D&D Story: An Abserd-ly Difficult Mission

An animated Dungeons and Dragons Story from Adventurer's League game when we ran a grizzly series of encounters that really pushed my players to the limit and tested them. Also, Abserd (from "A Most Abserd Character") makes a cameo as the mayor of the town! Thanks for watching!
Music from the KZbin Audio Library: "Town of 24 Bars" by Unicorn Heads
Heart of the Beast by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommons.org/licenses/...)
Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Artist: incompetech.com/

[@wackytankman2970]

Something i love about Abserd is that he can be put in any scenario and still be canon. He was a mayor? Sure. I believe it, why not.

[@EliteWarrior1026]

Well, canonically he has been known to drift from random experience to random experience. I'm really not surprised at this point!

[@ColdspaceDog]

What an AbSeRd Idea

[@bagheadedman7946]

He is quite literally the definition of a man of all talents He just sucks at ever single one of them

[@goodgamer-fz2nm]

yeah he just gets kicked out in a year

[@eric_moore-6126]

@@bagheadedman7946 He actually doesn't suck. He can have Green Flame Blade, Sneak Attack, and 4th level Smite all in one turn (he has 2 levels in each of Paladin and Druid). He's also a total of 14th level, so that Green Flame Blade adds 2D8 Fire damage on top of the Smite, Sneak Attack, and weapon damage. He could also use those mid-level spell slots on other useful low-level but upcastable spells, like Cure Wounds or Command.

[@schwarzerritter5724]

The cult was not actually evil. They are just the last people Abserd did not pay for their work.

[@adamdao4826]

Understandable

[@notsogreatjagras4314]

you mean this comment section?

[@zakuraRabbit]

Every year the army grows larger... and Abserd hires more adventurerers. After the fight he refuses to pay them, so they join the army. Rinse and repeat.

[@renewedphoenix6263]

What book is this?

[@why2145]

TheDarkAssassin custom one

[@HBStone]

PF: "Four weeks, starting at 1st level, with no long rests..." Me: "Oh, sounds like Hoard of the Dragon Queen, that shit was brutal." PF: *continues to describe exactly hoard of the dragon queen* That fucking adventure.

[@gingerinajacket8519]

Why would people play this? No levelling, no reward just torturing heroes for 4 in game weeks?

[@HBStone]

@@gingerinajacket8519 No idea, we didn't finish due to availability issues (like most d&d groups I imagine) but maybe it gets awesome once you get past that first phase. IF you get past that first phase.

[@necroarcanistxiii]

I started playing D&D with Hoard of the Dragon Queen. My Tiefling Barbarian got literally **thrown off the goddamn keep walls by the dragon's breath weapon and somehow survived because he had half cover from hiding on the staircase waiting to chuck dead bodies at the dragon as improvised weapons** (I made that a recurring joke with my character, if there's a dead body at his feet, he'll yeet it at the nearest enemy possible) On the plus side, he got to play Javelin-tennis with a cultist, with each standing on the roof of 2 different buildings in the town just tossing the same javelin at each other for 7 rounds trying to hit each other. Then some guys got up on the roof and our weight broke through it. We kinda stopped after the dragon attack because after that session, the DM was unable to get the next one prepared on time, for a few weeks, so I was like "Let's play a homebrew campaign so I can learn to DM while they're getting things ready". I nearly killed my party twice with Pig-men in a forest that can Dash up to 300ft when moving downhill because they're so fat it's like Indiana Jones, and the BBEG's apprentice Kame-hame-haa-ed them into death saving throws, only for the child NPC accompanying them to Spare the Dying before chasing the BBEGA out of the room with a rusted hook.

[@Wimikk]

HB Stone I’ve run that first episode for three groups now. Every time they’ve finished without any of the players actually dying. The first time was because I messed up the “cultists are watching the back gate” encounter, but honest to god, I have no idea how they did it the second and third times.

[@blakemamba2067]

Yup I thought this sounded familiar, we did the exact same thing except we had rest and got paid, and also we fought the champion after the dragon .

[@StealthMarmot_]

Fun fact, the arrow making the dragon leave is actually entirely EXTREMELY possible. All it has to do is crit. In the module, it specifies that he ditches if he takes ANY critical hit.

[@cheeselord8153]

Chris Lauderdale kk

[@TimaeusEXE]

Would have made it an eye shot blows to the eye always disorients

[@dndbasement2370]

actually says if he takes 25+ damages, not if they crit.

[@rowanbowan1439]

DnD Basement you’d be wrong. It’s 25+ or a Crit

[@yanivrubin4166]

I found the champion fight in the book, but not the dragon- where is the dragon fight?

[@nicholasepsilon3534]

If Abserd became a vampire for the immortality... He could in theory master all his classes to level 20 and become... *Abserd le Powerful.* ;D

[@casualsilver2702]

Boo

[@arcaniumdragon2444]

nice

[@kyleabrams5036]

Take these 😎 You've earned them 😏

[@tranquilclaws8470]

You have no idea how hard that made me laugh.

[@Shadethewolfy]

I'm wondering why he didn't just Gestalt all his classes together into one SUPER class. Unless Gestalting doesn't exist in the edition he plays?

[@anderson52ma]

Abserd became a mayor of a city that got invaded by cultists. Sounds like an Abserd situation.

[@colinheimann1802]

And he got one level of Mayor before getting run out.

[@kiteman7891]

KUNGFUFMAN. Prepare to roll death saves for that pun

[@nerosoul2506]

Oh noes! There is great *DAAANGERR*

[@Herrscher-of-Autism]

@@colinheimann1802 that's what he use his fourteenth level on!

[@mewacyboi]

I think this it the beginning of the “Hoard of the Dragon Queen” campaign

[@takeachansey7048]

"You are doing the evil. Stoooop"

[@unintentionally_edgy5867]

i read this at the exact fucking moment it happened in the video, what the fuck

[@imacookieboichocchip8819]

SAME

[@clodcollecting51]

That’s something Tommy Wiseau would say!

[@SilverViperIsFound]

Ok, we stop now.

[@hip2besquare632]

I would stop and then stab him

[@R4d6]

I love how Puffin also goes "We are not getting paid for this.", so not only does the players don't get any money, the DM doesn't either.

[@elijahg.1891]

"Haha, you call that an attack? l'll show you how *real* warriors duel" *Proceeds to cut off warlocks head in a single blow* ...thats one hell of a one liner.

[@BrotherHood-xh9sg]

It's but a flesh wound. XD

[@bionicdragon5]

It's over, Yugi! I have the high ground!

[@somethingelseentirely5414]

BrotherHood a-a flesh wound? Yer arms off!

[@wavestrider2160]

@@somethingelseentirely5414 no it isn't- *just realized its the head that was cut and he collapsed*

[@whiterabbit75]

@@bionicdragon5 You mean he didn't want to D-D-D-D-D-D-D-DUEL?!

[@spikegilfer1997]

"No time for a long rest." *Laughs in Warlock*

[@alecchristiaen4856]

laughs along in monk

[@roddor8462]

Warlock eldritch blasts monk and continues laughing

[@jonathanrist8274]

spikegilfer1997 laughs in barbarian

[@Jesterrr21]

The DM laughs as the Gnoll war party interrupts the short rest at 59 minutes.

[@baron2062]

A barbarian couldn’t even use their main ability, rage, because it makes them exhausted every time they use it

[@DasZaku]

Lol im running this module with my group right now. the Barbarian seduced the Champion... its complicated

[@weedwizard6306]

lol what

[@EclipsedEquinox]

Details. Please.

[@Medaumplay3]

Pics or didn't happen. Also video, if you'vve got any

[@mr.cup6yearsago211]

I saw one guy’s story where he managed to set the rules of his duel with the Champion, and he said “alright. The first person to hit the floor loses.” And then used Command to order the Champion to grovel before him, which caused them to go prone, thereby forfeiting the duel.

[@biocode4478]

@@mr.cup6yearsago211 what's the name of the module?

[@ClanLeaderHyuga]

At first glance you might think “wow, this DM is a bit of an asshole...” but that’s literally just day one of Horde of the Dragon Queen as written.... 🤣

[@josephstokes4409]

The Mayor Puffin voices so absurdly almost sounds like Tommy Weiso.

[@the-wisest-emu]

*meanwhile trying to figure out which side of the table I like better*

[@barrybend7189]

To use the breath weapon on?

[@angellightbringer4225]

Lol

[@aguyontheinternet4526]

me everytime i dm for my friends

[@BigFootTheRealOne]

Who cares, when y get no loot rehardless.

[@Not_Ciel]

I laughed too hard at that part because in one of my group's most recent sessions, the Big Bad used Power Word Kill to kill one of our party members as soon as the fight was starting because he was the only one that had less than 100 hp XD

[@archsteel7]

So, I watched a livestream where the group did the exact same thing as this... Except, instead of it being an arrow that took down the Dragon, it was the group barbarian rage-throwing a ballista bolt like it was a javelin, getting a crit, and dealing critical ballista damage... Then rolling so high they actually managed to bloody the dragon, who immediately turned around and was like "Fuck this, I'm out."

[@jokermaness]

Archsteel do you have a source

[@archsteel7]

@@jokermaness Yes, I do! kzbin.info/www/bejne/jIewoomklLeZY9U (This is, as the name suggests, part 2 if you'd like to watch the first part beforehand.)

[@jokermaness]

Archsteel Thanks man

[@DemigodoftheSea]

Our group managed to talk it down and promised to recover its eggs. Also we were given our spells back during a short rest so that was probably really helpful, but we didn't really use many spells.

[@ZephyrValIey]

Ayy a stabbyness fan!

[@bennetthobbitt9847]

Nice to see abserd escaped from that dude. He even became a Mayor! "You are doing the evil! Stoooooop."

[@finris1]

And he then became a dictator of “Magic North Korea.”

[@brianedner8125]

he didn't escape, the dude kicked him out because he was so anoying.

[@AlbireoTheLion]

"she has player class levels?" yes six of them R.I.P

[@talentless4838]

My barbarian didn’t care, and still won.

[@CcReap3r]

I have literally never heard a believable story of how a level 1 beat cyanwrath He has 17 ac and 57 hp Action Surge - On his turn, Langdedrosa can take one additional action. Improved Critical - critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20. Multiattack. Langdedrosa attacks twice Greatsword +6 to hit (2d6 + 4) slashing damage. Lightning Breath - DC 13 Dexterity saving throw, taking 22 (4d10) lightning damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one In one turn he can torch you for atleast 2d10 and a healthy chance at 2d6+4, that's wayyyy too much.

[@master0fh0rr0r]

CcReap3r I was actually surprised they bothered to include information on a situation where the player won the duel. Seems pretty impossible.

[@KGElf]

@@CcReap3r Reading that made me shake my head and stare in disbelief. I mean, aside from the fact that the lightning breath can take out all level 1 adventurers on it's own, he can follow it up with 2 attacks at +6, action surge, then do another 2 attacks. In the first turn! At level 1 most characters won't have an AC higher than 16 at best, which on average he hits. Who wrote this? The only feasible way of dealing with someone like this at that level is to collapse several buildings on him, because one won't even do the trick! Also, shouldn't he also have the second wind feature from the fighter levels? Not that it really matters...

[@dgmbomb]

@@CcReap3r Well.. not a Level one but me and my friends were Level 3 Our Fighter Champion went to fight her and slaughtered her like completely slaughtered

[@OGAMIS]

Did... did we just get Abserd clickbaited? ;-; Puffin...

[@joshuaelliott4666]

That would be Abserd

[@gamebrainjagras4193]

Ogamis technically no cause Abserd was dressed as a mayor

[@bagusariiq]

@@gamebrainjagras4193 kinda make sense

[@Phantisma09]

Ha ha it seems you have fallen into my deception into making you think this video was about me but actually it wasn't. Do you see how clever I was in leaving the thumbnail of my face aren't I so smart?

[@mutanttepig4759]

Yes... we... did...

[@dubiouslobo9190]

Fun fact, this was the first campaign I was a part of. I played a Warforge Monk who was a religious fanatic of a Neutral god. During the raid part of the campaign, me and my cleric partner managed to convince a group of cultist that I was the envoy of their demon god and got them all to kill each other in a blood sacrifice. That was the moment I decided I loved DnD.

[@butcherofblaviken7262]

Dubious Lobo I was a warlock- I used mask of many faces to become a raider, then convinced them to retreat.

[@masenguerra7835]

@Dubious Lobo what campaign was this?

[@theinevitablemadness8881]

This sounds like Tyranny of Dragons

[@masenguerra7835]

@Jack Glynn thanks!

[@sollybussell8241]

Is this hoard of the dragon queen, because this is the first adventure I'm a DM of

[@pwbi3988]

That feeling seeing your intro on this and going "Wow, this sounds like a pretty rough game, wonder how you came up with this?" and then slowly realized it's actually just the start for an official module

[@nathanthanatos3743]

And that was the day that Abserd was appointed (by default) and recalled as Mayor before sunset, continuing his legacy...

[@paxgallery6646]

He has levels in mayor now??? I guess????

[@Lemmingcave]

So for a first level adventure they make you fight about 10 encounters worth of units, 2 bosses who are both balanced for level 8+ adventurers all of that without a long rest.... AND YOU DON'T GET A REWARD. Who even wants to play DND after suchs an adventure. I would join the raiders i would at least get paid.

[@Yaratoma]

@@rylancromer184 they probably should have enforced the adventurers to be from or have ties to the town in that case. Hard to be invested otherwise

[@mysteriosk8er]

welcome to Season 8 Adventurers League

[@peterosborne8315]

Rylan Cromer *ABSERDLY

[@TheGruspastej]

@@Yaratoma or grant them plots of land and such. Payment and motivation för continued service.

[@somedudewatchintv5297]

I don't even play dnd but that sounds like absolute nonsense. Why would you put your players through a meatgrinder like that and tell them at the end they won't even be rewarded for the effort?

[@ponkpunk0]

HOW DARE THEY. Abserd rewards them with the gold inside their hearts and proves the adventure to the rainbow is more important than the gold. This is absolutely outrageous. He should've been praised as they got to do all of those things like, for example: See a dragon! Not every person gets to say they've seen a dragon do they now. All thanks to abserd, so they should be thanking him.

[@aniviod2904]

yeah , but keep in mind they almost died and lost one of their party fighting a warrior who literaly crit decapitate the warlock in one single swing of a broadsword... i think true gold and some better gear is in order here

[@YooranKujara]

Yea, but they didn't do...ANYTHING...

[@teslajeff1355]

I agree

[@Vael221]

woosh?

[@chrisr3947]

On the contrary they did all the could, they should get a statue in their honor since the town has to be rebuilt anyway.

[@morningcoffeeOW]

"wE Will Say, hEY yoU aRe Doin Da EVil. StAAAHhhP."

[@kentknightofcaelin4537]

I did nat do it, i did naaaaht

[@NinjaBlack135]

Me watching this the first time before playing D&D "It doesn't seem that bad." Me running this as GM after learning to play D&D. "How is this even fair for a level 1 party?" (Didn't help I kept rolling nat 20 against a level 1 party XD)

[@akisa7865]

For some reason i can see you hitting the party with a bat, and everytime you hit them, you say sorry

[@kariissmol9172]

at this point I would fudge the rolls in the partys davour.

[@kohakuaiko]

I have yeeted die for that. (and stashed it for my use as a player later)

[@chom6096]

I love abserd stories

[@kazzy2974]

M2 Scout

[@Audiotrocious]

You mean Wallace XD

[@WanderingVtuber]

This was actually the first Adventure I dm'ed and I have a little story for exactly that Dragon. So my Players were Wealth the Tiefling Rogue, Florence the Elf Cleric, Noella the Viera (Yeah i did homebrew) Ranger and Drawoh Ddot the Human Bard. Everything normal I wanted to keep it rather close to the book, with the exeption that i let them have a short rest once they found the keep. They found the secret tunnel heading out and thats where i decided to put the dragon in. In advance i added two Ballistas on the wall so players have the chance to actually hurt the Dragon at that level. And as i read the Pages, I read "Lennithon doesnt consider this to be his fight." So i made him say stuff like "This is no fight with honor, its below me" and so on in draconic. And here is a good point to explain Drawoh Ddot... its Todd Howard. So he speaks Draconic because of Skyrim. And he goes "Hey do you maybe then want to seize the attack and throw off the one really looking down on you, by making you fight in this unhonorable battle?" >Nat 20 Dragon throws off the Cultist Leader and stops attacking. The Party leveled up 5 Levels, thanks to Todd Howard, convincing the dragon not to fight.

[@dovahspy9813]

It just works.

[@TheCatgirlGaymer]

Florence? As in winter moon Florence?

[@WanderingVtuber]

@@TheCatgirlGaymer Im actually not sure it might just be bc i told her Elves in my world are french and she liked the name xD

[@theanonymousmrgrape5911]

He used the bend will shout.

[@voteZDLR]

I mean, we got out of a RARE, random dragon encounter as L5's in Pathfinder. Our Gnome Bard Noiss rolled a NAT20 on Performance. We were able to get out of the encounter, too. The Dragon told us that for sparing us though we must return and tell it another story once per in-game-year... which was great. We didn't get any experience, let alone 5 levels for it though. Should we have?

[@coconutcam4297]

I fought the blue dragonborn one on one and almost won. They had 8 hit points left. I was an elderly, but super buff, grandma paladin with a 6 foot long greataxe called Granny Smith

[@HerrLokiZockt]

Half-Dragon not Dragonborn. Big difference. Half-Dragons have a dragon as a parent and can't procreate.Dragonborn, on the other hand, are their own species and came to D&D much later.

[@Dualbladedscorpion7737]

My half orc Barbarian character (Grugg son of none) got his ass handed to him by lang and barely survived.

[@wyattlohr8199]

The mayor of the town is Abserd, OF COURSE IT'S GETTING RAIDED

[@Billaxle]

Oh poor Abserd... He had finally made something of himself. *_A STEW!_* XD

[@dtl2.092]

Nice to know that abserd Became a mayor

[@gregmartin9257]

Then got boiled alive

[@14o1chan]

@@gregmartin9257 Don't worry, if this was anything like his last capture, he'll be some super villan in some other campain.

[@aapur]

I thought this sounded familiar, and then I remembered that this is the module we're currently running with a group of friends. Except we're all kobolds, and have been turning the cult's kobolds on them. Also we amused the dragon so much it just, kinda left

[@ameliadavidson360]

I like to imagine this was the true part II to Abserd's story. Becoming a useless politician. XD

[@princessbinas]

Dragon: Who shoots a dragon with an arrow?! Me: Those, like myself, who play Skyrim...

[@tranquilclaws8470]

So that's why there's a dragon guarding Whiterun...

[@tranquilclaws8470]

For those who did not get the last comment, shame on you. The dragon was an adventurer before he took an arrow to the knee.

[@shadowshedinja6124]

Every Minecraft player ever

[@1987MartinT]

Bard the Bowman.

[@goose7618]

At the time I read this I was playing Skyrim...

[@pikariocraftf2802]

Wait I just realized that Abserd is litterally Tommy Wisaou from The Room... I just want him to say "Oh hi Mark"

[@amethystangellight9472]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@tsifirakiehl4250]

I did naht crit her, it’s naht true! It’s bowlschit, I did naht crit her! I did naaaht-oh hai, Tiamat.

[@bethanysmith5856]

"Weee it's a munster. I'm going to be taking this thing down" "no you fool!!"

[@chiliwithonel]

Yo I'm playing Hoard of the Dragon Queen right now!!! I didnt know the blue dragon had a name! When we encountered the dragon, our paladin kept taunting it with Yo Momma jokes, so the DM made it stay for like 5 turns longer. We were all pissed.

[@shockman2178]

Our Gunslinger took it out with one shot, right after our Paladin and Samurai got roasted by the Dragon

[@PSN_OGRE]

lol I wish I could see that

[@xtremesisproductions516]

I was just thinking I recognized this as HotDQ.

[@chiliwithonel]

@@xtremesisproductions516 I knew as soon as I heard "Langderosa"

[@theduchyofmilanball3157]

@@shockman2178 AYYAYYYAAAAAH *Wah Wah Waaaaaaah*

[@paperbullet1945]

Abserd will only be mayor until Trixie Starbright shows up and wants to be the most popular girl in town

[@casparsloan4441]

She will be accompanied by mewsie tewsie

[@empoleonmaster6709]

@@casparsloan4441 I would pay to see the continuation of Trixie and Mewsie Tewsie

[@jakobdimauro9540]

And then the ultimate battle will begin

[@ATurnip]

Couldn't trixie starbright simply win absurd over with her charming personality?

[@meganb.2249]

@@empoleonmaster6709 DON'T SAY THAT!!!! DON'T GIVE HIM IDEAS!!!! SHAME ON THEE!!

[@henrymaccabee7988]

Everyone seems to think this is Hoard of the Dragon Queen and they are not wrong. He was using the first chapter of the module as a basis, but it varied a lot from the actual module. In the module the fighting goes for one night so the party usually has enough time and muscle to get through it. Also in the module Lennithon doesn't like getting hurt you have to score 24 damage or one critical hit before he fly's away. Also he has to kill 20 or more npc's before turning on you. Then with Langdedrosa she is supposed to get the player down to zero then score a death failure roll. But you still have two more opportunities to save yourself or another player can heal you. Overall it is a hard level 1 adventure but puffin just decided to make it so much harder, I'm just worried that some people are going to take this at face value and think this is exactly what chapter one is like which it isn't.

[@nickwilliams8302]

Puffin didn't read the adventure before running it.

[@fomori2]

Puffin stories are "puffed up", and in, there is always some level of exaggeration in them. Once you realize that you can just listen to them for the entertainment value he brings to them with the over the top absurdity.

[@nickwilliams8302]

@@fomori2 Okay, fine. But still, we only have his story to go on. A story that he put out there. A story that clearly shows a DM not bothering to read a published adventure before running it, completely misunderstanding how it is supposed to be run, then exacerbating the problem by mischaracterising the adventure's NPCs in a way which is known by _any_ competent DM to be utterly destructive toward player investment. In short, it's yet another tale of Puffin taking a group of people who want to roleplay and fucking with them until they become murder hobos.

[@iveriad]

If Langdedrosa does critical hit, it's within possibilities for him to deal more damage than double the amount of health a warlock has at level 1 and that counts as an instant kill.

[@Elliandr]

His version sounds better, to be honest. It would take much more planning to survive.

[@thusadragon]

It seems like that module would be way more fun for a higher-level party who has more resources to burn through. At level 1, it's just like, "I hope you don't like using the mechanics in the game, because all the important numbers will be at 0 after one or two fights!" It's cool that they use disguises and cleverness to defeat enemies, but then throwing overpowered bosses at them feels really cruel.

[@Bob-lr2xp]

"If it's one thing history keeps telling us time and time again, it's this: ALWAYS PAY YOUR MERCENARIES" - Extra Credits

[@johnnycooper8953]

Imagine being Carthage.

[@ntpgmr]

@Bob Bobbertson You don't have to be salty about it. Oh wait. (I am aware this isn't historically accurate, but it's a meme.)

[@peterwindhorst5775]

It worked for my family - they Germans offered only a bit of tin scrap worth five marks, the Americans offered more... guess which side we fought on in World War One?

[@cookiewoke1899]

What an abserd adventure!

[@ianmoone8640]

Hoard of the dragon queen man, it's chaos in chapter one.

[@BearOldcastle]

Look EVerone ABSeRD became MAYOR.

[@TheRealBot001]

And then Abserd came back as a Revenant.

[@malaizze]

He's got my vote!

[@Vael221]

Abserd makes everything better

[@Dracomut]

Langderosa: ... Seriously? You ran away after ONE arrow?! Lenethon: Hey give me a break! This weird voice starting whispering to me and took away all my bravery! I think It was some kind of god of mercy or something...

[@casparsloan4441]

That would be completely Absurd!

[@tigergamer998]

i don't get the reference

[@SunSun-sk4si]

Tiger Gamer "Oh hello there. I am talking to you inside your head. I have the Warlock's Awakened Mind because I'm also a Warlock and that is one of the powers I have! Abserd is very powerful. Is very powerful magic that he has. That way I can be talking to you even when I can't be talking to you! Isn't it greeaaat?!?!" :D

[@stormcrowlegendary3512]

He survived because Abserd is 1st level of every class that the game ever had since 1st Edition, including updated versions of each class. Yes, that probably means he is technically a 6th level fighter.

[@DeadlyNightshadeZ]

Illmater Deus Ex Machina. The God of mercy who presents himself to those who suffer absurd hardship and suffering.

[@turghost]

"WEEEEEEEEEE! It's a munsta. I'm gonna be taking this thing down." We have at least one every campaign. And they die horribly!!

[@davindamico1759]

knight in platemail solos a rust monster...

[@stickman3208]

Imagine being a player during puffin's sessions and then finding his videos

[@TheTSense]

Blue Dragon lands Abserd, as a level 14 hero, uses EVERYTHING. It's super effective! (Some of it has to)

[@ElfosDeMordor]

Warlock lvl 2 = not even close!

[@stormcrowlegendary3512]

Hes not a lvl 14. He is lvl 1 of every class from every edition so he broke the level cap. Hes even a necromancer and sword sage.

[@nintendodragon7747]

Puffin actually put another lvl in Palidan and Rogue for the last 2 lvls Abserd had over (Rogue for Cunning Action, Palidan since you need to be lv 2 to cast Paladin spells, also Divine Smite)

[@Arachnebyte]

Somehow that went pretty similar to how my players handled that event. One guy who was only half paying attention managed to chase off the dragon with a crit on the first turn and was treated as a hero, which enraged another party member. Especially because the guy didn't realize he was being treated as a hero and genuinely had no idea what was going on. They also didn't like the rewards from the mayor and ended up kidnapping him for reasons I'm not entirely sure of. There wasn't really anyone to ransom him to, since the town was just raided and everyone was effectively poor for the time. I asked and they said they just wanted to keep him. You know, like a pet.... It's been a difficult campaign.

[@oliverschoneck7750]

bloody hell....cant wait to get back to dnd

[@The_FireSpitter]

I realized this campaign is Hoard of the Dragon Queen.

[@MiniWarGameMasters]

This sounds alot like the opening section of hoard of the dragon queen

[@tsifirakiehl4250]

I think that’s because it is.

[@matthewcoyle4131]

Alright an Abserd video! Time for more of the Jack-of-All-Trades and master of absolutely nothing!

[@ixaldorran7867]

But has he mastered the jack of all trades? hmm

[@matthewcoyle4131]

@@ixaldorran7867 Has he though..... has he REALLY?

[@JamesA_TheZombieSlapper]

He mastered the art of being unwelcome!

[@matthewcoyle4131]

@@JamesA_TheZombieSlapper Alright I'll give him that one!

[@Knitesage]

He mastered the art of being annoying

[@tzisorey]

Setting up traps? Am i the only one who had the idea of a DnD version of Home Alone pop into their mind? Yes, I am? Okay. I'll shut up now, then.

[@JazzyCat007]

Tzisorey Tigerwuf I did too LOL!

[@LordDragox412]

Imagine being a DM and having your main DnD group get a fort and set guards and traps to protect it, then have another group invade the fort to try and steal things (when the main group is in someplace else story-wise and get a report of successful/failed robbery after they come back). Dunno how well it would work in real life, but in my dream it was really cool, although we failed the robbery due to the sheer amount of crazy traps... XD

[@brandonleecross468]

No. I'm from that time as well

[@asbestosfish_]

Tzisorey Tigerwuf *_Not now you don’t._*

[@user-zt8yq8fj3h]

Fortress alone

[@ailexx3377]

Draken: Do you know Joe? Players: Nope. Not falling for it Draken: Joe walls mean nothing to me hahahHaAhahah....

[@jack-wulf]

Abserd is immortal: confirmed

[@petersmith8318]

This would be a great campaign for a warlock. Because they get there spells back at a short rest

[@shadowshedinja6124]

Especially a fiendish warlock, since they get temporary hit points for every kill

[@karolchruzik1919]

I play warlock, we had one short rest. I have one spell slot so ye, really feelin the value.

[@SoluKissin]

I don't think the warlock in this particular campaign got off so good so it kind of depends

[@robertellis6853]

Im in the first stage of this right now as a warlock, in a team consisting of a bard, cleric, and bloodhunter. Our second encounter, I'm pretty sure the GM took pity on us, because the kobolds stopped using pack tactics and pulled out slings. Luckily, in this 3rd encounter we are just starting ), we started 100 feet out. Since as a warlock, I have eldritch blast, I can pick off some of the guys before they get to us. Im going to try and forget this video now, while my character destroys himself trying to save all the civilians

[@raptortamer1478]

In this module rest are taken away entirely as the threat of the dragon needs to be present until it leaves

[@theannihilator1173]

“We’re not getting paid for this?” “We’re not getting paid for this.” How would your party have responded? My chaotic good paladin walks up to one of the fortress walls and raises his hammer and turns to face the mayor saying “Would you like to rephrase the part about money? I don’t think I heard you correctly”

[@nmartinez18]

My current character has already used a necklace of fireballs on an employer in his backstory for getting one if his teammates killed and skimping on the payment afterwards. He's normally a sweetheart, but he's also a mercenary who does not screw around, being told he was getting nothing would start with a sword to the throat intimidation to get payed for that shit storm. How it went from there would be up to the Mayer.

[@Akranejames]

"We are getting paid for this." *Pillages the Town Hall if the Mayor stills doesn't give us anything, or at least promise of something*

[@nmartinez18]

@@Akranejames Exactly, I'm chaotic good, not stupid good. Warlock's gotta eat.

[@Akranejames]

@@nmartinez18 Yeah, actually, one of the moments I'm remembered for in my adventuring group is threatening to burn down a tavern to get payment from the bartender's wife. Long story. That alchemist fire served me well as an intimidation weapon, since it worked.

[@icedumi]

The Bard should have charmed the mayor to give them all the riches for which there due. Those feinds lol

[@breadlord3608]

“Who shoots an arrow at a dragon?” Erm... well... isn’t that how you kill the ender dragon in Minecraft? mY LiFe iS a LiE!!!!

[@felixhustede285]

Nah. You simply blow him up with beds xd

[@rinastar1952]

In my first ender dragon fight it bugged out and kept becoming invincible , so after repeatedly dying , I lost my weapon and punched it to death.

[@ProfWulfenstein]

Fun fact this is more or less the actual first mission of horde of the dragon queen.....its insane and this module doesn't get easier

[@sinnerthesinful552]

Damn, abserd became a mayor? Who would elect him?... Besides me...

[@bug5654]

I hear after this, Abserd was elected king.

[@thespanishinquisition4078]

I mean, if trump can use memes to get to the White House, abserd’s GOTTA have something that can get him to mayor status.

[@NeumanProductions]

That was only for a couple months, then he was kicked out and started selling potions door to door, before getting severely injured and downing his whole stock, who knows where the adventures of Absurd will take him next.

[@necoom]

Elected? He just strolled in and started pretending he was Mayor, he wasn't hurting anyone so people just ignored him. The actual Mayor thought he was just a jester so he started to pay the guy. Abserd thought it was his Mayor Wage thus solidifying his belief that he was the Mayor. As for the adventurers? Did they have a reason to doubt that the guy introducing himself as the Mayor was lying? The people ignoring him didn't object so why doubt him?

[@tanith117]

He had a Diverse Portfolio and the town Thought he had the Backing of so many groups.

[@dmua9551]

What sort of forking Sadist wrote this campaign And why the forking heck did they deny them money for their troubles. They deserve an epic level weapon for dealing with this heckery!

[@austingriffith850]

It was the first adventure published for 5E. There are a lot of jankey and unfair bits in the campaign. Also, Puffin didn't mention it in the video but the invaders had stolen everything of any value that they could get their hands on, so the townspeople don't have anything to give you besides basic supplies.

[@sinnerthesinful552]

Makes sense, i mean, irl the harder the quest the least you'll get from it

[@SparkBlazeWarriors]

That’s not even the worst parts from what I’ve heard. The first chapter of this campaign is just brutal, when I ran it for my bros I let them start at level 2 to give them a decent chance of surviving because otherwise it can get ugly quick.

[@hvper.489]

Pls do not swear in this good christian minecraft server :)

[@thespanishinquisition4078]

Terminited GD Fucc U

[@Misdreecko]

-She have player class levels? -Yeah... ~six of them~

[@scarygoat219]

I'm currently playing hoard of the dragon queen and I didn't even think of playing it this way

[@WillcraftAnimations]

And this is why I refuse to use modules. Or well, this and my obsession with telling my own stories and giving the group agency. But seriously, even I managed to make more well-balanced encounters for my group's party of three 2nd level glass cannons when we were starting out. And I had them get into a boss fight against a necromancer who was a 5th level spellcaster and had a couple of skelebois and zombos with him. ...It went surprisingly well though because throughout the entire battle he managed to hit with like, one cantrip. All other spells either missed or the players succeeded on their saving throws. Embarrassingly enough, it was the undead minions that provided the biggest challenge. They rolled like champs. Once they were all gone, the party basically just bullied the necromancer into submission and made me wonder what direction my encounters were even unbalanced in. EDIT: To respond to some of the comments without making an actual reply, as they generally fly by unnoticed, I'm not condemning modules entirely, and not based on this one alone. I'm basing it on other stories from this guy, like the Parnast thing or the Invisible Beholder, and stories from other people, as well as my personal experiences, which are more limited since our group really ever bothered playing one of them before we decided that yeah, this ain't for us. Additionally, I'm sure there are actually well-balanced and flexible modules, but that's where my second reason factors in. Why would I bother looking for one that is good enough and/or tweak one into being good enough when I could just create my own adventure from scratch and have more fun doing so? As far as I'm concerned, modules are for people who don't have the time, skill or desire to create their own adventures, or for people playing in AL which is a format that I don't like at all. I'm not misunderstanding anything, I'm not considering myself so much better than anyone else, I just felt like casually giving my personal preference and sharing a fun little D&D experience that was tangentially related and even poked fun at my own disability to balance adventures, at least with very little experience. Does that cover all the bases? I doubt it, I've never successfully avoided all misconceptions in a KZbin comment. But maybe this clears up at least a couple which would otherwise have arisen.

[@Enzotiso]

Hey Willcraft i love your animations

[@mysteriosk8er]

Willcraft it’s not the module, it’s the ruleset for Season 8 of Adventures League

[@WillcraftAnimations]

Pedro TheShufflingPanda Well, I was referring to Adventurer's League as well because of the stiff, linear storylines and so on, but I thought "modules" would cover it. Guess not. What I mean is something like "inflexible, railroady and overall poorly designed adventures not taking into account the preferences of individual DMs and players, even in such simple ways as 'Dude we don't want to drag a kid around on our quest', limiting what is supposed to be an imagination-powered experience mostly in the name of making it easier for new players to jump in." ...And I'm not sure if even THAT covers it. So I tried to use "modules" as a bit of a shortening.

[@john-michaelcollier4409]

Not all Modules are railroady and inflexible. HotDQ is definitely (hence why it's the worst) but the others are actually quite flexible in how the story can play out and what the party does. Storm king's thunder is the best example. Everytime I've seen it played it is never the same, not just minor difference mind you, major ones. Princes of the Apocalypse is also pretty flexible in how the party gets to take down the cults. Also, theres nothing wrong with changing or cannibalizing a module to fit your own tastes and needs. In fact, doing so is one of the best ways to approach DMing as it saves a bunch of prep time for each session and allows a more complete world.

[@Xingmey]

And this is why you shouldn't just read everything out of the modules and modify them so far, that it fits your party. no lvl 8 dragon with 'roll initiative' - but some wits and trickery to overcome, no lvl 6 fighter doing a nat 19 crit, but giving the PC the chance to maybe... poison him in favor to get an advantage in the fight... or something like that.

[@WormyMaster]

Gorilla warfare?! *Heavily armed former airship sailor comes around the corner*: "I've got a score to settle with those".

[@stormcrowlegendary3512]

I got the reference! Also hes a zombie because so were they!

[@dancingbunny84]

😅😅😅

[@merren2306]

Stormcrow Legendary Oh I thought he just mispronounced guerilla?

[@WormyMaster]

He did, it's a reference to the 'Pee in my bucket' episode.

[@Hopkins0316]

Dude I literally ran this adventure last night! I had such a hard time working it to where the players WANTED to continue and feel danger but not like they were meant to die.

[@jek_si2251]

My friend ran this for us, tho slightly differently than you did. Thanks to numerous short rests, and a level-up that let me get muh coooool Battlemaster moves, I actually managed to fight the cult's champion to a draw ( we rolled equally on Initiative, and the last blows knocked us both out). I'm eager to see what will happen next time we meet in battle!

[@christofferhougaard]

Sounds dope! Battlemasters for the fucking win though!

[@jek_si2251]

@@christofferhougaard Glory to Dral the Faithful, saviour of Greenest!

[@sammy.s.h5077]

‘Who shoots an arrow at a dragon?’ Bard the Bowman: Hold my beer.

[@Toastyone1]

I love the way he draws the dragons. They look so squishy. Haha!

[@nekoguay953]

7:35 Thats why Greenest disappeared to the maps on that mission. xD

[@blueevan4506]

2:14 hey you, you're finally awake, you were trying to cross the border

[@somethingelseentirely5414]

Blue Evan walked right into that imperial ambush.

[@akisa7865]

Same as me, and that other guy over there

[@SALdosry]

is this Hoard of the Dragon Queen?

[@R00KIE_GUY]

It is. I'm running it as a test session right now for all my new players.

[@Shadowgaming908770]

Yeah, but its at a difficulty that is well beyond normal, and i played the entire thing and nothing is that hard.

[@SALdosry]

I am running it too, next week my players are going to waterdeep

[@mr.halberdier8783]

Yup I’m running rise of Tiamat and the last game was hoard of the dragon queen

[@austingriffith850]

It was the first adventure I played in 5e. You gotta get creative if you want to win this one.

[@brodericksiz625]

Who wrote this? I get the appeal of having a string of adventures with no time to rest, I put my party through that too, but a level 1 party? Then have them face multiple opponents waaaay more powerful than they could reasonably expected to beat on a good day, let alone when they're exhausted, and finally give them fucking nothing for managing to survive thanks to the final boss leaving for no good reason? Did the person in charge of the league think this was going to be fun for low level characters?

[@darknight910]

You've probably seen this in other comments but this is the from the first campaign book Horde of the Dragon Queen. I played this for my friends to get them into D&D 5e and almost succeeded in dissuading them from the system entirely due to this unbalanced and insane first encounter.

[@MasterTheik]

It's the Hoard of the Dragon Queen, but it's not really intended to be played "without rests".

[@InfernosReaper]

Even with rests, it's too much. This is like the kind of crap an amateur GM would do, not a proper published adventure

[@connorhennessey1316]

Some contractors who had to design an adventure book for Wizards before 5th ed even came out. Hoard of the Dragon Queen is infamous for the amount of extra work and content a DM needs for the module :P

[@Dragonspassage]

@@InfernosReaper its really not there are list of encounters but they are only expected to do about 2 of them. Then they fight the dragon with a bunch of npcs. It runs after it takes 25 dmg so it might not even make an attack. Then the last fight is the duel which you will lose but an npc immediately feeds you a potion.

[@BlueThunder1988]

I'm currently playing this campaign - my first ever, too! We saw the dragon off by the druid rolling a crit on his fire bolt on the first turn of combat - our DM was surprised it was that quick! Then my fighter (AC of 18, lol) took on Landragoza as champion, which lasted a few turns before he got me with his lightning breath. The party managed to convince him to leave but before he did, he plunged his sword in my chest. I was very quickly healed - well, stabilised. Last week I fought him again, challenging him one-on-one as I felt I should for pride and honour reasons. I'm now level 3 and an Echo Knight with a dragon slayer scimitar and still not ready!! I got a matching stab wound in the other side of the chest, our tiefling character got a premonition of TPK but managed to avert this. She distracted Landragoza while the cleric healed me, I had a mysterious voice advise me to let go and it offered to help me, which I accepted. After another KO for me and two total for the tiefling, our ranger got him with an arrow. Our dragonborn and I managed to get his dragon mount to go away, possibly thanks to my mysterious helper, but as Landragoza was taken away, something tells me we haven't seen the last of him...! The premonition and my mysterious voice were both delivered in private phone calls from our DM, which I thought was a nice touch!

[@jurassicbread4279]

Hey I just realized. This is basically a hard version of hoard of the dragon queen part one. I just got the book

[@superjjj5688]

Abserd could EASILY take on these encounters, alone

[@stormcrowlegendary3512]

He counts right? He is level 1.... Of every class of every edition... He used his Necromancy and Warlock powers to summon a dead level 20 paladin one whom he used his sorcerer, wizard and bard skills to charm into talking to a god and asking to tell the dragon to go away.

[@ph8enix]

That's an odd version of Hoard of the dragon Queen. If I remember it correctly, you can see the dragon the moment you see Greenest. And...you have the forts soldiers who fight with you against it. Oh well...

[@Krolshi]

I’ve only heard Abserd twice so far and I love him already. It’d be fun to just input him as a NPC in each of your campaign you dm as little Easter eggs lol 😂

[@victormagoco9752]

This is the kind of situation where a warlock would really shine

[@GetDoinked]

my group just persuaded the dragon and it left

[@droidixbacon]

Neat

[@chicago928]

This sounds a lot like the Hoard of the Dragon Queen. With some changes. Neat to get a story at least partially related to the module I am currently playing.

[@grantdixson1442]

This is exactly that, with mild flavor differences.

[@nickwilliams8302]

The "changes" are just mistakes due to Puffin completely misunderstanding the nature of the adventure. He thought the point was to kill all the Kobolds and rescue all the villagers. In actual fact, the adventure is supposed to give the players a few successes, a big defeat and spur them into action against the Cult of the Dragon.

[@King_Nex]

I misread that as "Hoard of the Drag Queen" and laughed. Oh, boy, can you imagine?

[@TrianiiRanger]

"Wheeee! It's a mawnstur. I'm going to be taking this thing down." "No you fool!"

[@geminilius]

This campaign is the "you lose" note in the treasure chest after a boss

[@mementomori5580]

Frankly, if you remove the whole "4 weeks with no rest" and the Guerilla Warfare bit, this sounds exactly like the beginning of the D&D5 Adventure "Hoard of the Dragon Queen"... Town in siege with far to many enemies for lvl 1 heroes to handle with a blue dragon that attacks but for some reason flees after a few hits even so it could totally annihilate us...

[@KaleidosXXI]

It is Hoard of the Dragon Queen, also the no resting part is correct, the entire chapter is a single encounter and takes place over just one night so you don't have time to rest. The only thing he really did wrong having the party try and tackle all the objectives, you're only really supposed to take a few and do your best with it.

[@mementomori5580]

Frankly, we didn't have that problem at all. We started with the Dragon that soon vanished again, went to the village, had a small encounter with some kobolds, then basically ran to the stronghold where we once again encountered the dragon that soon went away again and after that, we immediately got our long rest. So that all took us only 2 sessions and only because oujr sessions are only like 3 hours long or so, so totally doable in one session.

[@oh7mak]

adventueres league is only 3 hours long tho, so this is only the first session

[@Dylandoesgaming]

Problem is if you are taking a "Module says this" approach that follows a fixed path like AL does then either everyone needs to run the same two encounters everywhere they go OR just run all of them (admittedly the XP they should get out of that is insane and they likely end up over levelled but under geared for the "Part 1" of the module after this insane prologue)

[@oh7mak]

given how this module is well known for how unbalanced it is, I dont think being underleveled is a bad thing, especially without rests lol

[@Jay-ei4cr]

Yesssss!!!! More of Abserd!!!!

[@TheTSense]

ABSERD! ABSERD! ABSERD! ABSERD! ABSERD! YEAHHHHHHH!!!!

[@mattdet7075]

Abserd!!!!!!

[@kazuhiroyasei]

That campaign is being my very first D&D experience - we started last week, with my friend, who's the DM, also taking that role for the first time. Hell, we spent seven hours on that last first session and it felt like two. And I love this channel now.

[@bilobobaggins1934]

When I ran this campaign, my players had hit third level by the time the dragon showed up because they had powered through encounters and I was running it with by XP. This might not seem like the biggest of issues because third levels are no match for a dragon, but the game knew this and had a set amount of damage the dragon would take before it would leave. And, naturally of course, the rogue beat it for initiative, was an assassin and critted, and then proceed to role almost max damage scaring it off with one attack.

[@bob.from.accounting]

I LOVE THIS CHANNEL. You do a really great job telling these stories. I don't even play D&D, but I love watching the channel. Keep up the great work.

[@mustlovedragons8047]

7:44 "...you know you're not getting any actual money for this." "We're not getting paid for this?" "We're not getting paid for this." I'm surprised they showed such restraint. Layaway is your friend.

[@seanassociateproductions1691]

Who came up with this idea for a first level adventure?

[@jacobduffin8462]

Um it’s an official book. Horde of The Dragon Queen. It’s a level 1-5 campaign. I know when I played it our DM gave us a level 5 monk NPC companion to help out. The main thing he did was the 1 on 1 with Langdarosa.

[@kendrickrochelanzot2053]

@@jacobduffin8462 this adventure sounds hard as hell

[@gilthreyblaunce]

Technically you reach lvl 2 when you reach the keep after the pain but yes. Its merciless

[@whiterabbit75]

Sadists made it. Then again, it _is_ 5ed, sooo...

[@monstermoo4191]

@@kendrickrochelanzot2053 Yeah, it doesn't really sound like fun to play or to DM... it made for an okay story, but imagining being at that table... not so much.

[@PaulChabot]

I havve watched this before and had to find the absurd videos because that character is so amazing! ill be back to watch this again after I enjoy the great absurd again.

[@mvsj1986]

I just love whenever Puffin says "evil", funny every time.

[@jennyrosebane8129]

And that's the last of what we heard of Absurd ... or is it? Happy near Halloween.

[@lycad4453]

Absurd is just growing his arsenal of knowledge

[@tinytyler5220]

This is my favorite vid out of your whole channel

[@xEpicRickGamesx]

I just realized, that this is Hoard of The Dragon Queen Episode 1, right when I'm making the DM notes. :D Gosh, I'm gonna hint them to be sneaky with Abserd/Governor Nighthill I guess :D

[@leyd1642]

Lennithon and the champion were the biggest clues

[@kendrickrochelanzot2053]

Isnt the champion a guy?

[@jakemurphy3928]

Yeah, the Chapion Fighter (Langderosa Cyanwrath) is a male Half-Blue Dragon. Also, the GM doesn’t have to kill you when you lose the fight, so I’m assuming that Puffin did damage equal to double the player’s health.

[@kendrickrochelanzot2053]

@@jakemurphy3928 or just wanted to kill him XD

[@michaelkeha]

So did you run it like puffin and do you have players left

[@shanerooney7288]

I think the point of the adventure is to *_NOT_* face the enemies head on. Like, not ever. Ambushes and hit-n-run tactics from the start. Let a few villages die, but allow yourself to maintain some HP and spell slots for when it is really needed. The boss fights are OP and the players need to be clued in that they will not get a chance to rest. But I think with proper planning it is doable (actually, by the sounds of it they "won" the campaign with only a single player lost. So it is definitely doable)

[@kyleabrams5036]

Espionage style. Put a pack of rogues on it.

[@shanerooney7288]

I thought a team of rogues works like this DM ~ "Okay, the party walks around a corner and sees a group of 30 soldiers. They haven't noticed you yet. Roll for initiative..." DM ~ "....... and..... all of the guards roll last. Have your turns." [one turn later] DM ~ * sigh * "all of the guards are dead. Your party continues on unnoticed."

[@existentialcrisis2203]

I've been trying to find your channel for over a year. You are hilarious

[@PedeChumbo47]

I love your videos, f***ing hilarious every time!

[@gilbert4269]

please make another abserd story i love him so much, he is the best character i've ever seen

[@gibbhartin643]

Absurd's story arc is amazing

[@williamwright4813]

1:01 Oh, yes. 🎵 This is the greatest PLAAAAAAN! 🎵

[@GutterWizard27]

I love hoard of the dragon queen preparing a campaign for it rn