Building Combat Encounters in Dungeons and Dragons 5e: Concept & Conflict (Part 1 of 3)

MONSTERS OF DRAKKENHEIM is 300+ pages of eldritch horror inspired monsters for 5e by the Dungeon Dudes! Coming to Kickstarter March 26th, 2024: www.kickstarter.com/projects/... In this video, we discuss our methods for building combat encounters in Dungeons and Dragons 5e, starting with how to create a concept built around an exciting conflict. We’ll focus on how Dungeon Masters can blend narrative and mechanics to create a memorable battle filled with epic story moments as well as rewarding combat gameplay.
Here's links to the rest of the series:
Part II: Mechanics & Difficulty - • Building Combat Encoun...
Part III: Creating Environments - • Building Combat Encoun...
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Starring Monty Martin & Kelly McLaughlin
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[@DungeonDudes]

For the rest of the series: Part II: Mechanics & Difficulty - kzbin.info/www/bejne/oWKzdqWNpNx1g7c Part III: Creating Environments - kzbin.info/www/bejne/j4nVfKuwqJqBZqc

[@benmckee1122]

Something I noticed: Your players will fall in love with something in your world. Usually that's not something you expected or wanted them to, but they will fall in love with SOMETHING. Use this! Do not just kill off a character because they're not part of the story you planned out. Kidnap whatever they love, or put it in danger, and your players will be way more immersed than if you told them to go save some random kid.

[@Shane-The-Pain]

Teaching people to GM is teaching people to "fish". Future Game Masters will learn skills like organization, improvisation and critical thinking as they develop as GMs. These are LIFE SKILLS that we all need and these are missing in the American education system. Gaming is good for civilization at large. Thank you, Dudes.

[@dhesyca4471]

I always like your comment when I see it 😂

[@animistchannel2983]

...and sometimes DM's get so wound up with their own monsters and how prospective encounters/storylines will go, it's the DM who becomes a railroading murder hobo who won't let the party come to any other resolution or way of doing things, shoving unnecessary combats down the party's throat until the players just say "screw it" and start killing everything in sight. I've seen (and left) a few campaigns like that. I like your "Dungeons of Drakkenheim" largely because Monty encourages creative thinking and finding interesting/multiple possible plotlines and resolutions, and the players are exploring that. What makes a campaign like yours special is the variety of ways to get things done overall and make a good player-driven story. Other RPG runs on KZbin have been failing at that lately, with obviously ramrodded hack & slash fights every episode that cheapen the game. Fortunately, we still have your show as the better example.

[@DungeonDudes]

Thank you! Glad you are enjoying Drakkenheim! We like to talk a big talk around here, but hopefully the livestream demonstrates that we're not just blowing hot air.

[@M0ebius]

animist channel But the game is basically designed and balanced around lots and lots of combat. With just 1-2 encounters per session casters and nova builds become incredibly strong compared to short-rest based classes like Fighters/Warlocks.

[@ColinKillick]

M0ebius Or you can create problems that combat isn’t the most effective way to solve. I play a warlock, and we’ll sometimes go multiple sessions between combat encounters, but I get to be the party face who often talks us out of trouble, to dole out Invisibility to sneak the party past hazards and see through walls with Ghostly Gaze, and provide tons of utility with rituals and cantrips. Even in combat, the biggest contributions can come from enabling teamwork, not just DPS; we were able to take out a level 20 necromancer with a party of level 9 characters because I Thunder Stepped the rogue through his wall of force, she stabbed him to break his concentration, and then our Barbarian tossed him into the Wizard’s animated objects.

[@Mrsquiggley]

My guys run away from half the combat encounters, if they feel their opponents are just defending themselves, weak or mindless they try to avoid

[@kentnelson566]

I'm a new DM and have an encounter planned out in a forest where bandits have been steeling tax money (like in Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss). There will likely be fallen trees and other forms of cover, a cliff on one side where rocks could be pushed over, minions that flee for reinforcements, and a Rakshasa who will either flee into another plane when hit or use major illusion to cause a dragon to appear so he can get away. I don't know if they will even be able to hurt it since their spell casting won't be high enough. They do have magical weapons from our last campaign that might finish him off quickly if I don't have him run. He shows up later in the campaign. I'm pretty excited about this one. I've used several hints from your videos.

[@TheDreamburner]

My favorite combat is one I ran in the Avalestra setting I created in which the PC's were raiding a Library of Illusion, for a special magical relic. They entered the second-to-last room, which is lined with bookshelves, and two huge circular tables ringed with chairs. Thus far, they had been battling pixies, bantering with gnomish bandits, and been dealing with illusory guards and other treacherous deceptions. When they entered this room, they were lulled into thinking that perhaps, everything was going to be alright. However, as the level 6 Human Wizard reached for a book on one of the bookshelves, the doors slammed shut and locked, books began to fly off the shelves, and the previously dormant animated tables and chairs got a full surprise round to rough up the party. The players were also surprised, and it showed on everyone's faces. That poor Wizard got pummeled by four books and two chairs for 30 damage, which sunk her to -2 hp! The War Cleric leapt over one of the tables, risking 4 attacks of opportunity to land adjacent to the fallen mage! The Dwarven Fighter and Elven Ranger switched to fighting with axes, and commenced to chopping firewood! The Gnomish Rogue/Wizard unlocked the door leading back to safety, and the group was able to fall back and bottleneck the enemies into the doorway to defeat them! The surprise, suspense, party tactics, and swashbuckling heroism painted that battle cinematically in all our minds, and it has been spoken of reverently by those players in times since!

[@pablorocchi]

I was running a western themed campaign. At the end, one of the party, they discovered the main foe was the owner of a gun powder factory. When they went for her, they realized they could not use their guns nor they fire/thunder spells cos the BOOM. It was hilarious how they had to improvise for new weapons and strategys.

[@aldor9357]

Gelatinous cubes are great Nothing beats gelatinous cubes

[@Financialcoachchris]

I would have to say mimics beat them. But I agree with it being an amazing monster

[@cattrucker8257]

Pluto Jackson does.

[@beepboprobotsnot3748]

OCHRE JELLIES. My axe wielding fighter and lightning wizard panicked sooooooooooo hard.

[@randomcatname7792]

Put one in a 15x15 room in a random dungeon and see if the party thinks it's just an anti gravity spell or something. (Though obviously the room can't be empty because it's kind of dirty to just put it there with no warning at all)

[@nuclearbirds]

One of my favorite combat encounters I created came early in my DM career. It started with the concept of wanting my players to feel trapped. From that I drew inspiration from one of my hiking trips to Starved Rock Illinois. For those unfamiliar with the area - there are lots of alcoves made of a long, narrow, hallway like canyons with cliffs on either side that spill out into larger, circular areas, often with waterfalls. Unless you can climb or fly, there's only one way in or out. So I had the environment in mind. Now for the quest - the party had been spending some time at a local inn. The owner was waiting on a shipment of goods, and the caravan was nearly a week late with no contact sent. She hired the party to investigate the mountains and see if they could locate the caravan and guide it to town. They found the caravan, tarps and crates slashed open, and one survivor who was bleeding out of his ears. He acted mad, barely coherent, and communicated that he'd done that to himself. One PC plugged their ears immediately with some materials they had in their component pouch - which granted them advantage on the wisdom throw the party had to make against the beautiful singing that then echoed through the canyon walls. Some failed, and began running full speed deeper into the range, charmed. The rest of the party, concerned for their friends, had no choice but to give chase. Once they got to the center of a waterfall alcove, they found a group of harpy fledglings and their two pet gryphons. The terrain lent itself to a really interesting combat, and the initial feeling of "oh no" when half the party went glassy-eyed and started sprinting toward the sound against their will got everyone invested.

[@jessewieman6226]

I have used fighting to last hit point to some success with mind controlled creatures. The players are then trying to capture the victims that are attacking them while they are being attacked by creatures that don’t care about their own lives

[@Voriclexx]

I have two encounters that are the most memorable to me and my players, both from my first campaign. The first one, they had been sent to harvest the skull of a Nightmare but upon reaching the cave, discovered that a band of orcs had actually made a bond with the Nightmare and the War Chief was riding it. I added in some environmental hazards where the walls were on fire, and getting too close dealt fire damage to you. The Nightmare and War Chief kept going ethereal and the chief actually had the Mounted Combatant feat, so anytime the players targeted the Nightmare, he blocked their attacks and really just kept thwarting the player's attacks. After harvesting the skull, it started giving night terrors to the player who held onto it for too long, and she started hallucinating and going mad. My players still talk about the nightmare side quest to this day. The other encounter was the final boss, which should be badass so I'm glad I was able to make it so. He was a spellcaster and the final room was very large. He had the ability to teleport around as long as it was dim or dark inside and hide in magical darkness. I'm not sure if my players remember this encounter fondly, but I sure do. The mage kept teleporting away and really frustrating my melee players. Then when they tried chasing him, he would lead them into Glyphs of Warding that he had prepared with different spells. Players were getting caught in webs, dominated, or just damage for free and it was really entertaining (for me at least). They finally wore him down enough that he had to teleport away, but was unable to activate his teleportation circle to fully get away.

[@JustSilverCh]

I dont know if you guys take suggestions at all or if it will be covered in this, but will you guys do a video on challenge rating and how to use it to make an encounter? Edit: I took the time to actually watch the video. I shall move to the corner of shame now.

[@Alessandro-vv2fh]

Necroposting, but still... kobold.club/fight/#/encounter-builder

[@MagdaGust62]

@@Alessandro-vv2fh here i am using the link thx

[@kevingumfory]

Bruh. That you asked the way you did ... wins todays legendary pat on the back. That you answered the same question and punished yourself for the affront = 10 inspiration !

[@cyrilmartin5613]

the biggest consequence we had with an encounter was in a village when our paladin, an exiled prince, met a group of soldat from his original castle. Our mage tried to use suggestion on their chief to make them live, but he get a 1. So the soldiers attacked us, we killed them, the peasant believed that the prince wanted to conquier his throne back and retransmit the news, completly changing the campain

[@anthiondel]

And a conquest paladin was born... If that actually happened, that'd be even cooler

[@MagusAgrippa8]

In a campaign I ran on Roll20 to primarily test if the program would work well for our group, I had a planned encounter with a Baron who had been traveling with the party to save his betrothed Princess in a dungeon. If it wasn't obvious already, the Baron was actually an evil bad guy. This collection of mephits and kobolds was actually his army, which had kidnapped the princess. The party ended up rescuing the Princess (who, mind you, could actually hold her own in combat surprisingly well) and traveled with her and the Baron towards the heart of the caverns, slaying over a dozen enemies. And they came to a room with a single massive crystal. This dim, dying light emanating from it. It was the Fire Crystal, a sacred semi-sentient artifact that the kingdom relied on for a good harvest and a peaceful life. But the Baron had stolen that power and used it to transform himself into a being of fire. Winged Kobolds descended from the ceiling and grabbed the Princess, pulling her out of the fight until the Kobolds were defeated. The party had also managed to convince on of the Kobolds to help them, as this Kobold was less into the whole fire and brimstone kill kill thing and more into the chilling and relaxing. He was a Kobold Mage who used Ray of Frost, different from the other Kobold Mages that leaned toward fire. And if they hadn't struck up that bond, they may have very well lost the battle. In the end, the last few hitpoints of the evil Baron flame monster fell to a well placed arrow from the Princess, coated in the icey haze of Ray of Frost from the Kobold. I normally don't like the idea of an NPC getting the final blow. I even stopped the play to tell my players straight out that it was up to them whether the final blow should go to the Princess or to the players. But they went against me and actually chose the Princess. Because they had spent the better part of an entire dungeon traveling with the Baron and later the Princess, having the two clash became a narrative conflict they were more heavily invested in. I suspect this is why they were so adamant about the Princess getting the final blow. They even wanted to keep the Kobold around as a traveling buddy, and I'd only created him on whim because a party member tried to talk to the Kobolds. And now, Kramer the Kobold (who later gained the powers of a Dragon Origin Sorcerer from the crystal's blessing) is a reoccurring character in my campaigns.

[@DungeonDudes]

Tell us about the most exciting combat encounter you ever ran (or played in)! How did you create it? There is so much to cover in creating combat encounters. Stay tuned for Part II of this series where we discuss the mechanics of combat difficulty, and Part III where we discuss creating interesting locations to set the stage for your encounters.

[@talongreenlee7704]

The first combat encounter that I lost a player character in was a very memorable one for me. I was playing a cleric working for a local king. We had a necromancer wizard in our party that had a cursed magic item on him that compelled him to work for a deity of death. Because they thought I would have a problem with this as a cleric, nobody in the party told me this, even though I had the remove curse spell, and so when the necromancer killed the king I worked for, I tried to kill him right back. I succeeded, but the entire party allied with him (something I hadn’t anticipated) and the death god sent an avatar of himself to avenge the wizard. I was crushed by a giant demon in two rounds and then, ironically, turned into an undead servant. The entire town ended up getting destroyed by the giant demon, so the whole party ran. It was pretty intense.

[@tonyhunt7967]

Knowing the propensity of fireball, i lead my party up a frosted mounted tracking a Gnoll Flind and his War Band. When they engaged, they realized they were standing on a frozen pond, and had to be very careful about their spell usage. The fighter had a ring that cast enlarge. Forgetting the situation, he used it and promptly fell through the ice. People vastly underrate terrain hazards mixed with fun enemy types.

[@Azgaroththewise]

As the DM I created a small one shot with a cave full of neogi controlled by a mind flayer...The party had a couple gith companions. At the end the mind flayer shows up eats some with brain and my player, a fallen aasimar, fears the mind flayer and another player is diving in dead bodies shooting arrows and junk such a fun scary intense hilarious and rewarding encounter. Not what I intended but it was what I needed :)

[@Rawilow]

In my adventure the party had at some point a battle where they had to defend a unicorn and her lair from invading hobgoblins using stolen gnome tech (an Oaken Bolter). The battle was massive, but the encounter it semf was them protecting the unicorn from enemies coming from a breach in the allied ranks (animals, dryads and others where also gelping them) created by the enemy caster, who turned himself and the construct invisible to bypass the line, then killed some behind him to let more hobgoblins thru. The ennemies had the active goal of killing the unicorn so they focused their attention on her while the party tried to both kill them and protect her. That was an encounter for 6 level 4 characters. I like to think pf it as a proof you don't need to be high level to have epic battles with a lot a stakes.

[@TheFrozenite]

Alright strap in. Story time. The party (The Silver Vanguard) finds themselves in the town of Yartar, a town that main export and trade is fishing and barge crafting. The town is run by a crooked dwarf named Bogart who was instated mayor and protector by Lord Anston Vithol of Waterdeep. The party had gained the hatred of this particular Vithol as they possessed two ancient elven blade (two of three in a set to become one with great power) Anston himself possessed third such blade and had used his families money to buy out a faction of the Kraken Society (assassins guild) The group found themselves in the centre of town having been discovered by Bogart and he had a full crew of members from the Kraken society ready to attack the party. Things didn’t go diplomatic and fighting ensued. After having defeated them and several almost escaping the town guard arrived and saw their town leader dead. The group tried to explain his evil connections and presented a letter from Bogart’s pocket they believed would tie him with the assassins guild and Anston being crooked. They didn’t even bother to read it first. Upon handing it to the captain of the guard he began reading out loud. As the letter stated Bogart as rightful leader of Yartar and The Silver Vanguard as enemies of the Vithol family as troublemakers. Half way into reading the letter the groups Sorcerer/warlock panicked and chucked a fireball at the centre of the town guards melting them and burning several houses in the process. A chase ensued as the remaining town collapsed on the party as they charged to the front gate. Blasting as they went with intent to wound and hold back and not kill as enough damage had been done. Eventually the whole party made it out. In the end the whole town was leaderless with bodies littering the streets and enemies of their lord running wild in the wilds near by with their front gate damaged and several houses burned down. Some time later they went back with proper evidence and restore relations with the township and even defended it from an attacking troll/hag party. TLDR: Crooked leader of town got murdered, town misunderstood, player panicked and fireballed a bunch of innocent town guards.

[@MikeMinMD]

I planned an ambush of the caravan (12 L6 Warrior/Clerics plus party (Techno-Priest/Techno-Mage/Ranger, all 8th lvl)), but the party decided to fly to the next Inn that night - they flew right over the 80+ member (avg Lvl 4) ambushing force and observed them setting up (torchlight, etc). They took out two forward scouts and captured a third, returning him to the caravan for interrogation. The next day they went about 10 min ahead of the caravan (which had hired a couple dozen mercs), and pretty much annihilated (~50 KIA, ~30 fled) the ambushing force using air-dropped AoE weapons (40mm grenades/hand grenades) they had stockpiled for use against an entirely different foe. It was glorious! The Techno-Priest actually fired at a group of the enemy that were escaping thru a hastily-summoned portal and got the (Plasma) 40mm grenade thru the portal just as it closed. OMG. So much fun. BTW this is Arduin. And totally insane.

[@charlesalbrecht6201]

Dudes, been watching Drakkenheim since the beginning and am 20ish sessions into DM’ing my first campaign, Drakkenheim of course, and am always stoked that when I have a question I can look through your catalog and find exactly what I needed!

[@thetristan7391]

This video was created 4 years ago but it was so helpful to me!!! Thank you for putting this together for DMs like me who were running into a roadblock creating encounters :))

[@doms.6701]

Thank you, thank you. I have been working on Ravnica adventures. Always looking for info like this.

[@teeseeuu]

This was spectacular guys. There are many videos on encounter building, but rarely are they this concise, thematic and actionable. Excellent work!

[@eserenson]

Love the videos guys. I have played since AD&D 2e. Just recently got back into it with 5e. I came across your videos and found them both informative and entertaining. Keep up the great job.

[@EmethMatthew]

New Dungeon Dudes! So excited!

[@drewkimball9346]

Awesome. I was just looking for a good resource on the mechanics of creating a balanced encounter. I enjoyed the video and can't wait for part 2.

[@squattingheads]

Most important part of 5e encounter building, since the system doesn’t offer much but simple hack n slash: Have a GOAL BESIDES KILLING -for both sites. Protect the baby, activate the machine, capture the enemy, get out Also having obvious Points of Interest that can or needs to be manned. A crane to position platforms, a book to keep Cthulhu at bay. Lastly: have conclusions prepared Players make a deal that wins the combat but results in non combat problems. (A curse) Players show that they see through the lore, puzzle and NPCs intention. Manage a skill challenge and win big Combat: objective a and b won/lost in any combination

[@peterhikari4122]

When I was a DM at a youth group I worked with I wanted a filler encounter that tested their moral choices / how much they trusted me as a DM. So, while walking through a valley towards the ocean they were stopped by a Wind Elemental that wrote 'help' in draconic on the ground (one of the party was a Dragonborn so they read the message and told the group). The choice here was to fight or listen. Either way, they were going to be rewarded with a big drop but one had a story. They chose the listen. This lead them to a Dragonborn that was rejected by their family and town, moved to the valley and created the Wind Elemental as a friend. They found the skeleton and the diary that told of their life. I was so proud of this diary that the Dragonborn read out to the rest of the group as it made one of the party cry. Fully worth the effort.

[@gustavomedeiros8384]

I know that every part of the combat is important, but i am most excited about your second video, as a new player (and DM) i'm not fully sure on how to balance a game, even more considering that my party is made only by 2 players

[@valathor95]

Gustavo Medeiros what he said. 😂

[@Slayer_Jesse]

its quite difficult for only 2 players, as one of them going down reduces the firepower of the party by half. Consider giving them an NPC ally, or having a DM PC (One of the few times its acceptable to do so)

[@DungeonDudes]

Glad to hear you’re already excited for part two lol! We had originally tried for one video but realized this topic needed a lot of discussion, so part two will be out in a couple weeks. (Christmas special next week). I’m also excited! - Kelly

[@EmethMatthew]

Until the next video, my suggestions (especially if you only have 2 PCs!) would be: 1. Don't include too many enemies! The action economy in 5e means that any time the party is outnumbered they are at a disadvantage unless they can take out several enemies very quickly... So with two PCs try not to have more than two enemies with more HP than your PCs total HP, and if you want a ton of bad guys to take out, consider making most of them have only 1hp (to steal from 4e) so they go down quickly. 2. Make the encounter adaptive! Plan on having reinforcements join the battle after 1 or 2 rounds if the battle is still going and you want it to last longer, but if your party is struggling with the first wave, maybe decide not to have the next wave show up. Or adjust the HP of the enemies during the battle: the stat block gives you HP dice for the monsters for a reason! You don't have to use the suggested/average static HP number, pick an HP within its HP dice range (during the battle if necessary) and bump the HP up or down depending on how the battle is going.... 3. Give your party allies! Someone already suggested adding an NPC/DMPC to the party, but you can also have each player run two PCs or the NPCs you use don't need to be permanent party members, but have the local sheriff and a deputy show up mid battle, have a ranger who was also tracking these enemies aid you and leave after the battle, have your cleric's deity send Celestial aid, etc. Basically, don't make your encounters too rigid or you will have your battles turn out on the extremes of "too easy" or "too deadly" or even just "too long and boring"... Plan for some flexibility and you can have much more fun and dynamic encounters!

[@Babidi111]

I hope your two players are like a Paladin and Druid, they seem pretty versatile. not sure what paladin subclass is the best but I think moon druids are great for campaigns that have so few players. Did you design it just to be for two guys or could u not wrangle anyone else to play?

[@BlackShadow1991]

Thank you for making these guides, Dudes, they are fun, informative and well made :D

[@generalnerdery7144]

Thanks I have been looking for a great guide on cr, and combat in general for combat for my first campaign

[@nicirochi0]

Great video guys! Really put me to think more about the combat. Thanks!

[@ColinKillick]

This is a great video, I love your work. One thing I would add is to be ready for your players to find an alternative to fighting, and if they succeed reward them for their cleverness, rather than punishing them for not doing the encounter your way. We recently managed to defuse an encounter with some angry ghosts by finding out what the ancient conflict was that caused them to haunt the dungeon, and them using the Ceremony spell to put their souls at rest in return for information. Our DM has no idea we would try that, but he rolled with it and made it worth our while, even though it meant bypassing a bunch of things he had prepared.

[@OverboardDM]

I have a great idea. A multilevel clock tower full of harpys

[@DungeonDudes]

:D

[@ethansundquist7560]

@@DungeonDudes , I wonder where they got that idea...

[@a.w.melodies2449]

Omg! I love this! Keep up the amazing content! I needed this as I am a new DM and plan to run CoS

[@RikkuTakanashi]

I like these guys. They explain things in a interesting, detailed, manner that doesn't involve alot of lewdness, cursing, and wow he actually said that? Moments. Those are fine sometimes, but often times if I want to learn I don't want to be distracted by pointlessly colorful language. XD As these two are proof of, you can still relay the information interestingly without it being stupidly colorful.

[@Roak199]

That genuinely helped quite a bit. Danke.

[@ErinsAaron]

Thank you for this helpful video miniseries. Useful info in all 3.

[@archiemorris5235]

I ran an encounter similar to your evacuation/sacrifice scenario. It was a rather large battle with the PCs acting as a stalling action to let miners board a small river craft to escape. Three PCs made the ultimate sacrifice, one being ground to pulp by an infantile hill giant and having his emerging sentient sword also broken asunder. It was epic.

[@michaelanderson4441]

One of my favorite examples of a cascading encounter difficulty was when I once ran a session where they had to find a McGuffin in an abandoned mining colony before the bad guys found it first. When they found the McGuffin, they were rewarded (or punished) based off of how many time sinks they avoided on the way. For example, if they failed a survival skill, they would fall off track and ran into a random group of lizardmen. A failed nature check and they would end up with one or two members trapped in quicksand. When they got to the mining colony, this timer mechanism encouraged then to reach their goal first before exploring every nook of the site. Upon reaching the goal, they discovered the baddies were quickly closing in on their location, and, if they did well managing the time sinks, they would have some time to prepare traps and defenses--if they did poorly, they would have arrived at the McGuffin after the baddies had already secured it. By the books, the end encounter was supposed to be deadly--and nigh-impossible if they got to their destination late--but due to their earlier successes and intelligent use of their surroundings, they breezed through the fight. What I like about this sort of system is that the players feel like they are actually being rewarded for intelligent play as opposed to only feeling punished when they play poorly.

[@santiagosaracho2271]

Thanks! Is very useful, especially for new Dm's like me, who struggles when creating combat scenarios (sorry, bad english)

[@cattrucker8257]

Glad to see use of Drakkenheim material / it being essentially a development testbed if you feel like it. The "who wins their fight faster" thing makes easy sense with even a bit of comprehension and your execution of it there demonstrated exactly how it works and even engages the rest of the party even if it's meant to be a strictly one on one deal for the "hero". That said, a type of combat encounter I'd be curious about is when you're not the biggest dog in the pile, but are party to a battle of the proverbial gods (say, dragons) with your own stake in the matter.

[@veterano347]

Sorry for the ortography, I am learning the lenguage so... I find this project very useful. I'm looking forward the three videos especially the second one. As a new DM this is exactly what i needed. New suscriber btw.

[@falloutzane]

One encounter I've been working on is a man locked in an animal style pen being screamed at by a hill giant. Because the hill giants "puppy" went missing and this man was there instead. Turns out the guy is a new werewolf but has no idea, while he was transformed he got caught by the giant and made into a pet

[@UltimosGabriel]

My favorite encounter was once on a "Final Fantasy Like" campaign. We where boarding a public aerial train - that travels incredible speed over the clouds. Then, some guys came to kill our party. Nice, and normal. But, seeing that they where losing, they just started to hit the train, trying to use the pressure to kill us - and consequently killing everybody else. The last of them goes to the door and started to lift it out of the way. My character (I was a Strong Paladin) then grabbed the door to (passed 2/3 tests necessary) shut her back. Then he was stopped by a shot on the back, and falls. Oh, I died, but that was amazing.

[@jarredbogers1880]

I started playing d&d about six months ago and thanks to you guys i'm about to run my first game today. I'm in way over my head and am kinda winging it but i'm so excited to run a one shot. Thank you guys for everything you've been doing; videos like these are perfect.

[@DungeonDudes]

Good luck! Let us know how it goes!

[@jarredbogers1880]

Dungeon Dudes it was great!! I totally forgot to respond but it was great session. Will be doing it again B)

[@eliass-logan8092]

Great video guys. Also looking sharp in orange w/ the collar as well as Cuphead currently a love-hate relationship there. Thanks for all the advice today.

[@codenameera3709]

I love that almost all of the things that they said in the "blah blah blah- CONFLICT!" section were from drakkenheim!

[@Archangel9745]

Currently I am wrapping up a campaign (unfortunately at level 7/8 due to too many drops). Over the course of the campaign the threat of an Orc invasion from the south up into the main nation has been a serious threat, and the party, assembled and hired by a noble (the fighter), has helped stave off multiple incursions by assisting the Parliamentary Army/Dwarven Republican Army. In this current, and final incursion, I gave the players, over the course of several hours, scouting reports, a map of the general area around the city, troop lists, and supply list and gave them roughly two in game days to plan the defense. They survived wave one with minimal casualties. We will pick up on sunday with the next 2 waves.

[@isawamoose]

I just recently did a session where I had the party members on a quest from a local druid to find some strange dark energy corrupting the forest. I made it a forest blight with John Carpenters "The Thing"/Princess Mononoke like properties, corrupting animals and turning them into gorging beasts that ooze flesh/black slime/plant/bark matter. I had run this encounter before with another group but decided on the fly to change the early "hint" encounter. They came across some busted up stag bodies, ripped asunder, and a petrified baby doe nearby. I just intended for the druid to attempt some magic, perhaps and find that any spells affecting plants or animals would need another DC to overcome because of corrupt forest yadayada What ensued was a Stanford psych experiment. The gunslinger and wizard both ready their guns/staves, shouting to kill the beast, as the Paladin and Druid move to literally blow tons of healing slots to save this thing. It was saved and was no longer petrified (any successful druidy thingy whatever would have done the trick or 1 point of damage ala slap in the face or something) The last part had 3 different petrified animals, with the blight first appearing possessing a snake. Once a possessed animal was defeated, it would retreat to the next animal host and regain its hit points. It also had a CON save on its attack that would deal 1d4 DEX damage and turn your body to bark/twigs/ooze. They still let the thing take possession of 2 of the 3 petrified animals... Thanks for all the videos, guys!

[@Klaital1]

When I am designing encounters things always tend to go exact opposite of what I expected... like when I design what I think is going to be an epic boss fight, it gets totally steamrolled, and conversely, when I do a throw away encounter with a handful of kobolds and a spiked pit trap... it ends in a tpk.

[@matthewgagnon4593]

I rolled a really poor stealth check and became surrounded by kobolds... alone. I ended up reaching into my coin purse, grabbing a random amount of coins, and threw them to the ground. The kobolds went into "ooo shiny" mode, and i ended up employing them into my service. Over the course of multiple fights most of the kobolds ran or died. But one kobold Groppy survived most of the campaign, earning my trust while becoming a valued member of our party. When he eventually died saving the party, it destroyed us lol. Since then i have become a DM, and love to teach my players that not everything can be solved with an axe to the head, or eldrich blast to the chest. In most cases i reward innovation more than tactical combat victory!

[@williambuckbee4366]

I was playing an Elephantine Barbarian with an Artifact grade axe. A white dragon was landing and I charged, crit, and due to the dragon failing a save I got another attack, totalling three and gutted the dragon.

[@elizabethrowe5960]

Very cool series! I refer back to this series frequently. My question: where is "How to Design an Effective Exploration Encounter" and "...Roleplay Encounter?" How to develop these pillars in a homebrew world so as to maximize my players' fun?

[@GunnarWahl]

So I have a D&D ravnika campaign going, where the opening combat encounter was a Racdos party (evil Circus of cultist that worship a demon of Hedonism). The players were all invited to the party it was hosting, and at the party there was going to be a mosh pit, a fighting ring the players were allowed to join as an option and free to leave as an option and while in the pit, all was fair game. On lookers were encouraged to throw money into the mosh pit to encourage people to run in and try to pick up the money. A powerful gnome inventor was there with a large robot and a which and a mutant all wanted the money and prizes inside the pit. The players got them to fight each other (cr 6-8 monsters for a group of 4 level 3 players) and win the day by out smarting the powerful foes to be their own undoing. it was a lot of fun.

[@danieldosso2455]

the CR system has always confused me, this video definitely helps!

[@alexhukill838]

Damn, Monty's hair and beard look hella sharp

[@sambobsam]

I love kelly's outfit in this episode :)

[@gaberielpendragon]

I had an encounter where the boss was immune to damage and summoned a group of ghosts every round, the ghosts move up to PCs and explode dealing damage, if the PCs kill them before they are able to do so the health of the ghost is removed from the boss. The exact number of ghosts can change depending on the group and how much threat you want to apply to the group. Another encounter I modified from a WoW boss fight, the PCs fought against a Paladin with a great sword, once they drop the boss they are stunned and the boss is revived and then has a cleric join the fight for a round two. The random stats I rolled up with a website had the cleric boss have earthquake, when she was almost dead, which took like one round despite her 200ish hp. So I had her cast it and drop the cathedral they were fighting in on the paladin and the party. Made for an epic conclusion to the fight. The paladin boss couldn't roll high enough to free himself from the rubble, and one of the pcs rolled crazy high to avoid all the effects of the earth quake, so they got to sneak attack the paladin until it died. Starting this fight the sorcerer moved up to cast a fairly short range spell on the paladin, who then moved up and dropped the sorcerer in one hit, the sorc got healed, they decided to use shocking grasp on the paladin, who turned around and ended up critting his multiattack and would have one shot the sorcerer from full hp to perma dead dropping around 60 points of damage. This group is high powered with crazy DPR, so every encounter tends to be deadly, and tends to end in a round or two, three at most.

[@notsomagicalmike7429]

One time we discovered an underground castle or something where a horde of drow were being taken into to be sacrificed and one of the main villains, Araya was there, whom another party member, an Elven barbarian, thought was a good person and was not happy to see that she wasn't. The barbarian started screaming at her. Note, we were disguised as drow so we could infiltrate the facility but of course our cover was blown so we high tailed it out of there. One of our members almost fell inside lava. I cut the ropes that kept the only bridge in sight together that connected the entrance to the path to the castle. But of course Araya could fly and battle assumed but then the barbarian hog tied Araya and after almost killing her, which wasn't planned, Araya decided to use blink and we swiftly got the hell out. Currently in the campaign I run the current conflict is one of the players' little sister was take away by an older gentlemen and they've learned that there has been several people of youth who have been getting kidnapped and various pieces of "art" made from humanoid remains have been found. The next session, when we get to it, will start with them going to a large party for a noble's son to see if they can find someone of interest. Really looking forward to this one!

[@Ares686]

After a near TPK last week the lone survivor has fled the area. I'm gonna have the new party drive a carriage delivery and along the way I'm gonna have bounty hunters who are looking for the lone survivor find them. I'm going to steer them into a western style carriage chase with a few other carriages and some lone riders. There will people casting spells at them and people trying to jump on the carriage some carriage ramming and a few other tricks. I'm going to make them manage their carriages HP as well as their horses to add a bit of urgency to the situation but my players have a "stand and fight to the death" mentality so I'm looking for ideas to get them to run otherwise it's not much of a chase... suggestions?

[@airsheeps]

Like they say in the video, come up with other potential ways their encounter might go beyond just "carriage chase." Because players tend to pick an option you never saw or considered. For instance, they might abandon the cart entirely and run into the woods, ready for some guerrilla warfare. The cart idea is neat, but don't railroad them into it.

[@jnbaker7422]

make it absolutely clear that standing and fighting is a bad idea give the enemies a lot of short range spells and tools nets that can capture allies, etc spears that would kill them if they were to stay put

[@opiatemuffin3219]

In the last campaign I was a part of we had a Triton Druid who cared a lot about the sanctity of life and refused to kill. Our DM capitalized on this and put us in an encounter with the Druids father, who had disappeared years ago. His father had become a Lich, and using the power of a sunstone (like a philosophers stone, also his phylactery) he’d kill people to reanimate as his army. Then our Orc Barbarian decided he wanted that power to bring his family back to life. So suddenly our party was split into 3, with the pacifist Druid not sure if he should kill his father, the bloodthirsty Barbarian who turns on the rest of the party to protect the Necromancer, and the rest of us. Finally when we got the sunstone, the Druid had this dilemma for the rest of the campaign, because the sunstone was a pivotal item important to the plot but he refused to use it because its powered by death, even when using it would mean saving lives.

[@PKyoshi]

In order to discourage my players from choosing violence every time I include small personal things in the loot. They might kill a guard and find he's wearing a wedding ring, or a small picture of his wife and children in his gold pouch. A funeral will be hosted in town (they might see it if they stick around), a child might come up to the party begging for money because his father got killed, and they might recognize him. It adds a more personal touch.

[@simeoneiacovacci3376]

Guys!I need help!I'm a DM and I suck bad at creating encounters and I gotta play on Saturday,I was hoping to use your tips to write some decent encounters for my session,but I realized it'll be too late,so I'm asking for help:I'm DMing an evil party who just got brought back to life by an evil lich who just took over a town (which they were defending before the lich killed them an turned them evil),but some of the town folks have gathered up in a resistance and are fighting against him and his army of monsters,he can't scry them for some reason and he wants the players to track them down and destroy them,taking advantage of the fact that the townsfolk thinks that they are still good and want to help them.So,they contact the resistance and,with one of the leaders of the resistance,they began to travel through the mountains to get to the HQ of the rebels,but the mentioned leader casts "Detect thoughs" on them because he is dubbious about them because of the fact that he saw them die and,maybe,manages to understand that they are assholes,so he gets them in a trap with come yeties and flies away with magic.I was thinking that if they manage to end the encounter in 3 or less rounds they may try tracking him down,and he may cause an avalanche to kill them using some sound spells,but I'm open to any ideas.Maybe they fight the yeties ond a cliff,made slippery by the ice,and the yeties try to push them over,maybe the yeties are scared of fire,and run away if damaged with fire spells,maybe they are just hungry,and if they are feed they leave the party alone.I'm open to advice in any regard,and will always be thankful if you help me out. Italy says hi,and thanks you for your help.

[@tonyhunt7967]

Perhaps you can try having them in a cavern with icicles over head that, if a thunder spell or fireball or a large sou d is made, causes them to fall on people? Or fighting on a frozen lake which they might crack and fall into if not careful?

[@randomcatname7792]

It's past Saturday, how'd it turn out? :)

[@simeoneiacovacci3376]

@@randomcatname7792 I had 6 players who were getting to know each other on the fly, so it was slow and they didn't reach the encounter yet, as anticlimactic as it sounds.

[@tiatrips]

I have an odd one for you, and hopefully you guys or someone else on this page can help, I want to run a pitched battle at some point, basically, the PCs and their allies against another group. Reinforcements running in, orders being yelled out, actual tactics being used, etc. Any tips on how to do that smoothly? I figured make initiative for groups as opposed to each person and limit how many reinforcements that enter are two good starts. And I'm not rolling attack and damage for every guy involved, as we only have 6 hours in a session. Is there anything else I could do that would help?

[@Torchlitegamer]

Is that Black Pigeon Speaks? It sounds just like him.

[@DungeonDudes]

We're not sure which of us you are referring to, and we're not sure who that is either! So... no?

[@chesspiece4257]

Me: *humming while I create adorable npcs that I completely plan on ruining the lives of later in the campaign* 🎶this is gonna hurt them🎶

[@perlygatekeeper]

OMG!!!! Kelly FINALLY ran out of Tee Shirts! I thought he had an infinite supply of different tee's!

[@DungeonDudes]

Don't worry, Kelly is going to stock up on some new shirts over the holidays!

[@flyingtrixster729]

Dnd story i play in a guild so no fixed times. I was gming a game. I had one goblin flank them. One player could speak goblin. Panic. They paid it to run away with other goblin. Goblin gave them a fake name and ran away with 30 gold and luck stone. Tdr goblin scam some players and the other goblins attack them anyways.

[@arvetis]

One thing this video isn't very clear about, and maybe you can help me figure out: should I write it down or not?

[@albertnorman4136]

Ah, threatening the PCs' loved ones: The surest way to persuade players to create sociopathic loners with no weaknesses for DMs to take advantage of.

[@DungeonDudes]

Creating a PC with flaws, bonds, ideals, weaknesses, and goals for the DM to involve and exploit is part of making an interesting character. In fact, the best reason for a PC to have loved ones is so that they might be threatened somehow: these situations make for excellent drama with meaningful personal stakes. If a player isn't interested in that kind of intimate story drama, frankly, that's their loss.

[@albertnorman4136]

And yet somehow so many players end up unwilling to offer up simulated hostages to fortune. But that _can't_ be the fault of the DMs who taught them what gaming is like, of course!

[@DungeonDudes]

@@albertnorman4136 I'm honestly not sure what you're arguing for -- it's like you don't want players creating sociopathic murderhobos, but at the same time don't want a DM to actually take advantage of what makes a character interesting or play upon their motivations or backstory?

[@WolfmanXD]

Not to down play your friends sacrifice, but the fact that he was a tabaxi, couldn't he have just used his feline agility for essentially a free action dash? If he had fired at the boss before he moved, he could've used his feline agility to double his movement speed until the end of the turn.

[@11thDC]

Why is there such a blatant skip at 6:10?

[@tonyhunt7967]

Though not expressly said, the ideal thing each encounter brought up was that they mattered. I detest combat for the sake of combat. Dungeons and Dragons doesn't have to be a classic JRPG. Each fight should mean something to either the world or the narrative, and make sense in context. Ropers are cool. Ropers ambushing a sleeping party in a forest because the DM thinks they're neat, less so. Fights that matter to the world are the most memorable.

[@gabrielshervo678]

I like everything about this except Kelly's outfit. It looks like he is wearing the Shirt Of Pumpkin Piety, +1.Distracting.

[@DungeonDudes]

I. CAN’T. WIN! - Kelly

[@projectrallus]

I think it looks nice

[@tommy.1799]

help

[@kevingumfory]

Whilst playing with young people i ALWAYS steal from Monty Python. Rather it be the bridge keeper, eavesdropping a conversation and thinking they are the person of interest. The green knight etc etc. It is ALWAYS a win and afterwards you get to introduce some poor sap who's never watched Monty Python ! I steal lots from tons others never failing to give credit. Plus on occasion one of them will know the reference and you can watch them secretly enjoy the encounter. Good times.

[@yanderenejoyer]

This is suspiciously similar to "The angry DM's " guide to combat.

[@thomasgriffin1379]

You guys are a great help. Also ya both super cute!! Feel free to be my boyfriends. Thanks!