D&D Balance is BORING. This is why.

Reserve your Gamemaster's Chest! frontierwargaming.com/gm-chest/
Tell me I'm pretty: ko-fi.com/deficientmaster
People have been asking me how I balance my combats in tabletop role playing games like Dungeons & Dragons. Well here's my secret... I don't. This is why.
Credit where credit is due:
🎨 Battlemaps:
Crossland
Czepeku
Darkest Maps
Gogots
Lone Mapper
Theox
🎵 Music:
"Bad Ideas Distressed" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
"Doh De Oh" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
"Fluffing a Duck" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
"Gone Beyond" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
"Hall of the Mountain King" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
"Hyperfun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
"Local Forecast: Elevator" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
"Long Note One" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
"March of the Spoons" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
"Retro Future Nasty" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
"Sergio's Magic Dustbin" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
"Sneaky Snitch" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
"Spazzmatica Polka" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
"Two Finger Johnny" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
"Unanswered Questions" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Music: Chicken Picking Country Guitar by Redafs.com
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

[@DeficientMaster]

Sign up for Frontier Workshop's upcoming GM Chest Kickstarter! frontierwargaming.com/gm-chest/ *Note that the dice tower does not emit transforming sounds. You have to provide your own.

[@raedlives9261]

I did locate this on Kickstarter, but Frontier Workshop's website is no longer functioning.

[@frontierwargaming]

@@raedlives9261 Yeah, sorry, we were running some maintenance last week, so the website was was down at times.

[@jaceg810]

"In a world I stole from so many sources it is starting to look original" This is comedic gold, Can I get something like this on a mug or as the intro to a campaign?

[@DuckLyght]

I would buy such a mug!

[@thor8606]

I would also buy such a mug, and possibly a shirt bearing this message

[@kuboskube]

Just steal it, this is the DND way But yes, amazing quote!

[@spedic2638]

I mean, this is how art works usually, that's my excuse

[@DMXXCorps]

It’s not stealing, it’s taking inspiration and remixing

[@C0SMIC_CLIMAX]

Been slowly trying to adopt the “war” mindset, 5E and video games have programmed me to just unga-bunga my way through most things and have bad guys just fight to the death.

[@gabrielotero5694]

Actually, Baldur's Gate 3 does the "war" approach pretty interesting for a video game's limited mechanics. That game actually inspired me to give more loot to my players and use more the environments. Everyone at my table loved it!

[@OceanusHelios]

Any good encounter or Monster has a vested interest in its own survival, and why wouldn't it? Why wouldn't monsters seek to use the high ground? Why would they stand still like a bunch of stationary targets so some Ranger type can yoink them with an arrow to the eyeball? Why wouldn't they take cover and dodge and weave? Why wouldn't a beholder just float higher or use other monsters as meat shields? Why wouldn't a giant grab one hero by the ankle and use that hero's body like a club to fight off the others? Why do Giants not have a drop kick attack? Or kick and stomp in general? Why isn't the dragon causing a forest fire around the players and essentially turning the entire environment into a fire trap? The list goes on and it is right there in the "Captian Obvious" section when a monster is described. Most monsters are played like it is the monster's first rodeo. In a somewhat believable world it isn't the monster's first rodeo. What did the monsters learn from past battles?

[@milktenders6219]

I like taking the mindset of “the least terrible thing the enemies can do is kill you” because instead they can politically outmaneuver you, turn you allies against you, attack a place you aren’t while you’re away doing that fight. That singular encounter might not just be a singular encounter that never has ramifications later

[@briantrentini3238]

Petition for DeficientMaster to make a book about his way of playing -------->

[@robofeeney]

Ah heck, I'd take a blog with session notes over a book!

[@josephrion3514]

He has the one off curse you can pick up. Says a lot.

[@ruolbu]

"So you want to be a game master" by Justin Alexander Deficient absolutely has cool unique ideas, but The Alexandrian is probably the best source I would generally suggest people start reading and watching. Talks about many of the same concepts.

[@TheTerrainWizard]

I bet when he gets enough subscribers, like the many other KZbinrs who launch kickstarters, he will do this very thing.

[@TheTerrainWizard]

When he gets a high enough subscriber numbers, he will. It’s how KZbinrs do, because the censorship at Google isn’t paying us for our work. 🤷🏻‍♂️ D&D KZbinrs don’t really make KZbin content for fun, it’s about ad revenue, free stuff, nerd fame, and getting followers to fund a project.

[@albertofuzzi7200]

I personally love combining "gritty realism" with "milestone xp" and a bunch of other minor changes. It really incentivezes players to "think out of the box " to survive and thrive

[@nolader28]

it's only good if it's done right

[@JoelHines]

discovering not caring about balance has saved me so much time in game prep besides all the in game benefits, great way to combat GM burnout

[@umarthdc]

Newbies do this so naturally. Then we optimize the fun out of it. The best system to break this habit imo is Mausritter, the combat is so deadly for PCs and foes alike that players quickly start scheming to get the upper hand.

[@DeficientMaster]

Exactly. Gimme a brand new player any day!

[@wildbanana5527]

Bah I came prepared to write "first" but someone posted 1 full day before the video was uploaded....!!!!!!!!!!

[@juauke]

Completely agree that newbies do this much more naturally Combat in Into the Odd / Electric Bastionland tend to make them learn the same how to take the upper hand. The way I have put it for my players is that "their best weapon is questions" since they can gain information with those and it enhances collaborative effort to make the combats memorable

[@jeffcato713]

​@@wildbanana5527 ko-fi supporters got the early preview

[@faxmachine1162]

​@@juauke"the best weapon is questions" is so good, I think I'm gonna steal it!

[@ArcaneSpells]

Let. Him. COOK

[@anathamon]

I’m not playing basket ball, I’m playing adult pretend, with dice.

[@peterbillings3276]

Sitting! My favorite sport 😜

[@RedRaggedFiend]

Here's a tip, changing my wording around the subject helped a LOT. A mathematical PROBLEM has one correct SOLUTION. But an OBSTACLE, you can go over, under, around, or through it. I also stopped using terms like COMBAT, EXPLORATION, and SOCIAL ENCOUNTERS. They're either Creature Obstacles or Non-Creature Obstacles, the HOW and WHY of the players' making it past each obstacle is up to them.

[@CrowePerch]

WE'RE MAKING IT OUT OF DM BURNOUT WITH THIS ONE ‼‼🔥🔥🗣🗣

[@lucas56sdd]

My take: Telegraphing is VITAL. Try to do it *too* much. I often will actually just show my players the (shoutout to flee mortals) monster manual for a limited amount of time dependant on a relevant skill check. My players love the mini game of trying to extract as much useful info as they can before I take the book away, simulating the stress of trying to remember your monster-slaying training mid-combat. Furthermore, I'm not afraid to discuss the power of monsters/npcs in game terms. "This is a CR 23 Dragon" "He's like a level 11 paladin" "This enemy has a +10 stealth score and seventh level spells" You may think that this mechanic-speak unpleasantly reminds players they are playing a game (and you may be right), but I've found the opposite to occur. Using mechanical terms in world description seems to fold the rules into the shared fiction and make things like character stats feel like real things instead of game mechanics. All this telegraphing makes players feel much better when I obliterate them with disintegration when they're level 6, as they knew the risks and nevertheless chose to be heroic. To go against incredible odds. This doesn't mean there aren't secrets though. No matter how much of the enemies toolbox I reveal, *how* the enemy will use that toolbox is always a surprise. You knew the dragon's lair was on a mountains edge. You could have guessed that a dragon's strength can easily grapple you. Glad you're a druid because you'll need a fly speed to avoid 20d6 falling damage 😂

[@nolader28]

Prepare for throwaway joke characters on their end

[@lucas56sdd]

@@nolader28There have been 9 PCs in my game and 2 deaths (7 living PCs) in a year's worth of play my guy

[@mrosskne]

what do you mean, remind them they're playing a game? that's what they showed up to do.

[@monkeySkulls]

I totally agree with this. trying to do things. subtly in these games doesn't work very easily. saying the dragon is super sneaky is so vague. The characters would be able to look at a thing and they can pick up on the subtleties of why it would be sneaky. coming up with words to describe why he looks that way is tough. and what's tougher is having your players pick up on those descriptions and translate them to the characters. just being direct is the way to go! it's the same with all aspects of the game I think. If you're trying to RP out a conversation with someone in the King's throne room or in the tavern, everyone might get wrapped up in the RP and the actual conversation. but what happens? oftentimes is they miss the actual point or the small details that were important. So have your fun with the RP and acting out the conversation. but a simple straightforward recap helps keep everyone on the same page

[@lucas56sdd]

@@monkeySkulls💯

[@Toasty936]

When are we getting a "You can do whatever you want" shirt

[@M0RGue0Nslaught]

Yeah, with a sewn in squeaker inside the poor D&D logo, so you can pat it too

[@Akinohotarubi]

Better yet, a squeaky plush

[@Trekiros]

Yeah combat as war is where the strengths of TTRPGs as a medium really shine imo. If I wanted combat as sport I'd probably just go play one of the hundreds of games I have of Steam instead, because TTRPG combat can just never match the juice of video games anyway. If I'm playing TTRPGs it's to get the one thing they can do, that video games can't ever hope to do. It's for the schenanigans. Nowadays I pretty much only balance encounters if I force those encounters on my players, usually because that encounter serves some kind of purpose in the story, for example the first encounter of a new campaign arc, where I do a bunch of exposition. In that sense it's nice to have (...working) encounter balance tools, but at the same time, if I didn't have those I'd probably just do the exposition in a non-combat encounter and that'd be perfectly fine.

[@Drekromancer]

Thank you for saying this. I always feel the same way. If I want a perfectly formulated, tactical encounter, I'll play a video game that handles all the numbers for me. If I'm going to play a TTRPG, I'm going to need to lean into the strengths of the medium: character interaction, narrative flexibility, and creative problem-solving!

[@mrosskne]

>purpose in the story it's a game, not a story. you're a referee, not an author.

[@GnarledStaff]

@@mrosskne You can be both… people play games for the story, particularly tabletop games

[@mrosskne]

@@GnarledStaff The story is whatever the players do. You're not an author.

[@Phyllion-]

​@@mrosskne you're the one throwing stuff at your players, so, you're just as much the author as they are. It's a group effort.

[@vecnasleg8786]

At times you gotta weigh thing in evenly, you give them a combat that makes their level 10 characters look so badass shredding through level 3-5 infantry fighters, and then give them an immediate turning of tables with the captain being a level 13 hexblade

[@mrosskne]

d&d is so boring

[@itap8880]

@@mrosskne Do you mean dnd as in a particular system or as in every ttrpg ever?

[@Skimmer951]

We play in a arena themed game and theres a lot of stuff done even before the combats, trying to poison the enemys food before a match, psych them out by giving the wrong information during interviews and going by performance and bravado. But the enemy does as well in a pretty intense back and forth. We are also allowed to challenge teams way above our own rank and level knowing its not balanced to our level but encouraging us to prep beforehand to perhaps overcome it. When its no holds barred thats when it becomes the most exciting at the table in my opinion. I really enjoyed how you formulated this in the video putting words into a feeling and playstyle i have been trying to explain to my fellow players who are not used to as intense combats.

[@lucas56sdd]

wow that sounds like a fun campaign setting. I definitely want to steal it.

[@Dandantheman89]

sick

[@vektracaslermd743]

The scenario rundown had me laughing harder than I have in a long time. You and your videos are the real treasure we found along the way.

[@benvelveeta6803]

This reminded me of one of my first ever games. We had learned that the bug creatures whose hive we were invading used pheromones to see and communicate. I just so happened to have an everlasting bottle of smoke, saw some of their eggs, and decided to cram the two together to see if the resulting smoke could maybe somehow send mixed signals their way... Only for the Wizard, one of the players who had been playing since 3.5, nearly having a hissy fit cause now he couldn't see all the bugs and I was an idiot for trying that. This video kind of made me realize that was around the point I stopped trying interesting ideas in combat and just number crunched like the rest of the party. Crazy how streamlines things get with time without anyone realizing.

[@manolgeorgiev9664]

3:07 There is one problem with this setup: You can't have *one* ogre magi, because "magi" is plural.

[@mxt3k]

This feels like the difference between Fallout 3's "everything scales to your level" philosophy vs. New Vegas's "if you go there before you're meant to it will hurt a lot" kind of philosophy to designing worlds. It makes a lot of sense that sometimes players bumbling through a D&D campaign would find themselves in unwinnable situations possibly more often than not if they're careless and so should learn to use their brains as well as the systems other than combat to navigate those situations.

[@lextaz4236]

It's like you've read my mind. I was planning a Westmarch campaign of sorts, where players stay at one big camp (but they can create outposts as they progress) and in this camp they take missions. Missions like "collect info on X" or "get an item\items that are of significant value to the camp" or "eliminate a threat", etc. And every time I've thought about combat, I came to conclusion that players should either be given an opportunity to create a combat scenario, aka initiate combat on their terms, or be given enough object to have meaningful interaction with to make the challenge easier. The Piano, for example. They can always take the route of lobotomized barbarian, if they want to, but they should have an option to take otherwise uphill battle and recreate "call the ambulance but not for me" meme. Love your content. Thank you. And the GM's chest looks neat. Thanks for the info on that.

[@westernbear2265]

I’m commenting on this video to let you know I check your page to make sure I didn’t miss a new video that got buried. Love this stuff, especially the way you present it. Most of the other channels I can just put on in the background while I do stuff. This channel’s videos makes me pause them until I can use my eyeballs. And later that night once the kids are in bed, I light some candles, make a bubble bath, and pour a beer. *sigh*

[@WhimsicalWisp44]

I never realised how much I fought like war until this video. I use morale I just use a wisdom save from individuals rather than as a group so some soldiers might flee while some might dig in their heels and prepare to die

[@Drekromancer]

That's genius. I'm stealing it. 🙂 Although I will say, this would only be able to work in a situation where people are fighting to the death. Bandits would probably be stupid not to run if their ambush failed. But a bunch of green soldiers fighting for an evil baron would absolutely have to choose between standing their ground and breaking ranks.

[@Phox146]

Great video. This is really good advice, however running your game like a 'war' is MUCH more advanced technique. I will say, I am happy you spoke about that give and take with encounter balance too. That the GM should enable the players to end encounters in cool and creative ways.

[@jamesrizza2640]

You are right on point. I have been playing D&D since 1980 and I remember, [I still have mine], the Monster Manuel having Morale for almost every monster as well as a bunch of other useful information such as organization [how monsters can form groups], Where they live how they fight and so on. It was so much more dangerous but interesting as well. Today I stick with Pathfinder 1e and still use [homebrew which I hate to call it because they were the original rules in the first place.], these rules for my games as well. Rock on!!

[@jamesrizza2640]

I forgot to give you aspiring DM's the Morale Ratings, they were: 2-4 Unreliable, 5-7 Unsteady, 8-10 Average, 11-12 Steady, 13-14 Elite, 15-16 Champion, 17-18 Fanatic, 19-20 Fearless. You would pick a number not a range, if they rolled that number or higher, that particular group broke. So if you have 6 Goblins Morale 10 and 6 Hobgoblins Morale 12 and rolled an 11. The Goblins would run for the hills but the Hobgoblins would still fight. Hope this helps.

[@goldengriffon]

Baldur's Gate 3 may give players unrealistic expectations of storytelling, voices, etc. around the gaming table, but I can't deny it's also helped spice up the imagination of what is possible within combat, especially with things like environment interactions and fleeing enemies grabbing backup.

[@krkngd-wn6xj]

Are there fleeing enemies anywhere in BG3? I know players can flee, but the only remotely similar thing I can think of is the hyena in Act 1 that runs away to call in some gnolls to the combat.

[@Medul759]

@@krkngd-wn6xj the fleeing goblin children too.

[@krkngd-wn6xj]

@Medul759 Fair point, also the tiefling refugees if you burn the grove down. I still don't think it's a good example, cause basically all enemies just flee, or fight to the death. There isn't a fight where the last guy left won't still bumrush the 4 people who just killed his 10 allies.

[@espanyolpoop]

i remember a new player i had. Made a character, named "Gruver". Was pretty agile and skilfull, regular ranger. He did not know how to play, so first encounter, he asked the DM "What can i do?" the dm said. "You face this situacion, how would you turn the tables and fight?" End of the campain, he hasn't shot more that half a docen arrows, and his "hemp rope" has so many kills it would make a gallows rope blush. Since then, my friend group coined the term "Gruver Tactics" for your "War combat" style of game

[@mrosskne]

so what did he do?

[@dragontear1638]

@@mrosskne I'm morbidly curious, too.

[@WiserOdin]

Oh no explaining exactly what he did with that rope is horrifying

[@mrosskne]

yep, this never happened

[@AKcess_Dnied]

Was his first name Mac? As in MacGruver!?!

[@swaggyseal]

Pathfinder 2e's level system works almost flawlessly for a formula, especially compared to the CR DND 5e

[@duncbot9000]

Pf2e even offers XP for avoiding combats, and gets rid of the pesky rule in 5e where everything has Attack of Opportunity which basically ruins any morale system because Disengage + Move is always countered by Move + Attack. In Pf2e movement costs the same as an attack so make 3 moves and then the enemy can't hurt you (with a melee attack)

[@jltheking3]

Yeah this problem vanishes completely once you switch to a system that like D&D 4e or PF2e that’s built from the ground up to support Combat as Sport. It’s not the play style that’s contributing to burnout. It’s the fact that you’re using the wrong system for your style of play. 5e ain’t balanced at all and you can’t play it in a way that expects it to be balanced.

[@TheDreamsCo]

Seriously my new favourite DnD channel. Thank you for your service!

[@FiddleForge]

My players just initiated a combat with a Wendigo that I've made to be invulnerable unless you precede attacks with fire or trick it into hurting itself. They had clues that hinted at these things and they'll have to figure it out or...*shrug*

[@SBEEVEE]

Hmmm I wonder who this could be

[@FiddleForge]

​@@SBEEVEE Probably not who you suspect.

[@KangarooKommando]

The store manager of a Wendy’s?

[@FiddleForge]

​@@KangarooKommando You caught me! Get this man a Frosty.

[@thedarkbard]

I’m definitely gonna try to implement this in my game! Another thing I’m thinking of adding in to encourage creativity is to redo ‘action’ and ‘bonus action’ into ‘primary action’ and ‘secondary action.’ While I won’t be going as loose as I hear Pathfinder does, I’m thinking any nonattack action can be secondary, with some penalties where appropriate. For example, I’m thinking a player would be able to primary action dodge, weaving around their opponent while they secondary action pickpocket a file from their opponents pocket, perhaps at disadvantage as they move around. Or the opposite; primary action pickpocket and dodge as a secondary action, granting them a temporary +2 to AC or something. I’m literally writing this down as I think of it, so there are sure to be a ton of potential problems.

[@laughingpanda4395]

I've always had the monsters "live where they live" and if the pcs stumble into the wrong area, so be it. This has gotten me some nasty looks and side eyes but usually it works out. After all, fleeing is always an option and sometimes the pcs even suprise me by handling the problem without issue. I have spent waaaay too much time gathering maps on a flash drive that is bursting at the seams so that most of my maps have adjoining maps as well. Combat can always be shifted to another area should the pcs so choose. It's a little clunky at times but we have made it work. Another banger of a video Deficient Master. My favorite D&D channel by far.

[@Specter_1125]

The problem is that fleeing is not always an option unless you as the DM make sure of it. If a monster has abilities that paralyze, stun, restrain, etc or even just sufficiently ranged attacks, retreating can quickly become impossible.

[@laughingpanda4395]

@@Specter_1125 well I guess I should have been more clear with my statement. Fleeing is always possible for SOMEONE in the party. A froghemoth is positioned in the swamp that my level 5 pcs are exploring. Chances are good that they will encounter it. Not a certainty but a good chance. If someone is swallowed and another grappled then at least two of them can run. Lol

[@tuomasronnberg5244]

​@@Specter_1125you don't need to run faster than the monster, you just need to run faster than your friends

[@JanHoos]

Awesome video once again! And awesome tip, I'll look in to the morale rule as well

[@Captain_Rex14]

That “War” analogy describes every encounter, even the “peaceful” ones XD.

[@noahfreeman8115]

Very good video. My players love modern games, so probs won’t move to any OSR style game anytime soon, but I incorporate OSR style things into my games (like Morale) which is how we got both the fave NPC (surrendered) and the BBEG of the campaign (a low-level goblin who got away) and it’s been a blast.

[@Caloby]

I’ve been changing how I GM after yeaaaars of feeling frustrated after putting in so much time and combats just not being fun (despite using all the advice I can about balancing in the moment), and funnily enough I just talked to my GM and found he uses this exact idea. This video just confirmed that I need to change how I prep, and I’ll be talking to my players soon about giving “combat as war” a try, thank you!

[@the_furf_of_july4652]

Your editing style SEEMS like it’s clickbaity and attention-grabby and all fluff, but you clearly have a genuine passion, really good advice and techniques, and a respect for your viewer’s time and intelligence. You have a very interesting way of communicating, and my ADHD brain loves the everloving shit out of it.

[@peterbillings3276]

Well said. His videos are very well paced, and comedically dramatic in attention-grabbing bits, but his opinions are never overstated for clickbait. Absolute gold.

[@lucasdeoliveira1899]

Newbie DM here, and last week's session I tried a more combat as war style scenario, without knowing I was doing that tbh. And after the session, I received a feedback from my players (all newbies too) that they loved that combat because they thought they could really die. I guess I'm doing something right lol. Thanks for your content it really helps a lot.

[@Gragas2]

I would love to watch one of your D&D sessions. So far, every video is really entertaining and I'm even learning something new.

[@boberttgr8]

Forget all the other, bigger channels, your channel is single handedly helping me improve my GM'ing skills as a whole more than any book or creator, please don't stop making such fantastic content!

[@Weemadaggie]

Excellent way to illustrate this philosophy. Colville is with us in this ship too. I have another trick I use on lower level parties to dial damage up or down ahead of time without all that math and cr and stuff. I take whoever has the lowest HP max and ask my self "Is this a fight we'll be ok TPKing to? If no, is it one that should still be pretty hard or is this just an aside?" Depending on the answer my mobs will have one shot on crit damage, or 2 or 3 shot. And magic and all that other stuff, that's just extra. Once they're well past a certain level and I'm comfortable with how tough and smart they are I stop doing that outside of big bosses that really should be able to one-shot you. So if you wizard has 20 hps at max, your mob will do either more than 20 hp damage on a max roll crit or less depending on what level of danger you want.

[@agsdedluxferre2955]

Your videos are great as always, I had no idea I had been running combats as "war" since I started running 3.5 fifteen years back, I always hated challenge ratings and preferred HD to tell me how strong a monster was, after all a players level is just their HD. Other GMs would scoff at my methods but the players loved it so I just shrugged I think the big reason I liked monsters that were stronger than the party was my first ever module I read and got me into GMing was Caves of Chaos and the fact it just left the players to figure out what murder hole to walk into with a bit of nudging from the GM still sticks with me as one of my favorites, along with the various rumors, if your first module was COC it incorporated so many dirty tactics, the "kind healer" is actually a cultist who casts cause wounds on someone in a critical moment, the goblins yell for help but one of the rumors you get is misinfo that it means surrender then suddenly an ogre comes barreling at your first level party, the caves have a "maiden" who if you help her is actually a medusa who turns you to stone, along with other little tid bits, if it weren't for that module along with other OSR modules I don't think i'd of cared for ttrpgs as those older modules really felt like you were a dungeon delver in a living breathing fantasy world where death was around every corner. Love your videos and insights, the TTRPG crowd definitely needs more of your content as it goes against the grain so to speak of the same almost "agreed" upon way of playing the game that the typical modern crowd seems to of adopted. I especially love that even with your takes you keep the most important rule in mind, "The best answer is what YOU and your players agree on is best" where a lot of YTers really feel like they try to hijack your table to indoctrinate you into "their" way of playing rather than just giving advice, where as yours comes off as genuine advice which I enjoy.

[@SuperParkourio]

The boss guarding the Hoard of the Dragon Queen feels like a prank by the author of that adventure. It's challenge rating is too high for the players to handle, and it's too powerful even for its challenge rating. And it inexplicably has the ability to pursue the players through 5 foot wide tunnels despite being Huge.

[@eduardosulz]

Great videos! Keep up with them! One question, in your games do you follow mostly OSE or 5e?

[@DeficientMaster]

Thank you! I personally play OSE games with a bunch of house rules

[@KaleDavid]

Just last night I "paused" a combat with a Zombie Beholder & his minions to remind the players that they didn't HAVE to let this combat be a slog to the death. Their goal in the abandoned library was to find a few specific magical scrolls, and didn't necessarily have to kill the Beholder to get those scrolls & gtfo.

[@greyross7662]

Epic video! I’m gonna have to implement some of the morale stuff into my campaign. I have 7 level 9 players in my campaign so figuring out how to make combat better really helps 😂

[@clark4428]

I just wanted to say that your channel has been truly indispensable to my growing as a GM. I have watched so many GMing channels and I couldn't help but feel like a lot of them lack the very necessary practical advice and tend to focus on the theory crafting while hoping not to step on the viewer's toes. No shade to them at all, there are reasons for it, which are legit; just not great for establishing good fundamentals and a distinct idea of best practices. I have struggled so hard in my campaigns to know where my efforts should lie and how much. I am the kind of person who will know what I need but not know what I don't need. I think that burns me out the most. Your videos, in their elegance and decisiveness, really help me understand a better framework. It also helps that the package in which you deliver this advice is so well designed and amazingly structured that it really establishing an ethos I can trust, instead of feeling like another talking head video. Thank you for all the effort you put into these. Videos like this really should rise to the top!

[@davidsantos1299]

Be aware that this guy is pitching a specific way of playing a game. Which can be fun But a lot of people like very different ways of playing. Many of his rules don't apply if you wanna play high level dnd where heroes get more and more powerful and fight bigger and bigger enemies

[@clark4428]

@@davidsantos1299 I'm aware. Honestly his advice feels best outside of DnD a lot of the time. Additionally, for the most part, most people aren't getting to those really high levels of play. I would even argue that with DnD (specifically 5e) the higher levels are broken and you are playing a different kind of game entirely at that point. But I would also argue that his advice is helpful because he is going after a specific way of gaming. As such, he can make definitive statements that will help people find ways that they want to play their games. They can experiment with it and find out if they like it. Where my problem with a lot of talking heads is they don't talk about definitive GM styles at all in this way. It gets difficult to find anything applicable.

[@lennartduchow7415]

Im sick with a fever but this video made my day!

[@JeanPhilippeGravel-formix]

I love your energy. Amazing content and original delivery. Good job 🙂.

[@flamingfrosty]

So good. I've found the best advice for dming from this guys videos. Ive been a dm for a while, but im always looking for ways to get better. Keen for the next video!

[@grecosalas4170]

Excellent video as always, i'm definitely gonna try to add that morale system to combat. Btw, where did you get that torchbearer book? looks so good

[@tacky4237]

I recommend "Muster: a Primer for War" as the best book on Combat as War i've seen.

[@delta_rook6285]

First time seeing one of your videos! Incredibly entertaining. Looking forward to watching through the rest of your stuff!

[@dursty3226]

i started getting a similar idea just from playing Baldur's Gate 3. the tactics used by enemies in that game are totally different to what i've always seen played out in tabletops. it's like guerilla warfare lite, popping out of cover to shoot before ducking behind cover again, climbing up ladders and running across precipices to get high ground bonuses while keeping themselves far enough away that you have to dash two turns in a row just to get in range... it's genuinely annoying but feels realistic.

[@bratziano]

Thanks a lot! I've been trying to get my encounters balanced with CR but it's nearly impossible to get it quite right. I just have to find out how to give out enough information about the "combat field" without being too obvious. And morale checks! How the fudge did I forget about those?!

[@erictiso9315]

Another awesome video! I too dislike CR math, and prefer a gut-reaction guess instead. If the fight is too easy, bad guy reinforcements show up. Too hard, and the bad guys get reckless and take chances that give the PCs an option. I'll have to check out some of those videos on DM burnout. The one you showed looks familiar... Maybe you should do a collab or something. I'll sign the petition requesting an audience.

[@karkosky3472]

I remember my VERY FIRST time trying to make encounters for a campaign, looking through that CR formula, trying to make it "dangerous, but not TOO dangerous" especially considering that I think there are some inherent flaws with the table's ability to properly assess how difficult an encounter would be, and while it was fun to try playing around with the first couple of encounters, if only for the experimentation of throwing in a different CR and seeing how it would change the difficulty, it didn't take too long for me to just go "Fuck this." I feel that the important thing is setting up the scene well enough that your players should be able to assess the danger for themselves and act on that. Very good video. Also, can I just say, I think you have some of the best editing I've seen from the RPG KZbin community.

[@davidmontijo9644]

Love this concept! It should be War! but the Ginny Di was AMAZING!

[@lorenzogeere1956]

I would love to see a video of one of your game sessions, seeing how all these concepts work together in practice

[@yungminiwheat1406]

I feel the same applies to PCs. Too many content creators talk on and on about how ‘this class sucks cuz no spellcasting’ or ‘this class doesn’t do enough damage’ and never appreciate a class as a unique avenue for ROLEPLAYING. ‘Balanced’ encounters/classes are for 4e (which IS a great edition), but 5e itself is a balance of mechanics and creativity.

[@Finalplayer14]

Could you give some examples of a class & subclass that’s seen as bad and ways that you feel can cover a more unique roleplaying ground that cannot also be done by another class/subclass?

[@monkibro]

The more I see these balance videos, the more I appreciate that in the original D&D cartoon, one of the first encounters the party faces is TIAMAT. And what do they do? The logical thing. They RUN! I'm beginning to think that discretion being the greater part of valor is all but lost to modern D&D's obsession with "balance" in a game that quite frankly (and as this video also points out) is poorly designed to facilitate such an equilibrium.

[@BenjaminCorcoran]

Don't ever stop making videos.

[@robingomez2628]

Haha! My son was balking because you threw your book at the end of the video Deficient 😂 Another great one! Looking forward to your book “The Deficient Art of War”.

[@Ewekansige]

I'm all for this style of running combat, but how would you be handling maps then? Do we use theater of the mind, or do we scale our maps to allow for more space and rooms on one battlemap?

[@jltheking3]

This technique doesn’t necessarily mean every fight is going to be loaded with enemies. It just means the *fiction* dictates exactly how many opponents there will be, not what the rules tell us about challenge rating. If you’re fighting in a small room, there naturally won’t be that many people that can fit in it. If you’re fighting in a large room, perhaps it makes sense in the fiction that there’s more enemies in there. The paradigm shift is that instead of changing our fiction to suit the combat, we make the combat suit the existing fiction.

[@kittybold]

oh my god the metaphor of combat as sport vs combat as war is so fucking amazing and really highlights the problems i have with so many modern games. so many modern games are purely a matter of numbers and skill, never ingenuity or creativity which is what makes combat so satisfying in the few games that have it. being able to manipulate your environment to your advantage, or even your enemies manipulating it to theirs, is a crucial aspect of good combat

[@edunevasca2554]

Thanks for awesome tip,this can help in my table!

[@chooweezane]

Your content is amazing and your editing style is so entertaining. More people need to check your stuff out. Keep doing what you do I enjoy your videos so much man

[@patrick.s3356]

It’s not about your monster using their set abilities, it’s about your monster making combat choices that thematically and personally make sense for that monster, regardless of stat blocks.

[@stJules]

So there i am. PCs trapped between two gates and npcs telling them to bug off. PC Mage tried charming, mishaps and causes veil of darkness. PCs decide to break IN thru makeshift gate before boiling water gets poured down on them. I bust out makeshift terrain pieces. Few minis, this isn’t a big city, just few villagers that were at ready with undead workers at their command. It almost turns ugly but sniping the mayor, a show of force and a spell that causes entangled speech breaks the villagers. Undeads are unaffected and clumsily try to follow last command. Party piles up on flimsy tower and it collapses. All in all PCs few mercenaries gather the paniced horses and make their retreat after unlocking the main gate. I had no map, just a terrain platform from professor dungeon master, handful of minis, 4 led candles to use as towers of the gate, and quickly picked statblocks that were appropriate for undead and villagers. Took about 45min in total, there were stakes and there will be consequences.

[@Cobalt-Bleu]

YET AGAIN, an amazing video that goes directly into things i needed. You reading my mind?!? Thanks Deficient Master!!!!

[@Audey]

Best DnD person on youtube! You're one of the few creators who's videos are an instant watch for me. The tips in your videos are always short, dense, and easy to use (just like me).

[@Arkay24]

This. All of this. I started really becoming a DM in a Star Wars SAGA Edition campaign, the whole premise of the galaxy is an unfair conflict. I literally only use the CR system to eyeball what enemy "tier" I can use, but 12 stormtroopers using Aid Another will be just as dangerous as an AT-ST. So far, my players (seem to) love it. Applying the same idea to D&D is taking me some time, but so far great.

[@ploepiplayer6150]

The things you say in these videos have made me realize what Im doing wrong as a DM, and I am happy that I can now start improving thanks man :)

[@kuboskube]

That chest looks awesome! Also, great promotion for the chest!

[@NeverSeenMyself]

I know this is a video about DnD5e, but just since Pathfinder was mentioned : encounter balancing is actually quite good and relatively easy for GM's in Pathfinder2e. It's a solid start for any newcomers to just grab the XP budget table and use it straight away. Ofcourse it's not perfect and with experience GM's might notice that some encounters are harder than others as there's few monsters that might be a little bit overtuned for their level, but those are far and between. Overall PF2e has reliable balance thresholds that usually work pretty well all the way to level 20 the majority of the cases.

[@adam-px2ye]

i look forward to every upload dude. I love your channel

[@potatoplunderer]

I LOVE this video! I always feel constrained by creating a battle map and using minis. Maybe it’s time I try a different, less crunchy, more loosey-goosey RPG

[@terrybeal2252]

Oh my brother TESTIFY! This video is pure gold. Bonus XP for the OSE and ICRPG books. 🧙‍♂️

[@bastiancole3565]

I just threw progressively higher challenge rating things at my players until I figured out a good balance. I have five players in my table, and they at level 10 could take out a challenge rating 16 black dragon when it was by itself. When there's more than one enemy typically they hit at around 13 or 14. So I just build them around that.

[@tobiaspause1775]

Always played like this... probably because dnd wasnt my first TTrpg. So i describe Situations, and the Players try to solve it. Last time they got an advantage by allying with pretty much any other faction on the Island, paying the Dragon to join, riding him over the Enemy and using a makeshift Bomb to destroy the BBeG. And it worked. I am a first Time DM, and the Players are first Time Players. However some balanced Fights happens too. And im pretty good at it. (i think)

[@stJules]

Oh, just one more thing. It's funny you show Torchbearer. I really lik the system "in vacuum" and I take little bits of it but deemed it too crunchy for a regular group. I wonder why there isn't the 2nd edition on the table. Hmm. Par from cosplaying Colombo: maybe an idea for a video of "Cool mechanics from systems other than d&d" ?

[@quickanddirtyroleplaying]

Great video. Another tip I'd like to suggest for GMs is to be more liberal when it comes to providing PCs with consumable items and fragile environmental objects of opportunity (i.e. explosive barrels, chandeliers, destructible traps, etc.). The value of such items increases the less "paper buttons" the players have to push on their character sheet.

[@humbunger9379]

My first ever time dming a one shot, I had the players hunt down a fighter/sorcerer outlaw that massively out leveled them. I had set up traps, pitfalls, I split the party and jumped the lone wolves. I had never been a dungeon master and was just playing like I'd assume a powerful outlaw to fight. And my players were very caught off guard. They were able to beat him but only after they started playing unfair too, I had to kidnap and dismember and separate the entire party before they got the memo, but believe me, they got the memo fast, and dear god it was fun.

[@Dision69]

Yeah that must have been fun

[@Dision69]

I know where you live

[@humbunger9379]

@@Dision69 yuh-huh

[@Wrathura]

As a DM, I 100% agree that challenge rating is to be ignored. A little trick: if you need to upscale or downscale a statblock, tell Chat GPT to do it. I used to do it myself but Chat GPT does it in seconds so 100% worth it.

[@condor727me]

i don't have the friend group or time to play dnd much....but i make simplified versions and get my students to play. i usually give them an overpowered non-hostile enemy to deal with in the beginning to force them to think about being creative. of course...some have to die when they insist over and over on attacking said overpowered enemy...then...the rest get the point. love the vid!

[@JinglesRasco]

I am now running two games. One group is the "run in, kill everything, grab loot, clear all the rooms" group, where my other group is much slower, and relies heavily on sneaking and planning. The first group has fun, since combat is closer and more dire, and they feel like they overcame something tough, whereas the second group has fun because they feel like they were clever, and out smarted their opponents. Combat is much easier for the second group, but they like the idea that their minds made the combat easier.

[@paulhepworth3659]

Dude, I think you just might be the Best, KZbinr, Ever.

[@MaKs2K5]

That scene at 3 minutes, the sound effects, music, clips. You got me good. Well, good enough to earn this subscibe ! Well done, I cried laughing.

[@Applegumm]

There are games with *great* encounter rules that really do create balanced encounters that are still really fun. These are encounters that ask players to leverage their strategy (preparation) and tactics (round-by-round actions) to accumulate advantages against the GM's side of the board and win out. It's a real and valid style of play, and certainly not "boring", especially for the players that prefer it. My home group for example has tried both war-style and sport-style games and infinitely prefers the less loosey goosey sport-style games. Basically, know your players. Don't expect combat as war to be a silver bullet for your table.

[@AmaiarAiramand]

I personally tend more to the "Battle as War" kind of perspective, but sometimes I go the extra mile and just skip the use of dice or enclosed "rules" altogether, opting for a more cinematic choice based combat. Usually when I want a REALLY fast-paced combat or the PCs are way above the power level of their enemies, using numbers and turns and stuff can really drag combat too long for it to be enjoyable, and it may also disrupt the flow of outside-of-combat events. So instead, I treat those battles as sort of "Quick-time events" in videogames, where I will present the situation as DM, ask for reactions, and decide by myself (with feedback from players) what would be the most coherent result, using it as a starting point before allowing said player to finish describing the rest of their turn. The caveat with this method is that it'll mostly always assume that the players are successful on the simpler actions, or will reduce the amount of dice rolling significantly, which in turn shift the game from a luck-based experience towards a more "power fantasy" kind of experience. Both me and my players like that, so it's not a problem for us, but if I'd want to put them on a tight spot, or provide with a serious challenge with higher risks and stakes, Id' have to step back towards the classic combat system, so that's usually what I'll do for example for a boss battle.

[@donwebster9292]

I keep saying one of the best. I loved seeing you got interviewed on that other site.

[@Alaris101]

Love it! Definitely going into my game.

[@jdcamar]

First video of yours ive watched and im subscribed because of the Dice Tower transforming. +200 DM credits to you

[@Thunderous333]

Man I wish I could play for you, I don't doubt that your games are awesome.

[@drewkent4053]

My favorite combat ruling Ive been using is from my time playing Cyberpunk 2020. Monsters have a general do stuff score. A goblin has +3 on anything it would be good at and a -3 to anything it wouldn't be.

[@ZaWyvern]

I agree with this 100% and I use morale in my own game but I think newer GMs need to understand the dynamics of player/monster dynamics through game balance. Boring as that may be. Then you can learn how to add levers outside combat that can be used to swing things in their favor.

[@Dadeadlydragon]

Hey I noticed after binging all your videos you use OneNote and would love a video breakdown of your Notebook and how you use it. I'm a diehard OneNote for Dnd guy and always love to see other DMs layouts and techniques.

[@LB_adventurer]

Combat as War + Rule of Cool = Chaotic Fun. Thanks for a great video with snappy cuts.

[@shortreststudios]

I love your ability to teach these gaming concepts with such humor. Great video!

[@JartistDnd]

My combats were always "War" and categorized as Hard/DEADLY by the Algorithm. They were super fun and my players always overcame these CR levels that the book said be very challenging to so. They used environment and their resources to make the combat more even.