D&D Story: The Self-Detonating Bard (the tale of my 25k giveaway one-shot)

[@theDMLair]

RPG BACKSTORY TEMPLATE ▶▶ www.drivethrurpg.com/product/297879/RPG-Backstory-Template PATREON BENEFITS ▶▶ www.patreon.com/thedmlair MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS ▶▶ kzbin.infojoin CHEAP D&D ADVENTURES I'VE CREATED ▶▶ www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/11812/Luke-Hart FREE D&D ADVENTURES I'VE CREATED ▶▶ www.thedmlair.com/

[@Damnationization]

I disagree that it's not cool to kill the party. I did it as a story arch and it was pretty cool. :) They died, but were sent to an alternate plane that they had to battle back from.

[@Nr4747]

Interesting story, but your "anti-passive perception"-houserule kind of makes Observant a completely useless feat. Which I find to be a bit of a shame since it's arguably the only INT half feat worth taking.

[@kendrickrochelanzot2053]

The spanish caught me seriously off guard The barbarian must know some lit tracks

[@FleurXedas]

Yep

[@anthonynewmaningressman]

Yes

[@josephbannon5982]

Yeah!

[@joem1480]

My favorite Bard story has to be from a friend of mine who is playing a Bard at a convention. This was 2nd edition ad&d and he was using a Bard build from the Bard's handbook. This particular build stated if his character were to die, he got to sing 1 final Epic ballad. The rules at the convention for the D&D tables stated that he was about to say for as long as he could maintain his voice. Sure enough his character died. So then, with three 2 L of Mountain Dew next to him, he began singing The Song That never ends. A GM from another table came over and said your healed shut up.

[@theDMLair]

OH, that is beautiful! "You're healed. Shut up." LMAO

[@MarkEdwardRom]

Epic troll move. What a great idea

[@caskaronn]

Dang Luke, that Spanish was on point, 10 points

[@theDMLair]

Thanks, I did stumble over a couple parts though. I'm used to reading English from my teleprompter not Spanish so it was a little strange for me.

[@RiversInTheSky.]

@@theDMLair made me smile for your effort! Full credit

[@claytrimble4599]

"Next time, the openings SCREW OFF" Classic Waterdhavian guards, just tired of all these foolish adventurers.

[@theDMLair]

Yep. As a DM I was a little surprised the players didn't try any normal ways of opening things... They went right to DESTROY MODE. Lol

[@piece1309]

Barbarian starts to play a few simple notes in a tavern. Bard grabs the guitar and yells “no stairway!”

[@Doughy_in_the_Middle]

I started my players in this campaign at level zero, as per the old 1e module "Treasure Hunt". As part of that module, the DM takes notes and makes tally marks based on the skills that the player's character uses and their choices along the way and assigns their class and alignment accordingly. Everyone rolled a straight 3d6 for level-0, and when I assigned classes later, they got 2 points to add to their classes primary stat (as long as that didn't put it naturally over 18; ignoring the racial bonus), and 2 more points to split to two stats or just add 2 to one other. Well, they were shipwrecked (again, as per the module), and were down to rags and underwear. The village they were was filled with Grommam and Hadozee (yes from Spelljammer), and so were wearing nothing but robes. One of my players spent a good chunk of RP around town until he finally sought out a tailor. He proceeds to go into a story about not being just a simple tailor. To be called to something better. To be called to greatness. To leave a legacy. To create something so profound, so marevelous that it would be the envy of every tailor in town. He could make.......PANTS. He absolutely was made a bard at level 1.

[@charlesdauphin3324]

What song whould he play? Well, since he discovered a strange device.... From the RUSH album "2112", on the titular track ("2112"), the 3rd section: [III. Discovery] [Verse 1] What can this strange device be? When I touch it, it gives forth a sound It's got wires that vibrate and give music What can this thing be that I found? [Verse 2] See how it sings like a sad heart And joyously screams out its pain Sounds that build high like a mountain Or notes that fall gently like rain [Verse 3] I can't wait to share this new wonder The people will all see its light Let them all make their own music The Priests praise my name on this night

[@melkiorwiseman5234]

So... Slaadi are the Chest-Bursters of D&D? ... In The Dungeon, no one (who cares) can hear you scream... ;)

[@agsilverradio2225]

Red slaadi reproduce by infecting people with tadpoles, that burst from people's chests and turn into blue and green slaadi. ... Blue slaads reproduce by infecting people with chaos phage: a licanthropy like desease that turn people into red and green slaadi. ... The green slaadi happen when the victum was a powerfull spellcaster.

[@RPGmodsFan]

LOL X-D Love the reference to the Alien (1979) movie. My comment of this Video straight forward states the Alien movie, instead of comically referring to it as you did. I guess I need to "lighten up" and stop taking things too seriously. :-P

[@spencerbodine7118]

One time I had my players captured by the empire that they were fighting against and they were placed into a coliseum where they would have to fight for their lives against terrible monsters for the viewing pleasure of the enemy Emperor. After successfully defeating a pair of Manticores, Fred, the Kobold Bard, stood in the middle of the arena and looked to the Emperor. He then yelled out for all in attendance to hear that the Emperor overthrew their previous beloved leader and took his throne. (A statement which was completely true btw). I asked Fred to make a persuasion check with disadvantage. And so he did. And on both rolls, he rolled a Natural 20. Combining that with his already incredibly high bonus, and his total was well over 35. Every civilian in attendance slowly turned to the Emperor, who at this point had realized that he was basically done for. The crowd starting rioting and trying to get into his booth, held off only by the Emperor's royal guards. The entire coliseum was in chaos at this point, and the party took that opportunity to flee back to their home kingdom. They imagined that the Emperor had been killed that day, but a few months later they had finished clearing out a cave of Hobgoblins for an ally of their kingdom, and once they brought their ally news of their success, he brought to them the haggard, disheveled Emperor. He had been cast out and exiled from the empire, and had been captured by the Hobgoblins for weeks. They attempted to question him more, but before he could answer their questions, darkness swept through the room and surrounded the Emperor. It vanished moments later, leaving behind the corpse of the Emperor. It was that point that made them realize there is something more dangerous at play than the Empire that they had fighting.

[@golfgirl7530]

Luke i just want to thank you for helping give advice and tips. I was going to be the dungeon master of a group and had no idea how to DM, but thanks to you im an now dming 3 games. Just wanted to say thank you.

[@theDMLair]

Awesome! That's so cool. I'm happy to be able to help. You are very welcome. :D

[@wonderfurret8223]

When it comes to DCs, I make passive checks have a different DC from the active checks. Usually being passive would mean it is harder to pull off a skill, but there are the odd rare circumstances where passive checks are easier than active rolls. For me, this adds realism. To take the example of perception and investigation, think of a jigsaw puzzle. If you put it together as a group, there is obviously a gap in skill level. However, there will always be pieces that even the best people won't find a place to put them, even though it is sometimes fairly obvious. The mixture of both constant active checks and passive checks occur when doing a jigsaw puzzle. If a passive check is made, they may or may not be better for putting the jigsaw puzzle together than an active check. Now often I will just keep passive and active checks at the same DC, but for things like traps, I am definitely making the passive DCs higher than the I'm still yet to find a good reason to ask a player for their passive athletics at some point in time, but I'm sure it will happen eventually.

[@Lhight85]

So many stories with Aries, the Bahd of War(3.5). One fun story was when my group (Lvl 10 Bard, Druid, and pacifist super healer Cleric) wished an audience with an Orc Chief who held a God-Tier artifact that we needed to beat the BBEG. He would only grant an audience via combat in his colosseum. Being stripped of all of our magic items, becoming effectively prisoners, we were given 3 days to prepare (2 weeks real time). As the tank/dps of the group, I planned like crazy, even using an excel spreadsheet to determine which spells were cast and when. This was a plan for failure since the odds of winning were pretty much 0. On the day of battle (beginning of session), I was to start off with Fear as even with a save, they are shaken for a turn to help the others' spell DCs. Once I did... they all failed their saves. We were all shocked, even the DM. As fleeing from a combat trial meant instant disqualification and dishonor, we had an instant turn in our favor. The artifact saved the Orc chief, but his Ogremage and general fled (Lvl 15s). So it became a 3v1 at this point. Despite the advantage, the Orc Chief was tough with the artifact and the healer had to spend the whole time keeping me alive (d6 HP). The fight became so bloody that the DM joked that we would have to make swim checks if the fight lasted for too long. In the end, we did win the audience, but some good memories with that surprise.

[@1AmGroot]

Hey! How dare they not give Gary his proper title as an intern!

[@theDMLair]

Heads will roll! 😂

[@That_one-guy192]

Not playing bards sooner in my D&D career is one my life’s greatest regrets. I always played rangers, thieves, and monks. No one I ever played with ran bards so the idea of doing so never popped up for me. It wasn’t until I read and fell in love with the character of Thom in The WOT that I had the idea to play one and my god it was fun. It’s one of the most enjoyable classes to play and anyone who hasn’t played one before really needs to roll one up at least once.

[@theDMLair]

Cool. What do you like most about bards?

[@shadowscall7758]

Never actually liked Bards all that much. I prefer the more martial classes.

[@piece1309]

Slap that multi colored cloak on and entertain the folks

[@NobodyDungeons]

I remember one of my characters had a passive perception of 22 without advantage which was broken so I think making traps an active perception check is slightly better also I'd go a bit further and have them make the decision to look for traps so if they aren't looking for traps then they get caught

[@nickm9102]

The issue I have with that is people use their very limited ASIs for Feats like Dungeon Delver and Observant. Your basically telling a player they wasted an ASI because you want traps. I personally want the Passive check. DC for trap, plus 5 because it was designed to be hidden, plus 5 because the lighting in the area draws you eye away from it, Oh, and plus 5 for the obvious trap next to it that you are ment to find. Passive Disadvantage stacks because it is a static modifier so your standard DC 12 trap is now DC 27...but is next to the DC 10 Trap.

[@jeremiahlewis410]

Huh, that backstory template is pretty good. Now there is no excuse. Thanks!

[@TabooX1984]

I checked it out a few videos ago (it seems I'm binging this channel). It's real good. I think it could be shortened by a couple questions though. Duplicates

[@mysterkr5495]

Wow! That was some impressive spanish! To answer the question of what your song your bard should play in the beginning skit....."Toss A Coin To Your Withcher" in fact lol make a outube story of you singing it I wanna see this now!!!

[@theDMLair]

Dude you do not want to see me singing it at all ever. Trust me LOL

[@mysterkr5495]

@@theDMLair XD worth the try lol I've never played a bard but I want to make one and base it off of a youtuber I follow named yahzick he does nerdcore rap about D&D

[@agsilverradio2225]

"Large red creatures with chests burst open" sounds like it could be red dragons or some kind of fiend. Edit: when you said red slaad, I was like: Ooooh, slaads, of course! I compleatly forgot about that mosnter type. (Which is bad, because I plan to use them as minions for my BBEG)

[@theDMLair]

Yeah, maybe. Perhaps it wasn't as obvious as I thought, but I heard at least one player mutter "slaadi" right at the beginning.

[@ataberkdedemen9802]

*fiend

[@FleurXedas]

It was not obvious for me because I have never played DnD

[@agsilverradio2225]

@@ataberkdedemen9802 Thank you for the spellcheck. I have corrected it.

[@noahrice3362]

I honestly thought they might be Xorn.

[@fhuber7507]

That was an epic bard worthy of being remembered in song.

[@theDMLair]

If only someone can write that song. LOL

[@RPGmodsFan]

I am embarrassed to say that when I heard "chest bursting monster"; I thought of the creature from the Alien Movie, instead of a Slaadi.

[@theDMLair]

I think the people who wrote the aliens movies were actually DND players running a campaign with sladdi in it. That's why aliens are the way they are.

[@RPGmodsFan]

@@theDMLair Please don't hate me (this will show you how much of a Grognard I am)... Alien movie came out in 1979. Slaad made its first appearance in the 2E AD&D Monstrous Manual in 1993.

[@simonburling3762]

@@RPGmodsFan Also the Aliens were designed by H R Giger.

[@jackalcoyote8777]

@RPGmodsFan If someone tells you starship troopers was inspired by the cast playing warhammer 40k, or that tutenkhamen built his tomb after watching yugioh, definitely correct them. There's no way that it's sarcasm because everyone knows the obvious facts.

[@TheJamesView]

Gary! Like Gary the intern!

[@1AmGroot]

How dare they not give Gary the title he is worthy of

[@agsilverradio2225]

Is Garry the Inturn named after Gary Gygax? If you don't know, could you the players that dubed him that?

[@joem1480]

Gary the Cabin Boy (swabbie is the next step up) lol

[@theDMLair]

Speak with Captain Todd. He was in charge of promotions. :D

[@melkiorwiseman5234]

EW! You do know what pirates (and many ships) used their cabin boys for, don't you? (Ducks and runs, just in case this becomes family-unfriendly) ;)

[@Stopcontactgamesenvlogs]

I have no regrets about runnin off! The legend of Captain Todd continues..

[@theDMLair]

Hey what up dude. Yeah but you ran off toward like the very end of the adventure and you were getting destroyed by Magic missiles. I think your exit was completely amazing to be honest. Super cool.

[@dylanduplechain8378]

Still working on the Legends of Captain Todd man (I was Zaza) 😂

[@Stopcontactgamesenvlogs]

@@dylanduplechain8378 Certainly am! Untill this day, he still lives, having plundered his way through the feywild, he is currently plotting to steal all of Mr. von Zarovich's cutlery for his own hoard!

[@dylanduplechain8378]

@@Stopcontactgamesenvlogs Zaza is currently haunting that same sewer and only when a kobold reaches Powdermonkey status can he be freed 🤣🤣

[@fredricknoe3114]

0:41 The Kung Fu Panda Legends of Awesomeness Theme.

[@iambored3319]

I absolutely love your channel your advice actually really helps and it’s good , your always cheery and all your videos are really good and high quality I love your channel so much , 👍🏼 keep making great content man , I’m sticking around.

[@agsilverradio2225]

Passive perseption is for when the DM doesn't want the players to know they are making a perception check: I.e. a monster the pcs are not yet aware of, is making a stealth check against the pcs.

[@MetaMdad]

I always assumed passive perception was the ability to know you should roll instead of an auto success on the check. Like the people in movies who stop suddenly and say somethings off, then they start looking around.

[@theDMLair]

Yeah passive perception as written means that the character automatically detects anything with a DC equal to or lower than the character's passive perception. Even if it functioned such that the character knows he should make a perception check that in and of itself alerts the player that there is something to be found at that location. And then at that point it will be all hands on deck to find that thing until they do find it.

[@MetaMdad]

the DM Lair I mean fair enough, I guess you could always just roll the perception check for them behind the DM screen and if it passes they see it or if it fails you say nothing. Just seems a bit unfair to the players who do invest in passive perception to not get that sixth sense sometimes.

[@Ironic_daemonic]

As a bard main the title of this episode made me giggle with delight.

[@theDMLair]

Just don't blow yourself up! Lol

[@cthulhufhtagn2483]

That moment when you realize the barbarian found an electric guitar...

[@theDMLair]

Emotion: Regret mixed with terror

[@krystopherjohnson4548]

In the games I have played, nobody wanted to be a bard. The rogues however... hoo boy. Don't mess with the rogue. Especially after 15th level- when most of them have already taken shadow dancer levels. (I have played 3.5e, and only just began looking into 5e) One rogue we had ended up with the ability to use a spell-like ability to teleport anywhere within line of sight, at will, as a free action, if he made a will save equal to the total distance he wanted to teleport. (GM had accidentally given us a deck of many things and the only one who got anything good was the rogue. My character was obliterated, our fighter gained a lord of the nine hells as a nemesis and went into a protection program a paladin order ran, and the cleric lost 3 levels, while the rogue got a favor from a greater celestial being- basically a lesser deity). He took the entire line of spring attack feats- the one that leads up to battle daner, not the one that leads to whirlwind attack, and focused on using blade-boots AND twin rogue's blades he had commissioned that were adamantine. This jackwagon was our damage dealer- mostly because the player was a show-off and his character could take out no less than four creatures with HD equal to his own in a single round, and always ended up going first. The ranger was even worse: between feats, magic, and special materials, plus an enchanted great bow, this elven prick could shoot something from 1000 yards without a single negative being applied, and was an archery type fighter/ranger multiclass character. At level 15, he could one-shot a frost giant with his bow, and could get off at least 12 arrows in a round (again combined magic, enchanted weapon, and feats). The entire campaign got derailed by a Legolas-vs-Gimli style competition between the two. When I died for the sixth time where those two took no damage or only minimal damage, I quit. The GM ended the game the next session by sending a CR 95 Force Dragon after the two. Nobody wanted to play with those two after that either, because they were too good at playing their chosen classes and tended to end up very overpowered.

[@theDMLair]

Even in 5e rogues are pretty cool and powerful. Not super OP like paladin or splash combos, but rogues can certainly hold their own.

[@TabooX1984]

Most of my experience is with 2e. I played in a 3e for 2 sessions. I like the 5e stuff alot. I recently purchased a 4e book on Athas. (LOVE that setting) 👍

[@twilightgardenspresentatio6384]

I need a tearful goodbye scene for zhazha! He was gone so fast.

[@dylanduplechain8378]

I was the Bard Player lol, He was indeed gone too fast 😂😂😂

[@NobodyDungeons]

I absolutely made my DM crap his pants as for you see I was playing a druid ranger multiclass with some unearth arcana so one spell druids have that no other class does is flame blade which does 3d6 fire damage per hit I had 20 wisdom and the extra attack feature and the ability to use hunters mark without concentration thanks to the class variant features unearthed arcana so my DM's crapped himself when I did 8d6 damage with a flaming sword and one 2nd level spell every round of combat

[@jesternario]

The only bard story I have is the one about how one of my players fell to his doom in our fourth or fifth session. Failed his jump check to cross a 10-ft wide chasm and fell over 280 feet to his doom. If he had tied the rope the PCs had to himself, he would've survived. But he failed to jump (3), he failed a save to grab the ledge (I like to give my players a second save just in case the screw up the first one, rolled a 4). The fighter offered to roll to attempt to reach out and grab the guy, and I allowed it. Fighter rolled a 1 to catch. Bard fell 4 levels of dungeon and splattered on the cold stone of the main room of the fifth level.

[@Dexter_WILHIGGINS]

Bard story: flirted with a dragon.. got a NAT 20, 17th lvl at the time, so a really nice roll... carried the party and ended up becoming a leader of a village because of the silver dragon. Still remember that day...

[@nickm9102]

I had a group where we entered a teleportation maze we were lvl 13 I think. My tempest Cleric was seperated so I summoned a fire elemental to scout ahead and help find my party. The elemental found an Ice Devil so now Im concerned. Thankfully our Ancients Paladin was transported near by and found me we proceded to fight him as we were in a hall we need to go thru. So a lvl 13 Tempest Cleric and a lvl 13 Ancients Paladin. Managed to kill a CR 14 Ice Devil. We had to use alot of high power abilities but we survived and could actually still effectively fight if we needed to. It made for an Intense fight and made the DM feel better about our AC Paladin 23/Cleric 24. He would have killed the cleric if he hadn't cast regenerate.

[@thunderbitez5063]

My bard got the only person that knew the way out of a labyrinth killed how was he supposed to know he was deadly allergic to peanuts.

[@josephskiles]

I only played a bard once during a Ravenloft campaign, he ended up failing to many darkness checks and became an major npc in sithicus . To be honest he deserved what he got.

[@1003JustinLaw]

My way of dealing with Passive Perception (and Passive Investigation) is to set the DC for the passive stuff at 50% higher than the DC for the active rolls. So a shoddily made goblin pitfall trap would require a DC 8 Perception or Investigation roll to find, but characters with a Passive Perception or Investigation of at least 12 will spot them anyway. I admit that's more work for me, the DM, but I enjoy it, and hey, isn't that what D&D is all about? Also, well crafted and hidden traps that has, say, a DC 18 to find for Perception or Investigation checks would have a DC of freaking 27 for the passive things, making them near-impossible to spot just absentmindedly.

[@Matt-md5yt]

Cool list of characters in this game. Also great story

[@legendnetwork9153]

I like to think that the opening skits are actually Luke’s games

[@theDMLair]

Maybe they are. I've been dungeon mastering for myself since high school. Lol

[@radianceguardians]

Me: “sees the title, clicks the video open, and before I watch the video, I clicked the like button.” Seriously, though. This story is awesome. I love it. Thank you for sharing this cool story, Luke.

[@ohthenoises]

To me, passive perception is used for things like birds flying overhead, a hidden enemy. Etc. not for traps and doors. I may allow a dwarf with stonecunning to use passive for doors just because they know how stone is worked but for the most part I totally agree

[@theDMLair]

Yeah I think that's fair. I just don't like the idea of having an auto detect on cool dungeon features like traps and secret doors. When somebody's Auto detecting them they're no longer cool. It takes away the drama and suspense my opinion.

[@ohthenoises]

the DM Lair totally agree.

[@final_catalyst]

@@theDMLair that's why you tell that player/players with high enough passive somthing seems off prompting them to look farther/ask more questions or roll. And if they have such crazy high passive you point out even trivial things to F with them like rats scurrying around

[@theDMLair]

Mike, one the DM gives the player with the high PP a hint that something is off, it will be all hands on deck searching that area until they find the thing. The hint is effectively the same as giving it away.

[@final_catalyst]

@@theDMLair yeah they may have time to get weapons out or take formation but really in 6 seconds not knowing where/what or if the threat is there they can only get so far. It's about a trust thing between player and DM that even if the player is not constantly looking for threat the character is. (also one might only notice and to alert the others somthing is off and get ready might give away you are aware that somthing is off giving some role play opportunities) For example you are walking down a cordor your party hears the normal echo of their own foot steps and the occasional pest scurrying around, how ever your rogue with the pp of 22 can reassure the party it was just a few rats and a crow. But wait is that another set of foot falls I hear, is it behind or in front maybe just an echo. They alone for having the high pp are able to be on guard. But there is a few choices now: If they act on this information could put the party on uneasy and the possible unseen threat is still unseen and can come from anywhere with advantage or just back off a bit and start gass lighting the party. If they don't give it away they can now start trying to hone in on where and what the threat is (Good role-playing/story building opportunities) so later they can more subtlety inform the party there is 1 target fallowing on foot. Allowing the party to turn the tables with ambush or preparing actions. Or they can all stop and start actively trying to search if the circumstances permit. Eventually finding the hidden objects or personal if they don't get away. As for traps if they role bad/don't have a ton of time to waste they might only recognize one thing about it. (the trigger mechanism, what its intension is, where the trigger is but not what it triggers, or what does get triggered but not how to do so) As well the pasives are sort of your free checks to get more information about your surroundings in the time crunch critical moments (6 second rounds extra) without having to take a full action to stop and think/observe to glean somthing new or not obvious to your character. (especially for things not immediately relivent to mention or describe as a DM but the current situation player wants to know and character should know or quickly be able to assess) Another example you are chasing a fleeing big bad they run into there lair/office just a head of the party and disappear. High PI sees the warn stone arc in the floor by the book case that must be the hidden exit they used. But the clock is ticking, what is the trigger? Is it trapped? The longer everyone spends trying to dogpile role the farther away the big bad gets or more time they have to set up. If they have good roleplaying thoughts on how to test the mechanisms they might be close behind. Or the barbarian says eff it and smashes through and keeps pursuing. It allows for faster stories and tention with out wasteing actions as the high PI also sees a set of plans and maps on the desk and can quickly reach over and grab them well the group keeps persut behind the barbarian. *edit* but each DM has there own style and I say to each their own. As well tbh every one if given the time can methodically pick apart every room they enter this just removes the grind of the role and acknowledges the characters level of detail and dedication to this. Edit also rolling behind the screen at any time results in a simaler "giving it all away" problem due to natural media gaming

[@gregorythompson2682]

I played a arcane duelist in pathfinder 1st edition . my hand had been cut off by orcs at 1st lv. .And replaced with a mithril clockwork hand by the gnomes we rescued . Towards the end of the campaign we faced an endless horde of zombies animated by a floating crystal orb . I shattered the orb by launching myself in a catapult at the orb striking it with my mithril hand and feather falling back to the ground .

[@leftwingdragon6235]

8:08 I knew Gary was going to turn up as soon as he mentioned cobalts

[@alexm7141]

Bard: I will initiate self destruct.

[@wonderfurret8223]

A bard's countdown: tee minus a one, a two, a one two three four. Assuming they were doing it on a count of four of course.

[@thegreatcanadianweasel9928]

Just last night actually. Doing Dragon heist with a group and they needed to find out where to go after the warehouse fight. So on one hand you have the Khajit sorcerer getting an amazing roll with no bonuses to do the tracking and finding it right away. HOWEVER the party had already split up. So more than half of them didn't know what was going on. Some of them meta-gamed and said the Khajit let them know (even though their own actions would have been running concurrently) But the bard went on like a true champ and went to get info. I let him roll a persuade which determined the cost of info would be 3gp from a dock hand minding a warehouse. This bard gets mouthy quick, and threatened to beat the information from the dock hand with his...instrument. His intimidation roll....2 His initiative roll...5 He immediately got clocked with one punch, the second punch missed him (as I decided a thug fit the profile for a dock worker and had that stat block handy already from earlier) His turn was spent cowering and going not the face, then paying up the money. I still gave him the info cause I think the sight of him whining was good enough for the dock worker. So he then goes to meet up with the party, and won't answer why his face is busted up.

[@TyTrouts]

I was playing a wholesome Valor bard once, but then the dm kept asking if he wanted to seduce everything. So once he got his hands on Blackrazor, to the metagamey annoyance of the party, he had secretly decided to become a serial killer. Killing any npc the dm even remotely suggested he try to seduce. Because he wanted to feed his sword. People, that's why you don't always assume with bards. They can surprise you.(Note: The character was bi, so no it wasn't only men or only women.)

[@pauldiamond1583]

Passive perception exists to prevent players from inspecting literally everything in an attempt to avoid traps and find every secret.

[@morriganlefay5438]

In my current game our Bard decided he wanted to branch out musically. Until now he'd just been playing the bagpipes (specifically bagpipe covers of songs like Smash Mouth's All Star or the Star Wars theme) but decided to make himself a flute when we had some down time. He told the DM he wanted to make it magical too, he rolled for it aaaaand.... crit fail. He makes the flute alright, but instead of a beneficial effect it's now cursed. He cannot get rid of it and every time he tries to play his bagpipes there is a one in four chance he'll be forced to play the cursed flute instead. That might not sound so bad, except for one problem. He only realised after making it that he can't actually play the flute. He never even bothered to check. So now he's stuck with a magic flute he can't play, can never get rid of and will randomly replace his instrument he can actually use and reduce his music to ear piercing noise and ruin his Bard spells.

[@cthulhufhtagn2483]

"And finally, this encounter presented the opportunity to use kobolds, because I like kobolds, and because, well, reasons." By "reasons", I assume you mean Gary the Intern? Edit: I knew it.

[@theDMLair]

Gary the Swabbie! 😂

[@Fishcrab]

We are currently playing lost mines of phandelver,and one player had to leave due to school stuff. We got a new member into the group who plays a pacifist bard. She used charm person on a guard in the red brand hideout. We wanted to trap him in the cell, that he had been guarding, but the bard let him go. He then got eaten by the monster in the room outside. My character was very smug when that happened.

[@final_catalyst]

I look at passive perception as a six sence for being on alert. If an hidden creature has stealth lower you are considered aware somthing might be up and I prompt the player same for traps. Not giving where or what. They get to tell me what they want to look more into. Also if it is high enough they get put on edge from just rats and stuff moving around occasionally

[@final_catalyst]

Other wise you run into every one just constantly rolling for perception slowing down the game as well vary alert characters failing to see things they should be watching out for.

[@scyobiempire4450]

I had a bard that loved impersonating kings. Once he convinced the Royal Guards that he is the real king and the actual real king is the bard that they had heard about. Let’s just say my players might of got a kingdom. 0:40 Why not Time is Running Out by Muse?

[@theDMLair]

Wow how did your Bard maintain that disguise to get past the scrutiny of people that have been around the king for years? Was it using Magic as well?

[@scyobiempire4450]

@@theDMLair The bard's race (a homebrew race) has a natural depiction proficiency and knew disguise self. It was a oneshot, that lasted 3 game sessions, so I didn't make a complex backstory for the guards. It did help that the Bard got a Natural 20 (27 with modifier), though. The real king and bard might become NPC's for my next campaign.

[@twilightgardenspresentatio6384]

The party is only safe together. The wanderer gets picked off. Easy... stay with the group.

[@noahbeach9691]

Gary's back!

[@theDMLair]

Is he ever really gone? 😂

[@geoffdewitt6845]

ME at 3:30 - IT'S A SLAAAD!!!!!

[@KageRyuu6]

The birth of Gary the intern.

[@wypmangames]

im a bard with a whistle/flute but i know a few special medleys one gives a weak shortlasting hypnosis while the orther gives a stronger effect but takes multiple rolls and lots off playing (not a single mistake while whistling or it turns into a weak hypnosis like the first one) and one to remove any hypnosis from anyone that hears is ive hypnotised a dragon and than got him out off it but because i didnt hurt him (neutral/chaotic ish sometimes , good) he ended up becoming my friend/pet dragon also i always want to find peacefull ways out off every single encounter (usually talk it out or make music battles where the one making best music wins or hypnosis if needed) and its been my best character (longest surviving and highest level) jet fighting isnt really my (ooc) style and all my characters that i played with fighting during combat all died so quickly i gave up and made the passifist bard off hypnosis

[@Isheian]

I just want to point out that the bard in the thumbnail is holding a hurdy gurdy. Which is hilarious and awesome...

[@spore4ever91]

I feel that passive perception in trap-finding should be a nudge, not an answer. If a PC’s passive beats the spot DC, I’ll maybe clue them in to a trap’s nature or general location, but not both. (For example, “your nose picks up the stench of acid somewhere nearby”) Alternatively, I just ask them to make a perception check

[@thewolfstu]

I remember that talking about speaking Spanish from the small bit of that livestream I caught. XD

[@theDMLair]

Oh yeah and I sometimes have spoken Spanish my live streams. I remember having some people stop in from Central America or South America and I just spoke to them in Spanish.

[@thewolfstu]

Yeah, Tis quite groovy throwing that in for a little bit of zest on the normal videos. Plus, it is a fun way to include people who may not know much English to begin with in a more comfortable way. Likewise, the main reason I remembered that stream was cause one of my friends is getting into DMing and I sent them the link to watch that stream. lol

[@10moonj]

This game sounds like a ton of fun. I'm a pretty new player but im going to try and win a spot in your 50k game. Lets play DnD

[@MrGreensweightHist]

Set two DCs. Make the Passive Perception DC higher than the Active perception DC. The logic is that actively looking is an action taht lowers the difficulty

[@Valerian_Bagelknight]

One of my fellow players in a campaign we are running lost his second character when we split the party

[@theDMLair]

I mean that's the sort of stuff that does happen when you split the party. My players constantly suggest splitting the party and then there's always at least one player whose like no don't do it. LOL

[@DeCurtisProductions]

For a moment I thought "has this guy always speak Spanish and I just forgot?"

[@dasentro]

First time playing a Bard. My bard had been hired to distract a town while the rest of the party looted a church. I rolled a natural 20 for 3 turns and ended up doing so well that my bard didn't just distract the town he ended up looting people. So by the end of the game we had pissed off an entire town in more ways than one. I think we might have broken the DM as well. Cause we never played again after that.

[@mr.supporter4u]

My friend was playing a bard and completely derailed a session by convincing an entire village they were all sick with (some random disease he made up outta thin air) which led to the needs of a mass grave. Later on it came to our attention that the village was actually sick and if we stayed to long we would have been infected as well. (This was a costom dnd my DM made in details on his own) so in the end the bard saved us but it really seemed like he just wanted to flex his power of persuasion on a town 😂 DM just looked at him with looks of "This will come back too bite you you know that right?"

[@jajahalpin]

Love the joke about the barbarian not knowing what an electric guitar is

[@byronsmothers8064]

As a player who takes expertise on his swashbuckler, i am offended at your houserule! But as a serious note, i fully understand your logic behind it

[@Bad_Moon_Rising]

Im thinking of trying something like keeping track of player perception modifiers and a list of pre rolled 20s . If a player comes upon a thing where passive perception would kick in every time , instead add each players modifier to the next number you already have rolled . So they could pass or or fail passively . Let them make active checks too and use that roll instead . Then if you need more numbers roll a few d20s behind your screen and jot them down, and they'll be like umm whats he rolling for?? lol

[@Ripcord303]

Your Spanish is very good! Not sure why people split up unnecessarily I always advise against it.

[@theDMLair]

Thanks. It's better when I'm just talking naturally. Reading it from the teleprompter was awkward I feel.

[@argisus1279]

I think I know how to get around the passive perception, just tell them. "something's not right." and be super vague.

[@MonkeyJedi99]

My bard story (not a Bard's tale, that's someone else's IP) is also a kobold story. So I am DMing, as I did without playing for a couple of decades (/grumble), for a party who were sent into the hills north of a small kingdom to clear it of enemies, for which they would get paid and get a keep for themselves to be a vassal of that expanding kingdom. Anyway, the party tracks down a small clan of kobolds, and to get information, the half-elf bard charms the kobold. The rest of the party took off into a frenzy of murder as the bard kept the kobold from alerting the clan. This charmed kobold saw how much more dangerous this group was than even the local orcs, so when the spell wore off, the kobold stayed friendly to the bard. - They named him Spot, and gave him a large satchel of food and a short sword. Spot's ide of travel rations creeped out the party, since he usually packed the sack full of baby chickens. When hungry, he would reach into the bag and get a snack. His meal ritual was to pet the chick, say "Pretty chickee," and bite the head off first, then consume the rest of the thing with a celebration of crunching. - Spot's room in the party's keep was a filthy, stinky henhouse for Spot to raise his trail rations. - Some time later, the party hunts down the local orcs, with the bard assuming a disguise so he and Spot can scout the orc tribe. Well, the bard forgot to tell the party how to discern him from other orcs when they triggered their surprise attack, and the party's ranger shot the bard in the gut, causing him to start bleeding to death. Spot grabbed the bard's sack of herbs, tossed in some pine needles and chick feathers (and chick droppings) from his own bag, and stuffed the bard's abdominal cavity with all of the herbs, plants, feathers, and feces. - The bard was simultaneously regenerating his intestines, catching a blood infection, purging a poison from his system, petrified, cured of petrification, stunned, put to sleep and screaming in agony. - Spot was fun.

[@gnarthdarkanen7464]

Okay, first... If your Barbarian has the guts, "Sting of the Bumblebee" by Manowar is relatively easy to look up... That would seem dubiously fitting, AND it's actually written for electric guitar... good luck! ;o)

[@BrazenBard]

Personally, I prefer not to use Passive Perception to find traps or secret doors or the like - unless they're obvious by design (a rope across the hallway, a bit of wall in a different color, etc.) - that stuff is for Investigation more than mere Perception. Well, as a general guideline, anyway.

[@SharkaOfSea]

How to skip 95% of the dungon as a bard? "Hello, we have an important message for the queen and we request an audience."

[@aliceofspades]

"Gary" must be the "Jones" of Kobolds. ;)

[@DeathxStrike18]

Lol my backstory already followed the outline in a similar way, though not as detailed but hit majority of the ones on the backstory list.

[@theDMLair]

Nice. 😁

[@DeathxStrike18]

@@theDMLair My friend whos Dm was amazed that I even left in an open arc for him to tie into the campain. Short story left home to apprentice the druid who helped town after plague. recieve letter during training that weird things are happening with local animals back home and town leader seems to be waving it off and asks me to return home. Druid instructor has me journey home as final test to join druid order and must find a solution without instructors help while not ingoring any other issues a druid would address along the way. Characters father and twin dies from the plague creating a hook of why he decides to become a druid. And small flavor text for town description, and druid order (Mailikki, forest godess clergy). LN character. Our DM isnt a fan of the you magically meet in x location, and instead uses 0.5 sessions where he used our starting location within our backstory and does a 1 on 1 one shot with each player for character development and organically meet based on circumstances for session 1. For instance Traveling from druid teacher meet with the PC bard who is in the forest from his backstory, where the PC rogue was traveling to ruins near by as part of his back story, ect. So all players meet at a crossroad from thier home locations and each 1 on 1 ends where they meet the others and the introduction ends up using the 1 on 1 adventure as their peologue to meeting giving hints to thier character rather than knowing everything.

[@tannerray5014]

I haven’t had many bards in my campaigns, but the one I did have certainly proved memorable. She sold her soul to an imprisoned God, learned how to summon him and his followers, burned down an ancient meeting ground for all plant folk which released enough energy for her to summon him to the Material Plane and fought in his name. However, as time went on her and the rest of the party learned that this God had destroyed their home city in an effort to make a statement on his return. They decided they didn’t want to follow him, fought off assassins and made their way to his fortress. After a huge chaotic melee, a different God was killed and the bard was able to use the release of divine energy to take her soul back from the original God and imprison him back where he came from.

[@theDMLair]

Wow. What did the other players do while you were basically helping the bad guys?

[@tannerray5014]

@@theDMLair They were mostly pretty chill with that whole thing. The whole group was about one step above murder hobo, and they were cool with going on quests for the bad guys as long as they were paid in cool loot. It wasn't until the city was destroyed that they realized they probably needed to fight against him.

[@theDMLair]

Cool. Helping the world burn. Lol

[@simonburling3762]

On passive perception, it can easily clear 20 with expertise.

[@radkobachvaroff]

@9:44 the passive perception debate. Ok yeah, the training wheels can come off for you. For me however, I'm not so good at forshadowing traps...

[@TabooX1984]

Regarding 3:41 I can't think of a d&d critter thats large, red, and is born from the chest. Is it a Slaad? Regarding 10:57 Lucky guess. I've only read about the slaad in an old module. I don't recall the name but it was a dungeon crawl with high levels. Really comical stuff. Cesar Slaad and such.

[@deadpool-mp3gb]

Awesome story!

[@theDMLair]

Thanks dude! 😁

[@jonathanschmitt5762]

When you said chest-bursting, I thought of mimics.

[@WitherLord888]

The barbarian should play some background music during your next livestream

[@fumetteriayamori1474]

Hoping to do a good thing, I took your template and translated it in Italian for my players. If anyone asks it, I could send it to you. Let me know! PS: Your videos are so good, helped me a lot in becoming a better DM for my group, thank you so much!

[@emmasilver2332]

I'm playing a bard right now, and let me tell you there are TONS of shenanigans I have planned. We haven't gotten very far into the campaign, but boy oh boy have I got plans

[@TJTrickster]

Higher DC for passive perception.

[@josephbannon5982]

Jack diddly squat... XD I love it

[@lyrix9753]

My bardbarian sits down and tells a story of how he attacked a wizard in which his attacks couldnt damage him as if an invisible wall was in front of him... ladies and gentleman yes,... this is... *WONDERWALL*

[@lemmingsoftime627]

Bard story: We're trying to infiltrate a fortress. Four of us go up to the guards and say we're mercenaries who want work; the other two go hide as backup. The guard asks us if we're willing to do anything...if we're willing to kill. The others say yes (some honestly, some not). My bard (Henry Clay, loosely based on the historical figure) is very much not willing to, and also doesn't want to lie, and also remembers the last time we pretended we wanted to join a group (it did not go well). So he shakes his head and says "You know what, I'm not cut out to be a mercenary," and walks away. The others enter the fortress. Clay and the other two outside go around to the back and try to sneak in. Long story short, one makes it in, but Clay and the other fail their stealth checks and have to find a new plan. The other guy suggests we sneak in somehow. I don't want to, but then I come up with a wonderful idea that I have to try. So the other guy turns himself invisible and follows Clay, who walks up to the guard and says, "After realizing I'm not cut out to be a mercenary, I decided to be a traveling musician." One successful performance check later, we're in. I don't know what happens next, since this happened a few days ago.

[@Volvandese]

9:51 tell me about it... I have a rogue in my group who opted to make Wis his second-highest stat and picked perception as one of his expertise skills. Currently his passive perception is 20.

[@patrickdees5256]

All HAIL the bard. May it never be nerfed.

[@theDMLair]

I don't think there's much to worry about with nerfing bards. Of all the classes that I could think of nerfing Bard is not on that list. :-)

[@patrickdees5256]

@@theDMLair if the bard gets nerfed, we riot.

[@BoredTAK5000]

I turned the bard into a mindflayer once... yeah oops

[@handlebarfox2366]

hmmmmm now there's a character idea, a Mindflayer bard....

[@artemisgoldheart6791]

How the hell did the barbarian get an electric guitar?

[@theDMLair]

Those darn random loot tables... 😬

[@order012]

My Bard in my game just lost a democratic election to a Talking Rat (Some Spoilers) This was Tomb of Annihilation and the Bard had gotten into a fight with a Ranger. The Bard was under the influence of Wongo and The Ring of Winter (two CE entities). The Bard had been kind of greedy choosing to give himself more treasure and had some ego. The Bard almost killed the Ranger (due to rising tensions) but the other party members intervene. The Bard lost a lot of popularity with the party. The Ring of Winter finally beat the Bard in a Charisma contest and demanded to be given to the Druid (he was chaotic evil and had bad charisma) after the Ring felt like he was being treated like a puppet. The rest of the Party impeaches him and Chester the talking rat seized the opportunity to become the Party Leader by promising a fair share of the treasure and that he would be just in his actions (he won like 80% of the votes).

[@DragonGunzDorian]

I'm not sure what's more sad, Gary not getting that promotion, or the barbarian having his dream of being a bard put down by the rest of the party. I'll remind you of the joke I made in a past video about a hostile work environment lol. You can sing whatever song you put your mind to barbarian!

[@theDMLair]

That's right! The barbarian might just have to take this to HR!

[@DragonGunzDorian]

the DM Lair and I'll vouch for him! good video as always dude.

[@VolcanicKnight]

Bard singing despacito. Make it happen

[@theDMLair]

Great song...but you don't want to experience my singing... 😬

[@VolcanicKnight]

the DM Lair 😂 I’m certain your Spanish is better than mine. Either way you have my support 🙂

[@lunavarion]

Could you please make a video giving tips for running theater of the mind, especially dealing with combat. My players are all on discord, so visuals aren't easy.