D&D Isn't A Balanced Game

[@BlaineSimple]

If you're not subscribed, you'll probably never find my channel again after watching this video. I'd highly recommend it if you enjoyed yourself!

[@norathenerdynitwit]

too bad I'm already subbed *tips fedora*

[@randomroblox7042]

Your 20 minutes too early

[@saber7534]

Yet I keep finding this Channel... Something here is fishy.

[@F0g1sC0ming]

Good thing I'm subbed

[@icctracia42]

One problem with 5e being so open ended is that as you’ve proved it’s very easy to break the game if you know enough of the rules. Whereas pathfinder is way complicated but it’s nowhere near as easy to minmax and it’s a lot easier to get balanced encounters. So whilst I’m not defending pathfinder or attacking 5e, having played both i can see disadvantages to both.

[@daxharris5342]

"Don't run past level 15" *finds epic level rules for levels 21+ and runs a spelljammer campaign after giving each character 5 attunement slots*

[@fanusobscurus]

God, I would kill for official Spelljammer rules for 5e. Found two of the old books for it at a Goodwill when I was 11. They were what got me interested in TTRPGs.

[@kylestanley7843]

That sounds terrifying lol

[@Cen2050]

I approve, I often run high-epic level games!

[@RedrumZombies]

Spelljammer? Like anti-magic areas or magic?

[@RedrumZombies]

@@Cen2050 that's what I like to hear

[@bluewarbler9034]

My group has essentially a gentleman's agreement not to break the game -- like, if there's something that can clearly invalidate the plot completely, the players just don't do that, and in return, the DM agrees not to actively try to kill or otherwise screw over the players. It helps balance the game wonderfully.

[@patrickhogue1906]

That's how all the games I've played have run too, except the DM says it explicitly. I then look for how to cheese the system even harder to stay within the letter of the law. It's like Occam's Razor in reverse.

[@Gentlemen3]

Im dming so im just having a practical god watch over them

[@limbo3545]

At the weekend I had a player at level 5 who insulted a Marid. It was a devastating fight and I gave them the opportunity to flee. Otherwise that would have been a TPK. Not sure if this was a good decision, but now they have two problems: The Marid is pissed and they don't have any potion of waterbreathing left.

[@darkdragonsoul99]

So you don't want me throwing a hand full of silver coins on the ground and then casting animate object on them?

[@inkfae9916]

@@darkdragonsoul99 buy something with them and then have them run away back to you after the interaction

[@SgtSpecOps1]

04:02 You know something other DM's have figured out? That "Retreat" is an option. Has a DM I have put some of my players trough the ring: ambushes, getting surrounded, being flanked, attacked from range, etc... But I always put a convient marked blue line on the grid, just a few feet behind them. "Whats that for?" One of my players once asked. "Your Retreat Line." I answered... I cannot tell you how many times so many people were suprised I gave them the option to "Retrear". Its a valid military tactic, to get yourself away from a disadvantaged position and retreat to more safer/advantageous ground that you can use or just to simply dodge the fight until a next time you think you can take it (make the escape as cinematic/mechanicly engaged as you wish... "Surrendering" to the Bad Guys is their call to make, and so is the maneuver of retreating. The idea that they must "FIGHT TILL THE VERY END!" is sometimes admirable (and sometimes character motivated) but other times, even with all of my possible intervention to make the encounter fair, the player completle strugle: bad roles, bad moves, poor preperation for the fight, someone forgot some magical item back at their "base" or left behind some sword or really good crossbow that should have come in handy, etc... If the players feel that their rolls are going bad and that luck is not on their side, they can and are more than allowed to "Retreat". Just a bit of DM advise, use it at your own leisure I guess...

[@Shalakor]

Do you also include a retreat line on the map for the enemies?

[@SgtSpecOps1]

@@Shalakor That depends on what the "enemy force" the players are fighting: For example a wild beast like a Tyranasourus I generally have it stay and fight, its big, its strong and it wont let itself be pushed arround that easelly. Animal foes or nature born foes are normally comabative till the last, especially if they dont speak or compreend languages (its a case of "Lion's need to hunt, and you guys are the closest thing as a meal" type of deal). Big creatures (gargantuan, Huge and sometimes Large) I normally have them stay, altough sometimes they might opt to retreat (an Ancient Red Dragon, for example, might choose to fight another day, after taking a severe beating from the party. After all these creatures are known in lore for having "retainers" or "loyal servants" who can fight for them while they recover). Enemies that are as powerfull or less than the party, like a group of marauders or bandits, might take off from the fight as soon as the party brings the heat down on them, after all knives and swords arent that big of a deal when a lvl.5 Wizard blasts out some destructive spells (if for a more narrative perpective, bandits who have been dwelling in the vacinity of villages or town's, might have never seen magic before, and so one of their members falling to a Ray of Frost might seem "pure god-like fury", to scare them of prolonguing the fight... Last but not least, if you have a BBEG (Big Bad Evil Guy), it will depend on who he (or she) is and how they operate: if the BBEG is honor bound to defeat the party, he might take that honorable "fight until the end". If the BBEG is say, a cunning Sorcerrer or Evil Mage, he might speed up his departure from combat, leaving a few of his minnions to stall or slow the party down as well (if you want to, you can have some of the minnions also take off if things get to hard). The BBEG might not even be a spell-caster but a very tactfull and strategic thinker, who brings an "army" to bear against the players: if he's successful, he will push his advantage, if he fails, he will order his army to retreat to rethink the strategy. In the end, it will depend on how you (the DM) orginizes the encounter and what purpose in the grand scope of things, the encounter serves: random encounter, side-quest ecounter, main quest encounter (wich splits into a few scenarios like: "fight or run for your lives; mechanical encounters (to test the players understanding of the games system); narrative encounters (good for that sweet Role-Play that is normally expected of DnD); Dungeon-Crawls (a mix of mechanical + narrative) or even battlefield scenarios ( Heavy Mechanical situation + RP Heavy Beggining, Middle and End). I hope this was informative.

[@Shalakor]

@@SgtSpecOps1 So the TL;DR of that is a resounding "yes" (if the enemy seems the type to run). By default, while always assuming going off the available grid space is as good as signalling retreat, I can certainly see the merit of drawing an actual line within the grid to make it a more explicit option. Also, as DM, one could adjust how far away the line is based on what you know of the party's and enemy's standard movement options for that encounter. Much harder to get way from a tabaxi, monk, or something with wings, of course. Maybe even redraw the line midbattle if someone casts Fly or otherwise gets a situational movement option boost or new tactical position. Or when the sniper that wasn't spotted starts slinging their arrows/spells. Lots for me to think about, now.

[@JustaGuy_Gaming]

This depends a bit on your map size imo. if the retreat line is right next to the party it's a bit too easy. If however it's a good 40+ squares away and in general takes a round or two to pull off it's a bit more fair. Retreat is a pretty funny thing in Dnd though if you consider movement speeds. Most monsters are at least as fast as a human, many are faster. Mean while player races can be slower as well, especially anything the size of a dwarf or smaller. If your base move rate is lower than a human, in general you can't run from many fights. Especially if your DM considers movement rates and not just "get to the edge of the map".

[@deathzonekiller2261]

@@SgtSpecOps1 Thanks you This gonna help me a lot and give some interesting ideas

[@spookyish_1852]

Blaine: "the rules are so open ended that anyone capable of critical thinking can patch problems that make their games less enjoyable" Me: *cries in stupid*

[@the13inquisitor59]

Yeah, 'critical thinking' is the kicker there. Not having a hidebound GM is sort of a requirement there as well. And that's not a given.

[@mycatistypingthis5450]

I went to Pathfinder 2 as a test, but won't go back. It has actually functional encounter building rules and is fun to run, while providing players with more options as well. Note, Pathinder 2, not Pathfinder 1.

[@jamieadams2589]

@@mycatistypingthis5450 pathfinder combat is painfully slow though. As a player there's such a wait between turns and as a DM there's so much to do. The rest of 2e has been great though

[@mycatistypingthis5450]

@@jamieadams2589 I don't think it's significantly slower than 5e, but do agree it actually has choices. I had round times about 25% longer than 5e.

[@Elenrai]

@@jamieadams2589 Even in online play? I soley play online so generally things go very fast in 5e, so i am kinda wondering because ive been curious about 2e pf

[@taishancunningham9956]

the dragon: "Im just built different*

[@internetperson3436]

This dragon is the coochie man

[@connorjohnson8590]

Oh gosh Yup, i've tpked with a black dragon before. I naively thought that since a group of level 3 PCs could take down a clay golem that a group of level 5 PCs could take on an adult black dragon. My bad. It was my second time running when i happened, so i've learned my lesson (Golems are at least 2 CR less than their predicted amount because of their nonmagical damage immunity being useless against magic damage and weapons, and Dragons are 2 above their predicted CR because they are DRAGONS)

[@danieldib7100]

Hes like Birdman

[@Attaxalotl]

dragun *DRAGUN*

[@Rpground]

Honestly, though, if your dragon doesn't feel like a dragon and fight like a dragon should (IE, SMART) then it's not really a dragon...

[@godqueenbidoof]

Wizard + time + tons of gold = Ungodly number of magical items allowing them to solve every problem without ever using a spell slot

[@Lightmagician60]

it's not like you can make time stop scrolls and sell them or anything

[@godqueenbidoof]

@@Lightmagician60 or practical every day stuff like a stick that when snapped will ignite where it broke so you can easily start a campfire

[@battlemapbrawl]

@@Lightmagician60 😂😂😂

[@KjoshWaddellBananasAreGood]

Pretty sure you need to cast spells to enchant things...

[@godqueenbidoof]

@@KjoshWaddellBananasAreGood I mean during the actual problem. You use the slot when you enchant the item but don't need to consume a spell slot to use an enchanted item.

[@verinthecrow1367]

Forget magic items, one just needs a 10 Foot Pole to uncover a majority of traps!

[@andrewgreeb916]

That's where the not-so-structurally-sound-floor comes in...

[@kirbythepuffball9787]

@@andrewgreeb916 I cast feather fall

[@jammid9636]

So what I have gathered is use a stick with wings on it.

[@zearcjustice7837]

Wrong , you cast fireball

[@charlesbrooks4541]

I still wonder what awful experience the pc goes through to keep an 11 foot pole on them at all times

[@alfredwinchesterjr]

"The rules say I can trivialize the game." 'I kindly ask that you imagine yourself doing that, and then don't so we can continue having fun.'

[@Somber_Knight]

I've heard that before and now i feel sad again.

[@mrlumpy524]

Dnd 5e: Attempts to be balanced Pathfinder 1e: We don't do that here

[@char0dew70]

"Balance" in Pathfinder and DnD 3.5 is basically comparing monsters' overpowering abilities to whatever bullshit strategy your party is using. And that's why I love it.

[@lorekeeper685]

5e is by the most unbalanced. Similucrum and gylph of warding can be op prety much for no limits

[@ThePppp89]

@@lorekeeper685 ... that's nothing. _Nothing_

[@kylestanley7843]

Pathfinder 1e is just hilarious. You can play a barbarian that strangles people while swinging their whole body by the neck to bludgeon their allies. This barbarian can also swing that person to swipe spells and massive projectiles like catapult stones out of the air.

[@benikujaku4567]

@@lorekeeper685 Oh. You haven't played 3.5 have you? Uberchargers‚ Hulking thrower‚ the Mailman‚ more-than-100%-shadow-illusions‚ Arcane Fusion infinite loop‚ Pun-Pun‚ BoBaFeat‚ slow time Planar Shepherd‚ Ur-Priest in general‚ Wightpocalypse‚ Couatl Sorcerer... All these names refer to a way to break the game in half‚ litterally. From tens of thousands of damages at will to being able to cast any cleric spell spontaneously‚ to getting every feat in the book‚ to litterally destroying all life on earth‚ they are but the most well-known fraction of the nigh infinite cheese potential of d&d3.5‚ and by extension PF1e. These range from "I have to build my whole character around it" to "casting one spell in a specific situation". 3.5 is known for one thing above all. There is nothing you cannot do if your DM doesn't intervene. That applies to creating fun‚ original character‚ but that also applies to bringing the entire game to a stop through sheer application of power.

[@randomtangle4629]

“Balanced at killing the party.” Back in older editions, you cycled through characters like nothing. Probably held over from that.

[@arnox4554]

"The Dark Souls of RPGs."

[@jonsimpson6240]

Some of my favorite games were with a big group of players playing 3e. We constantly fought significantly higher threat enemies, because of our numbers. You would die in two or three hits usually.

[@FEARSWTOR]

@@jonsimpson6240 And then the war/time domain cleric showed up and 1-rounded everything in the game

[@ProphecyWillow]

I do something a little different for HP gains at level up for my players. They roll their hit die and I roll one in secret. They can either take take the number they rolled or take the gamble for what I rolled. It keeps things interesting.

[@kellihill1555]

ooh maybe I should try that...

[@ProphecyWillow]

@@kellihill1555 Please do. It's worked out fairly well at my table.

[@JoelFeila]

all i would do is figure out at what number mostly rolled higher and write that down. minimize the chance of getting bad rolls

[@unwithering5313]

*Always gaining only 1 HP on a level up increased to 100*

[@ProphecyWillow]

@@JoelFeila Honestly, I have players that will only take my roll if they roll a one or two in an effort to minimize their odds of a low roll. Sometimes it means they take their 5 instead of my 8. It's just a game of chance that's all. I don't really think there is a decent way of "figuring out" who is rolling higher. I have a pretty good poker face.

[@AzureIV]

As someone who makes every character with point-buy and average HP increase, I look on in horror whenever someone rolls for those things. I am not a gambler.

[@RoninCatholic]

To me, D&D's engine is more suited to a classic Roguelike attitude. Make three heroes in your first session, roll 3d6 in order and choose race and class afterward, roll for HP even at first level. Maybe I'd even ask you to roll for your race and then choose class, since like your individual level genetics your parentage isn't something you have control over, but your career path is. You will fight random monsters. You will receive treasure off a randomized table. No, this dungeon doesn't have a bottom floor; just an infinite stack of basements with stronger monsters, better treasures, and nastier traps. If I wanted point buy, I'd go with Hero System or (more likely) GURPS. In that case, giving basic guidelines about how to build a character and looking forward to the wacky, mentally unstable maniac the players throw at my game world would be the appeal.

[@toddkes5890]

One stunt was to make every PC character get 13s in every stat to start with. After that, the players can increase one stay by 1 pt if they drop 2 other stats by 1 pt each (or drop one stat by 2 pts). So the more they min-max the worse overall they become, and it is all their choice

[@RoninCatholic]

@@toddkes5890 That's just point buy, basically, only you're changing the reference point from 8 to 13. I do think it's more "fair" than making people roll for stats and more interesting than the standard array (and 13s across the board is what I'd have always taken when I was new to the game in part because I love middle of the road jack of all trades characters and 13 is my favorite number anyway). I also like the way it sounds on paper more than the paragraph of rules that goes into standard point buy due to its very easily grasped exchange rate.

[@pn2294]

@Miles McDonald “more interesting” Not necessarily better

[@hithedragon7842]

I usually roll for hp but have almost given up on rolling for stats because I somehow always get terrible ones

[@blesper3415]

4th ed had many problems, but it was oddly the most balanced. Which in itself led to its' own problem of several classes feeling same-y.

[@divideby000]

That's why he has to pretend it didn't exist at the start, it was the most balanced edition, and making encounters with it was smooth and glorious.

[@SuperSwineGod2MaximumOverSwine]

@@divideby000 As a GM of a game based on 4e.... Can 10000% not confirm xD It's a huge hassle, and I've never had to do as much prep for a session in any of the other systems I've ran. To be fair tho, I never played D&D 4e, I'm just using a system that took the 4e rules for itself. So D&D might be easier on that front.

[@divideby000]

@@SuperSwineGod2MaximumOverSwine are you using the encounter rules from the 4e DMG? I always found the easy adding up of the xp values of monsters went pretty well, though it's been a while. I have WAY more trouble with the variable scale for number of monsters in a 5e encounter. I also feel the sting of the loss of easy swarm and minion rules and the use of actions to maintain spells rather than concentration.

[@blesper3415]

@@SuperSwineGod2MaximumOverSwine I ran a 4e game for about a year. The prep work was certainly longer than 5th, but if you followed the dmg advice it was certainly balanced. It also went a lot more quickly the more sessions I did. No D20 based game is as bad as prepping a pathfinder game though lol. (I was also talking about character classes for what it's worth)

[@SuperSwineGod2MaximumOverSwine]

@@blesper3415 Have yet to try PF tbh xD I never used any D&D 4e content, I used a system that copied most of it's mechanics from 4e. To it's credit, it did the source marital justice, and the 4e mechanics fit right in and replicated things I didn't think would work on table top. System was/is Pokemon Table Top United. Players make a trainer and pretty much all had summoning on top of anything their characters had due to their team of Pokemon in addition to their PCs. Was a pain to prep and balance, loads of fun tho. Pokemon is a severely underused IP and i wanted to take it for a spin, and loved it, just not the amount of effort I had to put in for a good session.

[@Wesley_Youre_a_Rabbit]

This is why I like combat-as-war. You don’t have to fight fair.. or at all for that matter. You can retreat and come up with a clever way to prevent the thing from chasing you.

[@piemaniac9410]

I design my encounters in a vacuum from the party, other than character level, and players are free to run, hide, circumvent, or otherwise overcome the encounter in any way they seem fit. Sometimes a straight up fight is gonna end in a TPK, but that just means you need to find a way around it that isn’t kill everything that breathes.

[@toddkes5890]

One stunt is for wizards, here they can spend a shorter period of time studying spells, but do it at any time during the day. As long as they have uninterrupted time, they can memorize a set optimized to the fight the characters just ran away from. The spells used still count against their total for the day, they just memorize it after seeing the threat, instead of hoping they guess correctly that morning. I.e. instead of memorizing illusionary wall and then finding out you are fighting giant bats, you leave that spell slot open, retreat after seeing them, then memorize something more suited to fighting bats

[@navydave5238]

If you though true strike was too weak, how about Strike, a homebrew spell here: Strike Casting time: 1 Action Range: Self Duration: 1 Round You can make one non-magical attack next turn as an action.

[@StabYourBrain]

If that means i can make one non-magical attack next turn IN ADDITION to my regular attack action(s) then that spell is already 50 times better than true strike lmao.

[@navydave5238]

@@StabYourBrain Sorry, I made it have a use, it's basically a ready action. EDIT: I nerfed it so it requires your action on the attack itself.

[@tronche2cake]

spell level: 9

[@deathzonekiller2261]

@@navydave5238 Lmao xDDDD

[@Revan1939]

I’d redo true strike to make it give anyone advantage on the attack role against the target and not use concentration

[@commissardaniel9500]

Combines two feats for area denial, Is suddenly a power gamer and breaking the game

[@KrSaPoww]

"You are trying to control the battlefield as a fighter? Such a powergamer!"

[@MaleusMaleficarum]

... now you know the REAL REASON they killed 4e... Martial Powers were just too strong

[@assistantyogbogl8189]

A martial class..trying to branch out from the basics? That's only for magical classes! Powergamer!

[@alizard7617]

Ah yes the classic “linear martial” and “quadratic magic user” power scale charts.

[@CooperAATE]

"Nothing can get close to me AND nothing can run from me!" "Cool, you win the campaign. Now make a new character."

[@El-Rico]

There was once a time when all the classes were in perfect balance, but everybody hated it. That edition was the fourth edition.

[@eltonmateusnevesneves]

"That's a secret to everyone"

[@stevenmatthews4848]

Nope, not even balanced then.

[@tokeivo]

@@stevenmatthews4848 Nobody mentioned Morning Lords! Quit trying to... oh... Well, Revenants was perfectly... Oh well... at least Wardens weren't... bugger... But Seekers! No wait...

[@robinbernardinis]

Then there is Pathfinder 2e, where the classes are mostly balanced, and people love it. Except for 1e caster mains that loved being overpowered. And 1e Bloodrager/Skald mains who don't have a good way to translate their build. And D&D5e players who don't like adding double digit numbers. And bad DMs who prepare boring combats and are pissed that their players always fight the same. And serial multiclassers who dislike the new uncheesable multiclassing system. And OSR players who are like "bro PF2e is still basically D&D5e, if you really wanna try something cool and different you should play *insert OSR game*".

[@williamwhitney5266]

LOL 😆 🤣 😂 Good One Forth Edition Balanced LMAO 😂🤣😭😂🤣😭

[@jtosety]

Pro tip; CR is a good place to *start* (but be careful to calculate in the number of enemies) From there, you absolutely need to pay attention to party makeup, terrain, and wisdom of the players

[@kadishevdox]

Well what did you expect with a party of only wizards? “Always the first to diiiieeeee!!”

[@lorekeeper685]

Well 17+ Is pretty much immortals

[@workdangit7]

The wizard dies the one D4 piercing damage.

[@lorekeeper685]

@@workdangit7 on high levels a well played wizard. On their lair can cause tpk alone. Especially on 5e. Cause casting spells with higher slots breaks a decent bit of stuff

[@chaosburger307]

An all Party of wizards would be really powerful, but has to be played really strategically. Wizards are Utility masters and they really should be using a lot of tricks to cover their weaknesses (Familiars to scout, Shape Water to carry around 5' blocks of ice cover, Suggestion, glyph of ward cheese, etc.) It is also really important that the wizards have good lore and investigation (I would recommend someone take Nature) which would let them realize the shambling mound only has 20' of movement and no ranged attacks. after a round or two there should be enough save or suck spells to deal with it (i.e. the cheese grater levitate + cloud of daggers) or at least the humble Ray of Frost + Grease combo. Wizards get exponentially more powerful with more levels, but are pretty powerful if played really creatively at low levels. I do think Wizards are at their strongest when they are not throwing around fireballs, but making sure encounters happen on the best terms & environment for the party.

[@mrosskne]

there's no reason for a wizard to expose themselves to danger in the first place. you have genesis, simulacrum, gate, summon monster, wish, mindrape, etc

[@Gstrangeman96]

0:09 This just added to my life goals: have an entire office room just dedicated to tabletop and DnD.

[@deathzonekiller2261]

Same

[@franmartosb]

My friend making a fighter Kobold: This is where the fun begins.

[@benikujaku4567]

I am a 3.5 player. The mere utterance of that race's name gives me Dragonwrought and Pun-Pun PTSD

[@traceable7875]

@@benikujaku4567 Do not mention his name, his perception is high enough to hear you!

[@battlemapbrawl]

I'm planning on making my next PC a Kobold. They just got some new features under unearth arcana.

[@synashilp]

One of my favorite characters was a kobold battle master. I loaded him up with maneuvers that let his comrades act out of turn, and there were some tides that got turned.

[@vinsentvalintine]

Never will be balanced, never should be balanced. Players should aspire to being scarier than the monsters they fight, in any kingdom, on any plane.

[@jonsimpson6240]

I want balance between the player characters. I don't really care otherwise.

[@jamieadams2589]

@@jonsimpson6240 the issue is that if every character is perfectly balanced all the time then we run into a 4e situation where it doesn't matter what class you are

[@jonsimpson6240]

@@jamieadams2589 agreed. And I'm not really expecting that. I just want the players to be able to be expert at something, average at most things and mediocre at some things. If one player becomes expert at all things, it could start being less fun for the table.

[@octorokpie]

Ha. Imagine actually sticking to a creature's HP instead of changing it constantly based on how exciting/long/difficult the fight has been so far.

[@LT2Steven]

Amen!

[@battlemapbrawl]

I done that before as a first time DM. Shh. Don't tell my players. Lol

[@arandomcheese]

I'll go to my grave before telling my players that the bbeg actually had 1 hp left after being punched by the cleric (attack of opportunity). I let him get the killing blow because of how awesome it was.

[@irok1]

@@arandomcheese exactly

[@robinthrush9672]

It'd be nice if some of my DMs would do that. So many end-of-dungeon/plot-line bosses (not BBEG) down in 1-3 rounds. Congratulations! The final battle was 18 seconds long...wut?

[@sovest555]

lol as someone who is DMing the other end of the 1-20 journey atm (party just hit lv 16 this wednesday), balancing encounters become a lot more...nuanced than simply crunching the numbers. It is all about designing what will push your players to the limits of their abilities. And most importantly...the idea of equivalency is always in play, as well as improvising interesting caveats as need be. High-tier play is best done on a cinematic scale, so going ham is always for the best. XD

[@danielmcardle2929]

How did u comment 1 day ago

[@ericmendesspada8960]

@@danielmcardle2929 patrons get access to the video one day early probably

[@sovest555]

@@danielmcardle2929 Early access ;p

[@eveescastle5866]

It honestly boggles my mind hearing stories of high level play when outside of joining mid Campaign once I got to play past level 10

[@SuperSwineGod2MaximumOverSwine]

@@eveescastle5866 It's the internet bud, tons of ppl lie. After like 4(5?) years in the hobby now, and talking to other GMs/players, I haven't found a single person to get that far in one campaign. Not saying there aren't ppl that have done it, just I wouldn't believe 9/10 of them. The only way I ran high level content (or even heard of others playing in) was starting at a high level for either a one shot or something to be finished in 2-5 sessions.

[@Joan-jq5ho]

Every time I get a bad roll either on a fight or stats, I just see it as a challenge to try and beat the game while being a piece of paper with the strenght to lift a spoon

[@ethanbotterill2743]

I deliberately create really dumb character concepts, that have obvious flaws. I made a really gobby goblin fighter once who was constantly getting himself into fights that he couldn't win due to his puny strength stat - he had like, -1 in strength despite being a melee fighter - and then had to find a way out with my intelligence and charisma. It was really funny to play.

[@krispalermo8133]

@@ethanbotterill2743 Archer with +3 for missiles, +6 initiative, -4 Dex check to move without tripping over their own feet. A far sight rogue with poor night vision, prone to dropping his lock picks. Fighter -4 str to carry, +10 to push/shove, +5 atk/dmg through plat armor due to brute strength, -3 to hit cause cause lacks hand and eye coordination.

[@brentramsten249]

seeing DMs that are genuinely capable of making good challenges for high power campaigns are genuinely a sight to behold, though sometimes even they still have to trot out of the ban hammer.

[@FlatlandsSurvivor]

In a high power, homebrew heavy game.I have great pride in making the DM ban tactics as the rouge. He gave us an item that let us sacrifice HP to cast spells, I took magic initiate for shield and suddenly I can spend 8 HP to cast shield, and AC 23 is a lot to deal with.

[@naomihodges9726]

This reason is why D&D is less a game and more a story. It's up to the dm's to think in advance for some things

[@TheFIreBird24]

Man, I've been watching you for a while. All I have to say is keep up the amazing work.

[@paoluccio6422]

Legit, the fun of D&D for me is probably the pure unbalanced chaos of it, I like having to deal with my party almost getting wiped by mimic I thought was obvious enough, or having to add some crazy new thing to a fight that’s just too easy.

[@krispalermo8133]

I had players write up multiclass 4th-level PCs, then turn around and have them play baby mimics killing off an orc hoard moving into their cave system. Player, " So can my baby mimic learn to use a crossbow I wrote up for my PC you wasted my time on ?" Me as DM, " Yes. " Other player, " How about my wizard/rogue ?" Me, " Yes." Third player, " I'm going to have so much fun with my ranger/rogue stealth abilities." Me, " Don't forget you can climb across ceilings and evasion dodge Fire Balls along with sneak attacks for extra damage."

[@thajocoth]

0:37 - I disagree. 4e was also designed with better ease of use in mind, as well as much better balance, but sacrificed a bit of flexibility. 5e kept some of that balance from 4e, but brought back most of the flexibility. I see 5e as basically a hybrid of 3.5e & 4e that keeps the best aspects of both. I personally add a couple more things from 4e as well: The "minion" enemy type, for example. In most combats I'll have a lower level enemy type that the players can normally just steamroll at their current level, drop its HP to 1, give it immunity to half damage (which yes, does upgrade all resistances to immunities), and increase its proficiency bonus to match the party's. When calculating the encounter's Action Economy (which is what I use instead of CR), I treat each minion unit as 1/4 of their actual Action Economy, since they're going to die so quickly. Another thing I do is allow more than one person to "Help" a skill check. If more than one person wants to Help a roll, or if the roller already has advantage & somebody wants to help anyway, each helper rolls and either adds or subtracts 2 from the primary roller's roll (assuming the help makes sense, of course). That's what 4e did. (The rest of this paragraph is not from 4e.) Alternatively, if the roll can have multiple successes (like if a 15 gets you basic info, but you can get more info on a 20, a 25, and a 30), then I instead count total successes between rolls (so a 17 & a 23 would get 3 successes in that case, as if a 25 was rolled).

[@VonCondersmite]

My first d&d game was 3.5 and then pathfinder, I've been playing pathfinder nonstop every week for over 5 years and I'm still learning new things about it

[@wolframstahl1263]

It isn't "balanced", it's perfectly balanced with no exploits!

[@andrewlentner]

Spiffing Brit reference?

[@wolframstahl1263]

Spiffing Brit reference.

[@Attaxalotl]

D&D is a perfectly balanced game with no exploits! Nobody said there _couldn't_ be Draguns

[@tronche2cake]

@@Attaxalotl Gungeons and Draguns

[@gentlemangamer7883]

Ah, I see you too are a cultured person. **Gestures with Yorkshire Tea*

[@teroril]

I really like the Stars Without Number way of rolling HP: Every time you level up, you roll ALL of the hit die you would have on the level and add modifiers. If the total is less than you already had, increase your HP by 1. If it's more, then it becomes your new total.

[@ClockworkBard]

I had to scroll way too far down to find one of my SWN siblings. It's the only game that made me ever feel good about having players roll stats. Ability score rolling has a similar safety net by letting players discard one roll and replace it with a 14. Since SWN distributes its modifiers over a rather gentle bell curve, a 14's +1 modifier is as good as most characters can realistically hope for, ensuring even the worst rolled characters have something to contribute. Since skill checks are made on 2d6 instead of 1d20, that +1 is worth a lot more than it probably seems.

[@traceable7875]

Me playing pathfinder and 3.5: Darling, you have no idea what’s possible

[@TheSilversepiroth]

With a mildly generous GM & some good luck I can have a build that kills great wyrm chromatic dragons in the amount of "real time" somebody can remember the number to their favorite pizza place

[@traceable7875]

@@TheSilversepiroth ik, pathfinder and 3.5 are broken Like pun-pun the kobold with infinite stats

[@TheSilversepiroth]

@@traceable7875 realistically though that's the fun of them. Higher levels being called rocket tag works because it's ridiculous, over the top fun

[@SorinCloud]

In a game of 3.5 I'm in, my character can do 24 attacks in a single round as long as I don't move, 12 if I do. It gets to the point that if they keep trying to block me, they very soon won't be able to block me.

[@traceable7875]

@@SorinCloud Im playing pathfinder as a void cleric, whilst it doesn’t sound overpowered remember I have augment calling and calling feathers Meaning I can summon 10hd outsiders with a 4th level spell at level 7. I also have thoughtful wish maker, meaning wishes I make, can’t be twisted. So at level 7 I have access to genies. And wishes, which can’t be twisted. Not to mention the other powerful outsiders I can summon I also am a divine paragon of nocticula, so when I reach a high enough level, I can change outsiders alignment to mine, to get a loyal army. Whilst this isn’t the most powerful, it’s definitely very broken.

[@battlemapbrawl]

I really liked the option you presented for rolling hp Blaine Simple. Roll, take average or roll again.

[@TonyRedgrave]

"The Shambling Mound has appeared! Roll Initiative!" *Leonardo Dicaprio pointing meme* I've seen this one!

[@thatonerosebud2530]

I'm so happy he retold the "my players fought god in the forest" story, I just, I just can't. I'm too happy.

[@dogdogdraws2352]

How to break a high level campaign: play illusion wizard and literally just turn the entire bbegs base into an actual hellhole for the bbeg to be in

[@mrosskne]

villain: immune to illusions

[@frosty925]

@@mrosskne at level 14 an illusionist wizard can make their illusion a real thing for a few minutes... So yeah...

[@mrosskne]

@@frosty925 so nah

[@kylehalpern6695]

@@frosty925 honestly when a party starts to hit 14-15 the dm has to start throwing hombrew and crazy stuff at players. Time to give that dragon antimagic eyes lol. Special underdark arrows that deal triple damage. Grand conflict and war

[@XanosKnyghtshade]

If you have a party of all wizards, yeah, they're gonna die pretty easily. *We JUST talked about how little HP they get*

[@antwan1357]

One of my favorite plot twists is to turn a murder hobo into the secret villain. By saying the character was simply eliminating the competition and the OP character has no use for the rest of the party and cannot have any witnesses.

[@isenokami7810]

There’s something I like about making a PC a proper villain. I mean, forcing it is a very bad idea, but if a chaotic player goes murder hobo and/or creates such a big rift between them and the party themselves…oh yeah, you could have fun with that.

[@markcole5108]

The variance in a dragon’s power or an encounter with a monster that is immune to what the party has prepared to encounter is why parties should learn when to run away instead of always rushing in for the attack. It has been this way since 1st Ed. AD&D.

[@WhiteBorderMTG]

Agreed, D&D doesn't need to be balanced. Probably why I play only OSR at this point.

[@AeonKnigh432]

Throw back to my first game DMing, where my entire party died to the first fight in Lost Mines of Phandelver. Three times. I gave them an extra party member NPC just to balance the encounter. I should've adjusted the encounter, not the party, but it was my first time

[@kristiandahl1310]

Either we got lucky or our GM nerfed that encounter but we nearly did loose a tank when they got crit in the first turn. Good thing we had a healer.

[@benjoffe948]

That's okay, clarity comes from experience and doing stuff for the first time can be hard and confusing. If you fail, it's only a failure if you didn't learn anything from it.

[@milomateer6565]

My DM uses max HP instead of rolling and as players we love it and appreciate it. Doesn’t make us too powerful at all, we struggle all the time to avoid TPK

[@burritoornot856]

Sounds like fun

[@nastube4052]

I wonder about using max HP for monsters as well in that campaign. ;)

[@mrosskne]

hitpoints are the least important mechanic in the game

[@burritoornot856]

@@mrosskne Why is that

[@tlakutlaku1377]

We also do that in our campaign, enemies also take this into their stats, but at the end of the day it doesnt change much, it only makes abilities like fireball not as deadly as they are most of the time, that way everyone has a better chance of surviving abilities that on other places would be too deadly, and it also allows players to take more chances on potentially dangerous situations

[@drunkenrobot7061]

I've DM'd several homebrew campaigns, and one of the hardest fights my players ever had in my games was against a Tabaxi Fighter possessed by a cursed crystal. The crystal let it use several spells, and the crystal would also try to possess the party's minds after every reset of the turn order. However, it was the fact it let the Tabaxi (who already had an AC of 17) use Shield (temporarily boosting it to 22) that caused them so much trouble. It could only use it a few times, but until it ran out of Shield uses they could barely scratch him, whereas he had multiattack and was striking several of them with his sword per turn. I think it may have led to a few of my players actually wanting to branch out their spell lists, since spells that require saves don't care how high the enemy's AC is; if they'd focused on those (assuming they had them) then the fight would have been way easier.

[@athegodofanime7108]

Great Video!! Might have to check out those anime into D&D games someday!! Maybe even before i start my own campaigns!!

[@SpookyGhostIsHere]

It does follow specific design principles. In 5E, if some piece of matter is created by some spell, it is always destroyed when the spell ends. Also, players are very rarely directly punished for using an ability or spell, see the frenzy barbarian or the wish spell. 25 is the max AC for creatures, but not for players. And others 👍

[@GuardianTactician]

7:06 Interesting take on Power Word: Kill. I just assumed it was a reference to the world's funniest joke. (Monty Python Reference)

[@jiralord7642]

So I recently got into Pathfinder 1E, I'm playing Rise of the Rune Lords and the party nearly died first fight. I played a Merciful Healer cleric and I sent more rounds channeling than I did doing anything else

[@KnicKnac]

Have fun fellow adventurer. Heard good things about that module.

[@papadoug4681]

Yeah rise of the runelords is a really great module but it can be very tough if you aren't careful. Pathfinder is also a game that does require a slight amount of optimization to be able to enjoy

[@jiralord7642]

@@papadoug4681 we rolled for stats and end up with a Merciful Healer (me), half orc Barbarian, Silf rogue (whichever the half air elemental/half human race is), dwarf witch (with the sleep hex), and a gnome draconic bloodline Sorcerer (who's planning to go dragon discipline) our GM was just rolling really well for the first fight. He landed three critical Hits and our rogue was magically impaired for three rounds. After that we killed the next encounter in 2 rounds.

[@wat5058]

There are many players who enjoy playing with negative mods - they don't inherently have to be something weighing the character down, especially as they can lead to some unique personality flavoring. Whether or not that mindset is a common one, though...hell if I know.

[@christopherg2347]

A wall of Replies: 0:31 As I am part of the "everyone" group and I do not agree, you are wrong by default :) 1:11 Ah, giving rerolls. A common way to balance Randomness. But in practice, all it does is increase the average HP of the Hero team as you turn "roll HP" into "try to roll higher then average HP". 3:00 I am pretty sure I read it in the Dungeon Masters guide: "Randomness tends to hit players harder then NPC's, as NPC's do not have to live with the results of rolls for that long!" 3:38 As I told you back then: The EL is for a *BALANCED* party of Fighter, Rogue, Clereic, Mage - not 4xMage! You messed up when you allowed/forced this party setup in the first place and then did not go for Tailored Encounters (3.5E DM Guide, Page 48) 4:23 IIRC those were written by someone with no understanding of the rules and then had to be fit into the rules contruct of D&D, rather then begin written for D&D. Classical design mistake. 4:51 It is a bit differently ordered and a few rules needed to be updated, but I bet this was a carbon copy of the 3.0 and 3.5 Text, wich did adress each of the things you mentioned. Indeed Page 81: "Encounters" - the same 3 pages it has in the 3.5 Book. I bet on the text being copied. 5:11 As I said under that video: 3.5 DMG, Page 21 "Bonus Types" 3.5 PHB, Page 171 "Bonus Types" and "Combining Magial Effects" 3.5 PHB, Page 91, Table 5-1 Footnote Nr. 2+3 It would be *ISANELY* stupid to not have those in the 5.0 Books, given how fundamental they are for balance. So I seriously doubt they are missing - you propably just overread them as they can be hard to find. 5:20 The hiding part checks out, but I wonder where you got that idea for the Training montage. 5:30 That is not a bug, it is a feature. And given that you are usually at Ground Zero it is not a save thing to do anyway. 5:35 "While you wear this cloak, it projects an Illusion that makes you appear to be standing in a place near your actual location, causing any creature to have disadvantage on Attack Rolls against you. If you take damage, the property ceases to function until the start of your next turn. This property is suppressed while you are Incapacitated, Restrained, or otherwise unable to move." As I read it Blindsense/Fighting gets around Illusions. Area of Effect abilities that deal damage disable it for 1 turn. And most movement limitations all disable it until you can move again. Also the power a forced reroll depends on the original chance to be hit. 5:53 Dark version? You mean the *original* version. How do you get your hand into the wolfs stomach and back out, without it being bitten off?

[@unknownentityenthusiast6765]

Preach brother

[@Tree_-wp5zn]

Last one the rod in its mouth doesn't allow it to close.

[@kyleward3914]

In a few weeks, my group will be finishing a campaign that's run from level 1 to 20. The party is definitely capable of quite a number of insane things, which, of course, means I must use things that are even less sane to provide a suitable challenge.

[@pandoratheclay]

Be player: get two immovable rods Acrobatics to do the two plunger wall scaling mid air. Step 3: fly

[@Somber_Knight]

Step 4: get broom of flying

[@pandoratheclay]

@@Somber_Knight Brooms are boring,use the dex to move

[@Somber_Knight]

@@pandoratheclay me: looks at Magna's broom from black clover

[@unknownentityenthusiast6765]

Just use cobbler’s tools to build them into your boots with the buttons on your toes so you can just walk up the air.

[@pandoratheclay]

@@unknownentityenthusiast6765 Nah I’m an acrobat

[@krissisk4163]

You: Calls 5e unbalanced. Me: Looks over at my big pile of Rifts books.

[@yaakovborovoi5905]

5:45 "why is every attack that targets you misses?" this is why dms know when to use AoE

[@starbomber]

2:42 "You can take what you roll, you can take the average, or you can take what *I* roll" One of my former DMs, I love this take so much I use it to this day whenever I DM.

[@epic_pixelgaming7794]

The moment at 5:52 is something I have wanted to do for so long, and yet no matter the DM they always see it coming.

[@DarkadeTV]

Balance is only important if the only option is fighting to the death

[@chowdaire7343]

Not necessarily. In one campaign I played an old one warlock and used the ill-defined telepathy ability to RP our party through a lot of encounters with low level low intelligent creatures like goblins and kobolds. While funny at first, the DM eventually decided that even though it was a great and logical solution to our many problems it kind of invalidated too many social situations and was eventually banned at our table.

[@slayeroffurries1115]

So many people talking in the comments about 'fighting to death' and 'reatreat', when D&D rules basically punishes you for retreating. Attacks of opportunity, monsters having the same or more movement than players and a few other things

[@master0fthearts894]

“D&D isn’t a balanced game.” Yeah, and water is wet.

[@bugslayerprime7674]

There's a songify that debates that...

[@TheYeetedMeat]

Water has different properties sticking to water than to others things. Hence, water is not wet.

[@AbyssalDragon42]

Your metaphor is false.

[@pewpewpandas9203]

The way I do monster health is I start with what the book says it should be and then improvise during the actual encounter to fit the feel of what it should be (taking into account how well my players/monsters roll and how dumb they were to end up in a given situation etc.)

[@Peachrocks5]

The one thing I like about rolling for stats rather then point buy isn’t being allowed to go higher, it’s being allowed to go lower. It’s amusing to me to have -2 or -3 for something, so when those checks come up, it makes the character feel weak in those areas rather than just being okish at almost everything. I mean sure you’ll roll low in some cases anyway even when you specialise but there’s something funny about rolling lower then 1 in something for a strength or charisma check sometimes.

[@YanniCooper]

Oh man, once played a campaign where everyone got +9 stat bonuses (I think, don't remember the exact amount). You rolled 5 stats, and then 6th was determined so that your total bonus was the same as everyone else's. I played a bard with a constitution of 1. I didn't die during the campaign, but every time I got hit i started making death saves.

[@leahbeah1585]

Yeah I typically like point buy the only thing is that you (at least typically) can’t start with anything higher than a plus 3 and nothing lower than a -1, and even for the plus 3 your race needs to have a bonus to that stat from your race which limits your options a lot.

[@Justin-fk6br]

I like the freedom to take feats early so I like the higher stats.

[@Verbose_Mode]

What sadistic DM rolls monster HP?! You make that s••• _bespoke._

[@xanderraschke8048]

When I was watching the part where you were talking about rolling stats it reminded me when I had a character with low stats, he was a human fighter with some what good strength and dexterity, plus 1 stat mod while his constitution had a 0 stat mod and his other stats were low, around -1 stat mod but I didn't let that stop me from having fun, I played him as a kind hearted farmer who doesn't understand magic at all and isn't fully aware of his surroundings

[@eveescastle5866]

Tbh I've low-key wanted to make a wizard with a negative con mod to see how long I could survive. Cause if it's low enough you can just die on level up

[@MonkeyJedi99]

@@eveescastle5866 This the perfect place for an "AkShUaLlY" The 5th Edition rules as written state that you will always gain at LEAST on hit point per level. - We have come a long way from the wilderness of AD&D where an elf wizard can die at creation from rolling a 1 on their d4 and adding that to the -1hp (once ever, IIRC) feature of the race, and a possible negative Constitution modifier

[@eveescastle5866]

@@MonkeyJedi99 I was going off of what Jeremy Crawford said, in that you can in fact die from leveling up.

[@egglessedits7190]

I like how in the red riding hood joke he said that that was the dark version. I’m from germany and one of my children picture books had that excact ending 😅😂

[@krispalermo8133]

The Wolf's name is Fred, stay away from Fred cause he likes to screw around. Red Riding Hood catches .. Fred .. in bed with Grandmother. The Hunts Man catches Fred in bed with Grandmother and Red Rinding Hood. Hunts man, " Fred ! You said you will stop Cheating on Me, on US ! " Fred the Wolf, " Come on now it really is not what it looks like, .. well it is, but really Hennry you need to stop taking our relationship not so seriously. " Now telling this joke in the USA by translating both in English and German and you will get. " Is the Wolf's name Fred or Adolph ?"

[@iateitguy903]

0:31 As someone who argues 4th edition could've been okay if they didn't package it as d&d... yeah 4th edition really wasn't trying to patch things up or improve on the old there.

[@louiseogden1296]

Once when I was 14, our local RPG club decided they were sick of pootling about at low levels and decided to have a level 20 PVP session. (This was 1994 btw). We all had to come to next week's session with a level 20 character as pimped out as possible and basically played a tabletop version of Fortnite all night. One of those totally unforgettable sessions.

[@someirishguy1662]

Use the point buy, in our games we have had either extremely OP characters that break the game or weaklings that ruin the experience rolling for stats

[@IansMentalOmega]

Makers of D&D: We need to balance the game! Also Makers of D&D: Nerf the Ranger even more and give the Wizard 28 more classes and a lot of new buffs! Also, Also Makers of D&D: Why do people think we aren't balancing the game? Should we nerf the Ranger even more and make Wizards have a Nat20 baseline for all stats no matter how low people roll? That would be balanced, right?

[@unwithering5313]

*Face palm increased to 100*

[@the13inquisitor59]

And that's just the tip of the iceberg of fail.

[@IansMentalOmega]

@@unwithering5313 It sucks because it's true

[@IansMentalOmega]

@@the13inquisitor59 Can't tell if that's directed at me or the balancing issues in D&D, and I honestly don't want to ask.

[@CyanMedic]

Surely you don't think W I Z A R D S of the Coast are biased in their class balancing!

[@vardito10]

That Dragon worked so hard in the gym actually give him some credit

[@crashedwin]

I started DMing my group for the first time last week. I designed the campaign with shenanigans in mind. They rolled d8s for stats but they had to take a six in one Stat, and they started at level one fighting Rats in a tavern basement. We're leading hard into tropes and the goal is to break the game.

[@crashedwin]

For a little added context our normal dm is my best friend and he's fantastic at balance and fair unbroken game play. I truly think he needs the break. He's playing a classic dumb barbarian and his rp is incredible.

[@adriannaranjo4397]

There's literally a monster that can teleport into your head and replace your brain on a failed save. D&D isn't a balanced game

[@robinthrush9672]

And countered by a level-one spell many people overlook.

[@BrookTheUndeadDM]

Biggest gripe with 5e: Bad Optimizers. These people will sit there and write up a whole statistics analysis, probability scenarios, and quantum mechanical algorithms to prove to the DM that dragons should NEVER land and ALWAYS fight from the sky in every situation with no wiggleroom. Then when the DM rules otherwise, they rules lawyer up and pull the "Um, akcthually" then call you a bad DM if you don't let them reflavor a fireball to do cold damage instead because "It's just math, the specifics don't matter as long as the math is right" actual quote from an optimizer I spoke to

[@NeflewitzInc]

I like how you didn't acknowledge od&d or becmi. For people who are having balance issues with 5e, try playing some OSR or older D&D editions. They reward players for acquisition of treasure over killing monsters. There's a morale system with clear use cases. Sometimes monsters you come across in the dungeons won't immediately want to kill you! It's about the story of your consequences much more so than the narrative of the DM's plot.

[@SecretPurpleQ]

No but for real definitely check out Pathfinder second edition it is some of the most fun that I have ever had playing tabletop RPGs in my entire 30 years of living

[@MegaAgamon]

The fact that the Dungeon's Master Guide doesn't have a detailed GUIDE on how to build DUNGEONS is beyond me.

[@tronche2cake]

talk about dnd beyond

[@AttilaTheOneOriginal]

It actually has a section full of random tables that details how to use them to build a dungeon...

[@MegaAgamon]

@@AttilaTheOneOriginal There were ideas nothing else. No guide on how to make a Dungeon challenging enough, or what kind of traps to do, or how to space out encounters, or how much XP to give etc. No I don't count 2 pages of rollable tables for ideas as a guide. They should have done what they did to the workshop category where they gave you solid advice and guides on what to build.

[@AttilaTheOneOriginal]

@@MegaAgamon There were far more than 2 pages of tables. I think the TOC shows 2, but there's more like a dozen pages. These give you ideas for the types of traps, types of encounters, etc. What are you looking for exactly, maybe I can try to help? A dungeon is inherently a creative endeavor. If you want something perfectly balanced, maybe try slightly modifying an existing adventure? Because DnD is such such open ended game, theres not a whole lot they can put on the DMG that will be guaranteed to result in a good dungeon for you. I do see though that it does lack explicit details on pacing, number of encounters, etc. I definitely think these are things they could have tried to make some charts for at the very least, but I suspect they just figured it is something something you'll know from experience. One could argue thay your pacing doesn't matter at all if the party either gets lucky or rests alot, but if you're saying what I think you're saying, I can totally see the frustration. Unfortunately, there is no easy answer, and most of it is experience based. :/ What helped me was to listen to a D&D game podcast and try to absorb what seemed to go well, and what didn't. Being a player can also help develop this sense.

[@MegaAgamon]

@@AttilaTheOneOriginal The DMG cannot guarantee a good result for anything, magic items, monsters, spells, character options. Yet for those they have guides on how to create them in chapter 9 the workshop. I started DnD back in 2017 as a DM, it seemed way more interested than being a player for me. So I went and bought the DMG as my first book. To quote the actual cover "Everything that a Dungeon Master needs to weave legendary stories for the world's greatest roleplaying game" The reason I bought this book is that while I did have ideas plenty of them I lacked the skill and experience to implement them. And I was hoping that this book would help me, because every guide I found online through either youtube or forums were ideas not implementations and guidelines. Honestly my frustation was through the roof when I discovered that the DMG was a book full of ideas but very little mechanics and implementations. I didn't need my dungeons to be perfect, I just wanted to implemented my idea in a way that didn't suck.

[@Skybot437]

Video: So balance... My Brain: Is a monster's CR calculated or rolled?

[@thiagobianki1684]

In the DMG has a table for custom monsters, avg dmg, prof bonus and health are the main thing in there,but honestly, is so poorly/bad to use that is better for you to simulate against the party or just gives a shit and throw a bunch of "natural monster for that habitat".

[@jamesmills8167]

Petition for Blaine to spend an episode creating custom classes for certain play styles like a cheater who meta games but this class lets you gain information you aren't supposed to have

[@tronche2cake]

That would be cool, having a metagamer build.

[@jamesmills8167]

@@tronche2cake Yeah, my favorite possibility is being able to prepare for a suprise encounter

[@tronche2cake]

@@jamesmills8167 you could be like Goombette in Paper Mario and analyze enemies to see their health and stats.

[@jamesmills8167]

@@tronche2cake I didn't think of that but that is OP

[@isenokami7810]

Okay, really like your way of running hit point increases. Definitely doing that if I ever DM, it’s just very fair to the players.

[@dannydanggang1675]

Half Orc Totem Barb alone is a way to show how OP some things can be over others

[@AbyssalDragon42]

Add in five rogue levels to effectively double your health another time and get what attacks that are guaranteed by a certain second level barbarian feature.

[@IanAnimatesBagels]

D&D is a barren desert and you're about to build the coolest fucking sand castle anyone has ever seen

[@icegod4849]

Lol Blaine you got duped with the fake transparent background for all DND images (like at 6:28)

[@solairlordofsunglight5196]

Haha... As a DM I was able to make an orc npc warlord(the bbeg of my story) with 28 ac(without spells) advantage on initiative, 364 health and his lowest stat being a 18 (intelligence). He was a Level 20 fighter on top of that with a wand of orcus(2d12+9 ×4 hits, spells that come with it, and action surge which could result in 2d12+9 ×8) and a fly speed of 60 ft, with immunities to most elements(boons)plus a half hp heal ability(boon) and the ability to take any 1 attack and make it 0 damage(boon).

[@SangoProductions213]

Because people memed about 4e being too balanced, and so they went back to being unbalanced. Really, simple as. I'm surprised it took you this long to realize this.

[@janehrahan5116]

Because 4e is actually good it's just most people are cavemen and new = bad. And once that's public perception people who would otherwise have an open mind are socially pressured to not like it. I guarantee 90% or more of 4e haters have played 0 sessions of it.

[@justnoob8141]

@@janehrahan5116 I remember back when Neverwinter Online is still using 4E, my paladin is pretty much useless in 5E update because he couldn’t heal with shield up

[@justsomejerseydevilwithint4606]

5:52 How to trap a terrasque; Have the barbarian do that from the inside with, like, 25 of those sticks. The Terrasque can only roll _up to_ the DC to move it, but the books ssy that a tied roll goes in favor of the players. I'd say having the Terrasque be trapped is in favor, so...

[@alexandrudorries3307]

Alas, the 5e tarrasque doesn’t include the “stomachs that can destroy artifact-level items” flavor text

[@justsomejerseydevilwithint4606]

@@alexandrudorries3307 Shhhhh! Don't let the players know!!!

[@rawrimadeinosaur7513]

my group just runs everything at max hitpoints. It just feels right.

[@MercuryA2000]

Just to add on: My first campaign. We're level 16 in my first ever round of combat. One party member uses Hunger of Hadar around the enemy. They roll bad on those saves. Its my turn. I don't know how effective its gonna be, so I add in a blade barrier along the perimeter. I get some crazy damage rolls. Long story short, these poor arena fighters stumble out of pure frozen darkness filled with acid tentacles, only to walk through 5 feet of sharp death, and promptly forfeit because most of their health is gone from 2 spells. The murder hobo PC rolled bad initiative, and didn't even have time to use the machine gun bow build they had which can one round people. We plan on saving that combo in case we ever need to ruin some people's days again. Whenever we type the name its in bold and italics, because that entire encounter was trivialized so fast the DM was ahead of schedule.

[@Watertrotter-ge5yp]

Blaine: “Every edition after 1st has been working more towards ease of access and play” Me: “That’s not true, what about 4th edition!?!” Blaine: “Except for 4th edition, because we all unanimously agree it doesn’t exist.”

[@alexvalencia5713]

I'm new to dnd, what's up with all of the 4th edition shade?

[@karstb8830]

4th ed was actually built specifically to appeal to the WoW crowd. This did not succeed.

[@austinreeves4326]

Im playing von richtens guide to ravenloft. A group of shadows almost tpked us because we dont have a cleric

[@xionkuriyama5697]

Finally, someone else in the Church of the Standard Array

[@benjoffe948]

If that was an actual religion, I'd freakin join.

[@RoninCatholic]

I'm probably the last of the Brotherhood of 3D6 In Order. The rest of us died in a terrible "testing the combat rules" mishap, so I am the final Red Mage...

[@AxiomofDiscord]

I am joining a group that was primarily a 4th edition group and one of them is having a hell of a time accepting 5th edition.

[@beewulf4234]

Cool vid, but when are you gonna thank the staff team

[@archycart833]

Blaine Simple: you should just stop at level 15 My DM: WHERE HOMEBREWING TO LEVEL 50

[@Soriosh]

"Rolling for stats doesn't encourage you to value your characters more" Meanwhile my group just started with us (5 players but only 4 of us being to all of the sessions so far, one being gone for an entire session because I killed him on the second session with a Nat 1 max damage shortbow shot to the back of the head, being an 8 for me) all rolling subpar - average stats, our PALADIN and only true melee combatant rolling an 11, 11, 9, 9, 8, 8 for his stats... And we fucking LOVE our characters. Our Paladin being a Warforged Oath of Redemption Paladin being only 5 years old and on a quest to finding his Creator and recovering the relics that were somehow removed from his original build after he was used for the War (such as either a Belt of Giant Strength or Gauntlets of Ogre Power), acting as a heavily nerfed version of his former self but basically being a true pacifist nice guy with no knowledge of normal people interaction and learning things as he goes with the party... These sorts of twists and moments are what make our current party LOVE our shitty stat characters. We only just hit level 3 last session and are barely surviving day to day, but we're having a blast.

[@SuperSwineGod2MaximumOverSwine]

Separate the RP from the mechanics. Too many people drop the "G" off of RPG and short themselves the full experience due to popular streams showing D&D as less of a game and more just acting/RP (which to be blunt is usually not the case at a table, it tends to be a healthy mix in my experience) when the whole point of your character sheet is to do one thing. One very game-y thing. Combat. Exploration too I guess, but I kinda lump them together as they both have the same end goal, drain the party's resources, again another very game-y thing on the very game like character sheet. Mechanically your not having fun, it's the RP and story that's got you, which is 100000% fine, and good! The thing I'm trying to get at is I'm fairly sure most people would have more fun playing a character that fills both sides, the RP and mechanics. If you had a boring backstory and personality on that sub par character, I can guarantee, you would hate the character and be begging to roll again. Edit: thought of a better way to word it; RP can make you adore a character that is "bad". Conversely a mechanically pleasing character can offset lack of a strong personality/backstory. I feel that too many people will come to defend their much loved "sub par" character when it was just the RP they liked, and not enough people will defend the stance of "I enjoy the roll play of character more than the role play" ya dig? Anyways hope i didn't come off like too much of an ass. I know I get rant-y, but I'm just as passionate about the game side of Role Playing Games as I am about the Role Playing part, and it upsets me to see people (I lack a good word for it, sorry if it sounds condescending) "settle" with mechanically bad characters for their dope ass role play ideas, like it's D&D the players should all be badasses both when talking to a monarch and slaying a dragon.

[@Soriosh]

@@SuperSwineGod2MaximumOverSwine Oh don't get me wrong, I love the stat op feeling as much as anyone, it's just that we ALL rolled shitty, him especially. It's not about "settling" as much as it is just working with what we got. He and 1 other person are the only ones who put actual effort into thinking of their backstory this go around, the rest of us are more inclined towards combat, but it honestly feels even better imo to come out on top of combat scenarios we should have otherwise full wiped on. Dealing with a Direwolf and it's pups/pack at level 1 with only 3 of us, a Banshee (Using everything including it's wail including 1 member being straight up charmed through the item the banshee was inhabiting being picked up when we only had 4 players that session) at level 3, and a Frost Troll and Polar Bear level 3 with only 4 of us at that time. The banshee and the troll/bear happened in the same day. All that on top of this campaign having "Gritty Realism" rules (Short rest is 8 hours, Long rest is a Week. Really hard on the casters besides the Warlock), our DM is pulling no punches in the encounters, these listed were far from all of them. The only thing keeping us alive is some creativity and good af (along with some bad) dice rolls. We full on intended for the Paladin to die on the first session but we somehow survived it, and continued to. We're level 3 probably getting close to level 4 and I'm excited to see how he tries to down the group next. That is why we've become attached to the characters. It has almost become a challenge of "How far can we go with these absolute shit stats and make them decent/good?". The fact that he and another happened to have really interesting backstories tying in their garbo stats is just icing on the cake tbh. No worries lad, I take no offence in anything.

[@deezboyeed6764]

@@SuperSwineGod2MaximumOverSwine that's a fair point, I think it mostly comes down to how your group plays, some groups play super rp heavy and others nearly entirely loot and combat focused, my group play more into the rp aspect but still keep combat important (since one in our group isn't a huge fan of rp but does enjoy seeing it). Suppose thats the magic of 5e it's so easy to tweak and change to what your party uses

[@ZeroKitsune]

@@SuperSwineGod2MaximumOverSwine That....is an incredibly condescending way to view the game, tbh. You pretty much just told someone "you didn't ACTUALLY have fun, let ME tell you what you'll ACTUALLY find fun."

[@Dan-kt1zs]

I role to consume the enemy knight's soul! _no...._ *I role to punch my enemy in real life and make him yield!*

[@jkchannel3149]

i mean who said it is balanced? the real problem is that lots of amateur DMs and players use "D&D Isn't A Balanced Game" as an excuse for their bad games and that's kinda sad

[@patrickbuckley7259]

The thing with the Shambling mound was not on the DM, D&D is a tactical game, players should try to prepare for a number of different situations, & if it looks like they don't have the proper tools for the job, they should always be ready to consider retreat. If you are always building encounters based on what your players can do, then they are never going to face a real challenge, because you have already engineered their success.

[@vecingettorix8645]

A party of all wizards deserves whatever it gets >:D

[@kcmisulis425]

Thank you. I ran a two year campaign and it was so insane by the time everyone was level 20 that I developed a fear of Magic and by the next campaign, banned Wish and Teleportation, and created a Wand system where you couldn't cast without holding a wand (thus allowing disarming and more threatening spellcasting). It's a patchwork set of hotfixes to a systemic issue, but it does work. I can't wait to run a Worlds Without Number campaign which systemically solves many of these power and progression issues.

[@justsomejerseydevilwithint4606]

4:09 Which, contrary to popular belief, is how most fights play out IRL. One side or the other will likely have the upper hand from the start, or pull the upper hand out their rear end with some inventive thinking. Having a "Balanced" encounter where both sides take a while to win is just unrealistic and hard.

[@Lobsterwithinternet]

Wow, I guess everyone is on the web these days.

[@justsomejerseydevilwithint4606]

@@Lobsterwithinternet Ye. "Just Some Bigfoot With Internet Access" has a lot of us non-human sentiences subbed to him.

[@princecharon]

Balance is generally up to the players and GM, even in relatively 'balanced' systems. As a friend of mine put it to a player that I've forgotten the name of, 'OK, that's pretty cool, but can you please pick a concept that *won't* break my setting?' (IIRC, the player didn't like gaming, but she liked her boyfriend enough to only be passive-aggressive about it, and he *did* like gaming.)