Creative Combat Tactics in Dungeons and Dragons 5e

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/... Think outside the grid! In this episode, we discuss the creative, narrative, and roleplaying elements that can factor into your battlefield tactics.
Click ahead to a specific section in this episode:
2:25 Working as a Team
4:25 Focus on the Objective
7:55 Observe the Environment
16:20 Understand your Foes
21:45 Use Equipment
In Dungeons and Dragons, the story doesn’t stop just because swords are drawn. One of the fantastic parts of Dungeons and Dragons are all the creative, narrative, and roleplaying elements that make a combat encounter come alive, and distinguish combat in D&D from more limited experiences like video games, where you are much more restricted in what your character can do.
____________________________
Watch us play live Tuesdays 6-9 PM EDT on Twitch:
/ dungeon_dudes
Join our Patreon community:
/ dungeon_dudes
Get our custom t-shirts:
bit.ly/dungeondudesmerch
Pick up your next D&D book on Amazon using our affiliate links below to help support the channel:
Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus - amzn.to/2Yer6tt
Ghosts of Saltmarsh - amzn.to/2JR2H3T
Xanathar’s Guide to Everything - amzn.to/2YjaIHY
Volo’s Guide to Monsters - amzn.to/2SseJVu
D&D 5e Starter Set - amzn.to/2Yjbc0K
D&D 5e Core Rulebook Set - amzn.to/2xYTKQG

[@DungeonDudes]

What are some of the creative ways you've used the environment, equipment, or enemy psychology to carry the day in battle?

[@darienb1127]

I've made a contraption in which the players had to roll a barrel down a hill donkey kong style to defeat some skeletons.

[@darienb1127]

Sorry for putting this here, but I've only been a DM for about 3 games now, but I want to return to it. But, i always struggle with the note taking and preparation part of it. Simply, I don't know how much I need to prepare, because if I can't find a good balance, I'll go overboard. and i hate making maps! If you could make a video to help discuss topics like that, that would be fantastic! if they exist on your channel already, could you point me there? Thank you in advance.

[@notorious.scoundrel]

We used Minor Illusion to create an apparition of a sexy female goblin. We were supposed to save some hostages from some orcs and goblins, so we used that illusion to take out two of the goblins stealthily while another player used a disguise kit to look like a full female orc. We managed to actually take all of the four goblins and two orc guards by tricking them with sex and then all jumping on them 😂

[@darienb1127]

The best and worst part about this, is this is the standard for how illusion magic is used. For me, it's the best part!

[@sr.bootsnpants664]

My last campaign setting, there was a rumble that started in a tavern. Our high elf used the minor illusion cantrip to make a city watch wistle. One of the 5 Xanathar's gang member had a blade drawn, as soon as the recognizable pitch came across they withdrew their blade and were on edge to not be arrested. They soon withdrew the fight out of paranoia.

[@parapotato]

One of the best unique tactics I've ever seen was in a game I DM'd. The party was fighting a nasty hag coven and not doing well. The monk was banished, and everyone else was down at least 2/3s hit points; then the bard got knocked into a pool of acid. The bard stood up and didn't immediately run out, but instead used thunder wave to toss an enormous amount of acid onto one of the hags which killed her; ending the banishment on the monk (who was Pissed, had 21 AC, at full health, and full ki), and removing the expanded spell list the hags got from being in a cover. That was undoubtedly the biggest momentum swing I've seen in a fight, and it came from the bard turning the hag's liar against them.

[@kahnTM]

That is just badass

[@BigMac8000]

Awesome. "Don't you know? Too much bard ruins the brew, Hag" I hope he nailed the one liner potential.

[@SuperGamefreak18]

Hags? Reminds me of the suplex a player did in a dnd i was watching lol

[@warwerewolf777]

@@SuperGamefreak18 Could it have been the story from xp to level 3 with his curse of Strhad game?

[@SuperGamefreak18]

@@warwerewolf777 I wasn't talking about that for one the guy I was talking about was a half-orc

[@topshaggeralfieg9130]

11:02 “only in a forest where there’s trees” Oh no I seem to have found myself in one of those treeless forests

[@DungeonDudes]

I totally noticed that when I edited this episode, gotta watch out for those treeless forests.... they are the most dangerous.

[@topshaggeralfieg9130]

Dungeon Dudes what if the trees are all mimics and that’s why it’s called the treeless forest

[@DungeonDudes]

Maybe the Treeless Forest is the ghostly remains of an ancient elven forest that was swallowed by the Shadowfell, and now all that remains are shadows without trees?

[@timothyserpette9403]

@@DungeonDudes Gentlemen. I am a fantasy author, and I will credit the 2 of you with that when I use that locale in my fantasy world.

[@Orodum]

@@DungeonDudes That... would actually be creepy as hell, especially if all the sounds and motions of the trees and birds and the like remained, but only via their shadows

[@dinosaurfilms7425]

Creativity is a weapon. Those who lack it are the first to die. - Goblin Slayer

[@Blossoming_Fate]

... Now I want o go watch Goblin Slayer again... for the third time...

[@GrondGrondGrondGrond]

RUBY DA CHERRY I do not agree with your opinion, but thus you are still entitled to your opinion and so I respect it.

[@TheMightyBattleSquid]

Which is funny because all of the other people at his rank don't do anything but blindly swing lol

[@M4niacks2]

@RUBY DA CHERRY It wasn't the best but it did had that feeling of having a DnD player either using smart tactics, such as smoking out the ennemy in a cave, or trying to cheese the rules, "hey what happens if i trap an ennemy between two wall of force" and "hey lets link the gate scroll to the bottom of the sea, its like having instant high pressure water".

[@bonetower]

Mr_Dragon right? Murder hobos the guild XD

[@darienb1127]

Never underestimate the power of pocket sand. Never.

[@caramonmajere447]

Pulverized glass is even deadlier.

[@darienb1127]

I never though of that. Ow.

[@caramonmajere447]

@@darienb1127 Oh yeah, factually/historically correct ninja weapon. Causes instantaneous blindness and respiratory damage. And most villages have a mill that the player can use to grind the glass into powder.

[@darienb1127]

Speaking of ninjas, do you have any good sources on them? I've been wanting to learn more about them for a long time. And it would be fun to play a proper ninja character.

[@cloudvii166]

@@darienb1127 depends on what you mean by ninja if you mean the assasin types then look toward the chinese with jiang ke (i think thats how it's spelled) or if you mean what the hisorical role of ninja's then were talking about information gathering through espionage and deceit for a lord that you serve

[@scottchristoph1050]

we had a party with two barbarians a while back. one of them kept a shield on his back that he never used with a metal step nailed into it. He'd charge in the enemies face, and at a word he'd take a knee, and the dwarf barbarian would run up, get a boost off his back, flip over the baddy, smack him in the face, and suddenly be behind him. It was a pretty good move.

[@Kugrox]

I love that idea. It's great, I often wonder how to make things like that matter though, because, to get behind the baddie, the dwarf could easily just, run around him. This move only works if the dwarf for some reason is just a few feet short on movement. which is unlikely to be an issue, Flanking is always a flawless move, but again, whats the point of jumping over him like that when you could just walk around him on your turn. Other than it looks fucking cool. it things like that when we need to use the optional moral system in the dungeon masters guide, however, since its a rarely needed thing, its pointless to use for that one instance. So, its up to the DM to think of a creative bonus to give to you for executing such a maneuver, and i'd even say that, since it doesnt really add anything by doing it that you couldnt get by using normal movement, what i normally do is, i say roll acrobatics, and if you pass the check, your move was so flashy, you get a free follow up attack.

[@RileyGrove]

@@Kugrox By doing this, the baddie won't be able to hit the dwarf with an opportunity attack. But if he would just walk around him, he could. So it's actually a pretty good idea.

[@CaptainMurdock1337]

@@RileyGrove Walking around an enemy doesn't trigger opportunity attacks if I remember correctly. Only if you LEAVE his meelee range while walking around him.

[@bigloser5104]

@@Kugrox It looks cool, nothing else is needed

[@bullfrogjay4383]

Does this require an athletics roll on the part of the dwarf ?

[@Hazel-xl8in]

while stealth is great, beware of the Colville Screw: you stealthed your way all the way into the heart of the dungeon/castle, but set off the alarm at the very end. Now instead of exploring the dungeon room by room, the entire dungeon comes to explore you.

[@GM_Ryu]

The group I DM for did this the other night. Considering I knew the outcome I suggested and eventually pretty much moving from DM to complete OOC metagaming mode. "Are you 100% sure you are wanting to sneak up the chimney like fissure solo and attack the boss that has a dozen enemies surrounding him." After the player went and did it anyways the entire dungeon came alive as the 5 goblins chased him down the chimney and the bugbear and his posse of extras starting clearing rooms throughout the dungeon. I think my players now have a healthy fear of bugbears after that night of gameplay.

[@sparksparklez]

@@GM_Ryu The best part of being a DM is to traumatize the players when they do something stupid.

[@robertcox9871]

@@GM_Ryu Was that mines of phandelever and the cragmore hideout battle, by any chance?

[@GM_Ryu]

@@robertcox9871 it was, my players after all these sessions now understand this is not Skyrim. The monsters actually have the ability to think, and most of them have self preservation instincts. They now are afraid of dragons more then they are bugbears. I killed 3 of them 3 weeks back with Venomfang's breath attack. They completely ate of Venomfang's words and walked right into his lair with weapons down expecting parley. What happened was the dragon slithered around and managed to reposition himself to nail the entire group, effectively surprise round for 59 points of poison damage. 3 instant deaths. They now know don't trust the honeyed words of a green dragon.

[@nickamodio721]

@@GM_Ryu Just wondering, is there anything the players could have done to prevent being killed after they entered the lair and saw the dragon, or was it all a forgone conclusion? And how did those 3 players react to their characters dying in that way? Were they mad about it?

[@UncleFeedle]

Most outrageous, devious weapon I've ever come across in D&D: You need a quantity of ballista bolts, magically shrunk down to the size of crossbow bolts. You fix a ring of Dispel Magic onto the end of a crossbow, so the bolts will pass through it when fired. You now have a hand-portable ballista.

[@masterreaper115]

depends on if your DM ignores physics with momentum or not...

[@brianbaxley5921]

As a DM if I allowed it I'd say that as the bolt leaves the ring the weight of the projectile would increase and in turn increase the momentum/speed as if fired from a full size ballista. Because that is an awesome idea and I like the Rule of Cool.

[@masterreaper115]

@@brianbaxley5921 the issue is it would very quickly become pretty op

[@brianbaxley5921]

@@masterreaper115 Ohh I agree thats why I said if I allowed it, and I would also put a percentage chance of something going wrong and say that perhaps the bolt jams halfway through falling on the wielder of the crossbow and damaging /incapacitating them for so many rounds. I believe in everything having consequences good or bad.

[@d-risky4994]

Increase its crit fail rate to nat 3’s and below... then roll a 50% to see if it breaks the ring

[@BleydTorvall]

Had a campaign where I was a lvl 4 Paladin with the Oath of Vengeance. Was fighting against a horde of enemies I had sworn to destroy, but which was completely overwhelming the party. I didn't want to simply run away and let them live, but standing to fight would have been suicide, so we retreated and hoped to think of a solution. We were slowly retreating through a forest and running into a strong headwind with myself at the rear to protect from the pursuing horde, when I got an idea. As we neared to edge of the forest, I pulled out my sword and used a Searing Smite against a nearby tree with the intent of igniting it. I was told to roll to determine how effective this would be and got a natural 20, so the tree immediately burst into flames, and the strong wind then caused the fire to rapidly spread through the forest behind us, engulfing our pursuers, and about 40 miles worth of forestland beyond, so maybe a bit of overkill. But hey, "By Any Means Necessary" is one of the tenets of vengeance...

[@toddlafrance4521]

New spell suggestion --> FOREST FIRE Conjuration Cantrip Casting Time: 1 ACTION Range: 40 Miles Components: V (By Any Means Necessary!), S (Striking a downwind tree with a source of fire), M (Flaming thingy) Duration: About 3 days Player makes a skill check DC 5 versus INT to come up with crazy idea and hopes that the wind doesn't change direction. Flammable objects in the area catch fire in a strong wind. Over the course of an hour a raging inferno consumes the forest in front of you along with any living creature in its path. Immunities and Resistance to fire based attacks apply. DM rolls d20 to determine if a Bugbear/Ranger with a hat shows up to track down the heinous person responsible.

[@michaelsorensen7567]

There is no overkill. Only open fire and time to reload -70 maxims for maximally effective mercenaries

[@OfDaSouth]

“That bandit...in the jungle...did you find him?” “yes.” “how?” “We burned the forest down.”

[@jasonbolding3481]

And at the moment you gain an vengeful fey spirit as your enemy. That bear smites those who don't prevent forest fires

[@scaevola]

pretty sure running away doesn't count as revenge lmao

[@cyrilmartin5613]

Always pick up some bag of flour. You can use it to the ground to find invisible ennemies, use it to detect trapps or throw it to an ennemie for distraction

[@DrewTeter]

Flour can help find invisible enemies depending on how it's used, but you can't just throw a handful at an enemy because anything on the enemy's body *also* becomes invisible.

[@normal6483]

Flour is also explosive, which is great for improvising fiery traps!

[@jacksonh6797]

Drew Teter You could slice it open and poor some onto the floor, waiting for them to come close (If they use melee)

[@DrewTeter]

Absolutely, I just said you had to be careful about how you did it.

[@BA1Gang]

Also a good improvised fireball if you can get it dispersed finely in the air, then cast a firebolt into it. Good times.

[@FLEASPIRIT13]

I often use shatter to bring the roof down on enemies.... it’s a lifesaver

[@tofastninj9747]

I am right now in a underground dungeon and hope to use shatter on some supports

[@floppydisk4500]

ToFastNinj how'd it go?

[@dubba07]

Isn’t a cave in a bad idea in a cave you are in?

[@ravenanimations3176]

Rocks fall, everyone dies has new meaning once the player does it, doesn’t it?

[@ShuTheIdiot]

the description I found for shatter is it's just a loud noise. Does it shake the roof apart or something

[@ogrebread]

Barrels of holy water from a catapult into an undead horde was a lot of fun.

[@adreabrooks11]

In another system, where zombies were immune to bludgeoning damage, it was an equally fun tactic to load THEM into the catapults, and fire them over the walls. >;)

[@jaingskirata009]

That's effective

[@IlRoccoIl]

I bless the rain!

[@mattgenaro]

“Ultimate excellence lies not in winning every battle, but in defeating the enemy without ever fighting.” ― Sun-tzu Thanks for the tips guys! Awesome, as always :)

[@Sunstreaker2k5]

I prefer: A true victory is ensuring that your enemy realizes it was wrong to oppose you in the first place. To force them to acknowledge your greatness. - Gul Dukat from ST:DS9

[@voltron736]

I think we all know what's best. To crush your enemies, see them driven before you and to hear the lamentations of the women.

[@Kelto28]

I remember once that I was an Evoker and a pirate ship's captain, once some scurvy dogs tried to board us but we all hid beneath the deck, the ship looked like a ghost ship but the lights inside were lit and my animated skeletons were acting as corpses of this place's crew, it became a psychological horror movie for the enemies when everytime they came near a little flame that became a big, roaring and flaming dinosaur, the skeletons made noise and moved everytime they didn't look, and when tension was on it's peak, our bard did Major Image to make the appearance of a ghost and a terrifying noise, Those guys fled faster than a scared cheetah

[@isitnotwrittenthat1680]

Brilliant! You sir are brilliant!

[@yaboi1288]

epic

[@mojoschmee9320]

Same scenario I played through, except my party were the pirates attacking the ship. As the ships came into proximity, our cleric began turning undead from the bow of our ship, with no effect. We slowly glided within range. It was all very tense, and none of us knew how we were going to manage this... In the long run, the other pirates revealed themselves and their rouse, and ultimately their Captain became my henchman, and the Ghostwood Pirates and their "haunted" flagship became part of our fleet.

[@Technotoadnotafrog]

Took "skeleton crew" a bit literally, huh?

[@complectogram]

To be fair, I tend to ask a bunch of questions about the environment so I have a complete plan in mind when I ask my DM if that plan would work. What also ends up happening is the other players now have a better idea of what the area looks like. Are there barrels? Heavy tippable bookshelves? A chandelier to swing from? We didn’t know there was a giant tapestry on the wall until I asked, and we ended up trapping a Beholders eyestalks with it, which is probably why nobody went down in that battle. Five weeks into playing a Bugbear Barbarian, I have thrown enemies out of windows, knocked a huge bookshelf onto an evil wizard, later tossed the same wizard into the fire elemental he’d summoned, and thrown a tapestry over a Beholder and grapple-hugged it with its main eye against my chest as it spammed its antimagic field on my magic free warrior self. Meanwhile my comrades beat on it like a piñata. We ended up shoving dynamite into its mouth to finish it off. Her philosophy is “the best weapon against someone I don’t like is another person I don’t like.” She’ll pick up a goblin in each hand and use them like clubs against their other goblin friends. Best character I’ve ever played.

[@krulen12]

Haha, that's amazing :D

[@stephenborders2883]

Personally, I play a hobgoblin barbarian that wouldn't mind being used as a club.

[@jekubfimbulwing5370]

Grievous harm with a body? Never a bad idea.

[@azaron284]

Awesome

[@dindapriska]

That's so cool!

[@Technowizrd]

Funny you guys posted this, because I just had an argument with my DM and players because they said I was Metagaming when asking how a creature we were fighting looked. We had been hitting this guy for quite a while, had a few crits and cool moments, and they were still going strong. So I asked my DM how he was looking after all of that and my other players just started groaning saying that I need to stop meta gaming by asking questions about how you attacks are affecting them, so I'm glad to see I'm not crazy.

[@dementedlemming9746]

I do not see how asking what your character is seeing and how the attack is affecting the creature is meta gaming.

[@ujlt7198]

I had no idea it was considered metagaming to use your eyes in-game. Lol.

[@Xan4591]

What were you guys even fighting?

[@FerreusVir]

Your DM and fellow players have both fucking clue what meta gaming actually is. Sizing up your enemy after/during/before combat is an incredibly important bit of information.

[@Technowizrd]

Xan4591 some custom made giant psychic space werewolf. He was pretty cool. I just wanted to make sure he wasn’t resisting our damage or anything

[@Kristina-dl2jv]

One of my favorite battle encounters came from when I was playing a low level paladin, and it was against a swarm of rats. In imagination, it seemed weird for her to use a sword or great axe against a swarm of tiny monsters, and we were in a house, so I used improvised weapons for a few rounds as I grabbed tables and chairs to smash them, and then they swarmed me so I asked the DM if I could just "stop, drop, and roll" as my attack. I used myself as an improvised weapon and it was hands down one of my favorite moments in D&D.

[@4rnnr117]

That's awesome!

[@Jaspertenpenny]

Setting up things like ball bearings and caltrops is pretty huge too

[@blazingshadow2669]

Poisoned caltrops is even better

[@adreabrooks11]

@@blazingshadow2669 I gotta try that now!

[@mattblankenbaker6456]

oiled ball bearings are better than normal ones,and if someone falls fire

[@ginnywillows6558]

Once had an Arcane Trickster take the catapult spell to improve the range and damage of his throwing knives. It's simple, creative, and worked wonderfully. It also added a need for him to conserve daggers, as catapult damages the thrown item as well. It also mean he could throw from multiple angles or re-use missed shots, as catapult doesn't require you to touch the object you throw.

[@n-signia1087]

Chris Wiet As a fellow Arcane Trickster, here’s a tip for you. Those daggers you always carry, just attach a rope to the end. Adjustable range, instant grappling hook, and a good way to choke out an enemy by piercing them and wrapping it around them like a noose.

[@jamersbazuka8055]

@@n-signia1087 A rope sounds kinda heavy for that, wouldn't string work better? I guess it might be a DMs-may-vary thing.

[@bedzy]

- Any monster worth using once is worth using twice. - Giggles in tarrasque

[@EpicBob123]

Wait-

[@brianbaxley5921]

-giggles in Titan -giggles in great old ones *thought I'd provide a few more snickers to your fun!

[@Veio0000]

Well, look at the context, he's talking about non-unique monsters ofc, so for example, Great Old One won't fit, for example About the tarrasque, the way it is, he's a bad monster, if you play very under the rules There is some simple fixing to it anyways, but either you don't think on making a tarrasque a monster which will appear as an entity more than once on the world or if you use it more than once, it becomes very mundane and bad (the way he is written for now) It's an opinion ofc

[@bedzy]

@@Veio0000 twas a joke mate. I agree though in practice unique monsters should be special. For example if it appears twice it could be the bbeg (hopefully not a tarrasque)

[@StalinMcRally]

I had a warforged wielding a fully stacked staff of the magi when the Tarrasque attacked us. It roared at us and forced us to roll fear check, I passed. I asked the DM if I could misty step into his mouth, he said yes. I asked if I could move down the throat using difficulty terrain as movement. He ok'd 10ft at most with my haste spell being active. Then I broke the staff for a retribution strike. Because this was "inside" the Tarrasque, the DM ruled that the damage would be the full 16x50=800 damage as if it had broken the staff itself. Good way to go.

[@roll20tales27]

well, one way to overkill a terrasque

[@mojoschmee9320]

Your sacrifice has been noted. I shall place a fountain in a village dedicated to your selfless act.

[@shaneminer4526]

@@mojoschmee9320 There'll be pigeons crapping on a statue of you in town for the rest of eternity.

[@killianduggan8730]

One of the prominent gods in my world's pantheon is always the god of adventure whose bless permeates the world rewarding those who take unusual risks. Dropping that chandelier might do more damage than it probably should. Setting up a logswing trap to knock the 5-ton Golem into Lava might actually move him further than usual. Force feeding the prone giant in a tight tunnel a potion of growth might just knock him straight unconscious! The Changebringer rewards change :)

[@MrGoulio]

That's a beautiful way for a DM to set up a universe that rewards creativity. If I ever DM, I might give the players this bit of lore.

[@lancecarlisle1749]

A DnD Tzeentch?

[@imaginepigeons792]

I once used a grappling hook to pull a beholder closer to us so I can hit it, a polearm fighter I had no range hahaha

[@beepboprobotsnot3748]

Thats incredible.

[@Phhase]

GET OVER HERE!

[@WexMajor82]

Diviner, Moon Druid, Swords Bard, Old one Tome Warlock. We were just about screwed when the beholder looked our way. Then, I remembered I had an Eversmoke bottle. No sight, no targeting; anti magic cone won't work on non magical smoke. The bite attack of the beholder is quite pitiful. The fire elemental punches are not.

[@cheemsburbger5326]

Batclaw

[@Sethoshini95]

"look at the environment"... i think my character spent more time smashing walls than people. His mantra is "When in doubt, Demolition"

[@kingbubbles9461]

I was once part of a siege on a city, so before the siege even started, I found the angriest, meanest, craziest squirrel I could find, cast dragon’s breath on it, and let it loose in the city. I did this a couple of times to weaken the city before the siege.

[@RayMclean]

My regular gaming group naturally fell into the strategies you have mentioned. We used to joke about how the DM would have enemies take a step to the left as the group as a whole would focus fire on enemies from our left to the right unless there was a spell caster. After the first 2 or 3 years of gaming together the DM / GM would always have the big bad boss appear to the far right of the party so they would not get focused down too fast on a big encounter. Obviously the big bad had heard of us and had learned that we tend to kill from our left to the right when attacked. Thank you for this Good Stuff.

[@DanielCiesielski]

I was playing a grappler with a ton of HP but nearly no damage. I used my Necklace of Adaptation to grab their heavy armored damage dealer, and dropped us to the bottom of a large pool. A couple of rounds letting him beat me up underwater until he drowned.

[@pencilbender]

In a war of attrition the more durable subject is the one that survives

[@ob6733]

I discovered in a dungeon that these Little Rock swarm creatures were attracted to light, I cast dancing lights about 60ft in front of the party and we had ourselves a vanguard. I would put the dancing lights inside someone and the swarm thought they ate the light and attacked them, using this we killed a mummy, magic sword and magic armour at level 2 using this trick

[@rayanderson5797]

My favorite tactic to this day: We were in an arena, fighting a roc. As it banked around, my wizard flew up into its flight path, seemingly about to meet the monster head-on with her sword. And then... Casts wall of force right in front of her. The roc slammed into the wall like a bird hitting a window and died from the impact.

[@fishisyum]

It was the first big boss fight of our group, and we were fighting kobolds that had tons of armor and these Attack on Titan grappling hook gun things. I, the fire genasi barbarian, am shot, with the grappling hooks stuck through my abdomen. The kobolds laugh, thinking the barbarian is restrained. As I rage I scream "I am not stuck in here with you, you are stuck in here with me!". I proceed to grab the wires and swing one of the kobolds around the room like a flail, before flinging it into the corner, ripping the hooks out and charging the other, which I proceeded to suplex I believe.

[@bosnjodobri8260]

fishisyum cool bro, which barbarian subclass you were and do you recommend me to play as a barbarian

[@fishisyum]

@@bosnjodobri8260 I was playing a totem barbarian, but storm herald is also pretty cool, and I totally recommend playing Barbarian.

[@roll20tales27]

kobold flails!

[@darienb1127]

I've thought of an idea for a boss fight where the players have to fight a powerful golem, but none of their attacks can hurt it. Instead, they have to use the traps and hazards in the environment to defeat it.

[@bibbobella]

I would be careful about that. Don't get me wrong it isn't nessesarily a bad idea but completly removing a plausibe way for the PCs to win and restrict them usually only comes off as railroady. I would suggest you just make it super resistant towards a fair bit of things but the solution of killing it with their weapons or their spells as they are used to is still plausible just annoying as all hell. I mean what if every single trap had already been disarmed by your PCs so they didn't have to worry about them when fighting the boss beforehand? or what if non of them had prepared spells that could damaged the roof so it would collaps on the monster? Having only 1 solution to a problem very rarely end well. It will usually just end with annoyed PCs that find it to be bullshit that nothing they are trying are working.

[@kurukblackflame]

How about have the Golem itself be invulnerable (or very resistant) but have some other things that the players can attack that harm the Golem when they are destroyed. Like maybe 5 lesser constructs. When one of the lesser constructs is destroyed make it clear to the players that the Golem has been hurt (it staggers or whatever). Once all the lesser constructs are destroyed then the main Golem can be harmed far more easily. Environmental attacks and traps are cool but should be an option rather than the only way to win. The players spend a lot of time designing their characters and choosing cool abilities and spells. Encounters where you cannot use those abilities are often frustrating for the players.

[@liltwistofcaine]

...you’ll still have an idiot that wants to clang n bang with it instead.....

[@beepboprobotsnot3748]

Definitely make sure everyone's on board with that first.

[@elibodey]

You could reason that the Golem is adaptable and can only be harmed by something once. Once the players realize this after doing all their normal attacks they will have to resort to the environment.

[@fhuber7507]

Let the players describe any action they want a long as it can be resolved within the rules. And sometimes, give them a bonus if the idea deserves the rule of cool.

[@Comicsluvr]

Someone once described a long series of action in a Dungeon Dude video and a viewer responded as to how you could actually do it. Run up the monster's back = Acrobatics check and difficult terrain modifiers. Hit the monster = attacks as normal. Flip off his back = Another Acrobatics check followed by a Dash action (the PC was a Rogue using their Cunning Action). And, most importantly, it looked cool as hell!

[@Nixoth]

In our original game, our DM placed us in a situation where we sould have only been able to retreat. 20ish goblins all gathered at 1 spot with bows drawn ready to annihilate our 2nd level party. There were pots of hot soup scattered throughout the room. I had my rogue sneak around the corner, shoot a pot of hot soup, spilling it on all the goblins, distracting them enough so that our sorcerer could come in and burning hands them all, wiping out most of them and allowing us to actually fight and win rather than run. We referenced it later as an inside joke as "the soup thing"

[@tvrdy3]

Did you roll for initiative?

[@Nixoth]

@@tvrdy3 i rolled sleight of hand for my rogue and beat them out and got ott the shot from around the corner without being seen.

[@noahthehoneyboy6294]

Always kill the leader first and see how the underlings react

[@mamneo2]

Fine, you and all the party focus their melee, ranged and magic attacks on the Big Rat Man with the staff. *Rolls* Ok, the Big Rat Man falls to his knees, and drops his staff, loosing control of all the 15 swarms of rats that are surrounding you in the sewers. Now all of them are enraged, attack twice on their turn and deal an extra +2 damage on every attack.

[@Kugrox]

@Witchfinder Nielsen Sleep and then tie them all up and guess who has expertise in Torture tools, my Death Knight.

[@giraffedragon6110]

Kugrox heh my necromancy school wizard would like to get info the *“traditional way”* so... tie em to a chair, arms strapped to the arms, legs to the legs, couple of nails, a simple hammer, pliers, couple of healing potions, spare the dying, etc. remove the boots and socks, fit a nail between the translucent nail and flesh, aim, WHACK, twist the nail, ask the dm how bad they hurting, heal as needed, rinse and repeat till info is obtained. Then for the finishing blow, caress the poor fuckers head, then cast inflict wounds (because magic initiate) and just turn their head into red, wet, pasty, sand. If tongue remains, cut it out and burn it, leave no trace.

[@ArmandoSanchez-tl1rc]

I made a dungeon once where the acolytes prayers would drastically heal the big bad. Therefore trying to switch things up and make my players go for the minions first for once lol

[@troyterry5759]

"Ha ha, we have slain your evil leader!" "You -- you ... do-gooders! We will have our revenge!" "Sure, just one question first. Who's paying your salary now?" "Oh. Um. Hmm..."

[@msmaggie357]

I've brought this up before but having a caster place a silence spell over another caster while they party sends in their melee fighters to attack them is so much fun, and when paired with the Sentinel feat, their attempts to flee will just trap them in the silence bubble longer. Also, if the DM throws a bard at you, there's some validity to staying inside a silence bubble as many of their abilities require the target to hear the bard.

[@undrhil]

I have a brawler fighter / undying warlock who will either throw out Darkness or Silence and then wade in and grapple things there.

[@Logan_Baron]

"Communicate your intent". THIS. I've had players specify an action and then when I adjudicate it, they say something like "Aww, I was hoping it would cause *** to happen". Well if you would have told me your intention, I would have had that happen, or given it some sort of chance, or changed the DC to determine if it happened. Sometimes I get the idea that they want a certain affect, and will ask what they are intending, but I'd prefer they tell me what they want to achieve or to happen. I want to see that cool stuff happen too.

[@convexwave8523]

Having one party member shot an arrow or throw a knife into an enemy then casting heat metal on it, that's a good one

[@nutsandgum]

Our druid dropped a spoon infront of a gelatinous cube which absorbed it. He then cast heat metal on the spoon and cooked the cube from the inside out.

[@AdrianParsons]

A knife might work, but heat metal requires you to see the metal. The arrow head would be well out of sight.

[@peterhacke6317]

@@AdrianParsons It is unusual, but you can have a shaft out of metal.

[@AdrianParsons]

@@peterhacke6317 So the key is prep work?

[@rodjacksonx]

Illusions are awesome for battlefield tactics (so long as you don't have a DM that tries to shut down all your attempts at using it.) Create fake allies to chase away an enemy, or to distract some of their fighters for a round; create faux terrain impediments; even avoid battle entirely by hiding or having the appearance of authority.

[@travisterry2200]

I also like using illusions to mask natural hazards like cliff sides.

[@shallendor]

I had one gnome illusionist that had code names for his illusions, so when he "fireballed" the party wouldn'r be affected. My creativity with illusions always pissed off my DM's! : )

[@bibbobella]

"create" massive walls that people don't think they have a chance to break through! Make terrible monsters that scare off a few of the more pathetic fighters away, make people fall to their death by making a fake bridge over the huge cliffside. Make it seem like you are casting a super powerful spell towards your enemies that will make them all attempt to duck for cover! Then actually throw the real spell in their face a second after when they think it is just another illusion :P

[@liltwistofcaine]

using audible illusions can cause distractions, including setting up sneak attack, or convince the enemy they’re surrounded/ reinforcements arrived. A great deception roll by your group to play along will scatter low morale foes.

[@ClockworkEngineer]

This very channel actually recommended DMs ignore illusions. So you're barking up the wrong tree.

[@kodytiffany5686]

Grease + Campfire= flash fire 10ft square. Grease + Stairs + Gust= effective pushing down stairs. Grease + Cold effect= frictionless patch of land that gets more dangerous as it thaws until it is 100% "liquid" again. I love the Grease spell and have spent hours on thinking up how best to use it. Immovable rods work best horizontally in a vertical space all you need are 2 or 3 and you can "fly" also.

[@TheFirstLanx]

Grease the big apes in the treetops so they fall to their deaths. Grease the area in front of the door the enemy is trying to break through, they can forget that. Grease love!

[@Xan4591]

Why not Grease+ sloping mountain trail? My players did that to a mad stone giant wandering the Underdark

[@butterflysrage]

Just had a combat session where we made very good use of Grease + fire vs a gaggle of trolls

[@andyf4292]

grease and fireball..... you try to dodge the fire--- you slip,,,

[@patsutherland6853]

hey you should try the control flames and create bonfire cantrips with grease.I find that the best way to cause forest fires to take out entire armys chasing you. For example this one campaign (homebrew) the party "accidentally" assasinated the kings son in a snowball fight (I was The rougue and had a dagger in my sleeve which flew out and killed him) and the king wanted us dead and our mage created a forest fire to kill half the kings pursuing army.

[@matthewhironymous837]

With knowing your enemy. Was running a game with my kids and we came into a town that had just survived a goblin raid and ran off with a lot of the villagers. My sons forge cleric with a sage background found the mayor's library and said he wanted to research goblins and the local landmark, the lord liked hunting. So he rolled his research, with advantage for being sage, and narrowed down area to search and weakness of goblins. This was most of themselves first adventure so they were not experienced enough to know about goblins. Was very proud moment for me

[@joemcbo6259]

I remember I was roleplaying a gladiator stage fighter who longed for a fair fight so I decided to throw my weapon down and roll persuasion to get a decently powered enemy to throw his weapons down and “fight me like a man”

[@Hunith]

My group is full of creative thinkers and we just try stuff dont really ask just kinda do. Like i used minor illusion to calm an agressive opponent by using his own voice in his ear telling him to calm down that we where not there to kill him we havent even drawn weapons

[@shallendor]

One time, our party was being chased through some dwarven ruins by some drow. Our fighters were able to lift a portcullis for us to get through, then i cast invisibility on the portcullis, causing the drow to run right into it. We ended up escaping up a well, and when the first drow head appeared, our fighter ran towards the well and holding his shield in front of him, belly flopped on the well, sending the drow back down the well. In one game at a Con, all our elves were charmed to kill the rest of us, so i used my Eversmoking bottle with a hose connected to a nozzle in the right sleeve of my robe. I used the Eversmoking bottle slow down the combat while one of the others opened doors in the room to set off the dispel magic spell. Most DM's will allow you to know about a monster, if you make a relevant knowledge check and one of my DM's will allow you read the MM entry, if you make a good enough knowledge check!

[@desmckenzie526]

The invisible portcullis reminds me of a grievance I have with the Invisibility spell. In my opinion it SHOULD have provisions for also making "objects" invisible (limited to a certain size and nature of course) but if you are to take the 'Rules As Written' there is ONLY an allowance to turn a creature invisible - no objects. There are means of achieving this with creative uses of much higher level spells but it seems like such a waste of a higher spell slot to achieve something that (in my opinion) should be achievable with the Invisibility spell. If I were DMing a game I would home-brew it to allow it to apply to objects but I'd still love to see this tweaked in a Player's Hand Book errata somewhere down the track.

[@devonpayne2509]

My favorite thing to do as a Wizard, is to find creative ways to use my spells in a way that maximizes their potential in one slot. I remember surprising my DM by casting Erupting earth on the CEILING of an underground dungeon. The spell itself is kind of lackluster in terms of damage, but the fact that I can use it to cause an instant cave-in over my enemies always keeps my DM on edge. And I mean, to the degree that he sighs with relief when he finds out I didn't prepare it for that encounter XD I also remember being in a very high level campaign, where our characters were facing down armies of giants. We found a large warband of Giants and orcs down in a northern valley. So what did we do? We stood on the ridge of a mountain and caused an avalanche to stop that army from advancing. Fun times.

[@applecrow8]

Captured by PIrates, my evil Bard convinced them he had a massive score planned and would cut them in on it if they freed us and helped us pull it off. They were heading to a Slaver's palace to sell us and my plan was we sell the whole crew into slavery then rob the place from the inside. I convinced them our party needed to be on the outside since we knew the secret way in. We arrived, sold the crew, sold the ship, and left with a very healthy profit. Unfortunately, after that not even the party ever trusted another one of my characters again.

[@Tmanowns]

That's a shame, because you played an evil PC perfectly: not fucking over the party, just for shits and giggles. The characters may not trust yours, but the players should trust you, in my opinion.

[@TheBorgioso]

I am a first-time player and I'm obsessed. Your channel and especially this video have been so incredibly useful and helpful. Thank you so much. Please keep 'em coming. You're experts, you're thorough, and you're passionate. As a new player, I couldn't ask for a better resource. I actually take notes as if I'm attending class lol.

[@matheusmc42]

"What's on the ceiling? What's on the floor?" 'WHAT'S IN THE BOX?"

[@joshuaellison6356]

Pain.

[@unsuspiciousdweller8967]

Once used minor illusion and a wagon to kill a giant spider. That was fun.

[@unsuspiciousdweller8967]

@Soviet who Cuts lol OK. We were playing through a 5e campaign set in Innistrad (Gothic horror style setting) trying to reach a town to clear out some evil force for a priest or something. We got a sorcerer (me), a ranger (twin brother of sorcerer), a tabaxi rogue who would literally go after anything shiny, and a flame genasi fighter (who was swole AF, important for later). We borrowed the priest's wagon for the trip, and after a long journey fighting skeletons, skeleton bats, and hellhound-riding hellspawn, we make it to the stone bridge before the town. This bridge stretched over a chasm that was a good distance across, probably 90ft. As we approach, we notice the bridge seems almost silvery, and find out the whole thing is covered in webbing. We get jumped by 3 giant spiders, which thankfully miss their surprise attacks. We burn one to death (and nearly kill ourselves in the process as the web ignites) and badly injure the second one. The rogue, greatly underestimating his 10 strength, throws his grappling hook at the healthiest spider and says he wants to try and pull its legs out to trip it. He lands the hook, but fails to budge the spider. That same spider goes next. It decides it wants to fight on its own turf and scurries down the side of the bridge, taking the rogue with him. We now have a spider underneath the bridge with a tabaxi holding on for dear life to the rope. He swings to the supports and uses his climbing speed to stabilize himself. He then notices that there are several cocooned bodies among the webbing. Being the intellectual that he is, he climbs up to try and find any loot among the bodies. To his credit, he managed to grab some gems before the spider webbed him and put him into crit. While all this is going on, the rest of the party has killed the remaining spider and is trying to think of a way to help the rogue. None of us were that dexterous (we forgot the ranger's decent dex). The genasi suggests we tie a rope around us and the cart and rappel down to help. I have a "better" idea. The ranger ties one end of a rope to a javelin while I tie the other to the cart. He stands off to the side and readies an action to toss it at the spider when he sees it. I help the genasi to heave the wagon onto the side of the bridge. Yes, I'm serious. He managed to roll crazy good, because he managed to hold it and keep it from crushing him as I ran to the opposite of the bridge and readied a burning hands. The spider, with his prey firmly secured, crawls out to get a look at us, ranger side. The ranger throws the javelin... And misses. I quickly improvise and shout at the fire genasi to roar, something he had done several times before, and to great effect. He let's loose a thunderous roar that echoes across the cavern as I cast minor illusion and have a dragon's head gnash underneath the bridge. The spider, now terrified of a dragon showing up out of nowhere, runs out from under the bridge to the rangers side once more. as we yell out "Heave!", we shove the wagon off the bridge, right on top of where the spider had ran. We watched as the wagon sailed down to the depths, and with a loud SPLAT, we defeated the final spider. After that, we tied our last rope to the bridge like a normal person and rappelled down to rescue our friend and continue our quest.

[@thepopemichael]

This is the one video that every D&D player should watch. You guys have always given such incredible advice.

[@Thornspyre81]

Wow, one of THE BEST nuggets of info you guys have stated is when players want to try something crazy but is definitely not possible or way too deadly, make sure and restate and prescribe the scene and surroundings because they may have missed things or misinterpreted the scene. Golden!

[@Naxthural]

We had a Dragonborn Conquest Paladin who carried a vial of acid with him at all times. When he would hit an enemy that he knew was close to the edge, he would specify "Non lethal" so he did not kill the target. After that he'd pick up the unconscious person and use the acid as an intimidation tactic, pouring it on the unconscious man - Which would immediately wake him up from the searing pain and hold him while the man died screaming before finishing with "Stand down or face his fate!"

[@nicholasfotou2980]

I need friend's who like to discuss tactics.

[@thexorode]

I respect creative solutions, but there's always a certain high I get when landing a really good fireball...

[@pauciloquentflibbertigibbe5217]

Always love the moment when someone at the table asks 'What if I do this?' and the DM is rendered speechless.

[@eriksemko698]

In Curse of Strahd we went into the Mill against all advice not to go there. We wanted to listen to the advice, but when an NPC dropped they were abducting children, that was it. We were a 4th level party and were getting our asses kicked in there. The bard jumped out of the window on the top floor taking one hag with him and killing her through the fall, while using her body to soften the blow for himself and survived. The mother hag was using blink. I saw that our druid prepared thunderwave so I opened the portabble hole on the wall facing him. She appeared and he blasted her right into the hole. I closed the hole and me and the druid sat on the closed portable hole for 10 minutes till she suffocated. The third hag was dispatched by the rest of the party normally through damage dealt while we held the mother in the hole. (I found the portable hole through a very good investigation check a day before we arrived there. )

[@nutsandgum]

We did the same exact thing except at level 3, same motivation and all haha. It involved trying to con our way into the mill with the deed from the Death House which failed.. so I threw a bag worth of sand in the face of the "old woman" and our paladin rolled a nat20 on kicking the door which smashed it off its hinges. Then we realized we were facing a night hag coven and wisely decided to gtfo with a fog spell and a few other holy shit abilities. Complete utter failure but was hilariously fun.

[@xarsta]

My dm let me be the oath breaker pally and I had this hatred aura that adds my charisma modifier to damage it also has a ability to control an undead for 24 hours so I controlled a revenant and sent it in to kill the hags

[@eriksemko698]

Nice solution :)

[@rodneyrossow]

We had a fighter do the exact same thing your bard did. The wizard also used Thuderwave to bring the roof down (well, the third floor) onto one of the hags. I think at the end of that fight we had around 30 hp among the five of us (with the fighter ending up at 0 and stable as my cleric had run out of healing).

[@supercalifragic1551]

My party just cast Silence towards the ceiling of the first floor to render most spellcasting throughout the whole mill useless while our wizard used spells from outside the open front door. We beat them pretty handedly but were only able to kill one, the other two fled using their ethereal forms when they got too low.

[@kevincandelario2573]

In one game I was a wizard, with a mold earth control and a decanter of endless water. In our adventure we were going to be assaulted by a large group of orcs. We were in a crappy falling apart fort that had a only one entrance, it's heavy wooden doors. Knowing this I got to work. I dug 20ft deep trenches, 10 ft wide, that ran parallel. Creating a 10ft wide corrider that lead from the gate ( I saw had seen 300 earlier) so I made their numbers meaningless. Then I dug a moat at the end of the path and put enough dirt in it so they could not see how deep it was. Morning comes, they bust down the doors, and come in running making like ten fall in the trenches, while the rest are being attacked by arrows and magic, leaving them to run forward and drown in my moat. And orcs being to dumb and angry to retreat back though the door, were jumping in the trenches to try and climb out on the other side, or try to jump across the moat. It was a slaughter

[@roll20tales27]

see, what you also could have done (tho that works too!) is put the trenches under them, and then fill them with water, and drown them.

[@kevincandelario2573]

@@roll20tales27 lol true that would probably made it easier on everyone. I think I was more in an "order 66, kill them all " mood then a tactical-practical mood. With just a hint of flamboyance.

[@Vararx]

"remember that time i killed 3 orcs in one blow with a shatter" my Warlock is still bragging when drunk lol

[@DominicCuda]

One of my favorite stories was years ago when I was playing with my brother and his friends, and we were fighting a mated pair of phrenic manticores. The rest of the party was keeping the pair on their toes by striking out at one or both while my character, who had a sorta ranged build kept sniping at the other to keep them off balance. This culminated with my character using an enchanted bolt, scoring three simultaneous critical hits, and then critically failing a dexterity saving throw because I didn't think about the fact that I was in the direct trajectory of the still airborne corpse. That story constantly reminds me that combat terrain and all that goes both ways, and can make for a memorable encounter.

[@dracocrusher]

I remember I had a disguised Tiefling who just bashed a dude in the head with a bottle of wine, which critted so it soaked him in alcohol super hard. Immediately, the guy launched a counter-attack only to be met with Hellish Rebuke. He went up in flames pretty nicely, lol. I also had another common tactic with that character that sort-of became his signature move where he carried around the enemy's flag at all times and, whenever he was fighting a humanoid opponent, he'd roll Slight of Hand to try and throw it at their face as a distraction to gain advantage on his next strike, which became really awesome when my character tried to betray the monk in the party and he just rolled high enough to 'see through' the move because he's seen me do it so many times before, lol.

[@butterflysrage]

When in doubt, “rule of cool”

[@Necromatehun]

My lvl 5 friends decided to shrink a boulder to a pocket size pebble, used a raven companion to fly above the miniboss I prepared for them, drop the stone, unshrink it and deal massive dmg... well, the raven rolled nat 20 on the drop... hit the poor boss right on the head with a 1 ton boulder xD they just had to fight the confused minions XD

[@adreabrooks11]

Nicely done! Out of curiosity, what spell/effect did they use to shrink the boulder?

[@justajarro]

@@adreabrooks11 Reduce/Enlarge spell, ig.

[@adreabrooks11]

@@justajarro Nah, Reduce only shrinks the dimensions by half and the weight by 1/8. That laden swallow's airspeed velocity would be zero. -_^ That said, I must have remembered this tactic, somewhere in my subconscious. I forgot asking this question but, a few months ago, we were fighting a band of powerful zealots, trying to call a dark god in from another dimension. My character (an owl beastfolk, capable of flight) happened to own a Daern's Instant Fortress. Apparently, a 20x20x30 adamant tower falling out of the sky makes it hard to maintain spell concentration... or breathing.

[@ashes2steel]

My favorite piece of nonmagical gear: grappling hook. Need to climb a wall? Hook it. Grapple at a distance? Hook it. Pull something from a trap? Hook it.

[@elathiaskade7311]

Jonathan Robles Indianna jones: hold my whip

[@ryedj707]

I’ve always liked your channel, and recently I feel like y’all have been getting better and more natural every video. 👌 Keep up the great work guys!

[@ryedj707]

Not to say you don’t know what you’re doing or anything, because y’all are knowledgeable af all the time. It’s just earlier videos seemed to sound a lot more scripted for whatever reason, but that’s constantly changed,

[@adreabrooks11]

In Eberron, we needed to raid an airship. Our artificer ran a shop that sold flying brooms, which gave us our ingress. My druid, needing a form that had good balance (to ride the broom) and good sight (to spot the airship) turned into a mountain goat. As we made the approach, the DM offered to give me a freebie, and asked if I wanted to take the chance to get out of goat-form. "Nah," I replied, "I'm good." "Don't be stupid!" put in our token power-gamer, ""the four hit points aren't worth it." "Trust me," a replied with a wink. A moment later, my goat zipped in, standing tight-rope-style on the broom, and rammed the boss off the poop deck. She had spells to save herself - but the four ballista-manning minions who followed her over the next few rounds didn't. I raced back and forth across the deck at a flight speed of 50 feet, as they tried to turn their weapons inward at us. One of our players was apparently as prepared as the boss, and played a Willhelm scream on his phone on behalf of each jettisoned jobroni. Our power-gaming pal groaned in frustration at our hilarity (as bad rolls on the enemies' part kept my four HP safely in place), and said she thought I "should start taking this seriously." "Don't you know who I am?" I replied with a grin, "I'm the Juggergoat, bitch!" and knocked the boss prone. Naturally, the boss wasn't dumb enough to stand near the edge for the second attack, but the hulking barbarian was able to dogpile and grapple her, and we soon secured her surrender. Admittedly, the victory came about as much from statistically-improbable rolls as tactics, but the Juggergoat remains one of the most oft-referenced scenes in that campaign. There were also incidents related to an ape in a dress with a shillelagh - but that's another story.

[@adreabrooks11]

​@Leo Cook Haha, well, if you insist! (Please pardon the lengthy posts; not trying to clutter the channel.) My druid was favoured by a high-ranking member of House Jorasco, and was gifted with a Robe of Useful Items - which had been made in the form of an adorable, powder-blue dress. Being a rather sheltered changeling, he really didn’t understand the whole gender-role thing, and wore it proudly. The dress, his soft-spoken demeanour and his slender (Strength 7) frame often meant that he was mistaken for a young lady. We play with the optional rule that artifacts re-size to fit the wearer - a fact that comes in very handy for druids. To set the stage: we had been fighting a group of fantasy-mobsters who had been kidnapping children, using a manifest zone’s energies to turn them into old people, and selling off their youth as potions on the black market. Earlier in the adventure, we had set loose some gibbering mouthers (a product of the weird alchemical processes here), and used several illusions to our advantage. We fought our way into the tower where the boss was hidden. My druid had already cast Shillelagh on his quarterstaff, since this allowed him to wield it with his beefy Wis modifier, and do a D8+Wis of damage instead of a D6-Str - already pretty impressive for (IIRC) 5th or 6th level. A group of guards were stationed in the base of the tower - a tube-like structure with stairs spiralling around the outer wall. As a group of them held us off at the base of the stairway, three others fled up the steps to warn the head honcho. Seeing them go, and seeing the fact that they would need to make a roughly 40-foot circuit of the tower for every ten feet they climbed, my little, willowy druid transformed into a burly male orangutan (the big ones with the fangs and facial discs), and used his newfound Climb speed (and prowess in Athletics) to rush straight up the stone-and-mortar walls. Imagine the guards’ surprise when, halfway up the stairs, they were confronted by a 200-pound, bright orange, silky-furred ape in a powder blue dress, brandishing a glowing ogham-inscribed quarterstaff and baring its fangs menacingly. At my description of the ridiculous sight, our DM decided to make a Wisdom save on the part of the baddy at the front of the pack, because he assumed that this *had* to be another illusion. He failed, and decided to charge straight through the ape - much to his disappointment. He failed a contested Athletics check (apes are +5 on the roll) to get past, and my follow-up with a shove attack sent him tumbling backward onto his colleagues. I began laying about with my shillelagh (using the ape’s multi-attack with the aforementioned magic enhancements), and made the stairwell a rather unpleasant place to be. With our barbarian and doing similar things below, and our artificer inviting them to surrender, we managed to take seven of the ten alive to face justice. After that, “ape in a dress with shillelagh” became a running gag (and viable go-to option) throughout the campaign - especially since we discovered this image shortly after the session ended ( funnyneel.com/sites/default/files/images/i/11-2013/monkey-dressing-funny0.jpg ). Alas, the campaign ended shortly after I learned Polymorph. “Giant ape in a dress with shillelagh” would have been a fun thing to unleash. On the bright side, I did get to use it on our barbarian, combined with the artificer’s Enlarge potion. A gargantuan, raging tyrannosaurus fighting a stream of giant hands in an elemental-possessed steam locomotive is a battle I won’t soon forget.

[@johnr7279]

Another video that I'd classify in the "one of your best" category. Super discussion and idea sharing!

[@WisdomThumbs]

I used Hill Giant’s Strength (potion) to kick a drow assassin across an office, than rip a door open to let my friends in... and crushed the drow repeatedly with the door. So everyone else in the party attacked the door as well, eventually giving the drow assassin PTSD.

[@lovethatdarkness]

Long story short, we were fighting a very strong, by strong I mean end game boss, undead. As a cleric, I, of course, had holy water on hand. Instead of relying on a dex throw to see if the holy water hits or miss, I simply used Control Water to manipulate where it went, and since I have control over the water for 10 or so minutes, I can effectively and consistently get holy water damage every turn.

[@caramonmajere447]

The Move Earth cantrip can easily create instant cover for someone.

[@elathiaskade7311]

Caramon Majere only if you’re over loose dirt, and you only get 2 squares active at any time...

[@beepboprobotsnot3748]

I usually DM, and probably my favorite player is a tiefling monk who loves being cinematic. He always goes into detail about what attacks, and just the other day he spent a ki point on step of the wind, just so that he coud do a ground pound.

[@dontjoinisis5098]

I had a dm whom was OBSESSED with throwing us a surprise encounter every time we took a long rest. This lead to me suggesting to the party to be like the romans and fortify when taking a long rest, every one thought I was crazy then... we take a long rest SUPRISE another encounter. I facepalmed myself so hard that day

[@brainmold]

Another great video! I love that this is for both players and DMs.

[@Ultrasecond77]

This is an extremely helpful guide to be watching for me, the last campaign i played a sorcerer and mostly just focused on raw stats and damage in fights. The campaign i'm playing now i'm playing as a wood elf monk, so my first thoughts were that my combat would be a lot more restrictive, given that all I have are my bare hands and a quarterstaff. But watching this video and understanding the concept of creativity over stats in a fight is breathtaking and horizon-expanding. It's actually been a much more enjoyable experience this time around because my combat options are more open and limited only by my own ingenuity. Thank you for making this, you guys are awesome.

[@stephenclements6158]

Talk about having to get creative, I used a Wand of Earth and Stone as a devastating offensive weapon. There I was, a 4th level wizard in 2nd edition sent off by my sadist DM into the Steading of the Hill Giant Chief, and against the dozens of hill giants running around, I couldn't do diddly. Looking at my inventory for anything that could kill these things, I found nothing that did direct damage, but we did have that Wand, which I saw could cast Pass Wall. The DM asked me what I wanted to do with 3 hill giants coming towards me, so I told him, "I use my Wand of Earth and Stone to cast Pass Wall on the floor beneath the closest one." Nothing in the spell said you can't make entryways through the floor, and afterall trap doors exist. So that became my giant stopper, as they fell through the big openings that suddenly swallowed them up, knocked them out of the fight for a round or two, or in the Frost Giant Jarl's glacial domain, dropped them to their deaths.

[@JosephHolschuh]

Jay and Silent Bob play D&D

[@nathan_hitchcock]

All great tips! With quarantine in place I have friends who are coming into the game for the first time. Will be sharing this video with them 👍🏻

[@JackChambersWard]

I'm currently running Storm King's Thunder with my group (including a first time player) and these combat videos are especially useful to share with my players. Keep up the good work, gentlemen!

[@zealous944]

omg i love this video. I have a couple 3.5 stories when i was the dm. I had one group who fought bone claws that were a pretty tough enemy for any one of them one at a time but i sent like 8 at them. These guys liked the mini battles aspect of dnd so i thought they would have got through this. I had purposefully set up a series of alcoves in the main chamber that were not so deep that they could not be reached by an attacking bone claw, but made it impossible for more than one bone claw to engage them. Instead they ran around the room like chickens with their heads cut off passing through their 20 ft. reach op attacks and got tore to pieces and then spent the rest of the session explaining why they lost. Sure they didn't figure out a way to win but running never occurred to them either. I have a similar story where a group of level 1 characters were jumped by a troll. I emphasised that there was a ROPE BRIDGE in their path with a chasm beneath it several times, but ignored me and ended up in the trolls cooking pot. I just want a group of clever players for once :/

[@MuseSick_]

"Set everyone on fire" "...you dont need to set *everyone* on fire" "No, do it"

[@CloydRoyal]

You guys always have such fun videos that give me moments where I think, "That's brilliant, why didn't I think of that." Thank you for helping me grow as a DM.

[@DungeonDudes]

Glad you like them!

[@LeRoire]

A year late. Quarantined in Italy and watching your videos. Thank you lads, you are really fun to watch.

[@ubershrimp69]

Once when I was being the dungeon master the rogue was supposed to fight a hag instead he stealthaly barricaded all the doors and windows of her shack and set it on fire and waited by the one exit he didn’t barricade for her to come out and shot her with his crossbow first burning here then finishing her off with his crossbow I didn’t see it coming at all and it was awesome.

[@grey8674]

10:15 the dungeon dudes predicted the ant man meme

[@d36class]

8:30 been watching multiple vids from you guys over the last few days and this is the first break/laugh of you two I’ve seen lol

[@AsaNoGaijin]

this video is a perfect example on how huge a different it makes to have a good/bad DM

[@rickthompson3843]

While I generally agree with the point about not opening the monster manual in encounters, I also have a few exceptions. Rangers, for example, have lost the combat bonuses against favored foes they had in 3rd e, so I allow them significantly more info about enemies. I find this thematic and also helps balance the class a little. Also if a character has arcana as a skill, they might know more about constructs. Religion might give you some more info about fighting fiends. Taking this in another way, if your villain has a personality flaw, characters with high social skills might be able to sniff it out. Maybe an Insight roll lets the group know that his minions are afraid of the boss, but also hate they way he treats them and could be enticed to betrayal.

[@DungeonDudes]

Perhaps the clearer statement is that it's not acceptable to open the monster manual unless the player possesses an ability or skill which specifically requires their character to reference the creature's statistics, or the Dungeon Master deems it otherwise necessary due to a skill check result or other granted information. Pulling up a creature's stats otherwise is just poor form.

[@rickthompson3843]

Completely agree! I was just riffing on some ideas for using character skills and abilities creatively in combat. Thanks for the great 2 part series. :)

[@annabaelfire2173]

I'm new to the game, presently have never played a campaign. I think if a character has extensive knowledge of a monster I think it could be appropriate to have the character roll an intelligence check and based on the result the dm could inform the player certain bits of information. Also I think a player or multiple players should keep track of oddities on certain types of enemies such as a stone enemy being weak to a bludgeon attack or is immune to physical attacks. Otherwise for me even if I know what it's weak against I am going to pretend I don't know until I figure it out through Roleplay.

[@daggerbyte]

Lol Kelly: “It could be awesome.” Love that guy.

[@brycewilson8883]

Thank you for this video y’all! I’m playing my first campaign ever right now and after watching this video I tried to be much more creative in combat, and in our most recent combat encounter I really utilized the environment, stealth, and cantrips and ended up being able to defeat a basilisk and a clay golem with my fourth level bard, luring them away from the rest of the party as they were fighting other combatants. I was able to finish the combat with only two hit points below my HP max and it was honestly one of the funnest combat encounters i’ve played.

[@MrSteveK1138]

This is an awesome video for ANY rpg such as Legend of the Five Rings as well as D&D.

[@schwann145]

Maybe I just have too much of a history of petty DMs, but in my experience the creative option almost never works because the environmental effect is just too weak (catching fire - if the enemy has enough hp they just don't care about 1 recurring dmg, ya know?) or get a save that prob was too good for the situation (I tried to wash all the enemy pirates off the ship in a really cool way but 9 outta 10 made their str save and are unaffected - and now I'm down a powerful spell slot for nothing). ☹

[@derangedhermit7981]

There seems to be two kinds of DMs those who allow anything to happen and those who only allow what there are rules for. The problem with allowing anything to happen is that (in my experience) players *will* break the combat system. The kalshtar uses his telepathy to pretend to be the villains god and dissuade him from his course. The druid makes 200 acorns enchanted with fire trap and sends his animal companions and summoned creatures to swarm the enemies and open them all at once breaking the action economy. The sorcerer shows you real world physics calculations that prove casting a fire and cold spell together (quickened) should do more damage. The players launch a pebble and then enlarge it forcing the DM to have to decide if it will hit the enemy this round or if he will be able to side step it, then he has to calculate fall damage for a one ton rock, this breaks the expected damage output of the group and will eventually become the go to strategy of the group. Lets take some examples from the comments. *bashed a dude in the head with a bottle of wine, which critted so it soaked him in alcohol super hard. Immediately, the guy launched a counter-attack only to be met with Hellish Rebuke. He went up in flames pretty nicely, lol.* Attacking with a bottle would be using an improvised weapon so you would be without your proficiency bonus and it would do 1d4 damage. Next most alcohol is not actually flammable so you would need to figure out what proof of alcohol was in the bottle. Next it would have to be less effective then alchemist fire, which does 1d4 damage so lets just say 1d4/2 rounded down with a dex dc 10 to put it out. And that's granting that hellish rebuke allows you to set items on fire which it does not state while there are many other spells that explicitly do say that unattended items start on fire. Finally a real world example of why this is absurd to me: as a welder I have been on fire for close to a minute and only realized I was on fire because of the smell of roasting marshmallows (thats what blue jeans smell like when they burn) and a couple of quick taps puts it right out. *You need a quantity of ballista bolts, magically shrunk down to the size of crossbow bolts. You fix a ring of Dispel Magic onto the end of a crossbow, so the bolts will pass through it when fired. You now have a hand-portable ballista.* As far as I know ring of dispel magic doesn't exist. I'm not really sure I need to add anything else, but what the hell I could be wrong and it might be in some source material. Rings do not work if they are not on your finger. How are you activating the ring? How are you timing the activation precisely when the bolt flies threw it. How large is this ring? If it dispels the magic in the center of the ring you now have a ballista wedged in the ring flying at your target. Likely ripping the cross bolt out of your hands. Finally the real physics of this would be indeterminable as far as I can tell. F=MA works because F is a constant but this scenario assumes that A is content instead meaning that F will be variable. So how do you balance this. Well I could say that the enemies hear that the party enjoys chucking boulders and in response they cast dispel magic or antimagic zone when the character lifts the pebble to toss it. But this causes instant character death and players pissed at me, so its better to just avoid it all together. So while others may call me petty I consider it as a way to avoid potential pitfalls. After reading this again however I do see two distinct types of players that do this. One is looking to game the combat system and use the same tactic repeatedly, thats what I have a problem with. I don't mind the cause an avalanche one time type of creative thinking. In fact I create several fights every campaign that require this type of thinking. In the Cragmaw Hideout in LMOP, I made it a goblin tribe who experiments with alchemy. Through out the dungeon there are cauldrons that have random effects (roll a d8 to determine what effect) with some being good and others being bad. The final boss was changed to a wow abomination that grappled players and threw them into the cauldrons. There was a book shelf with scrolls if the players investigated. And one part of the cave had a low enough ceiling were the abomination couldn't reach. The party managed to kill him by upending several cauldrons onto the abomination while the casters stayed out of reach in the alcove. The other problem I have with this is that magic users have a far easier time coming up with "creative" solutions. Its part of the reason why melee characters in 3 and 3.5 sucked compared to high level casters. Melee characters were still required to solve problems in the same manner they have been for 20 levels while casters can do anything they can imagine. This is why I liked 4e far better then 3.5 or 5e. You had a huge amount of tactical options that had rules written for them and working as a coordinated group rewarded you as a team. Most of this seems to have been lost in the move to simplify 5e.

[@OnlineSarcasmFails]

@@derangedhermit7981 My experience of the rules only version of dming is that the creative solutions appear once in a blue moon and most combat feels somewhat repetitive from the pov of the player. Mainly because if you purposely play suboptimal you are essentially putting your entire party at risk unnecessarily so you always preform your optimal loadout. If your group isn't trying to break everything and spam it over and over, having unique environmental flair options in combat is really nice to break up the monotony. Its almost like getting a new unique attack(s) every combat that requires party effort to set up with worthwhile payoff.

[@zeejackson2059]

So in my Champaign we were fighting a hoard golem and the DM specified that there were chests on the wall, I'm new so i didnt know the monster so I tryed pulling one off the wall thinking it would affect the creature. The DM made one of my summons take damage from the chest and expressed to me that I was "trying to get loot early". After that I have been afraid to be creative in battle

[@ShadowPhoenix82]

Seriously?! Get loot early?! I am a DM and that sounds crazy to me. If the players want to try and steal the loot before the lair inhabitant takes them down, all the power to them. If they succeed, I'll applause them myself. That's silly to be punished for something a reasonable tomb raider would likely do.

[@marcperez2598]

Your DM is kind of bad. That's just them not liking situations deviating from their original plan

[@Gorjiba]

Zee jackson you have a terrible DM then. Sounds like they want to railroad you and stifle creativity.

[@adreabrooks11]

Fie upon lesser DMs! Fie! In terms of ridiculousness, that's right up there with a GM I had back in high school who woudn't let us fight NPCs who were "set to non-combatant."

[@toddlafrance4521]

@@adreabrooks11 LOL oh dear. You should probably not let him play non-video-games.

[@elijahculper5522]

So many ideas. Thanks dudes.

[@a3cannibalzombie]

packed... excelent quality advice, man

[@adriannelson4214]

Our first campaign setting was the Lost Mines of Phandelver. SPOILERS about the setting by the way. In the cave under the manor, where Glasstaff and his Redbrand Bandits were hiding, instead of fighting everyone room by room, eventually being overrun, we disguised ourselves with the red cloaks of defeated bandits and tricked them into fighting eachother. One pair went into the bedroom with human bandits and told them their hobgoblin allies were planning to kill them, while the other pair went across the hall to the card playing hobgoblin bandits and told them their human allies were coming to kill them. Chaos ensues. After about 75% of them were dead, my Ranger pounded on Glasstaff's office door and yelled that his men were killing eachother. Glasstaff ran into the room to find his slaughtered men, took out a pair of his own that were still holding their bloodsoaked weapons, and was then attacked from two sides by our own party. It lured him away from his rat familiar (functioning as an alarm) and his secret escape tunnel. He may have misty stepped past us, but because we had already made a deal with the nothic (that lived in their cave) that we were allowed to kill the bandits so long as we gave it Glasstaff, it gladly took over and finished him for us after he ran straight into its arms. My Ranger may not be the most powerful or have the highest stats, but he sure is a master tactician (on occasion).

[@Zenith_Guard]

Hah, good story. When my party (without me) went to the Redbrand mansion, and put a sheet of metal and froze it over with water and frostbite spells (at least I think it was frostbite) and caved in the nothic back cave to try and starve them out or at least apply exhaustion. I came back next session with them waiting outside the mansion. First thing I asked when they told me they were trying to attrition them was, "Did you destroy their food supplies?" Long story short, they didn't bother to check the first room in which was the pantry. Ended up having to fight the Redbrands + reinforcements sent to break them out, as well as Glasstaff. Good thing we had a Goblin Army from our first dungeon along with the townspeople fighting with us.

[@Trogdor98]

My party stealthed their way to Glasstaff, killed him, hid his body in the secret stairway, and used disguise self to tell the redbrands to pack up and torment a different village.

[@caramonmajere447]

@23:40 Having that dragon turned back to normal would be a fun adventure. Save the town all over again.

[@BigCowProductions]

I like the banter and interaction between you two in this video 👌😁

[@mal2ksc]

My very first adventure with my current main character involved a flaming airship. It involved undead and impersonators in the crew as well, and there we were at first level with no real solutions at hand... except to set the airship on fire so it had no choice but to land and let us escape. This worked, but we got all the blame for contaminating the city's water supply when the wreck crashed in the reservoir, undead and all. (We jumped out before the actual crash, from about 30 feet above the water, near the shore. It hurt, but we survived.) The whole point had been to place us under some sort of debt that needed paying, so we'd go on adventures without needing to know the larger plot. Our solution, although far from the one the DM had imagined, still allowed him to steer the campaign in the desired direction. The larger plot was then revealed through the subsequent adventures, rather than being explained up front. That was all under Pathfinder rules. Then we decided we'd rather give 5e a run (we were spending far too much time just trying to wrap our heads around the 3.5e rules) and rebuilt our characters as similarly as we possibly could and continued from there. The in-game explanation was "Someone powerful wished these changes into existence, so just run with them. Your memories are not defective, and you have not gone insane. The world just instantly changed around you, and you changed to accommodate it." Since we had all agreed to the changes, and they were only made to accommodate 5e mechanics, nobody really needed any explanation at all, but it was nice to have some way to handle it in character.

[@johnaron2235]

"Flaws, Emotions and Bonds" You really think high of my DM.

[@goatmeal5241]

So I'll probably be called a killjoy for this, but how would activating an immovable rod while sliding down a hill send a stationary opponent flying? Does the rod now keep any momentum it has when activated? That would mean I could throw it at people, activating when I release it, (or run at someone and activate it during the run) and they'd get carried inexorably away, breaking through any barrier that isn't strong enough to cause 8000lbs of force. It says 'fixed in place', which pretty clearly means relative to the environment and not the person using it. Using it while on a sled would yank your paladin off the sled and leave him dangling in front of the troll, or rip his arm out of its socket since he's not strong enough to suddenly stop himself like that. Regardless, throwing a troll into the distance would definitely take more than 8000 lbs of force. Just saying, if you ignore physics restrictions for 'rule of cool' you will have to deal with the implications of applying that logic elsewhere, or else explain that the item is inconsistent 'because I say so'.

[@DungeonDudes]

The troll was ON the sled - it was not stationary at all

[@goatmeal5241]

@@DungeonDudes Oh nice, that makes total sense then. Re-listening to the video I see where the misunderstanding is: there was a step where the troll got onto the sled with them after it 'jumped into their path' and before the rod shenanigans. Did they have to go back up the mountain to retrieve the rod from the propped-up dead troll? That sounds hilarious. Even if I wanted to nitpick the force required to suddenly stop a troll (which I definitely wouldn't do in a real game), the troll neck would likely not be able to take 8000 lbs of force spread over a small rod's area across it, so the rod would decapitate the troll before breaking its hold on 'space'. This would likely happen before the body had lost much momentum, so the headless corpse might even stick around, dangling off the back of the sled, leaving a giant bloodstain down the mountainside. That would be a different kind of memorable.

[@TheFirstLanx]

Ordinarily the rod needs to be attached to the ground. I wish it didn't though, precisely because you can do cool things with it if it doesn't need that.Our barbarian has a pair of cursed bracers that function like immovable rods on a command word spoken by anyone (including the evil priestess who "gifted" them to him). Her plan was to use this to restrain him. Joke's on her though, we changed the command word with collaborative magic and now the barbarian's chokehold takes 8000lbs of force or a DC30 strength to break! EDIT: I AM WRONG, THE ROD DOES NOT NEED TO BE ATTACHED TO THE GROUND. PRAISE IOUN!

[@Gauldame]

@@TheFirstLanx "This flat iron rod has a button on one end. You can use an action to press the button, which causes the rod to become magically fixed in place. Until you or another creature uses an action to push the button again, the rod doesn't move, even if it is defying gravity. The rod can hold up to 8,000 pounds of weight. More weight causes the rod to deactivate and fall. A creature can use an action to make a DC 30 Strength check, moving the fixed rod up to 10 feet on a success." -d&d beyond There is literally nothing in there stating that the rod must be attached to anything in 5e. In 3.0 and 3.5 specific examples given in the dmg, and in licensed official setting books and in adventures, show the rods being suspended mid air attached to nothing. So RAW, RAI, legacy and officially licensed publications all support that the rod can be deployed mid air and stay where placed. You have your wish, as long as you play in a 2eadv, 3.0, 3.5, 3.75, or 5e game if they are running official rulings on the item. I have no information on 4e rulings on this, however I would probably go with it having basically the same abilities in 4e that it does in the others.

[@TheFirstLanx]

I stand corrected, turns out it's a specific override by my DM in the only campaign where one has featured (a pair actually) and it's to avoid our ludicrously strong barbarian alternating fixing and releasing rods in turn to climb into literal air.

[@Hasteaguy]

You don't need to set everyone on fire, you just need to set everything on fire. Beautiful.

[@AM-hf9kk]

In one of my favorite "use the environment" moments, my low level Fighter / Artificer grabbed a flesh golem and threw it off the back of a train. Big risk, big reward. Another time, (as DM) I filled a slag pit under a forge with zombies, with just a few animating in the forge itself. I set it up so the PCs noticed the grates for the entry ladders had been moved into one corner of the room. They could replace the grates and then topple several heavy anvils to hold them down. The Rogue avoided a lot of damage by using one grate as a shield. Unfortunately the Rogue and Sorcerer were the first ones to reach the anvils and simply didn't have the strength to move them. It wasn't until the Paladin came over that the anvils started to move. Then the zombies only had a very slim (only a nat 20) chance to move the grates. The Party didn't manage to prevent most of the zombies coming up, but the last few were fish in a barrel. I felt bad making the PCs fight all those zombies, but they missed too many clues to solve the puzzle that would have broken concentration on the Necromancer in the next room. (I know animate dead isn't technically a concentration spell)