Taltaron
85847
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Hey friends!
I’m so glad you like dnd. It’s one of my favorite games. Would you like to play with a group of imgurians? We got this discord running games for all people, currently looking for a few more players. Come say hello. :)
https://discord.gg/zbkEXJ2S
Aelonwy
#18 I feel this in my soul. How many is too many dice? Trick question, there are NEVER too many dice. All those dumb math word problems in grade school when Jane Doe buys 11 watermelons or whatever absurdity should be about D&D dice. Jane bought 47 dice and gave Billy 11 then bought 62 more, how many dice does Jane have? 98 but its still not enough. Jane needs more dice, and now Billy does too.
PlebGeneral
I played BG3 and in Cazadors palace there was a obligatory DC 0 and I rolled a nat 1. Technically succeeded, but actually failed.
elten
#16 animated because nice to have
tantallous
#10 so the rogues int score now matches the players.
CuntCrotchula
#4 the one game that i kinda ran for brand new players i had to constantly be like "if i dont tell you which number to roll, its the d20"
darthstormer
#18 Dobby has to return to servitude just to afford his habit.
ClownishAntics
#8 The friendliest friendly fire
bharri25
Nice
DonjuanV
I dont get the Kenku meme... and I'm a Kenku in my DnD game 😪
gobblinal
Canuck the Crow stole a knife from a crime scene.
Bokkanb
Same. Doesn't make sense
SlightlyRelatedToThePost
Kenku speak by mimicking other speech they've heard. They don't have a normal "voice" as it were. Polymorph spell description changes not only the physical stats but also the mental ones. The player read that their intelligence is lowered substantially and despite having the physical capability to speak and reason, acknowledges that they no longer have the mental capacity for it and just attacks.
Havacado
You have made the world a slightly less confusing place. Thank you.
dunkum09
#8 that's why you do it to a monk or rogue, preferably one that is a high enough level to have evasion. then auto-succeed means no damage
wlfman
meanwhile, Evocation Wizards get Sculpt Spell, for free, and actually cause the allies to take 0 damage automatically :D
SlightlyRelatedToThePost
For evocation spells, yes. Just be careful when you want to toss some other stuff around. Used a careful spell cloudkill to get the martials out of a big mob of scary enemies once. Guaranteed they made the save, plus it's heavily obscured space so they got away without taking opportunity attacks.
wlfman
yeah I was more just commenting how bad some of the meta magics are compared to class features - like comparing Shield Master 'evasion' (that takes a feat and a reaction to use), while Monks/Rogues can just infinitely reduce/negate those checks with 0 cost
IOftenDeleteCommentsCauseISuckAtTyping
#2 The DM:
Kittynomnoms
Calling it a player ability and then using different rules is just asking for arguing, though.
gablestout
shiznitabam
@op is it the Waste of Time server? There’s so much going on there I don’t know where to start, but if y’all need a player I’m game (as long as I’m available of course)
Taltaron
Cool, like it’s a lot. But you can also just sign up for games and join those. Don’t have to be in every channel
HurkWurk
I still remember the time we pissed off our DM so badly, he wanted to quit, he said he worked for nearly an hour to craft an encounter that was sure to be a real challenge for us, only for us to waltz through it with a few spells. We helping him investigate, and found out he was using the NPC section, instead of the monster section of the DM guide. he attacked us with ~30 Orc Bakers and townsfolk.
PeteyVonWho
#7 I once killed an undead dragon in one shot by casting halt undead in it, and it plummeted head first into the side of a mountain. This was supposed to be a very dangerous fight, seeing as we were basically in a fancy hot air balloon, and I just went "nah."
gordy77
Lots of d&d on discord
Molvanian
#7 Most combats are ~3 rounds. It's more a matter of how many resources (Spell slots, HP, Limited abilities like Action Surge) that you use up. Although a deadly made up of equal numbers to twice the parties size will be more dangerous.
ToSisPoS
A few players and DMs play to “win” D&D and they bewilder me.
They do not get invited back to my table.
Etherealvalentine
Good on you. I've quit playing because I've literally NEVER been in a game where the whole table wants to actually (role)play together. It's always a table of a bunch of main character syndrome sufferers.
ToSisPoS
Collaborative improv and meme roulette with math.
LurkerByNature
As a DM, when we wrap up a session and my players all sit and talk about what happened instead of packing up immediately , or when I get a round of “Oh my god” and “That was awesome.” I count that as “winning” at D&D.
ToSisPoS
SPOT ON.
QuartzPoker
#10 This was part of the plot of Animorphs #14
freakdiablo
#18 - Goblin brain sees shiny rocks. Shiny rocks go CLICK CLACK!
wreynor1
The absolute best gaming sessions are the ones that go off the dm's script and into uncharted territory. Most of the time these turn into Monty Python style adventures but sometimes they evolve into something else entirely. Those are great nights
Rogahar
#14 I mean, unless you as a DM plan to throw mid-rest encounters at your group or are running a game where time is actually being tracked closely, there's no point in ever enforcing that one. It won't change anything unless you are.
simianruler
It's not even the actual rule. You don't gain the full benefits, but you still get most of them. If you're in medium or heavy armor, a long rest only gives you back a quarter of your spent hit dice and doesn't cure any exhaustion you happen to have. It still gives you back your hit points and spell slots
AGuyNamedCJ
I have a funny story related to Image 7; My DM has us in a snowy mountain area and the Barbarian rolls for perception and sure enough we come across a juvenile Behir. In a matter or seconds we surrounded it, and my Monk had it stunned with stunning strike and it kept failing the check to get back up. Lasted 4 rounds, thing never stood a chance.
PlatypusLancer
#1 I like to have a sense of consequence, but I'm upfront that I will kill a character if the situation calls for it. You pick a Boromir moment, narrative kinda demands a Boromir death.
Also willful stupidity. Don't want to fight that the whole game. Roll seduce on the Terask. It might be in heat, but that isn't going to go well for you however you roll.
Plus I usually have a resurrection story cooked up if they choose to pursue it.
Wasnbo
#2 I'm forever a fan of the idea of a BBEG being so absurdly powerful that they can (partially) ignore game rules. See also: The Lich who's so old it uses spells and rules from previous D&D editions.
Angel337
#2: Are you not allowed to twin a fireball spell??
SneakyGaryTheSerialHorseDrowner
Nope. "When you cast a spell that targets only one creature"
Angel337
AHHHHHHHHHHH. Not a sorcerer player. Gratci
SneakyGaryTheSerialHorseDrowner
Sorcerers CAN Quicken a spell instead though to lob two fireballs. I didn't wanna completely go off on one in my initial reply but yeah they can do that just not via Twinned, which has different but arguably far more powerful uses.
katze316
#7 I learned this when I ran my first game, Dragon of Icespire Peak. The party was split (two of them went to visit Adabra, leaving the other three in town); and since they were traveling, I had them roll the dragon die.
The dragon showed up in Phandalin.
Now granted, two PCs got KOed before it fled; but what they didn't know was that 3/5 PCs at level 4 nearly killed it in A SINGLE ROUND. It's supposed to be the boss fight at level 6. Cue MCDM's videos and the A-Team's workshop theme.
ph1shstyx
This has been an ongoing issue with the current phase of my campaign... I've found a good fix is to up the AC of the monsters by a couple and drop the health a little to compensate. Monsters take less hits but don't last as long because the health pool is lower. That being said, with how fast they burned through the mid dungeon boss, i've had to add another monster to the final encounter.
katze316
That's a good solution, I've used it before. I also like to give them a legendary action that triggers one or maybe twice per fight (to level the action economy a bit), and either give the boss some minions to give the players more to do, OR add an environmental hazard (cold damage, a volcano that's about to erupt, etc) that gives the players a ticking clock or a bullethell-like hazard to worry about.
ph1shstyx
Yeah, my BBEG for this campaign is a ice sorcerer that i was originally going to have summon minor elemental and be able to summon 4 ice mephits, but with how fast they're blowing through the rest of the monsters (the only ones that gave them a problem were the 2 wraiths and that was because I rollled back to back nat 20's on life drain...). I went ahead and homebrewed an Ice golem based on a iron golem that is following him around to add some more spice to the fight
Skuggen
#2 I'm that player. But there's nothing wrong with changing the rules, it's just that people should know what they actually are (and for bonus points maybe consider the long-term ramifications of changing them).
hwatL4bloopy
Okay, explain why there's a problem with twin spelling fireball.
dorkyducks
Twin spell does not work on area spells that effect more than 1 target. It's only allowed to be single target spells.
Kittynomnoms
Which is specifically to prevent things like dual casting fireball on two people standing next to each other for 16d8 damage at level 5.
Kittynomnoms
Sorry, 16d6.
TheDudeanator
The bad guys are bad because they don't follow the rules. The bad guys have access to spells players don't, spells to raise hundreds of undead, become a lich, and possibly twin a fireball spell.
DeviousRaptor
Uuuhh, fuck no? Whether or not someone is a "villain" doesn't mean they suddenly gain the ability to break the rules of the game. They still follow the rules of the game and universe just like any other creature. Also you can raise tons of undead as a player in most editions including 5e it's just slow and annoying. This idea that gm's have ultimate power and can make whatever they want is unhelpful to the cooperative story telling nature of TTRPGs. I say as a longtime gm and player.
CanadianCobraChicken
*whispers* there's also the Metamagic feat, which gives players scorcery points and allows them to pick two metamagic abilities
dorkyducks
Twin spell only works on single-target spells, SUCH AS DISINTEGRATE!
Tuomir
That's not the issue, the issue is (in 5e, at least) twin spell does not allow Fireball.
Kittynomnoms
For a very good reason. If you want to make an enemy capable of double-casting fireball (because you want to kill your players I guess) that's one thing, giving enemies unique abilities is very normal. Calling it twin spell is opening up a whoooole lot of shit when the Sorcerer PC wants to do the same thing.
Skuggen
More specifically, it can only be used with single-target spells (so firebolt and finger of death are fine, but magic missile and fireball are not)
wizard07ksu9000
Magic missile is single target if I send all the missiles at the same dude! 😉
Skuggen
"To be eligible, a spell must be incapable of targeting more than one creature at the spell's current level. For example, magic missile and scorching ray aren't eligible, but ray of frost and chromatic orb are."
DocFunkenstein
The thing that I've found new DMs have the most trouble grasping is "lots of lesser opponents" is far more deadly than "one big bad one."
That awesome dragon you made is powerful, sure, but your entire party is wailing on it while it only gets a handful of actions each turn. Whereas when facing, say, 30 goblins, even if several of them miss or do piddly damage, the party is still being needled to death from multiple angles and split between different members.
BasicMojo
This is why sometimes you just gotta toss the rulebook and make your monster actually be deadly. Abuse legendary actions. Give it an overpowered Lair action. Clip the party's wings before or during the encounter somehow. Use guerrilla tactics to whittle down their resources. Hell, ad lib HP or fudge dice rolls to force the fight to be climactic. Whatever it takes, as long as it doesn't get adversarial.
Navrodel
Ancient Dragon? Sure, that's dangerous. Stick us in a room surrounded by archers that are on the next floor up and that's when we almost wipe.
Axelxdisepic
The most deadly thing is action economy. If you want a single badass enemy give it legendary actions at the minimum.
Valide1
For real. Our group of 4 level 5s took down back to back two minotaur and two gelatinous cubes in very unfavorable conditions. Later at level 6 we almost got party wiped by 20 ants
DocFunkenstein
And unless you have them all clumped together, even Fireballs and other area-effect attacks are only going to help so much.
JustAnotherRandomCommenter
i've not done a huge amount of DMing (too many other games to play) but one thing i loved doing was creating bosses as groups of monsters. so like, the best combat encounters (imo) are ones that are fairly even - if you've got 4 players, have about 3-5 monsters. so make your boss 4 monsters. give him the HP of 4 monsters, give him the attacks (damage output wise, not necesarily number of attacks) of 4 monsters. but 4 monsters get weaker as you hurt them. so make your boss get weaker as he gets
JustAnotherRandomCommenter
hurt too. but that's dull. so reorder it to make it more interesting. my favorite one, he started off with 2 attacks a round using, doing higher than normal damage (3 monsters). once they did 25% of his hp, he got angry and drew a second sword and started attacking with that (4 monsters), once took another 25% off, one of his arms was mangled so he went back to a single sword in one arm but still 2 attacks (2 monsters) and then for the last 25 % he was essentially bleeding out so just 1 attack.
Bobbobbobobbananafanafobob
A dm used to pick on me (in fun, no feelings hurt) and would joke about how my warlock couldn't do as much as anyone else in the group. We leveled up and then fought a bunch of dudes, then a dragon. The paladin rushed it and right before his next turn I succeeded on Hold Monster. That means auto crit. Paladin sunk everything into it and almost one shot the thing. The DM had a backup for it but decided to roll the saving throw on paralysis in the open and failed, and the dragon died in 2 rounds.
Bobbobbobobbananafanafobob
I then got to say shit like "oh gosh, sorry guys, I know I'm useless in a fight, I just hope there's no GIANT DRAGONS anywhere. That would be a real shame"
Frogapus
Also, lots of lesser enemies felled with one or two attacked each helps the fights to feel more action-y as opposed to grind-y.
JacaByte
Things get really weird when the Ranger can cast web
FiveHeadedSnakeGod
Compare that with 2E Pathfinder, where a single high-level opponent is almost always more dangerous thanks to its superior saves and increased chance to crit.
rshini
Actually mobs can still be dangerous in PF - it's all about the action economy,
FiveHeadedSnakeGod
Oh I'm not saying that multiple lower-level foes aren't dangerous, but they're generally easier to deal with, especially if the party's casters have crowd control options. High-level opponents are susceptible to crit failing an important save, but in general their saves make them much harder to reliably debuff.
NationalistCanadianMooseWarrior
Yeeeah I learned that the first time I ran an encounter. I thought it was gonna be a good tough fight but it was more like that scene in Jurassic park where they feed the goat to the velociraptors
reverendmalerik
What I have found to be effective is to only have big hard enemies like that after a series of smaller encounters with no opportunity to long rest. If your party is fully healed and recharged when they face the boss, it will get focused down in short order. If they've just made it through a couple of smaller fights, their resources will be lower and the boss will be much more scary, especially if you give it legendary resistances, actions and maybe even lair actions.
LoathingPartner
Abuse clever encounter design (your enemies are smart), legendary resistances, legendary and lair actions to get around this. My most fun encounter was against 4 large but incredibly slow blobs that could grapple, and a single bard with movement shenanigans out the wazoo. Had a damaging and 'Crown of thorns'-like legendary action. But the most powerful and fun was a legendary action that could move any 4 targets 20ft. Surround the players, make distance, all made for a super dynamic fight.
LoathingPartner
Also the barbarian tried to shove the bard off the tower they were fighting on (intentionally made exactly wide enough to abuse the movement shenanigans without frustrating players). Bard instead pulled an Uno reverse card on that.
Rathan5
I accidentally found this out in reverse when I almost TPK’d a group of total DnD newbies (coworkers who wanted to try a session or two) with a group of only like 6 kobolds because the kobolds knew how to work together and the party…uh….DIDN’T. I had to fudge a lot of rolls to ensure the session didn’t come to a sudden and very unsatisfactory end
Feralkyn
Why Onyxia had whelpling hordes
epithymetic
Many whelps! Handle it!
SirBarnabusMontesforteWinsomTheThird
-50DKP!
Shardinian
MORE DOTS
tetsuothecat
I find the 'we are not professionals' an important thing. It's kind of a pressure that's put on people to see pros and say 'i need to do that!'...
TheUrizen
I've found in my own games, big bosses don't have HP, they have # of turns. Let all the players dump their cool abilities they've been saving or get downed, then end the fight at an appropriately dramatic dice roll
aPokal
InTheBeginningWasTheNerd
Two reasons:
1) Not understanding action economy.
2) D&D is notoriously crap with CRs.
Dragondraikk
Actually 3: 5e in particular is designed to be bad at making lower level threats less deadly as the party levels up
DethasarusRex
Action economy is the most important resource. It really makes or breaks an encounter.
Hellscourge
Tactical environments can make any fight harder and more challenging (See Tuckers Kobolds for a terrifying example). But otherwise, you got regular fighters? Cool. Do they have torches? They get attacked in the dark by enemies.
Alternatively, don't be afraid to use poison that targets strength to sap some of their combat abilities beforehand and make it tougher. Don't play fair in combat, but keep it fair for the players.
phunkiejunkie
The other good thing about a lot of tiny guys is that they can call for reinforcements if you didn't balance the encounter correctly.
KinetoPlay
Or panic and scatter if you realize that you unbalanced it the other way.
katze316
I probably would have made that mistake, but I watched almost all of MCDM's videos before I ran my first game. His videos on making boss fights and how the action economy works are probably the biggest reason my first game was such a hit.
tcpolecat7
You can blame movies and other media for creating the Ninja trope: where a group of ninjas are one shot mooks who can't touch the MCs, but a single ninja is a major threat and a long battle. New DMs are often trying to recreate scenes from other media, and don't realize the rules don't support that unless very specifically set up.
SpoonOfDoom
Very true, had to learn that as well. The borderline useless CR system doesn't help either, because it gives a beginner false confidence when setting this up.
CyborgScribe
The best time for one big monster is at the end of a long chain of traps, hazards, and lesser encounters that burned their health and resources.
Molvanian
It doesn't have to be that extreme, and numbers THAT high introduces a huge vulnerability to AoEs. .5x-2x the parties size is pretty optimal. There's a reason Unearthed Arcana suggests a different CR chart for Legendary creatures that goes above the parties level, but not encounters with multiple enemies.
rshini
This is why other systems like Feng Shui 2 have mob rules so you can have the cinematic 'cutting through the mooks' without too much risk of the PCs getting offed (unless like my group - they were dumb enough to keep ignoring the mobs until a PC nearly died)
Override9636
Also ENVINRONMENTAL battles are always 10x more fun and memorable than just fighting in a static cave somewhere. Put in pillars or giant rocks that give cover or block line of sight. Hang chandeliers from the ceilings that can be cut. Pretty much everything that Baldur's Gate 3 does to make battles interesting.
geoffreyfourmyle
The Order of the Stick agrees with you! https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0417.html
Sarcastiball
Woooooah it's been a long time, thank you for reminding me about OotS
geoffreyfourmyle
It's still being written, approaching final plot stages! Although currently it's like one strip a month, dude has other demands on his time.
SecondSince
Same!
SigneowTheCat
That's a heavy one, realistic to both the game mechanics and the horrors of war.
GentryFriedRichFillets
One of the reasons I still include minion mobs from 4e. They were easy on the math for me but added a lot more danger and strategy for them. Plus it made the casters aoe spells feel extra potent.
Gayforbae
I liked in bg3 when you have to kill the rats in the basement. I just sent asarion down there with a void bulb and alchemists fire.
Jarjarthejedi
4e had so many good ideas for DMs. Minions, the whole "monsters can change when bloodied" multi-phase battles, examples of what kind of stories PCs are the heroes of at different tiers of play...
override367
MCDM's Flee Mortals! reintroduces minions to 5e, and its foundry module automates it, fighter hacking through 3 or 4 of them at once etc
Prunest
Is it hard to integrate that into 5e? As a DM Im struggling w/ action economy and I keep bogging down fights. Do you know of any reliable guides on using this or have any simple tips to make it work? I've never done 4e so I'm a touch hesitant to v.v
GentryFriedRichFillets
They are just 1 hit kill mobs with ac that is one or two points higher than normal, and they don't take half damage on miss.
They only get one action or can act as a group to limit rolls you need to make, so you could have a group of archers that does small, aoe volleys as one roll with advantage.
You could also just have them focus on defensive actions, granting your big bad dodge, cover, or healing on their turn.
Even a few can buy your big bad rounds. They are just a speedbump really.
flistdumpnumberonemillion
don't forget solo monsters (the term for one monster big enough to be the whole encounter on its own) getting resistance to action removal and more actions per turn. unfortunately nerds had to be mad so no one can know what was in those books
KWJester49
Yeah, I do minions and mobs, mobs are minions that take 2 hits, or if you get a crit,use a resource, or even just roll really well on your damage then they go still go down in 1. I'll also usually try to have either a lieutenant in a big battle or earlier in the day to try to drain some resources. If their only fight is 1 single big enemy then they just unload on it and win. And give 1 or 2 legendary actions to the Lts and bosses.
OrionKaelin
yeah, our DM did that accidentally. lots of goblins that were easy to eliminate easily individually, but we didnt have enough turns to attack or reposition between the goblins and got taken out. Instead of a party wipe though he whipped up a "captured for food" and made a stealth prison break scenario instead. We lost cargo for the mission we were actually doing but it was a fun repurposing of the situation.
Wasnbo
DM: You're telling me you DIDN'T TAKE FIREBALL?! *frantic scribbling and narrative retconning*
wreynor1
You had a good DM. That sounds like a fun campaign
OrionKaelin
Its his first :P but he's got the heart.
absolutezero182
Never played DnD but I learned this when I started playing BG3. "I'm level 4, that group of level 1-2 goblins should be no problem" - Me before wiping
SneakyGaryTheSerialHorseDrowner
Yeah it's level 5 where the power dynamic spikes towards the players in a pretty dramatic way. Before that it's a clusterfuck.
absolutezero182
2 attacks for melee classes is a massive power spike. I've beaten the game a couple times now and getting from level 4 to level 5 has been the toughest part
SneakyGaryTheSerialHorseDrowner
Ugh same. And on my first run I stumbled on those Gnolls in act 1 too early. That was... unpleasant.
textilelover
If that dragon is dumb enough to be in range most of the time, you have played it wrong. It will breathe, fly away, legendary action, legendary resistance, fuck your ass up, stay out of reach, drop shit on you, etc.. They are SMART. If it's young enough not to have the legendary stuff, it's not as much of a challenge, but they still fly and most PCs don't. And ignore the "deadly" CR ratings, they're ridiculously whimpy and only deadly for low magic/AL characters with average stats.
Potts
Longbow ranges are much longer than dragon breath range plus dragon fly speed. The most effective dragons find ways to negate ranged attacks, like fog clouds, or burrowing underground or swimming.
A flying enemy in open air is an easy target. As a DM, I learned this the hard way, my dragon was killed before it could even get into range.
textilelover
I've never had this problem.
Potts
Ok
Kitehammer
For further reading, see: Dungeon Masterpiece, The Problem with Dragon Combat. It should not be a fair fight, ever.
gadlen
Twas an awesome watch, thanks! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P_ch_1EqHo
Dragondraikk
The problem is that not everything that makes sense is also going to be fun for the table.
textilelover
Running away is always an option. My players really enjoy eventually winning those really hard fights where terrain was as much of an obstacle as the actual creature. And sometimes the bad guy gets away and they are so dead chuffed to run into it again after it's been going through its training montage to get those meddling kids.