up with us moving around a lot to handle dicey positioning and a few times we've even gotten flanked by waves. So far I've had a good time with it and it keeps the fights dynamic so I gotta give props to our DM for it.
My DM never misses an opportunity to flank with even the dumbest enemy, they are usually placed behind us lol, and even hit us when were down critting us to death lol, we are so underpowered we had to All share a +1 dagger to damage a werewolf (stab,drop,step aside..next PC picks it up and repeats the move)
@@paulpicot4285 "You kids have it so easy nowadays. back in my day we were told to kill a werewolf before we were even level 3 with a +1 dagger, and we had to share the dagger."
I once played a rogue that while being incredibly stealthy hid bombs all around an enemy base. My DM loved it so much that he cut to enemies reactions as the bombs detonated
Dude, cutting away is an excellent thing to sprinkle in to DMing, super fun and can show players another side of things (or just be hilarious). I love it when DM's do this.
reminded of something we did with our ragtag band. We were gifted blasting potions that were essentially bottled Fireball spells at some point, and one of our big end-game moments for the starting adventure was destroying a ballistae that basically shot holes in any ship trying to enter or exit the islands. When we finally made a go for it, my Battlemaster gave one to the ranger and improvised a bomb arrow, and our starting turn was blowing it to cinders.
I just started DMing only a few weeks ago. One of my players is using the MCDM Talent class. I looked over the class very briefly and gave them the ok. Last session, after the party had been attacked by a nasty group of monsters, the Talent player took the biggest creature's tooth and used one of their abilities to see from the tooth's perspective for the PAST 8 HOURS... I nearly crapped myself. This was just a random encounter after the result of a poor roll of fortune telling. First time I genuinely had to think completely on the fly, and it's created a cool moment and a new story thread. Not something that surprised me mechanically, but still funny to think about.
I'll add a random bit in here that I tried to share with my kid when teaching him about DMing and maybe it will get picked up for future episodes. The role of the DM is NOT antagonistic to the party, it is the gate-keeper and keeper of 'fair and fun' gameplay, but the DM AND THE PARTY are trying to COLLECTIVELY tell a fun, interesting, and memorable story. That means you WANT to let the players get away with absurd nonsense - when it fits the story and can be worked with. You WANT the encounters to be tough enough that maybe 1 or 2 party members get knocked unconscious every few combat encounters. You WANT party deaths to be rare and significant, giving your players time to digest what happened and figure out how their character feels about things. You WANT the party to ultimately succeed in killing the big baddie and winning the day - but it should not be a cake-walk. Of special note, the numbers in the DMG are good base stats - if you built a cool dungeon and your party is ripping through it without breaking a sweat, feel free adding a couple extra monsters or maybe an extra hit die and/or damage to an upcoming monster so that they can actually take a scratch or two. Part of the reason why the DM has a secret little area in front of them is that it lets you adjust things on the fly IN ORDER TO MAKE A MORE MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE. Sometimes that means the monsters can miraculously live through an extra round of combat if the story calls for it. Other times it means the monsters show up to a fight damaged. EVERYTHING is negotiable until it happens, and that point is important ONCE IT HAPPENS, leave it on the table AS IT HAPPENED. You shouldn't be taking away from players AFTER they pulled off some ridiculous skill feat - they earned it, let them have it - you can just put another obstacle in front of them that you weren't otherwise planning on to get the same moment you were looking for. A properly manage campaign is never too easy nor is it too tough on the party, it is tough ENOUGH to make them feel like they are exhausted by the time it's over, but they had some good moments along the way.
Shhh... Don't say it so loudly, players could be listening! Jk, totally agree of course and improv of all sorts is a very important skill for DMing. I do wonder how much knowledge of how common this is could "spoil" things for certain players... Maybe I'm just paranoid, since I'm fine playing with DMs who I know do this.
@@vfanon oh, I've definitely killed party members when they do stupid stuff, I am not against punishing dumb moves, I am against setting up unwinnable scenarios. The goal is to just give players an out. Especially with spell casters, as they level up, you can provide puzzle situations with no clear solution or no solution at all and just let the players go crazy with their magic. The things players can come up with when trying to solve a puzzle in front of them is great, it's the best part of the game IMO, but when DMing, my job is to keep things moving along, give people time to explore, and give them challenges that they can and should be able to accomplish, though not always without injury.
Possibly one of the most useful DND videos on TH-cam. I do not say that lightly as I love Matt Colville & numerous others but this single video has many many amazing tips that more DMs need to know.
The greatest lesson I've learned when it comes to OP player characters is just to roll with the punches. Most time, just give them that heroic fantasy. However, when it comes to "boss fights" where a creature has learned of these OP tactics, have them prepared. This also applies when the PCs become ambivalent about their own power, and start taking things for granted.
This. I had a "boss fight" a few sessions ago and half the party wasn't there. The ones that attended were like, "Nah, it'll be fine". It was not fine; one member died and the rest were unconscious and the boss got away (and will now wreak havoc while they regroup). They were overconfident in their abilities because most of the fights they'd had up until then were pretty easy, but a good DM will bloody their noses every once in a while to remind them that there are consequences to their actions.
The main problem with OP characters is if it only applies to some of the player characters. On the whole, it doesn't matter what power level the characters have, as long as they all can play on the same level.
I won't allow powergaming or superhero / main characters because it screws over players trying to seriously engage with the game and roleplay. Anything goes in one shots or 3 shots, but not in campaigns.
I'm mainly dnd3.5, but as long as each member of a party is over powered to roughly around the same level, its easier to work around. Make dice rolls higher, bump up monster stats a bit, choose monsters with higher CR, etc. It's when one or two outclass the others is when things get out of hand. The challenge can't be too high that other players can't compete or too low that is too easy for the OP characters
Also, if a combat ends up easy , reflect on how things went. If everything went perfect for the players , it was likely fine. Sometimes monsters fail saves and players get Crits. You could do that same combat again and it'd have been much worse with different dice rolls
Yup. Rolls can make a world of difference. My party was once nearly killed by the animated armor at the beginning of CoS because for 6 rounds nobody rolled above 5 (well, we did get *one* good roll, but the armor was immune to psychic damage) and the armor kept rolling 15-20.
The High AC one hits in the feel. My DM played in my game so he knew alot about how to make a character being familiar with the system (it was 3.5) So I learned the hard way to put spellcasters to challenge him on his rolls. He enjoyed it since when I put some spellcaster and told him roll a dex save he was like "you're learning" he said with a smile :D.
Remember that shoving or grabbing a PC doesn't require you to hit their armor, just beat them in a str/dex rolloff and huge creatures can carry a meduim sized player at their full movement speed straight towards whatever hazard is in the room.
In the Campaign I play right now, I am a Paladin, Hexblade, Draconic Sorcerer Multiclass, Normal AC 17 Cast Shield AC 22 and if I want to go overboard cast Shield of Faith for the sweet 24 AC
14:40 My DM gave us a boat load of skeletons right after my Cleric got Destroy Undead. Was great killing 20 Skeletons in one fell swoop. Really felt great getting to use my new shiny ability in such a big way.
My favorite trick for dealing with Counter Spell: stand 65ft+ away from the caster with it. As a player, I quickly found out the hard way that Counter Spell's main weakness (imo) is that range.
A bit of info on the tall grass bit. In video games the player having their head poke out is so that you don’t lose track of where you are. If you want to go more realistic on this hide in the overgrowth strategy you can ask the player to roll navigation or even perception themselves to not bump into guards searching the area. In broad daylight the only way to not be seen is to make it so neither side can see each other. Barring magical nonsense or crafty uses of mirrors.
The high AC, high damage, and disabling spells thing are why my DM does non-canon combat tests. He can see if his builds are too powerful for their CR, too weak, or if they’re built properly. Our party is level 10, and he once sent a CR 15 enemy at us, and we were able to beat it effortlessly, but one of his CR 12 enemies proved to be a serious challenge.
CR is such a difficult thing to judge difficulty by. My previous party of 3 relatively low level characters destroyed an Owlbear in one round, but also nearly got wiped in one round by a relatively small swarm of Giant Rats.
In my group we were able to beat a CR 15 when we were only lv 5. We just worked out a very good plan I guess and also got kinda lucky as well. Like I rolled on my spirt bard table and got the one where if they fail the save they are incapacitated and the creature ended up failing so it couldn’t do anything for a round.
Just went through a scenario casting invisibility on our monk and rogue so they could infiltrate a base a bit ahead of us. Myself and the rest of the party were going to come up behind with "pass without trace" (Taken as magical secret) to set up a big battle. Unfortunately; rather than skirting the npcs , our rogue went up the gut and was spotted by a wandering guards passive perception . The alarm was raised and it was ... Game on! We survived but there was ... gore. Lots of gore.
You can also cast invisibility just for its effects about applying dis adv to all attacks made against you, since the rules are not what most players/DMs think it is. In other words... In RAW... Invisibility is weird.
How did a guard's passive perception detect an invisible rogue. Even rolling a 1, the rogue had probably a +7 bonus for an 8 while the guard has Disadvantage to detect the rogue (-5 to passive Perception). I guess it's possible, but sheesh.
@@igotzelda I wasn’t trying to run the spells concurrently and concentrate on both. The idea was to get them into the room undetected and then hide. Drop invisibility, cast pwot so we could come down the long entrance undetected after them. Engage the force while the monk , rogue could ambush from the back. But it didn’t work out the way we planned anyways. Never got a chance to cast pwot to begin with because they never got into proper position before being spotted. Though the wizard in the group could very well have cast the invisibility I suppose. 🤗
Good timing! I'm a first time DM about to start Icespire Peak with my family (mostly experienced), and it'll be good to keep an eye out on these things! Thanks for the videos Monty and Kelly!
I just finished Ice Spire peak as a player. I'm a forever DM so it was a lot of fun. Don't forget that part. This game is meant to be fun for everyone, inclining the DM.
Icespire peak was definitely a learning experience as a dm, mattering on your players dps I would recommend possibly upgrading the titular dragon, between the lvl 8 gwf barbarian and sharpshooter rogue the final battle of the story lasted most of a turn
Mobs with pack tactics can help alot for high AC chars also since you will likely double the amount of dice you roll then as a DM and it also still lets the player feel good knowing their still avoiding alot of the damage.
I rolled a high AC monk (pathfinder) recently and I can say from a player perspective, it really is fun avoid tons of rolls. And trust me, they do eventually hit, probably just as often if it was just a normal encounter. It plays into that “how long can I hold before I have to escape” mentality. If you want to damage the player, go for spells like magic missile. If you want to make the player run, give them something that can’t be hit directly, or something that damages the player if they attack directly. If you just want to make a challenging encounter where the players win, get creative. Let the high AC player be a tank, while the other guys work on other minions that have flying or something.
Just last session, my players knew they were walking into a minefield of Gylphs of Warding, and the bard, who took Conjure Animals, burned his 7th level slot to send them all in ahead (Side Note, having an elk try and save against Feeblemind is so funny). It was awesome and they burned a big spell to do it, so I let it happen.
@@Hazel-xl8in Even if you don't use flanking a swarm of goblins is still capable of using actions like Help, Shove, and Grapple. A prone/grappled fighter/barbarian isn't getting much done while every enemy around them gains advantage and they lose any Dex bonus they have. Quick Edit: Imagine the scene of a player walking up to a swarm he expects to be invincible to only to have them pile all over him.
@@Team_BaM Horde of Zombies. Not a horde npc, but a horde of zombie npcs. After all, the grappling zombies + Cloudkill combo is probably popular in necromantic circles.
Our (very experienced) DM wanted to run a side campaign with a group of 5-6th level characters who were mercenaries focused around espionage and stealth and even he was taken aback when we rolled our first group stealth check and the lowest roll was a 37 (with Pass Without Trace).
I like to think that a high charisma skill works the same way as high stealth. No you cannot sneak in broad daylight past the guards in an open courtyard and no you cannot talk yourself out of a guard catching you standing over a dead body with a knife. But what you can do is cast a seed of doubt in the gaurds mind that you happen to be in the wrong spot at the wrong time, still get arrested, and now your party has to free you..... Or frame someone else and now you get to say I told you so to the guard
This is my first time DMing a long term narrative campaign ever! Our group is playing in the Mythical Odysseys of Theros setting, and it has been really fun watching the player's creative solutions at the table. The Cleric has a 23 Passive Perception (+8 in with proficiency in the skill and Observant feat) also the Warlock just picked up Winged Shoes. Appreciate you touching on these points in this video to have a better idea on how to manage those situations!
I love this channel. Great video! I've learned so much from you two that has really made a difference in my games as far as running them and dealing with unexpected things at the table. You guys bring so much to the community. I and my PCs Thank you!
As a not so new player, but new DM , I recognize a lot of things. Most of this video I already know about but y'all definitely provided some insight into my campaign. (First time). Thank y'all
This is more niche than most of the list, but moon Druid wild shapes at low levels are rough to dm for. As a moon druid, when I got wild shapes I went from a scrawny pc with 9 hp at level one to a juggernaut with over 100 effective hp at level two by wild shaping into a giant Hyena twice a day.
100 hp??? It's 6D10 +12 And how are you getting access to giant hyena at lvl 2 moon druid when it's a cr 1 and you can't get cr 1 creatures till 8th druid lvl????
Also I'm assuming the 100 HP calculation is over a day; 45(giant hyena) x2 (twice a day) =90 + 9 (the mentioned HP at lvl 1)+ 5 something HP for lvl 2. It's over 100 HP and at lvl 2 that's massive even if it's over a day.
Lots of good info in this! Brought to mind a few things; 1st, not every encounter needs to be a challenge for the players. Sometimes they may outclass the bad guy & that’s ok. 2nd, a DM saying no can still be fun, spectacular fails can be hilarious. 3rd, one can always learn, I’ve been roleplaying since the 70ies and your vids are full of ideas that help and/or remind me how to become a better player & DM. Thanks.
As an example of the 1st and 2nd issue I listed, I once gave my players a simple side quest to investigate a lord’s relative in a distant city they’d be visiting. Her vague letters had indicated she was distraught and felt she was not long for this world. Their clumsy investigation was very much enjoyed by the players but didn’t clarify or solve the situation. In the attempt to find out who they assumed was out to kill the young lady they managed to demolish two buildings and basically create havoc. While the young women’s letters were actually her vague way saying she was suffering from unrequited love.
Re: High AC. Don't forget that the environment should be a part of many encounters. A lava lake that's essentially AoE Heat Metal, underwater movement, and a need for stealth can all help highlight the shortcomings of things like full plate. Additionally don't forget the Strength requirements, don/doff, fatigue from sleeping in medium or heavy armour, and encumbrance rules. Additionally, it's often reasonable for even low level intelligent monsters to use things like flaming oil, caltrops or ball bearings. Ball bearings making opponent prone (and so advantage to hit it) can help level the playing field...especially if the PC need to cross the ball bearing area with the last part of their movement, so they can't stand till next round.
Good words. My party I DM for ran into issue in the sewers because being knee deep in slusge makes it impossible to run. (also describing as the character that got knocked down being covered head-to-toe in unmentionables was fun)
speaking of caltrops/ball bearings, i saw a DnD TikTok where a video of a couple pro wrestlers had a match where i guess one of them was doing a finishing move where he dumped out a bunch of smaller-sided dice and dropped the other wrestler directly onto them; i think they were a bunch of d4s
Teehee, I hope my players don't see this, but my party's AC is 21,20,19,19 & 20 with blade song, so I'm bringing in intellect devourers that are backed up with spell casters soon.
I think something that throws new DMs off all the time is illusion magic. Often we accidentally give it a mad buff without even realizing. One of my first sessions my players used minor illusion to make an illusion of a dragon that went around and roared and scared my goblins. By not realizing the limitations of a spell you can give them hugely powerful boons that the designers never intended.
You can make a dragon with Minor Illusion... But... It will be locked to a max size and it cannot move. Or... You can make a roar of a dragon without any limitations, unlike the first option. Since Creatures are Objects when they're dead, and your character is also a creature.
@@techwizsmith7963 For Minor Illusion... NPCs or PCs must make a specific roll or Object Interaction with the Minor Illusion (image option, not sound option) in order to discern if it's not real. However, only those who discern the illusion will know that it is fake or by proxy of characters who observe such Object Interaction of another character. (Being logical). That said... Unless you're fighting a hive mind, Ultron, or some character controlling robots or undead etc. Then (for DMs and players) just because one character knows it's an illusion. It doesn't mean that every character instantly knows it's an illusion.
@@absolstoryoffiction6615 Yep yep, very true. I always have to keep in mind how visible I am when interacting with my illusions, anyone would see through it for free if I stuck my hand through a box. That specific roll takes an action however, so if they're at range then they have to either waste a turn to see through the illusion (that I can just cast again next turn) or take the penalty to shooting through it (since they can't see through it, making it a blind attack)
@@techwizsmith7963 If I remember... The Minor Illusion Object becomes transparent to the characters who know it's an illusion. If you design a cardboard box with cut outs and shadows as your Minor Illusion, then you could move your hands through the dark cut outs as if it was a real box. Just don't let enemy NPCs interact with the illusion. Or... You can mimic the Cantrip: Light by faking the brightness of Light over the Minor Illusion's max size. Of course, the Minor Illusion cannot move but you don't need movement to make something very convincing. You can also hide inside your own Illusion because (to your character) it would also transparent. But you cannot use Cover since the Illusion isn't a real object. Illusion doesn't work against invisible characters beyond the specific Roll/Object Interaction (maybe not) because it depends if the invisible characters take up space (maybe it does work since Invisibility is not self Banish). However, against creatures in darkness. You can cast Illusion on them in order to negate the darkness with the holographic illusion. (Mimic the Cantrip: Light.) There's a lot of creativity with Minor Illusion. Even the Sound Option can be very interesting at times... You can even play Bury the Light with Minor Illusion since this Cantrip is very broad in general.
To be fair, a difficulty of 30 is defined as "nearly impossible" which is to say that if the odds of succeeding aren't statistically indistinguishable from zero, then the player should succeed even if it seems ludicrous. I think the disconnect occurs when, assuming the player can accomplish a 30, their odds are at worst 5% when...while there is no hard and fast definition...."nearly impossible" in the minds of most reasonable people is almost certainly far less than 1%. Hell, maybe a 1 in a million shot. Turning a 1 in a million into a 1 in 20 is just what heroes do though right?
@@pencilbender I've seen player characters become farmers because they rolled for Stats with no floor or ceiling rules... Sometimes, you are not the hero nor the villain of the campaign.
As a cleric with plate armour and a shield, I had a great time recently when my DM surrounded me with minions. Having Spirit Guardians going and doing about a hundred points of damage per round made the character feel super powerful.
Perfectly explained, this is a must to every DM. The best way to have fun as a DM is to make your players have fun! Working WITH them and NOT AGAINST them makes them feel better and enjoy more your adventure, that's the whole point of DMing!
I started off what was intended to be a difficult encounter by casting “harm” on the Paladin… I hadn’t read the Paladin info recently and felt pretty dumb. On the bright side, the party was ecstatic that the were able to use a feature that almost never comes up in play! So in the end it was a win because they were happy
@@sloubser01 Divine Health. Paladins are immune to disease from level 3 onwards, and by extension the spells Contagion and Harm, which are expressly described as diseases.
@@sloubser01 divine health: makes them immune to disease. The spell “Harm” unleashed a disease. So no effect from my highest level spell in the encounter.
A Wildfire Druid can really catch a DM off-guard. The spirit it can summon deals 2d6 damage to creatures within 10 feet of it when it appears, then the druid can command it as a bonus action to move into the middle of a group of enemies and teleport itself and any of the druid's allies that are next to it back 15 feet and deal another 1d6+PB damage to the enemies that were next to the spot it left. That's 3d6+PB fire damage and repositioning allies, and it can do the teleportation thing every round, which can really mess up a DM's battle plans. Another way to deal with the stealthy characters (even with invisibility) is for enemies to be moving in groups down hallways. The "patrol" is occupying too much space for the character to slip past them, so even though they are invisible and are making no sound to get spotted, the character still needs to find some way to avoid the patrol physically bumping into them. Make it even more interesting by having a second group approach from the opposite direction so the PC is sandwiched between them and needs to get real creative to avoid contact. Frequent delays trying to avoid roaming groups can cause the PC to become pressed for time to finish scouting before the magic effects wear off. Also, doors that are locked or stuck (having to use some amount of force to get them open) can further limit how much exploration can be done without discovery. Don't use these tactics to completely shut down the stealthy exploration approach, but you can use them to make things more tense and interesting, and keep the "big reveal" hidden until the whole party is there to discover it. On the point about making convincing statements for high CHA characters, I don't like the "just give it to them" without a roll approach based solely on roleplay, as it creates a disparity between PLAYERS that are good at roleplay and CHARACTERS that should be good at talking to others. We don't let a character land an attack on an enemy without a roll just because the player demonstrates they can swing a sword real good IRL, or even if they describe their attack in some cool way, so why are we treating the CHA-based rolls any different? I'll give advantage/disadvantage on a check or adjust the DC up or down a couple points based on the nature of what is said (appeals to ego, altruism, etc.) and how well that aligns with the NPC's personality/ideals, but that is the extent of the influence I allow roleplay to have over the outcome, and I make similar allowances for other skill checks (not combat actions) based on the approach the players take to making those checks. Combat has its own mechanics for applying advantage/disadvantage already, so I don't allow roleplay alone to modify that, but I do give inspiration for good roleplay.
OMG your points on charisma are spot on. I also bend things with intelligence based characters in my party, I have a wizard being played by a 22 yo guy without much life experience. So what I do, even if the character is split from the party, I allow the party to discuss things out of character and what ever ideas they come up with, I say the wizard is smart enough to have come up with it on their own. Kinda like phone a friend to fill the gap of a 19-20 int stat vs us in reality.
As a wildfire druid, I've started flying my elemental over them and casting thorn whip through the elemental, bringing them 30 feet into the air and dropping them. Then going in for the teleport damage. It's easier than us dropping a whale on them.
For high damage parties, consider giving your bosses magic items to help them survive, which then becomes meaningful loot opportunities for the players. Especially if they are homebrew, players can get really excited over things like that.
Or, instead of single monster use more monsters. If a character can do 20 HP of damage on average per round, then four monsters with 5 HP are going to last longer than single one with 20, especially if you spread them out on the battlefield. In other words, in both cases a monster goes down with a single attack, but in the first case the extra 15 HP are "wasted" and don't contribute to ending the battle quicker.
For the rogue with stealth abilities at low levels. Once my niece was playing a rogue was teamed with a druid with "pass without a trace". They rolled down a spiral staircase because they both failed they're dex saves. TPK as they rammed into a wall and alerted the guards they had no idea were there. Fun for me but not for her.
One of my Dungeons was simply a large ass valley deep in the mountains. It was covered in Runes of great complexity and a quick look suggested the runes were made in blood of varying ages. The noticeable part of the valley tho was mountain sized Gundam in pieces spread through it. Observation made it plane the runes were putting the pieces together but notably the head/arms/legs/hands/feet were missing so the mere torso and neck was the size of a mountain. well the area surrounded by mountains and full of dead and dryish yet still partially green grass seemed like a good spot to burn. Unfortunately they failed to realize how much magic was stored in the running runes. One Thermite arrow later they blew up the valley by breaking the rune with the flame. Plot armor saved them as this was season 2 or 3 and I really wanted them to get something done. Some foes lived also since it was flash bang fast with the heat and light of the explosion. It was a mess but not as epic as I was hoping. but One of the NPC had a beserk mode that activated at the sight of blood creating a hulk class issue to deal with also... Bad guys got away that were in charge of that valley using Gravity powers to fly off with the scraps of the Gundam.
My player: "NYAHAHAHA HOW WILL YOU HURT MY PALADIN/FORGE CLERIC/ARTIFICER NOW!? THEY HAVE AN AC OF 22 AT LEVEL 5!!!" Me, the DM: "Yeah I need you to make a Dexterity Saving Throw." Them: :o
This is super helpful! I’ve been a player before (your videos have really helped me get started on D&D as such), but I’m planning to start running one of the pre-writtens. You raise a lot of good points, especially with regards to the dm’s role with the dice (haha). I suspect my particular group will likely try some of these things at least once, but I agree that it’s a good idea to not rely solely on knee-jerk reactions, and hold up creativity, on both ends of the screen, as something to be celebrated. Keep up the great work dudes! Thanks!
Love the suggestion of sometimes leaning into the strengths of your players' characters. I usually do this at least once a session to have those great memorable moments. Keying some combat encounters, skill challenges or situations to the skill set of one of the characters is such a rewarding experience when seeing the players thrive
Excellent points in this video. I think it's very important to keep in mind that your most important job as a DM is to make sure everyone at the table is having fun. What 'fun' looks like is different for each table - some groups don't want 'hard mode' all the time. It feels great as a player to have your planning in character creation pay off when you nullify an encounter with a well placed spell or skill check, or by getting a lucky crit as a barbarian. Players like to be challenged, but they also like to pull of a cool flashy maneuver that makes you tear up an encounter every once in awhile. It's easy to slip into the mindset that you are there to play against your party; that isn't the case. You're officiating the monsters, but that doesn't mean your role as a DM is an adversarial one.
On flip side, telling the invisible player that their opponents know roughly where they are because the invisible player didn't stealth after becoming invisible is always fun. Obviously they still get the usual advantages that go with invisibility but it's not as if they've completely evaporated.
Yes. And that goes both ways. Our GM had a Night Hag facing us, and the witch went invisible as my swordsman charged her. But I knew where she'd been standing, so I told him, "I'm attacking the space where I last saw her." It turned out, she hadn't moved. I was at disadvantage, of course, but I still scored a hit that wound up being the deathblow. Her body and head became visible simultaneously as they rolled away from one another. Great moment.
That seems like a cheap gotcha. If the player is taking actions implying they wish to not be detected you should at least ask if they want to "use stealth" before assuming they didn't.
@@hewhogoesbymanynames "Using stealth" is the Hide action, which costs an action unless you're a rogue. So if someone casts Invisibility on themself, they can't take the Hide action unless they're a Rogue or used Quicken Spell.
I had a PC who was a 1/2 Variel- flying- elf. Before the game we negotiated that he couldn't yet fly, but we started him out with a 15 ft up/across "hop."(All this also required skill checks) The first encounter was a skill challenge where the party would chase a runaway mule. The Variel aced his "hop," landed in front of the mule and caught it, and ended the skill challenge right there. It was pretty awesome, and we went right to having drinks with the mule's owner which led them into the actual adventure.
On characters using flight, we didn't use flight much for several months for several levels, lots of places that flight wasn't really needed. the DM kinda forgot about it. There was a lighthouse on a peninsula, a large storm battering the area, and pirate ogres had taken over the lighthouse demanding a ransom to turn the light on. I looked at the other player and said, "hey you only weight X with all your gear soaking wet right?". He looked at his sheet and said " sounds about right". Me "hit me the fly spell and I can carry you to the lighthouse, we can start at the top and work our way down." And we did just that. The ogres had fortified the tower and the path to the tower. We cleared the lighthouse approaching all the barricades and fortifications from the back. Also, the environment worked in our favor with the ogres being stuck fighting us 1 at a time going up the stairs, instead of being able to gang up on us 2-3 to 1. The next tower we came to was set up so that you start at the top and work your way down to the bottom where the exit was. It became a thing, we start at the top of the tower and clear our way down.
The best advice is to know your players characters. If you play to their strengths and weaknesses and alternate how you are highlighting, then it will be fun for everyone! I haven’t finished watch, but don’t forget to use your environment to make it more difficult. If your high AC melee character can’t get to the to the bad guys, or just slow them down, it won’t be a cake walk.
Great video. 100% agree that the players should be describing their actions and the DM calling for checks, not the players declaring they’re going to make a check. In fact, I think the key is to stop thinking that the basic rule is “the player makes a check and if they meet the DC they succeed at the thing”. It’s not that. It’s “when the player attempts something that could either succeed or fail, they make an ability check” and then you resolve it. This is the DM setting the stakes by determining what is and isn’t possible in context. It’s not some extra step or exceptional circumstance. It’s part of the core gameplay loop, and it comes before rolling the dice. Even if there is going to be a roll, setting stakes means you still decide what success and failure mean in the present context. This is how you avoid the opposite problem: the bard makes a performance check to play a song for a group of townspeople, hoping to impress them so they’ll be more willing to help the party. She rolls a 1. Does that mean she breaks the e string on her lute and falls off the stage? No, she’s the Bard! It just means it was a bit of an uninspired performance and the audience clap politely but aren’t especially moved. Once I started approaching the game this way it got much easier to create organic, satisfying scenes and narratives.
Never had the chance to DM myself, but I remember in my first ever D&D game, I (as a dwarf barbarian) had picked up some leftover firebombs that some goblins/kobolds (can't remember which) had been throwing at the party. I then immediately blundered forward into a cavern inhabited by a Roper, and got caught by it. I had already been knocked down to zero HP, and brought back with healing magic once, but I was still grappled, and I was on a handful of hit points... so I said to the DM that I would take a bomb, and shove it as far down the Roper's throat as I could... He ruled that the monster would bite me (knocking me back to 0 again) but then basically said "roll for damage", and tripled the dice roll! That was fun...
Will-o-wisp are a fun addition to any encounter that takes place just about anywhere; ruins, old dungeons, or even open fields late at night (because that field was maybe the location of a big battle once upon a time). They are great to add one, maybe 2 to a low level undead fight, and teach players that even a tiny, seemingly mundane creature, can become a challenge. 22hp average, 19AC resistance to almost all nonmagical dmg, and immunity to many conditions, makes them look tough, but they have very low saves except for dexterity. They can be taken out rather quickly and easily.
for bosses i like the Mythic monsters that where introduced in MOoT. basically take a boss, when it dies first time it gets full HP again and some more abilities. this gives a second phase to the boss fight and lets the boss survive longer. this can be done in multiple way, like the boss is almost dead then starts mutating as it is consumed by a demon. or as the giant Naga falls dead its body burst open revealing another Naga that where controlling the other ones body. or the giant spider queen is swarmed by her brood protecting her from your attacks.
Our DM brought in a D&D version of the geneva convension covering some use of illusion, telepathy, mind control and polymorph/creation in sort of a cold war espionage style quest, it was a lot of fun as we could risk breaking the rules as long as we wern't caught doing it. (polymorph it into a tortoise, use creation to create an 1ft adamantine razerblade cage with a hole big enough to insert tortoise then stab it. A little messy when done to a giant but was effective in making a statement)
Wild Shape can be really useful in some ways that can be unexpected. For example. My druid once gathered Intel on an enemy army's battle plan by spending an entire day as the commanding generals warhorse.
This was a really good video for me, I'm a new-ish DM and all of these points resonated with me. I'm trying to keep them in mind as I move onto the next campaign. Thank you! Familiars really screwed me the last campaign
I think it's actually fun if they surprise you as the DM to act it out as the villain too.. like "How did you?!.." as a player-- surprising a mini boss or something seems very fun lol
Before I get into it, feel free to play this any way you want, it’s your game. I noticed you said that when asking for perception checks you don’t allow passive perception. According to Crawford (forgot where the interview is but I can find it if anyone is curious) that passive perception is basically the floor of your perception. If I have a passive perception of 18 and I roll 12, then my roll is actually an 18. This is because passive perception isn’t your passive senses, it’s basically the ability to NOT have a player roll. Your character is assumed to be looking around all the time. If they’re distracted this should be represented in disadvantage (-5 to passive perception). And if they are SUPER distracted or their senses are muddled (like in a loud crowd) then maybe their perception (both roll and passive) shouldn’t matter. Idc what you say, my character can’t hear water dripping behind two walls when in a boisterous tavern playing loud music. They might hear heavy footsteps outside, but just keep it in context. Now if we’re talking about looking for something not in plain sight, that’s an investigation roll which is it’s own thing. If you want a bit more evidence, the observant feat mentions passive investigation. How would you passively investigate anything? It’s not based on you actively or passively looking for something, the passive investigation is to show that when I’m looking at a desk, or walking down a hallway looking around, my passive investigation might find something without me specifically rolling for it (although passive investigation is pretty dumb, it’s just for an example)
For the stealth in the high grass thing, its far, far more effective than you might think it is. In a game called dead by daylight you can play as a monster that hunts 4 other survivor players, and you'd be surprised how often people get away with hiding in high grass around you as the monster. Yes if you have high enough perception and know to look for it you might find them, but if your not expecting it, you'll often look right at them and miss that they are there the first few times you move through the area.
Let me introduce you to reality: you walk in high grass - you leave a trail of flattened grass. Hiding in a spot leaves a hole where you replace the high grass with your body, making it very obvious to anything that looks from a little higher point of view, that something is going on. And not to mention when you walk through high grass, you move the grass - making it even easier to spot that there is something moving ...
High grass actually can hide people really well even in reality. If you move slowly and carefully and people aren't paying attention. Source: lived in the country and played in tall grass all the time. Of course it depends on just how tall the grass is.
@@MrMjerace If "people aren't paying attention" you can walk by them on the street with no trouble. And you say you lived in the country ... ok? Ever walked through a field of wheat (= high grass) ... the trail is so obvious you can see it for a long time. Your dog ran into a field? How do you find them? Watch where the grass is moving and you know. So if you really ever where in high grass you weren't hidden because of it, but because someone wasn't paying attention (or your parents just were kind to you).
@@torstenwinkler8610 If the grass is high enough to be at or above the observer's view is when I imagine it becomes hard to spot people. You mention wheat specifically though, is that not grown in rows? If so I would imagine someone crawling prone over the dirt between them could be hard to spot. If not, then I could imagine it being a poor choice of hiding spot.
5:40 I just thought of something in regards to the rust monster. Have the encounter with the rust monster and have them lose their equipment and if they track the monster back to its lair (or perhaps sticking to it) they find a partial map or a clue of some kind a previous adventurer that was killed had to a small treasure hoard and make it so it takes 2-3 sessions to find and complete but when they get there everyone who lost something finds a slightly better version of what they lost. You take away some of their stuff, give them some challenges for 2-3 sessions while they track down the treasure or whatever and then reward them for (assumably) being creative with the challenge presented and earn something slightly better.
My favorite "solution" to super high Stealth modifiers was when a Nat-1 roll came up. High-Dex Bard with Proficiency in Stealth cast Invisibility on himself to sneak through the enemy camp. It was going great, until he tried to sneak past a guard only about 5 feet away. Despite rolling with Advantage because of Invisibility, he still managed to just roll double Nat-1s! I described how he was so focused on looking at thre guards and prisoners, he tripped over a tent's rope and stumbled onto the wall of a canvas tent, thus revealing his location and starting a huge hunt by over 100 enemies for this invader.
@@Aarenby Nat 1s are often still failures on their own, so having them act as failures even for ability checks is hardly considered “homebrewing” just a natural extension of what a low roll means in most situations.
Something about Stealth every DM forgets. While hidden, your movement is reduced by half. There is a rogue feature that says they can ignore it, so that's something you need to use. I have to remind me DM's I'm slowed. It's a good thing that ONE is tackling this.
When I first started to get into dnd, I decided to just write my own campaign and I didn't even understand any of the rules or anything and it when horrible. It was basically written as a giant railroad and in the second session they were supposed to be kidnapped by the bbeg and everything counted on that but the druid turned invisible and completely derailed the campaign. I was really mad when it first happened but looking back on it I find it hilarious.
I've been struggling a lot with balancing combat. I have some people very familiar with the game. These videos help a lot in trying to find creative solutions that don't eliminate player agency.
7:45 This part reminds me of Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time when you are trying to get to the princess and sneaking through the courtyards in broad daylight, but there are obstacles to use as cover to make the situation attainable.
As an infantry officer, I’ve learned that it is shockingly easy to hide a large group of people in grass that isn’t very tall. One time, we were lying near some bushes (“in the bushes” would be too generous) waiting for an exercise to start. Some of the role players in the village walked down a path and through the middle of the platoon. I just watched them pass, figuring the event hadn’t started yet so they were leaving us alone. Then they came back through our platoon and back to the village. It turns out they hadn’t seen us at all, even walking a few feet from me.
One-shotting the big bad guy can be so memorable for the players they remember it years after. We still laugh and remember fondly our "battle" against the boss of a goblin horde, that got accidentally one-shotted (lucky crits and situational awareness). It was years ago, but we still remember it fondly. On the other hand, my players still remember when the bad guy one-shotted their leader. The fact that it left a bunch of low-level character fend for themselves so suddenly, was a story-defining element for them. The battle was more than twenty years ago, but if you ask any of my old players do they remember the Old Priest getting killed, they will smile fondly, and remember the whole campaign after that when they tried to do the mission without their lead.
Also note the newer Vortex Warp spell under teleportation. It may catch some by surprise when the party teleports a Talos worshiper into the middle of them. They all readied actions to beat him up… XD
once, in a massive game of hide and seek, I was one of those hiding. It was dark out and I had carefully fitted myself amongst some supplies piled by a building in the shadows not far from the street lights. I figured the nearby light would have blinding effect when looking into shadowy areas. A seeker came through and started sifting through some of the supplies. Only a few feet from me, he looked in another direction and said "I can see you. come out!". That tipped me off to his ruse. But then he looked right at my face, and said it again. The rule was you had to touch the hider before they would be officially found, so I kept my cool but was certain he was about to reach out and touch my head. He didn't. He moved on and I got the satisfaction of hearing him say to his team "there's no one back there". Best irl stealth story of my life.
I have a college of eloquence bard named Scamp Honeytongue who has a +13 on his Persuasion, Deception, and Performance skills as well as a high Perception score. (good stats and expertise in the those skills). With the silver tongue ability of my bard archetype I couldn't have a result of less than a 23 on my persuasion and deception rolls. I got a lot of mileage out of that in negotiations with NPC's. But what I enjoyed most was using the Enhance Ability spell to get advantage on Charisma checks right before performing with my lute at an inn or tavern. I earned much extra gold and silver that way and gained a following. (the tavern wenches loved him for sure because I gave them great tips) I even created an insulting song about a greedy local lord which even his soldiers started singing about him behind his back. Made him a laughingstock. Good times!
I don't always agree with things these two say, but I strongly appreciate their points of view and how they consistently come from a wealth of experience. Good work
On Perception Rolls. I disagree a little with asking players what they're looking for. Instead I ask where specifically they are searching and how they're looking. In RL if I open a draw looking for a wallet I will still notice that there's keys in there as well. Also, be sure to differentiate between skills and allow for some synergy. Perception is not Investigation. I play Perception as what a character can sense requiring no understanding or analysis. A party member making a good perception check might help someone else's Investigation. A good Investigation check might allow someone to make a knowledge skill check (Arcana, History etc). let the party act as a team but not just spam the same roll. Not much gets past five separate perception checks. However you play this, be sure to have the NPCs follow the same logic.
I completely shocked my DM once when we were playing Curse of the Netherdeep. My Water Genasi Tempest Cleric saw two corrupted giant sharks approaching and cast Control Water to part the waters like Moses at the Red Sea. The sharks were pushed away, and we walked down the pathway. His jaw was hitting the table as he scrambled to figure out how to proceed with us completely avoiding the encounter.
Once upon a time on my first campaign I had a player that kept spamming mold earth to create tunnels on rocky caves and completely ignore the physical walls on those caves to create shortcuts. It was until I found that Mold earth doesn't actually affect solid rock, only loose earth. I trusted the players and their abilities at the time and I accepted their solution but then when we finally read the spell carefully again we were like WOW we can't do this but we've done it multiple times 🤣
I feel like being familiar with most of the spells in the game can really help when improvising on certain encounters. There were times I swap spells on the fly of the same level if I feel a certain one matches a monster and will make the encounter more dramatic. But I only do it if I can do so quickly enough that the players barely notice XD
I notice from Drakkenheim, Monty is a big fan of multiple waves in terms of dealing with player abilities to deal with large groups... Which I think is smart. Basically you're not putting all your pieces out to get destroyed at once. However, Monty still gets caught off guard by diplomacy with ghosts. Though Monty did turn diplomacy with rats around... Hmmm.... For me, I've just taken to cranking up HP on my encounters, especially bosses. I always have to set my bosses to at least whatever the maximum roll would be. It's been the only way for me to get more than 1 and a half rounds out of a boss encounter.
Personally, if I'm worried that an encounter might be too hard, just staggering out the enemies is also another use for the 'wave' fights, instead of doing it as a counter to one-shotting the mooks.
After our last session I asked our DM to nerf our familiars. We had just finished a super awesome dungeon that she put lots of work into but it felt like the optimal thing to do was to worg into our familiars and scout everything ahead of time. This sidelines the players without familiars and makes it boring for em. I noticed this halfway through the dungeon and adjusted my play to only use the familiar sparingly for scouting. The way we nerfed them is that we removed the worging ability and instead made it so we can just send the familiars out and get a summary upon their return.
You do not need to nerf find familiar. You can only communicate and use your familiars senses if it is within 100 feet of you. You can not scout an entire dungeon with it and something as simple as a door can stop the familiar.
In AC3, the implemented a mechanic where the bad guys could have dogs which would alert even if you were in the tall grass. Could be a cool mechanic to prevent sneaking in grass
Hi Monty and Kelly, just a quick question or two (now that I've finished, I guess there might be more... Sorry and thanks) about your personal experience with the D&D 5e and other TTRPGs you've played in the past. Could you tell me something more about that? Like when did you first play your first TTRPG? What game was it? What was it about? How did you get to 5e? How many campaigns have you been part of so far and how many have you finished? What genres were or are they and what were or are they about? In comparison to Drakkenheim series how different were or are they? What do you think changed, got different or got better or worse as the time went on from your first time playing? When and why did you start this great YT channel? What do you think could be done better in the ideal TTRPG and what should definitely stay the same in the future games like this? What do your personal games look like now, how often do you play, how many games do you actively run now, how long do your usual game session last, do you concentrate purely on the game or are they more relaxed, fist you enjoy the time with your friends and talk about news and other stuff and as time goes on you slowly shift towards playing the game, even then sometimes talking about real life, when do you usually end, when the time is up, when the GM is out of ideas how to continue, or when you're finally filled with the excitement from the game, do you do something towards the game outside of it, like chatting as the characters or plotting out the future plans, do you play online or all at one place, do you play other TTRPGs or include homebrew into your games, if so what amount? And one question about your life, what are your hobbies, I guess other than playing D&D 5e with friends? Sorry for the interrogation style of questioning, but I'm having a new game soon and wanted to try new attitude towards it so the questions kinda started and never stopped 😅. Love what you've done and still do. Much love, take care and bye ❤️
Yes, High AC is a very fun experience. my DM sent a pair of young green dragons at us, and I dueled one while the rest of the group got knocked down by the other. i took a toral of 18 damage in that fight, although, to be fair, I had resistance to poison on top of AC 22
My DM seemingly forgot I was playing a Rogue the other day. He gave me a home brew magic item that gave me +5 to slight of hand. Well I took expertise in slight of hand several levels ago so that bumped me up to +13 in that skill at level 5........ The look on his face when I stole a magic sword off the back of an NPC in front of everyone and shoved it into a bag of holding that another party member has, without ANYBODY noticing, was priceless.
Hey guys I was always wondering this. I love the way modules are set up. I really love writing except I just find the writing of regular adventures bland. I love how each module has "read aloud text" and things like that. I want my adventures I write to look and FEEL official with read aloud text and statblocks and everything. I was wondering if sometime in the future you could make a video on how to write and actual module. bc I see that you've done it yourself and quite well in your dungeons of drakkenheim kickstarter and I loved it.
once i realized that the characters in a game of D&D are supposed to be overpowered that made DMing make a lot more sense
@@DabroodThompson If you want low power it would probably be a good idea to try another system.
The problem with dnd is that much of the things destinguishing different characters are unlocked at higher levels.
You would really want a system that distinguishes evasion/armor AC, a point with the differences in weapon damage types and any other change that creates variety.
There is nothing wrong with enjoying low power dnd, but one shouldn't be afraid to look into other systems either. DnD is only considered the best because it's so good at those sweetspot levels.
Just means you have to throw more difficult stuff at them and let the pieces fall where they may.
@@ltloxa1159 I will readily admit that I haven't tried enough other rpg's to compare them fairly, but from my limited experience outside of DnD and my extensive experience within it, my very favorite play style is low-power, low magic, high grit. For me, there's no better game to play or run than 5e with moderate to high realism and no full casters.
edit: because let's be honest, it's not the martial characters who "break" games. I love full-casters, but I like the gameplay better without them.
@@ltloxa1159 You might check out the Dungeon Coach. He has a neat homebrewed armor system
Yoooo T1J! love your videos man, I have learned so much from them.
I had a shining moment in a dungeon a while back. With a Warforged Spore Druid, I had encountered a room full of corrupt vines meant to grapple and suffocate the party. I had cast the spell Speak with Plants to communicate with the whole room at once. Learning the vines had been grown there for one sole purpose, my Druid offered the plants a better life if they merged with him. They accepted the offer and my DM had me take necrotic damage for every 5ft of vines, as well as become “enlarged” for a time with the extra mass of vines. The effect wore off as soon as my Druid came back to the surface. It really helped me feel like the protector of nature. Turning angry and corrupt life and freeing it from its bonds.
That is super cool
Both super creative and an awesome DM ruling
Warforged druid.... Very interested in that character. Interested in sharing?
I love what your Dm allowed you to do, as well as your creativity!
@@michaelgroce966 www.dndbeyond.com/sheet-pdfs/DaKraut_52708577.pdf
The idea came to me when choosing the race. I knew I want we to be a Druid, so I thought “What would make a better druid than one MADE of magical wood?”
Warforged moon druid is my favorite beast war transformer lol
One of the funniest rogue stealth moments I've had as a DM was during a surprise round them surprising the enemy, and the rogue hiding in a tree, that turned out to be a hostile awakened tree that rolled low on initiative. The rogue was able to hide and shoot twice before getting attacked by his cover.
Love it.
I had a similar situation where the party fled from a witch...and tried to hide in her animated cottage.
That’s so awesome 😂
At one point, my players were relying too much on invisibility. My solution was to have the guard captain call for the K-9 patrol. Invisibility doesn't help much when dealing with creatures with keen senses of smell. Dogs are low level creatures that can be trained to have bonuses to detect invisible creatures. Sending them in pairs gives you double the chance of finding sneaky PCs.
That's honestly genius, that's a great idea and it shows a reasonable escalation in difficulty based on the players choices.
@@destinpatterson1644 If you use the sidekick rules from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, you can give the guard dogs increased levels, hit points, and feats like alertness and toughness. A pair of such dogs can give even high level thieves all they can handle.
@@robertbailey5239 it would be so cool to run a stealth/intrigue campaign, now I have another idea for a campaign that I want to run for my players lol, I'll have to throw it on the pile
Just remember by RAW... Even if you could see an invisible creature. They still apply the effects of Invisibility. You will have to cast Dispel Magic on an magical invisible creature. Otherwise, you will always attack it with dis adv.
@@absolstoryoffiction6615 Then you just have them carry flour with them, and I would honestly argue that your blood wouldn't be invisible
Talking about creative use of spells and abilities reminded me of one session, when our party was travelling of the beaten track through the snowy mountains. To make our travel faster our Cleric casted Water Walk to make us not fall deep into the snow and my Druid aided him by using Control Water time and time again to shape the snow into the stairs. Later that day, having no safe place to rest, my Druid spent like an hour using Control Water again to work with snow and shape it into an igloo, so we were not only safe and warmer, but also practically invisible from the distance, as the igloo blended nicely with the snowy environment. We didn't have to fight a bunch of Frost Giants because of that.
And your story just made me imagine then they because of this the party accidently gets stepped on my a frost giant (I don't know how big a frost giant is the average PC just was a funny mental image. Them all suddenly getting cartoonishly squashed flat)
My go to igloo creation spell is leomunds tiny hut, just cast it and then pack snow onto it and bam, easy peasy igloo
@@evilsquirrel0573 That was our way to do it back when PCs able to cast it were still alive.
This really was easier in second edition
That sounds like one of the most boring sessions of Dungeons & Dragons I may have ever heard.
You, and your party of fellow adventures, would rather hide then fight Frost Giants??? What are you a scared little 5 year old girl or a badass adventurer.
I would have never returned to that table had my group decided to hide instead of battle.
Please don't ever be the scared pussy at the table that is trying to convince everyone to hide and not start a fight.
Not a single person at the table will like you.
If you want to hide go play hide and seek.
PS. Everyone hates you if you are a rogue who is constantly railroading every session by interrupting other players and continuously demanding them to stop their plan because you, the Rogue, wants to be sneaky and avoid combat like a little bitch.
No one likes to sit silently for literal hours while the DM and Rogue have a sneak around session. Inexperienced DMs will let a rogue do this and not realize that their entire session revolve around the Rogue in the DM while the other players just sat there twiddling their thumbs.
For the [High Armor Class] segment, I would also like to remind DMs that Grapple and Shove do not care about your player's AC. Furthermore, if you're surrounding them with cannon fodder there are plenty of bodies to perform the Help action and give others Advantage in trying to hold him still or knock him prone. Once you have a prone/grappled warrior, now his more squishy party members are going to have to be the ones rushing in to save him and everyone feels like they accomplished something, even the seemingly ganged up on warrior who was fighting off goblins with everything he had.
grapple goes against ac before making the check
@@sersmiles1635 I don’t think that is anywhere in the rules
Monsters sometimes have special attacks that come with an autograpple if it hits, but there is nothing stopping them from foregoing that and do the standard skill check grapple.
@@encapturer Thanks for helping clear that up. I was thinking "Oh shoot, have I been doing it wrong?" Boy would my face have been red.
Or just do what Monty did when he was DMing against Kelly playing a character with like 28 AC - just keep hitting him with Lightning Bolts.
I recently let Hold Person work on a Green Hag boss encounter because I forgot they're Fey and not Humanoid. It's a distinction I and my players have called out many times over the two years of this campaign, but it slipped all of us anyway.
I immediately started worrying that they'd trivialized the encounter, but then the hag's pet Giant Ravens caused about 250 points of fall damage over the next two rounds. Turns out we had all miscalculated who was really in charge of that coven.
😂😂
Hahahaha nice!
Kelly is slowly becoming a real necromancer before our very eyes.
Looking good Kelly! I like the hat!
Looking exceptionally fine in this vid.
Maybe a necromancer who got into smooth jazz before he became evil
Kelly looks so rad
& Monty has the skin tone of a vampire
Another thing that can help the hit chance of low level minions is throw a priest with bless or something like the Hobgoblin Captain's Leadership feature. Suddenly taking +3 or 4 up to +4 to 8, and making an encounter where they want to deal with the tougher captain first to stop the minion damage
Our DM loves sending in waves of minions, usually with a "Sargeant" type monster in the final wave to either directly back up the main baddy or replace them of they get taken out earlier. It ends up with us moving around a lot to handle dicey positioning and a few times we've even gotten flanked by waves. So far I've had a good time with it and it keeps the fights dynamic so I gotta give props to our DM for it.
My DM never misses an opportunity to flank with even the dumbest enemy, they are usually placed behind us lol, and even hit us when were down critting us to death lol, we are so underpowered we had to All share a +1 dagger to damage a werewolf (stab,drop,step aside..next PC picks it up and repeats the move)
@@paulpicot4285 "You kids have it so easy nowadays. back in my day we were told to kill a werewolf before we were even level 3 with a +1 dagger, and we had to share the dagger."
@@hmad898 I imagine sepia-toned memories of characters picking up the dagger and calling out "Thaco!"
I once played a rogue that while being incredibly stealthy hid bombs all around an enemy base. My DM loved it so much that he cut to enemies reactions as the bombs detonated
Dude, cutting away is an excellent thing to sprinkle in to DMing, super fun and can show players another side of things (or just be hilarious). I love it when DM's do this.
Que the slow walk away scene while explosions are happening behind the rogue lol
@@Lurklen yah one of the bombs I hid I put in a poker pool. When he cut to the explosion a guard had just won the pot. He then died.
@@jacobkeyser8628 Haha, nice, I can see it.
reminded of something we did with our ragtag band. We were gifted blasting potions that were essentially bottled Fireball spells at some point, and one of our big end-game moments for the starting adventure was destroying a ballistae that basically shot holes in any ship trying to enter or exit the islands. When we finally made a go for it, my Battlemaster gave one to the ranger and improvised a bomb arrow, and our starting turn was blowing it to cinders.
Even as a veteran DM these kind of revisiting the basics videos are super nice
I just started DMing only a few weeks ago. One of my players is using the MCDM Talent class. I looked over the class very briefly and gave them the ok. Last session, after the party had been attacked by a nasty group of monsters, the Talent player took the biggest creature's tooth and used one of their abilities to see from the tooth's perspective for the PAST 8 HOURS... I nearly crapped myself. This was just a random encounter after the result of a poor roll of fortune telling. First time I genuinely had to think completely on the fly, and it's created a cool moment and a new story thread. Not something that surprised me mechanically, but still funny to think about.
I'll add a random bit in here that I tried to share with my kid when teaching him about DMing and maybe it will get picked up for future episodes. The role of the DM is NOT antagonistic to the party, it is the gate-keeper and keeper of 'fair and fun' gameplay, but the DM AND THE PARTY are trying to COLLECTIVELY tell a fun, interesting, and memorable story. That means you WANT to let the players get away with absurd nonsense - when it fits the story and can be worked with. You WANT the encounters to be tough enough that maybe 1 or 2 party members get knocked unconscious every few combat encounters. You WANT party deaths to be rare and significant, giving your players time to digest what happened and figure out how their character feels about things. You WANT the party to ultimately succeed in killing the big baddie and winning the day - but it should not be a cake-walk. Of special note, the numbers in the DMG are good base stats - if you built a cool dungeon and your party is ripping through it without breaking a sweat, feel free adding a couple extra monsters or maybe an extra hit die and/or damage to an upcoming monster so that they can actually take a scratch or two. Part of the reason why the DM has a secret little area in front of them is that it lets you adjust things on the fly IN ORDER TO MAKE A MORE MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE. Sometimes that means the monsters can miraculously live through an extra round of combat if the story calls for it. Other times it means the monsters show up to a fight damaged. EVERYTHING is negotiable until it happens, and that point is important ONCE IT HAPPENS, leave it on the table AS IT HAPPENED. You shouldn't be taking away from players AFTER they pulled off some ridiculous skill feat - they earned it, let them have it - you can just put another obstacle in front of them that you weren't otherwise planning on to get the same moment you were looking for. A properly manage campaign is never too easy nor is it too tough on the party, it is tough ENOUGH to make them feel like they are exhausted by the time it's over, but they had some good moments along the way.
Encounter design doesn't end because you rolled initiative.
@@TnTyson81 THIS.
Yes, to all of this. Even as a simple PC, I remain helpful for everyone at the table
Shhh... Don't say it so loudly, players could be listening! Jk, totally agree of course and improv of all sorts is a very important skill for DMing. I do wonder how much knowledge of how common this is could "spoil" things for certain players... Maybe I'm just paranoid, since I'm fine playing with DMs who I know do this.
@@vfanon oh, I've definitely killed party members when they do stupid stuff, I am not against punishing dumb moves, I am against setting up unwinnable scenarios. The goal is to just give players an out.
Especially with spell casters, as they level up, you can provide puzzle situations with no clear solution or no solution at all and just let the players go crazy with their magic. The things players can come up with when trying to solve a puzzle in front of them is great, it's the best part of the game IMO, but when DMing, my job is to keep things moving along, give people time to explore, and give them challenges that they can and should be able to accomplish, though not always without injury.
Possibly one of the most useful DND videos on TH-cam.
I do not say that lightly as I love Matt Colville & numerous others but this single video has many many amazing tips that more DMs need to know.
The greatest lesson I've learned when it comes to OP player characters is just to roll with the punches. Most time, just give them that heroic fantasy. However, when it comes to "boss fights" where a creature has learned of these OP tactics, have them prepared. This also applies when the PCs become ambivalent about their own power, and start taking things for granted.
This. I had a "boss fight" a few sessions ago and half the party wasn't there. The ones that attended were like, "Nah, it'll be fine". It was not fine; one member died and the rest were unconscious and the boss got away (and will now wreak havoc while they regroup). They were overconfident in their abilities because most of the fights they'd had up until then were pretty easy, but a good DM will bloody their noses every once in a while to remind them that there are consequences to their actions.
I like this advice but from an outaide perspective that seems like a balance issue
The main problem with OP characters is if it only applies to some of the player characters. On the whole, it doesn't matter what power level the characters have, as long as they all can play on the same level.
I won't allow powergaming or superhero / main characters because it screws over players trying to seriously engage with the game and roleplay.
Anything goes in one shots or 3 shots, but not in campaigns.
I'm mainly dnd3.5, but as long as each member of a party is over powered to roughly around the same level, its easier to work around. Make dice rolls higher, bump up monster stats a bit, choose monsters with higher CR, etc.
It's when one or two outclass the others is when things get out of hand. The challenge can't be too high that other players can't compete or too low that is too easy for the OP characters
Also, if a combat ends up easy , reflect on how things went. If everything went perfect for the players , it was likely fine. Sometimes monsters fail saves and players get Crits. You could do that same combat again and it'd have been much worse with different dice rolls
Yup. Rolls can make a world of difference. My party was once nearly killed by the animated armor at the beginning of CoS because for 6 rounds nobody rolled above 5 (well, we did get *one* good roll, but the armor was immune to psychic damage) and the armor kept rolling 15-20.
Also, easy combats are fine too.
@@jdRamza Yes, what I said really isn't about that. It's about reflecting on why a combat was easy when you feel it might have been too easy
The High AC one hits in the feel. My DM played in my game so he knew alot about how to make a character being familiar with the system (it was 3.5) So I learned the hard way to put spellcasters to challenge him on his rolls. He enjoyed it since when I put some spellcaster and told him roll a dex save he was like "you're learning" he said with a smile :D.
that's adorable, I hope my friends see me like that.
Remember that shoving or grabbing a PC doesn't require you to hit their armor, just beat them in a str/dex rolloff and huge creatures can carry a meduim sized player at their full movement speed straight towards whatever hazard is in the room.
In the Campaign I play right now, I am a Paladin, Hexblade, Draconic Sorcerer Multiclass, Normal AC 17 Cast Shield AC 22 and if I want to go overboard cast Shield of Faith for the sweet 24 AC
14:40 My DM gave us a boat load of skeletons right after my Cleric got Destroy Undead. Was great killing 20 Skeletons in one fell swoop. Really felt great getting to use my new shiny ability in such a big way.
My favorite trick for dealing with Counter Spell: stand 65ft+ away from the caster with it. As a player, I quickly found out the hard way that Counter Spell's main weakness (imo) is that range.
A bit of info on the tall grass bit. In video games the player having their head poke out is so that you don’t lose track of where you are. If you want to go more realistic on this hide in the overgrowth strategy you can ask the player to roll navigation or even perception themselves to not bump into guards searching the area. In broad daylight the only way to not be seen is to make it so neither side can see each other. Barring magical nonsense or crafty uses of mirrors.
The high AC, high damage, and disabling spells thing are why my DM does non-canon combat tests. He can see if his builds are too powerful for their CR, too weak, or if they’re built properly. Our party is level 10, and he once sent a CR 15 enemy at us, and we were able to beat it effortlessly, but one of his CR 12 enemies proved to be a serious challenge.
CR is such a difficult thing to judge difficulty by. My previous party of 3 relatively low level characters destroyed an Owlbear in one round, but also nearly got wiped in one round by a relatively small swarm of Giant Rats.
In my group we were able to beat a CR 15 when we were only lv 5. We just worked out a very good plan I guess and also got kinda lucky as well. Like I rolled on my spirt bard table and got the one where if they fail the save they are incapacitated and the creature ended up failing so it couldn’t do anything for a round.
Just went through a scenario casting invisibility on our monk and rogue so they could infiltrate a base a bit ahead of us. Myself and the rest of the party were going to come up behind with "pass without trace"
(Taken as magical secret) to set up a big battle. Unfortunately; rather than skirting the npcs , our rogue went up the gut and was spotted by a wandering guards passive perception . The alarm was raised and it was ... Game on! We survived but there was ... gore. Lots of gore.
You can also cast invisibility just for its effects about applying dis adv to all attacks made against you, since the rules are not what most players/DMs think it is.
In other words... In RAW... Invisibility is weird.
How did a guard's passive perception detect an invisible rogue. Even rolling a 1, the rogue had probably a +7 bonus for an 8 while the guard has Disadvantage to detect the rogue (-5 to passive Perception). I guess it's possible, but sheesh.
Invis and pass without trace are concentration spells, unless you had 2+ casters this is impossible
@@igotzelda I wasn’t trying to run the spells concurrently and concentrate on both. The idea was to get them into the room undetected and then hide. Drop invisibility, cast pwot so we could come down the long entrance undetected after them. Engage the force while the monk , rogue could ambush from the back. But it didn’t work out the way we planned anyways. Never got a chance to cast pwot to begin with because they never got into proper position before being spotted. Though the wizard in the group could very well have cast the invisibility I suppose. 🤗
@@boogaethje ahh nothing ever works out as planned!
We had a classic princesse bride poison cup stand off and the wizard used “create/destroy water” to see if there cup has poison and we found it
Good timing! I'm a first time DM about to start Icespire Peak with my family (mostly experienced), and it'll be good to keep an eye out on these things! Thanks for the videos Monty and Kelly!
I just finished Ice Spire peak as a player. I'm a forever DM so it was a lot of fun. Don't forget that part. This game is meant to be fun for everyone, inclining the DM.
Icespire was great.
Have fun! Hope it goes well.
Icespire peak was definitely a learning experience as a dm, mattering on your players dps I would recommend possibly upgrading the titular dragon, between the lvl 8 gwf barbarian and sharpshooter rogue the final battle of the story lasted most of a turn
@@Wyrmaster19 To be fair, if you follow the milestone rules the campaign comes with, the party should be level 6 during the fight and not level 8
Mobs with pack tactics can help alot for high AC chars also since you will likely double the amount of dice you roll then as a DM and it also still lets the player feel good knowing their still avoiding alot of the damage.
I rolled a high AC monk (pathfinder) recently and I can say from a player perspective, it really is fun avoid tons of rolls. And trust me, they do eventually hit, probably just as often if it was just a normal encounter.
It plays into that “how long can I hold before I have to escape” mentality.
If you want to damage the player, go for spells like magic missile. If you want to make the player run, give them something that can’t be hit directly, or something that damages the player if they attack directly.
If you just want to make a challenging encounter where the players win, get creative. Let the high AC player be a tank, while the other guys work on other minions that have flying or something.
Just last session, my players knew they were walking into a minefield of Gylphs of Warding, and the bard, who took Conjure Animals, burned his 7th level slot to send them all in ahead (Side Note, having an elk try and save against Feeblemind is so funny). It was awesome and they burned a big spell to do it, so I let it happen.
Actually, large groups are a great way to deal with High AC players. Flanking can do wonders for an enemy group in the same way it does for the party.
ah, not everyone uses flanking. i don't because i only have three players and they already have ways of getting advantage.
@@Hazel-xl8in Even if you don't use flanking a swarm of goblins is still capable of using actions like Help, Shove, and Grapple. A prone/grappled fighter/barbarian isn't getting much done while every enemy around them gains advantage and they lose any Dex bonus they have. Quick Edit: Imagine the scene of a player walking up to a swarm he expects to be invincible to only to have them pile all over him.
@@Team_BaM Horde of Zombies. Not a horde npc, but a horde of zombie npcs. After all, the grappling zombies + Cloudkill combo is probably popular in necromantic circles.
Or mob combat rules. You'll never crit with them, but you can guarantee hits on even infinite AC players with 20 mobs attacking at the same time.
@@Alex-cq1zr Oof that's a scary combo.
Our (very experienced) DM wanted to run a side campaign with a group of 5-6th level characters who were mercenaries focused around espionage and stealth and even he was taken aback when we rolled our first group stealth check and the lowest roll was a 37 (with Pass Without Trace).
With pass without a trace, perception just can’t beat stealth, you just can’t compete.
The way our DM handles characters with flight is that we only give them to our newbie characters because _they forget they can fly 90% of the time_
😂
I like to think that a high charisma skill works the same way as high stealth. No you cannot sneak in broad daylight past the guards in an open courtyard and no you cannot talk yourself out of a guard catching you standing over a dead body with a knife. But what you can do is cast a seed of doubt in the gaurds mind that you happen to be in the wrong spot at the wrong time, still get arrested, and now your party has to free you..... Or frame someone else and now you get to say I told you so to the guard
I’m just here to say that Kelly’s hat is awesome
That hat is hard to pull off. I am happy for him.
Me: [starts video, reads description, then looks at screen] "Thanks Dudes, this looks like an excellent lis- WHOA KELLY GOT A FRESH NEW LID, YASSS"
An absolute serve
All fedoras past the 1950's need to be burned...
Good thing this isn’t a fedora.
Absolutely digging the style, too bad I look awkward in any kind of hat... I'd love to look so good in them as Kelly
I was picking up a Depeche Mode vibe from Kelly that I just couldn't unsee.
This is my first time DMing a long term narrative campaign ever! Our group is playing in the Mythical Odysseys of Theros setting, and it has been really fun watching the player's creative solutions at the table. The Cleric has a 23 Passive Perception (+8 in with proficiency in the skill and Observant feat) also the Warlock just picked up Winged Shoes. Appreciate you touching on these points in this video to have a better idea on how to manage those situations!
I love this channel. Great video! I've learned so much from you two that has really made a difference in my games as far as running them and dealing with unexpected things at the table. You guys bring so much to the community. I and my PCs Thank you!
As a not so new player, but new DM , I recognize a lot of things. Most of this video I already know about but y'all definitely provided some insight into my campaign. (First time). Thank y'all
This is more niche than most of the list, but moon Druid wild shapes at low levels are rough to dm for.
As a moon druid, when I got wild shapes I went from a scrawny pc with 9 hp at level one to a juggernaut with over 100 effective hp at level two by wild shaping into a giant Hyena twice a day.
True
DM in a game I played limited the hitpoints to 20 and attacks to 1.
100 hp??? It's 6D10 +12
And how are you getting access to giant hyena at lvl 2 moon druid when it's a cr 1 and you can't get cr 1 creatures till 8th druid lvl????
@@BurntBuntCake Circle Form, the Moon Druid subclass rite, states specifically that you can transform into CR 1 creatures at lvl 2.
Also I'm assuming the 100 HP calculation is over a day; 45(giant hyena) x2 (twice a day) =90 + 9 (the mentioned HP at lvl 1)+ 5 something HP for lvl 2. It's over 100 HP and at lvl 2 that's massive even if it's over a day.
Lots of good info in this! Brought to mind a few things; 1st, not every encounter needs to be a challenge for the players. Sometimes they may outclass the bad guy & that’s ok. 2nd, a DM saying no can still be fun, spectacular fails can be hilarious. 3rd, one can always learn, I’ve been roleplaying since the 70ies and your vids are full of ideas that help and/or remind me how to become a better player & DM. Thanks.
As an example of the 1st and 2nd issue I listed, I once gave my players a simple side quest to investigate a lord’s relative in a distant city they’d be visiting. Her vague letters had indicated she was distraught and felt she was not long for this world. Their clumsy investigation was very much enjoyed by the players but didn’t clarify or solve the situation. In the attempt to find out who they assumed was out to kill the young lady they managed to demolish two buildings and basically create havoc. While the young women’s letters were actually her vague way saying she was suffering from unrequited love.
Re: High AC. Don't forget that the environment should be a part of many encounters. A lava lake that's essentially AoE Heat Metal, underwater movement, and a need for stealth can all help highlight the shortcomings of things like full plate. Additionally don't forget the Strength requirements, don/doff, fatigue from sleeping in medium or heavy armour, and encumbrance rules. Additionally, it's often reasonable for even low level intelligent monsters to use things like flaming oil, caltrops or ball bearings. Ball bearings making opponent prone (and so advantage to hit it) can help level the playing field...especially if the PC need to cross the ball bearing area with the last part of their movement, so they can't stand till next round.
Good words.
My party I DM for ran into issue in the sewers because being knee deep in slusge makes it impossible to run. (also describing as the character that got knocked down being covered head-to-toe in unmentionables was fun)
speaking of caltrops/ball bearings, i saw a DnD TikTok where a video of a couple pro wrestlers had a match where i guess one of them was doing a finishing move where he dumped out a bunch of smaller-sided dice and dropped the other wrestler directly onto them; i think they were a bunch of d4s
My character: "Laughs in high dex, studded leather, & bladesong"
Teehee, I hope my players don't see this, but my party's AC is 21,20,19,19 & 20 with blade song, so I'm bringing in intellect devourers that are backed up with spell casters soon.
@@kathrynck dude, your HP is 6, you’ll literally die standing near lava without “Immune to all damage” spell
I think something that throws new DMs off all the time is illusion magic. Often we accidentally give it a mad buff without even realizing. One of my first sessions my players used minor illusion to make an illusion of a dragon that went around and roared and scared my goblins. By not realizing the limitations of a spell you can give them hugely powerful boons that the designers never intended.
You can make a dragon with Minor Illusion... But... It will be locked to a max size and it cannot move.
Or... You can make a roar of a dragon without any limitations, unlike the first option.
Since Creatures are Objects when they're dead, and your character is also a creature.
The opposite also applies, don't nerf it by having enemies see through an illusion for free
@@techwizsmith7963
For Minor Illusion... NPCs or PCs must make a specific roll or Object Interaction with the Minor Illusion (image option, not sound option) in order to discern if it's not real. However, only those who discern the illusion will know that it is fake or by proxy of characters who observe such Object Interaction of another character. (Being logical).
That said... Unless you're fighting a hive mind, Ultron, or some character controlling robots or undead etc. Then (for DMs and players) just because one character knows it's an illusion. It doesn't mean that every character instantly knows it's an illusion.
@@absolstoryoffiction6615 Yep yep, very true. I always have to keep in mind how visible I am when interacting with my illusions, anyone would see through it for free if I stuck my hand through a box.
That specific roll takes an action however, so if they're at range then they have to either waste a turn to see through the illusion (that I can just cast again next turn) or take the penalty to shooting through it (since they can't see through it, making it a blind attack)
@@techwizsmith7963
If I remember... The Minor Illusion Object becomes transparent to the characters who know it's an illusion.
If you design a cardboard box with cut outs and shadows as your Minor Illusion, then you could move your hands through the dark cut outs as if it was a real box. Just don't let enemy NPCs interact with the illusion.
Or... You can mimic the Cantrip: Light by faking the brightness of Light over the Minor Illusion's max size.
Of course, the Minor Illusion cannot move but you don't need movement to make something very convincing.
You can also hide inside your own Illusion because (to your character) it would also transparent. But you cannot use Cover since the Illusion isn't a real object.
Illusion doesn't work against invisible characters beyond the specific Roll/Object Interaction (maybe not) because it depends if the invisible characters take up space (maybe it does work since Invisibility is not self Banish). However, against creatures in darkness. You can cast Illusion on them in order to negate the darkness with the holographic illusion. (Mimic the Cantrip: Light.)
There's a lot of creativity with Minor Illusion. Even the Sound Option can be very interesting at times... You can even play Bury the Light with Minor Illusion since this Cantrip is very broad in general.
To be fair, a difficulty of 30 is defined as "nearly impossible" which is to say that if the odds of succeeding aren't statistically indistinguishable from zero, then the player should succeed even if it seems ludicrous. I think the disconnect occurs when, assuming the player can accomplish a 30, their odds are at worst 5% when...while there is no hard and fast definition...."nearly impossible" in the minds of most reasonable people is almost certainly far less than 1%. Hell, maybe a 1 in a million shot. Turning a 1 in a million into a 1 in 20 is just what heroes do though right?
I have wondered about imposing disadvantage on ludicrous things. To make it more like a 1 in 400. Or accepting 19-20.
It depends... Not every character is a hero.
@@absolstoryoffiction6615 when youre playing dnd youre playing the hero in a storyline. Theyre main characters, not "background guy 214"
@@pencilbender
I've seen player characters become farmers because they rolled for Stats with no floor or ceiling rules... Sometimes, you are not the hero nor the villain of the campaign.
@@absolstoryoffiction6615 dog stop trying to be deep, PCs are literally heroes, or you’re playing with assholes
As a cleric with plate armour and a shield, I had a great time recently when my DM surrounded me with minions. Having Spirit Guardians going and doing about a hundred points of damage per round made the character feel super powerful.
I have one requirement for the rule of cool. Only polite players may get it. Rude players will have the rules as written only.
Perfectly explained, this is a must to every DM. The best way to have fun as a DM is to make your players have fun! Working WITH them and NOT AGAINST them makes them feel better and enjoy more your adventure, that's the whole point of DMing!
I started off what was intended to be a difficult encounter by casting “harm” on the Paladin… I hadn’t read the Paladin info recently and felt pretty dumb. On the bright side, the party was ecstatic that the were able to use a feature that almost never comes up in play! So in the end it was a win because they were happy
Hi, what feature are you referring to?
@@sloubser01 Divine Health. Paladins are immune to disease from level 3 onwards, and by extension the spells Contagion and Harm, which are expressly described as diseases.
@@sloubser01 divine health: makes them immune to disease. The spell “Harm” unleashed a disease. So no effect from my highest level spell in the encounter.
My dm said i dont get that ability anymore
@@aidanhendricksen4832 why?
A Wildfire Druid can really catch a DM off-guard. The spirit it can summon deals 2d6 damage to creatures within 10 feet of it when it appears, then the druid can command it as a bonus action to move into the middle of a group of enemies and teleport itself and any of the druid's allies that are next to it back 15 feet and deal another 1d6+PB damage to the enemies that were next to the spot it left. That's 3d6+PB fire damage and repositioning allies, and it can do the teleportation thing every round, which can really mess up a DM's battle plans.
Another way to deal with the stealthy characters (even with invisibility) is for enemies to be moving in groups down hallways. The "patrol" is occupying too much space for the character to slip past them, so even though they are invisible and are making no sound to get spotted, the character still needs to find some way to avoid the patrol physically bumping into them. Make it even more interesting by having a second group approach from the opposite direction so the PC is sandwiched between them and needs to get real creative to avoid contact. Frequent delays trying to avoid roaming groups can cause the PC to become pressed for time to finish scouting before the magic effects wear off. Also, doors that are locked or stuck (having to use some amount of force to get them open) can further limit how much exploration can be done without discovery. Don't use these tactics to completely shut down the stealthy exploration approach, but you can use them to make things more tense and interesting, and keep the "big reveal" hidden until the whole party is there to discover it.
On the point about making convincing statements for high CHA characters, I don't like the "just give it to them" without a roll approach based solely on roleplay, as it creates a disparity between PLAYERS that are good at roleplay and CHARACTERS that should be good at talking to others. We don't let a character land an attack on an enemy without a roll just because the player demonstrates they can swing a sword real good IRL, or even if they describe their attack in some cool way, so why are we treating the CHA-based rolls any different? I'll give advantage/disadvantage on a check or adjust the DC up or down a couple points based on the nature of what is said (appeals to ego, altruism, etc.) and how well that aligns with the NPC's personality/ideals, but that is the extent of the influence I allow roleplay to have over the outcome, and I make similar allowances for other skill checks (not combat actions) based on the approach the players take to making those checks. Combat has its own mechanics for applying advantage/disadvantage already, so I don't allow roleplay alone to modify that, but I do give inspiration for good roleplay.
OMG your points on charisma are spot on. I also bend things with intelligence based characters in my party, I have a wizard being played by a 22 yo guy without much life experience. So what I do, even if the character is split from the party, I allow the party to discuss things out of character and what ever ideas they come up with, I say the wizard is smart enough to have come up with it on their own. Kinda like phone a friend to fill the gap of a 19-20 int stat vs us in reality.
As a wildfire druid, I've started flying my elemental over them and casting thorn whip through the elemental, bringing them 30 feet into the air and dropping them. Then going in for the teleport damage. It's easier than us dropping a whale on them.
For high damage parties, consider giving your bosses magic items to help them survive, which then becomes meaningful loot opportunities for the players. Especially if they are homebrew, players can get really excited over things like that.
Or, instead of single monster use more monsters. If a character can do 20 HP of damage on average per round, then four monsters with 5 HP are going to last longer than single one with 20, especially if you spread them out on the battlefield. In other words, in both cases a monster goes down with a single attack, but in the first case the extra 15 HP are "wasted" and don't contribute to ending the battle quicker.
Great advice as always guys! You've really shaped me and my friends into wonderful DMs and players over the last 3 years.
For the rogue with stealth abilities at low levels. Once my niece was playing a rogue was teamed with a druid with "pass without a trace". They rolled down a spiral staircase because they both failed they're dex saves. TPK as they rammed into a wall and alerted the guards they had no idea were there. Fun for me but not for her.
One of my Dungeons was simply a large ass valley deep in the mountains.
It was covered in Runes of great complexity and a quick look suggested the runes were made in blood of varying ages. The noticeable part of the valley tho was mountain sized Gundam in pieces spread through it.
Observation made it plane the runes were putting the pieces together but notably the head/arms/legs/hands/feet were missing so the mere torso and neck was the size of a mountain.
well the area surrounded by mountains and full of dead and dryish yet still partially green grass seemed like a good spot to burn.
Unfortunately they failed to realize how much magic was stored in the running runes. One Thermite arrow later they blew up the valley by breaking the rune with the flame.
Plot armor saved them as this was season 2 or 3 and I really wanted them to get something done.
Some foes lived also since it was flash bang fast with the heat and light of the explosion. It was a mess but not as epic as I was hoping. but One of the NPC had a beserk mode that activated at the sight of blood creating a hulk class issue to deal with also...
Bad guys got away that were in charge of that valley using Gravity powers to fly off with the scraps of the Gundam.
My player: "NYAHAHAHA HOW WILL YOU HURT MY PALADIN/FORGE CLERIC/ARTIFICER NOW!? THEY HAVE AN AC OF 22 AT LEVEL 5!!!"
Me, the DM: "Yeah I need you to make a Dexterity Saving Throw."
Them: :o
This is super helpful! I’ve been a player before (your videos have really helped me get started on D&D as such), but I’m planning to start running one of the pre-writtens. You raise a lot of good points, especially with regards to the dm’s role with the dice (haha). I suspect my particular group will likely try some of these things at least once, but I agree that it’s a good idea to not rely solely on knee-jerk reactions, and hold up creativity, on both ends of the screen, as something to be celebrated.
Keep up the great work dudes! Thanks!
Love the suggestion of sometimes leaning into the strengths of your players' characters. I usually do this at least once a session to have those great memorable moments. Keying some combat encounters, skill challenges or situations to the skill set of one of the characters is such a rewarding experience when seeing the players thrive
Excellent points in this video. I think it's very important to keep in mind that your most important job as a DM is to make sure everyone at the table is having fun. What 'fun' looks like is different for each table - some groups don't want 'hard mode' all the time. It feels great as a player to have your planning in character creation pay off when you nullify an encounter with a well placed spell or skill check, or by getting a lucky crit as a barbarian. Players like to be challenged, but they also like to pull of a cool flashy maneuver that makes you tear up an encounter every once in awhile. It's easy to slip into the mindset that you are there to play against your party; that isn't the case. You're officiating the monsters, but that doesn't mean your role as a DM is an adversarial one.
On flip side, telling the invisible player that their opponents know roughly where they are because the invisible player didn't stealth after becoming invisible is always fun. Obviously they still get the usual advantages that go with invisibility but it's not as if they've completely evaporated.
Yes. And that goes both ways. Our GM had a Night Hag facing us, and the witch went invisible as my swordsman charged her. But I knew where she'd been standing, so I told him, "I'm attacking the space where I last saw her." It turned out, she hadn't moved. I was at disadvantage, of course, but I still scored a hit that wound up being the deathblow. Her body and head became visible simultaneously as they rolled away from one another. Great moment.
@@stevenhenry9605 One of the rare moments a d&d story was worth telling 😂 Thanks for the read
That has to be used a lot for one game, we have a Gloom Stalker in a very darkness heavy dungeon.
That seems like a cheap gotcha. If the player is taking actions implying they wish to not be detected you should at least ask if they want to "use stealth" before assuming they didn't.
@@hewhogoesbymanynames "Using stealth" is the Hide action, which costs an action unless you're a rogue. So if someone casts Invisibility on themself, they can't take the Hide action unless they're a Rogue or used Quicken Spell.
I had a PC who was a 1/2 Variel- flying- elf. Before the game we negotiated that he couldn't yet fly, but we started him out with a 15 ft up/across "hop."(All this also required skill checks) The first encounter was a skill challenge where the party would chase a runaway mule. The Variel aced his "hop," landed in front of the mule and caught it, and ended the skill challenge right there. It was pretty awesome, and we went right to having drinks with the mule's owner which led them into the actual adventure.
On characters using flight, we didn't use flight much for several months for several levels, lots of places that flight wasn't really needed. the DM kinda forgot about it. There was a lighthouse on a peninsula, a large storm battering the area, and pirate ogres had taken over the lighthouse demanding a ransom to turn the light on. I looked at the other player and said, "hey you only weight X with all your gear soaking wet right?". He looked at his sheet and said " sounds about right". Me "hit me the fly spell and I can carry you to the lighthouse, we can start at the top and work our way down." And we did just that. The ogres had fortified the tower and the path to the tower. We cleared the lighthouse approaching all the barricades and fortifications from the back. Also, the environment worked in our favor with the ogres being stuck fighting us 1 at a time going up the stairs, instead of being able to gang up on us 2-3 to 1. The next tower we came to was set up so that you start at the top and work your way down to the bottom where the exit was. It became a thing, we start at the top of the tower and clear our way down.
I'm excited to DM for the first time. Thank you both so much for all of your videos. They're really coming in handy.
The best advice is to know your players characters. If you play to their strengths and weaknesses and alternate how you are highlighting, then it will be fun for everyone! I haven’t finished watch, but don’t forget to use your environment to make it more difficult. If your high AC melee character can’t get to the to the bad guys, or just slow them down, it won’t be a cake walk.
Great video. 100% agree that the players should be describing their actions and the DM calling for checks, not the players declaring they’re going to make a check.
In fact, I think the key is to stop thinking that the basic rule is “the player makes a check and if they meet the DC they succeed at the thing”. It’s not that. It’s “when the player attempts something that could either succeed or fail, they make an ability check” and then you resolve it.
This is the DM setting the stakes by determining what is and isn’t possible in context. It’s not some extra step or exceptional circumstance. It’s part of the core gameplay loop, and it comes before rolling the dice.
Even if there is going to be a roll, setting stakes means you still decide what success and failure mean in the present context. This is how you avoid the opposite problem: the bard makes a performance check to play a song for a group of townspeople, hoping to impress them so they’ll be more willing to help the party. She rolls a 1. Does that mean she breaks the e string on her lute and falls off the stage? No, she’s the Bard! It just means it was a bit of an uninspired performance and the audience clap politely but aren’t especially moved.
Once I started approaching the game this way it got much easier to create organic, satisfying scenes and narratives.
Never had the chance to DM myself, but I remember in my first ever D&D game, I (as a dwarf barbarian) had picked up some leftover firebombs that some goblins/kobolds (can't remember which) had been throwing at the party. I then immediately blundered forward into a cavern inhabited by a Roper, and got caught by it. I had already been knocked down to zero HP, and brought back with healing magic once, but I was still grappled, and I was on a handful of hit points... so I said to the DM that I would take a bomb, and shove it as far down the Roper's throat as I could... He ruled that the monster would bite me (knocking me back to 0 again) but then basically said "roll for damage", and tripled the dice roll! That was fun...
Will-o-wisp are a fun addition to any encounter that takes place just about anywhere; ruins, old dungeons, or even open fields late at night (because that field was maybe the location of a big battle once upon a time). They are great to add one, maybe 2 to a low level undead fight, and teach players that even a tiny, seemingly mundane creature, can become a challenge. 22hp average, 19AC resistance to almost all nonmagical dmg, and immunity to many conditions, makes them look tough, but they have very low saves except for dexterity. They can be taken out rather quickly and easily.
for bosses i like the Mythic monsters that where introduced in MOoT.
basically take a boss, when it dies first time it gets full HP again and some more abilities.
this gives a second phase to the boss fight and lets the boss survive longer.
this can be done in multiple way, like the boss is almost dead then starts mutating as it is consumed by a demon.
or as the giant Naga falls dead its body burst open revealing another Naga that where controlling the other ones body.
or the giant spider queen is swarmed by her brood protecting her from your attacks.
*Ah... you were by my side All Along...*
"My Guiding Moonlight..."
Warforged Forge Cleric.
No magic items.
22 AC at level 3. At level 5 started using Spirit Guardians.
The sorcerer has 15 AC.
Our DM brought in a D&D version of the geneva convension covering some use of illusion, telepathy, mind control and polymorph/creation in sort of a cold war espionage style quest, it was a lot of fun as we could risk breaking the rules as long as we wern't caught doing it. (polymorph it into a tortoise, use creation to create an 1ft adamantine razerblade cage with a hole big enough to insert tortoise then stab it. A little messy when done to a giant but was effective in making a statement)
Wild Shape can be really useful in some ways that can be unexpected. For example. My druid once gathered Intel on an enemy army's battle plan by spending an entire day as the commanding generals warhorse.
Wow, dude. Wow. That's disgusting 😂
This was a really good video for me, I'm a new-ish DM and all of these points resonated with me. I'm trying to keep them in mind as I move onto the next campaign. Thank you!
Familiars really screwed me the last campaign
I think it's actually fun if they surprise you as the DM to act it out as the villain too.. like "How did you?!.." as a player-- surprising a mini boss or something seems very fun lol
Before I get into it, feel free to play this any way you want, it’s your game.
I noticed you said that when asking for perception checks you don’t allow passive perception. According to Crawford (forgot where the interview is but I can find it if anyone is curious) that passive perception is basically the floor of your perception. If I have a passive perception of 18 and I roll 12, then my roll is actually an 18.
This is because passive perception isn’t your passive senses, it’s basically the ability to NOT have a player roll. Your character is assumed to be looking around all the time. If they’re distracted this should be represented in disadvantage (-5 to passive perception). And if they are SUPER distracted or their senses are muddled (like in a loud crowd) then maybe their perception (both roll and passive) shouldn’t matter. Idc what you say, my character can’t hear water dripping behind two walls when in a boisterous tavern playing loud music. They might hear heavy footsteps outside, but just keep it in context.
Now if we’re talking about looking for something not in plain sight, that’s an investigation roll which is it’s own thing.
If you want a bit more evidence, the observant feat mentions passive investigation. How would you passively investigate anything? It’s not based on you actively or passively looking for something, the passive investigation is to show that when I’m looking at a desk, or walking down a hallway looking around, my passive investigation might find something without me specifically rolling for it (although passive investigation is pretty dumb, it’s just for an example)
For the stealth in the high grass thing, its far, far more effective than you might think it is. In a game called dead by daylight you can play as a monster that hunts 4 other survivor players, and you'd be surprised how often people get away with hiding in high grass around you as the monster. Yes if you have high enough perception and know to look for it you might find them, but if your not expecting it, you'll often look right at them and miss that they are there the first few times you move through the area.
Let me introduce you to reality: you walk in high grass - you leave a trail of flattened grass. Hiding in a spot leaves a hole where you replace the high grass with your body, making it very obvious to anything that looks from a little higher point of view, that something is going on. And not to mention when you walk through high grass, you move the grass - making it even easier to spot that there is something moving ...
High grass actually can hide people really well even in reality. If you move slowly and carefully and people aren't paying attention. Source: lived in the country and played in tall grass all the time. Of course it depends on just how tall the grass is.
@@MrMjerace If "people aren't paying attention" you can walk by them on the street with no trouble.
And you say you lived in the country ... ok? Ever walked through a field of wheat (= high grass) ... the trail is so obvious you can see it for a long time. Your dog ran into a field? How do you find them? Watch where the grass is moving and you know.
So if you really ever where in high grass you weren't hidden because of it, but because someone wasn't paying attention (or your parents just were kind to you).
@@torstenwinkler8610 If the grass is high enough to be at or above the observer's view is when I imagine it becomes hard to spot people. You mention wheat specifically though, is that not grown in rows? If so I would imagine someone crawling prone over the dirt between them could be hard to spot. If not, then I could imagine it being a poor choice of hiding spot.
@@Team_BaM not enough room between rows to do that without crushing the grass or wheat
5:40
I just thought of something in regards to the rust monster. Have the encounter with the rust monster and have them lose their equipment and if they track the monster back to its lair (or perhaps sticking to it) they find a partial map or a clue of some kind a previous adventurer that was killed had to a small treasure hoard and make it so it takes 2-3 sessions to find and complete but when they get there everyone who lost something finds a slightly better version of what they lost. You take away some of their stuff, give them some challenges for 2-3 sessions while they track down the treasure or whatever and then reward them for (assumably) being creative with the challenge presented and earn something slightly better.
My favorite "solution" to super high Stealth modifiers was when a Nat-1 roll came up. High-Dex Bard with Proficiency in Stealth cast Invisibility on himself to sneak through the enemy camp. It was going great, until he tried to sneak past a guard only about 5 feet away. Despite rolling with Advantage because of Invisibility, he still managed to just roll double Nat-1s! I described how he was so focused on looking at thre guards and prisoners, he tripped over a tent's rope and stumbled onto the wall of a canvas tent, thus revealing his location and starting a huge hunt by over 100 enemies for this invader.
So you homebrewed- Nat 1s arnt natural failures on anything other than attact rolls
@@Aarenby Nat 1s are often still failures on their own, so having them act as failures even for ability checks is hardly considered “homebrewing” just a natural extension of what a low roll means in most situations.
Something about Stealth every DM forgets. While hidden, your movement is reduced by half. There is a rogue feature that says they can ignore it, so that's something you need to use. I have to remind me DM's I'm slowed. It's a good thing that ONE is tackling this.
When I first started to get into dnd, I decided to just write my own campaign and I didn't even understand any of the rules or anything and it when horrible. It was basically written as a giant railroad and in the second session they were supposed to be kidnapped by the bbeg and everything counted on that but the druid turned invisible and completely derailed the campaign. I was really mad when it first happened but looking back on it I find it hilarious.
I've been struggling a lot with balancing combat. I have some people very familiar with the game.
These videos help a lot in trying to find creative solutions that don't eliminate player agency.
7:45 This part reminds me of Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time when you are trying to get to the princess and sneaking through the courtyards in broad daylight, but there are obstacles to use as cover to make the situation attainable.
After a long morning shift coming home and hearing your intro makes me smile.
came for DND stayed for Kelly's hat
As an infantry officer, I’ve learned that it is shockingly easy to hide a large group of people in grass that isn’t very tall. One time, we were lying near some bushes (“in the bushes” would be too generous) waiting for an exercise to start. Some of the role players in the village walked down a path and through the middle of the platoon. I just watched them pass, figuring the event hadn’t started yet so they were leaving us alone. Then they came back through our platoon and back to the village. It turns out they hadn’t seen us at all, even walking a few feet from me.
I love the idea of making Dungeons that mold with the PCs ability.
Just like in The Legend of Zelda.
I agree! and I’m definitely making a Zelda (OOT) theme based adventure
One-shotting the big bad guy can be so memorable for the players they remember it years after. We still laugh and remember fondly our "battle" against the boss of a goblin horde, that got accidentally one-shotted (lucky crits and situational awareness). It was years ago, but we still remember it fondly.
On the other hand, my players still remember when the bad guy one-shotted their leader. The fact that it left a bunch of low-level character fend for themselves so suddenly, was a story-defining element for them. The battle was more than twenty years ago, but if you ask any of my old players do they remember the Old Priest getting killed, they will smile fondly, and remember the whole campaign after that when they tried to do the mission without their lead.
Also note the newer Vortex Warp spell under teleportation. It may catch some by surprise when the party teleports a Talos worshiper into the middle of them. They all readied actions to beat him up… XD
once, in a massive game of hide and seek, I was one of those hiding. It was dark out and I had carefully fitted myself amongst some supplies piled by a building in the shadows not far from the street lights. I figured the nearby light would have blinding effect when looking into shadowy areas.
A seeker came through and started sifting through some of the supplies. Only a few feet from me, he looked in another direction and said "I can see you. come out!". That tipped me off to his ruse. But then he looked right at my face, and said it again. The rule was you had to touch the hider before they would be officially found, so I kept my cool but was certain he was about to reach out and touch my head. He didn't. He moved on and I got the satisfaction of hearing him say to his team "there's no one back there". Best irl stealth story of my life.
point being if you're clever and conditions are right you can abolutely hide right in front of someone's face.
As a relatively new player, I’m just here for the tips
Nobody tell my DM, ok?
I have a college of eloquence bard named Scamp Honeytongue who has a +13 on his Persuasion, Deception, and Performance skills as well as a high Perception score. (good stats and expertise in the those skills). With the silver tongue ability of my bard archetype I couldn't have a result of less than a 23 on my persuasion and deception rolls. I got a lot of mileage out of that in negotiations with NPC's. But what I enjoyed most was using the Enhance Ability spell to get advantage on Charisma checks right before performing with my lute at an inn or tavern. I earned much extra gold and silver that way and gained a following. (the tavern wenches loved him for sure because I gave them great tips) I even created an insulting song about a greedy local lord which even his soldiers started singing about him behind his back. Made him a laughingstock. Good times!
I don't always agree with things these two say, but I strongly appreciate their points of view and how they consistently come from a wealth of experience.
Good work
Star Wars sequel example of Persuasion impossibilities was a glimpse behind the scenes, methinks.
I'm sure that comes from a real world arguement.
On Perception Rolls. I disagree a little with asking players what they're looking for. Instead I ask where specifically they are searching and how they're looking. In RL if I open a draw looking for a wallet I will still notice that there's keys in there as well.
Also, be sure to differentiate between skills and allow for some synergy. Perception is not Investigation. I play Perception as what a character can sense requiring no understanding or analysis. A party member making a good perception check might help someone else's Investigation. A good Investigation check might allow someone to make a knowledge skill check (Arcana, History etc). let the party act as a team but not just spam the same roll. Not much gets past five separate perception checks. However you play this, be sure to have the NPCs follow the same logic.
I completely shocked my DM once when we were playing Curse of the Netherdeep. My Water Genasi Tempest Cleric saw two corrupted giant sharks approaching and cast Control Water to part the waters like Moses at the Red Sea. The sharks were pushed away, and we walked down the pathway. His jaw was hitting the table as he scrambled to figure out how to proceed with us completely avoiding the encounter.
Once upon a time on my first campaign I had a player that kept spamming mold earth to create tunnels on rocky caves and completely ignore the physical walls on those caves to create shortcuts. It was until I found that Mold earth doesn't actually affect solid rock, only loose earth. I trusted the players and their abilities at the time and I accepted their solution but then when we finally read the spell carefully again we were like WOW we can't do this but we've done it multiple times 🤣
I feel like being familiar with most of the spells in the game can really help when improvising on certain encounters. There were times I swap spells on the fly of the same level if I feel a certain one matches a monster and will make the encounter more dramatic. But I only do it if I can do so quickly enough that the players barely notice XD
One lesson I learned is not to be so lenient with handing out magic items
I notice from Drakkenheim, Monty is a big fan of multiple waves in terms of dealing with player abilities to deal with large groups... Which I think is smart. Basically you're not putting all your pieces out to get destroyed at once. However, Monty still gets caught off guard by diplomacy with ghosts. Though Monty did turn diplomacy with rats around... Hmmm....
For me, I've just taken to cranking up HP on my encounters, especially bosses. I always have to set my bosses to at least whatever the maximum roll would be. It's been the only way for me to get more than 1 and a half rounds out of a boss encounter.
Personally, if I'm worried that an encounter might be too hard, just staggering out the enemies is also another use for the 'wave' fights, instead of doing it as a counter to one-shotting the mooks.
After our last session I asked our DM to nerf our familiars. We had just finished a super awesome dungeon that she put lots of work into but it felt like the optimal thing to do was to worg into our familiars and scout everything ahead of time. This sidelines the players without familiars and makes it boring for em. I noticed this halfway through the dungeon and adjusted my play to only use the familiar sparingly for scouting.
The way we nerfed them is that we removed the worging ability and instead made it so we can just send the familiars out and get a summary upon their return.
You do not need to nerf find familiar.
You can only communicate and use your familiars senses if it is within 100 feet of you.
You can not scout an entire dungeon with it and something as simple as a door can stop the familiar.
@@shaun4033 yes you can - bit by bit which makes the game even slower.
Also unless that door is airtight, a spider can get through it.
In AC3, the implemented a mechanic where the bad guys could have dogs which would alert even if you were in the tall grass. Could be a cool mechanic to prevent sneaking in grass
As a DM who prefers to be a player, I'm gonna use these on my players throught npc enemies. That way I'll become a forever-player.
P.S. Nice hat.
Hi Monty and Kelly, just a quick question or two (now that I've finished, I guess there might be more... Sorry and thanks) about your personal experience with the D&D 5e and other TTRPGs you've played in the past.
Could you tell me something more about that? Like when did you first play your first TTRPG? What game was it? What was it about? How did you get to 5e? How many campaigns have you been part of so far and how many have you finished? What genres were or are they and what were or are they about? In comparison to Drakkenheim series how different were or are they? What do you think changed, got different or got better or worse as the time went on from your first time playing? When and why did you start this great YT channel? What do you think could be done better in the ideal TTRPG and what should definitely stay the same in the future games like this? What do your personal games look like now, how often do you play, how many games do you actively run now, how long do your usual game session last, do you concentrate purely on the game or are they more relaxed, fist you enjoy the time with your friends and talk about news and other stuff and as time goes on you slowly shift towards playing the game, even then sometimes talking about real life, when do you usually end, when the time is up, when the GM is out of ideas how to continue, or when you're finally filled with the excitement from the game, do you do something towards the game outside of it, like chatting as the characters or plotting out the future plans, do you play online or all at one place, do you play other TTRPGs or include homebrew into your games, if so what amount?
And one question about your life, what are your hobbies, I guess other than playing D&D 5e with friends?
Sorry for the interrogation style of questioning, but I'm having a new game soon and wanted to try new attitude towards it so the questions kinda started and never stopped 😅.
Love what you've done and still do.
Much love, take care and bye ❤️
Yes, High AC is a very fun experience. my DM sent a pair of young green dragons at us, and I dueled one while the rest of the group got knocked down by the other. i took a toral of 18 damage in that fight, although, to be fair, I had resistance to poison on top of AC 22
My DM seemingly forgot I was playing a Rogue the other day. He gave me a home brew magic item that gave me +5 to slight of hand. Well I took expertise in slight of hand several levels ago so that bumped me up to +13 in that skill at level 5........ The look on his face when I stole a magic sword off the back of an NPC in front of everyone and shoved it into a bag of holding that another party member has, without ANYBODY noticing, was priceless.
Hey guys I was always wondering this. I love the way modules are set up. I really love writing except I just find the writing of regular adventures bland. I love how each module has "read aloud text" and things like that. I want my adventures I write to look and FEEL official with read aloud text and statblocks and everything. I was wondering if sometime in the future you could make a video on how to write and actual module. bc I see that you've done it yourself and quite well in your dungeons of drakkenheim kickstarter and I loved it.
World anvil lets you do this and the basic level of use is free.
came expecting game mechanics, stayed for the quality spot on gm advice