Fixing Boss Fights In D&D

Ryoko's Guide to the Yokai Realms launches tomorrow! Grab your FREE, beautiful Yokai Dawn dice set by backing early! heliana.lt/RyokoKS
Kaiju Fighting Rules Lite Version right here! www.heliana.lt/RyokoKaijuLite
This video covers a rules expansion to D&D 5e from Ryoko's Guide to the Yokai Realms to make for epic boss encounters! Steal it for your games and back Ryoko's for the full expansion (and more) in the final book!
I've been told to use keywords in video descriptions, but I don't know what I'm doing. I stole these tags from MonkeyDM who seems on top of this type of thing when we chat.
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0:00 - Intro
0:56 - The Problem With Boss Fights (Thicc Kobolds)
1:52 - Logical Inconsistencies
2:45 - Combat As Storytelling
3:45 - Cheese
4:48 - Fixing Epic Combat In D&D (New Battle System)
6:40 - Monster Behaviours
7:47 - Vulnerable Areas
10:42 - Other Rules and Mechanics

[@DnDShorts]

🥳🥳Ryoko's Guide to the Yokai Realms launches TOMORROW! Grab your FREE, beautiful Yokai Dawn dice set by backing early! heliana.lt/RyokoKS 🐉🐉Kaiju Fighting Rules Lite Version here! www.heliana.lt/RyokoKaijuLite

[@Bananabread810]

WHAT TOMORROW COWABUNGA I HAD NO IDEIA

[@James_Irish]

I'm so excited! I love your videos and I'm sure I'll love your book!

[@princequincy5421]

Awesome video; I've personally had success with having bosses that have 12 key features that they channel 6 of at a time; when their health drops to 0, it refills and they lose a feature to gain an unused one, and if they lack a spare feature, they die

[@ouistix8264]

I love it when youtube creator just make references to other ones. It feels fair

[@Worthless-one]

Been waiting for this; SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!!

[@brag3320]

Getting recognition from DND shorts really shows how much pointy hat has grown and he’s officially a big boy creator. And I’m actually genuinely proud of him

[@tonktosujerry8907]

Pointy hat is on his way to kingdom truly

[@relariistheparadox221]

I think kaiju fortitude providing immunity to being moved might be a little too much, because some of the best Kaiju scenes in media (including Empire Strikes Back's AT-AT scene) are when one big creature throws another big creature into a structure or trips them and they go crashing into something. Maybe a fix could be "immune to effects from spells and abilities that would move them, except for abilities from gargantuan sized creatures" or something similar.

[@dawk7]

Pretty sure this falls under "should be left to GM fiat", although the problem is that it mixes with "players have to accept the GM weaving how things affect the monster, instead of pure RaW-consistency". But yeah, it's oh-so-satisfying that, hey, maybe the push effect is no good if you just try using it, but if you just had the fighter hit its legs, the barbarian do a charging bash, and the wizard fireballed the kaiju's face... what better time to have somebody push down the big kaiju to the ground? Ultimately, it becomes a matter of tabletop improv, which can be... good, or bad, but that's the risk and reward of the system.

[@Americanbadashh]

@@dawk7 Great thing about Rule 0, is it's always RAW

[@humperdinkthewarlock3049]

Love this idea! One thing to note is that, in 5e, "Gargantuan" is a catch-all for anything above 25 feet. These are all supergargantuan! For example, Bakuryo's token is 60 feet by 30 feet. (Source: am writer of Bakuryo).

[@timothyevans6930]

If you want to banish them, It should be a quest for some maguffin and then there should still be a fight while you do some ritual. The Kiju should be aware it is happening

[@Drekromancer]

@@timothyevans6930 Good point. That seems thematically appropriate for monsters that can't be slain or conventionally defeated - and it can still make for a climactic fight scene. Matt Mercer had two climactic boss fights in that format on Critical Role: The Rite of Prime Banishment for Vecna and the Ritual of Sealing for Uk'otoa. In both cases, they still had to have a whole fight - it's just that the need to seal the boss away changed the win condition. Uk'otoa didn't even really play differently from a normal fight - the players just had to use a special power they'd received after Uk'otoa dropped to 0HP. But for Vecna, the whole fight was balanced around needing to deal enough damage to cause major wounds in Vecna's body, then hammering the Prime Trammels into his wounds, and then completing the Rite of Prime Banishment. All of those things except the wounds were high-DC skill checks that they had to succeed on in the middle of a terrifying final boss encounter, which made for an incredible degree of suspense. So I think this can be an excellent basis for a climactic fight. 🙂

[@Hyatice]

I feel like something to add is in addition to having specific weak spots and pointing things out during combat is that if a player comes up with a clever, resource intensive, dangerous or otherwise idea, reward it. The scale under your example's chin - If a player decides they're going to scale the creature, throw a grenade/fireball/whatever in its mouth, and then probably take an AoO as they escape, that absolutely counts as a hit against the chin weak spot. Everyone else sees as the flames from the explosion blow the protruding scale open and out of the bottom of the neck. The dragon will never let you throw something in its mouth again unless you ready an action to do it when it attacks (which then might mean the wizard or artificer become immune to being bitten), but that first cool moment still works, exposes the real weakness, and keeps the fight moving without players feeling frustrated that they can't find a weak spot.

[@sev1120]

And even then, you'd have to worry about if the Dragon is able to deal with the explosive quickly enough. Like if it's a red dragon the fire won't do an insane amount, but the shockwave might do some damage, but doing it against a white dragon would produce the best results

[@jason7120]

Did the Pointy Hat get a new human Avatar?

[@k-aw-teksleepysageuni8181]

Whose the pointy hat?

[@waleedbaidas281]

@@k-aw-teksleepysageuni8181​​⁠​⁠​⁠Pointy Hat is another dnd KZbin channel that makes mostly videos like this one talking about dnd mechanics, classes and races and then gives you a free new way to play with them that still fits in with the original thing for mechanics he usually gives tips on how to fix whatever’s wrong with it, for classes he makes a whole new subclass that you can use, and for races he usually makes a new sub race based on the lore and abilities of that race and the logo/icon of his channel was actually shown in this video at 0:13 when he’s joking about being sued.

[@alfieenzo8398]

literally

[@RossoCarne]

​@@k-aw-teksleepysageuni8181a non-trashy creator

[@Ilikestuff112]

Bro got a new main

[@fadeleaf845]

Narrating a Kaiju's appearance and behavior can give attentive players a way to find out exploitable weaknesses by intuition or experience. If a player has fought water elementals who are vulnerable to lightning before - or simply reasons an aquatic form would be weak to that or getting frozen - they might conclude that using lightning or ice against Bakuryo's water form is a good idea.

[@DucksAndCatnip]

Maybe, maybe not. It's not a thing in normal D&D, so players wouldn't necessarily know to look out for it.

[@Nova_Ghost_Gamer]

yea, so like, if someone is fighting a rock golem/kaiju, and they know rock monsters take extra damage from weapons that do extra damage to rocky enemies, they might be able to do that to the boss

[@thomasbunn00]

This short just keeps going, it’s got cool ideas that I wanna try, but man, it’s the longest short ever.

[@brotherimzee]

this looks amazing. you just earned my kickstarter pledge when it drops.

[@mushuable]

Same here, sounds like so much work and so much creativity was poured into it, I was not considering it until now, but now I am ; for all the good ideas but also because it looks like it'll be a beautiful piece of art.

[@pryssant]

Agreed, Seems like a much needed addendum and tool for DMs. This cannot arrive soon enough. (Currently runninng a game.. )

[@omegadragonRandom]

same

[@owl4115]

Supported on KS. Especially looking forward to the Alchemy integration!

[@Rob229992]

Same. Sounds fun.

[@markturner1220]

Also we definitely need a proper pointy hat collaboration with you! Please do dnd with a twist with him!

[@Americanbadashh]

10:28 I was so happy to hear this was an option! Not enough books have peaceful resolution mechanics

[@josephperez2004]

That reminds me of a boss fight in, I think the game was called Mystic Ninja. Essentially a Blue Eastern Style Dragon was abducting children, and your group gets transported onto it's back to try to stop it. You start near the end of it's tail and need to get up to its head while the dragon tries to throw you off. Once you get to the head though, you notice a device that starts attacking you. Once you destroy the device, the dragon crashes. It turns out the device was mind-controlling the dragon, who is beside themself with shame that they've been stealing children and unfortunately has no recollection of where they are. The dragon then gives you a flute that they can hear from anywhere and essentially opens a fast travel option for you for previously visited and air accessible locations.

[@campfirecompanions]

I remember the fight against Mr. Freeze, I was so confused and frustrated until I realised the computer program enemy was adapting... I was instantly terrified as Batman; I felt like I was trapped in with Victor rather than the other way around. I always try to add story beats on my Podcast for my party to make it more interesting, especially damage sponge bosses. Great video and good advice for all DMs!

[@Oluxcan]

Just when I was thinking about an encounter against Tiamat, you came to the rescue. Truely a hero and an amazing video.

[@dborne]

This is the video that sold me on Ryoko's Guide. It is now a must-have for me! Excellent mechanics, definitely fixes a major weakness in D&D in an elegant and epic way. Kudos!

[@jettblade]

This is a fantastic expansion on combat. I do love the dynamic behavior system, it really would make combat more engaging. I was helping a friend develop one for a Monster Hunter-inspired TTRPG as well as a dynamic combat system that doesn't involve using map, which I'm actually quite proud of because it is tied up very well together with other mechanics. Unfortunately she can't use anything I've made because the vision she had for the system isn't compatible. I'm still going to fine-tune and develop it to use else where.

[@Goomaster101]

a fun thing I have tried is armored stacks, which are basically 1HP health pools that can block spell effects. This also inadvertently buffs quick attacking classes and nerfs spellcasters

[@thoughtbox6391]

How would that affect rogues since they make usually one attack?

[@sidecharacter7165]

Contingency spells and consumable protections like contingency help too. Preparations help as well, a Lich might have a Dispel Magic or Counter-Spell Glyph of Warsing set up or even one of Plane Shift for themself. A Cleric Might have a Mass Healing Word go off after a Fireball KO’s Minions and exploits 5e rules so they are back up or have a Spirit Guardians spell go off on a command word. You can also have the villain be proactive and hamper the players’ progress by forcing them into situations where they are forced to use their cool stuff by scouting them out first.

[@Hyatice]

​@@thoughtbox6391​You could do it similar to damage resistance from 3rd edition. If you connect with a weapon attack, remove one armor stack. If you deal more than say 15 damage in a single strike, any damage over 15 affects the target's real health pool as well. So the rogue dealing 36 damage deals 21 damage and removes an armor stack, while the fighter doing 10, 11, 8 and 16 deals 1 damage and removes 4 armor stacks.

[@shiuido359]

What's the point? Martials are already the best combat classes in the game.

[@Drekromancer]

@@shiuido359 Who's gonna tell him?

[@Bananabread810]

Genuinely You're the best D&D youtuber and one of the best content creators ive ever seen. Like it feels like you read my mind and say exactly what im thinking in these videos

[@Ravewood]

I was already interested in your book, but now I am in for sure. The kyju climbing, weaknesses, fighting and chaos threshold sounds amazing and they should be a perfect fit for my homebrew world. Plus, I think they would make fighting an ancient dragon much more epic.

[@stefanosormani8245]

Things like this is what dnd really needs. So glad and grateful to have you in the community!

[@silentjudgegaming9787]

These rules are great! Honestly a lot of your content, rules/world building, and other videos have made this channel GOATed in my opinion. One of the best community building channels on the internet. Thank you for your content for the rest of the DND community.

[@daneroberts1996]

Fighting against the water dragon sounds like sooo much fun to DM, imagine narrating all her behaviours as they come and dropping allusions to her weak spots 😳

[@OutlawMaxV]

Man that was such a teas collab, shame! And thank you so much for this! I've always felt giant boss fights were very underwhelming mindless smash fest, this makes it like puzzle that needs to be solved, like in actual video games!

[@michaelcolon4162]

The quality on this looks insane. Plus the ideas sound super fun. This is my first kickstarter pledge ever when it launches. Great work.

[@ZkiiGames]

I am currently planning a boss fight that ends up throwing the players into a realm where each player has to face their biggest fear (rodents, death, heights, whatever that character's fear is.) I am hoping that they will be engaged enough to be able to escape and move deeper into the "dream" in order to finish off the boss. The characters can also go insane and I made a mechanic for it. I REALLY hope it goes well. It'll be a while until the fight so I have time.

[@CocoWantsACracker]

This sounds like something I as a player would LOVE! It seems like you'd have ways to tweak this setting to help the players forward or hamper them further - e.g. by allowing them to face each character's individual fear as a party, so most of the party members are not scared at any time, or forcing them to either face multiple fears simultaneously or each face their fear individually. I would love to know how the idea turns out for you, but I envy your players already 😊

[@ZkiiGames]

@@CocoWantsACracker The CURRENT plan (after they fight the demon and get it to half health first, triggering the dream sequence) is to have each player be alone in their nightmare. HOWEVER, I feel that this might take away from the other players as I focus on each individual player (they might not mind.) But I have been debating on having all of them be in the same dream, and when they "beat" that dream then they move further down into a different nightmare, all the way to the lair, where they fight again. This would make it so they can still have some cool roleplay with each other and be supportive in-character etc. As well as including all the players at all times. It might just feel less personal, but also would make it shorter and easier for me to handle.

[@CocoWantsACracker]

​@@ZkiiGames That definitely sounds like good reasoning. It also means everybody knows what happens to the others, preventing unintentional metagaming later on due to a player witnessing something important their character did not. I myself appreciate every little thing the DM introduces that relates to my character specifically despite my DM not considering it a big deal, so you may be pleasantly surprised at how the players feel about how personal your plot is. For most players I know, the most important thing to make it feel something resolved around them individually would be that they have to be the person who solves the problem or overcomes the threat. And considering the nature of the encounter you are setting up, I think that could very well be an in-game condition for the problem or threat to subside as well. I trust you are going to create an epic experience for your players, as you sound exactly like my favorite DM when she tells me about plans she made for other campaigns I do not participate in.

[@knowhopenow8862]

@@ZkiiGames I'm not sure how you are hosting your sessions, in person or online, but in either setting, like you kind of alluded to, but not sure if you meant "same dream" to all be in the same room, you could have them in a series of rooms, where small gaps in the wall allow them to communicate while the rooms are empty then in turn each room is populated with said fears, this would set up a turn based system (much like when in combat), would not mean you focus all attention on 1 person for 10-15 mins and would allow communication support through the walls to allow others to help the party through the trauma via role playing. Also means if they are seperated they can't fight each others fears, which I know I'd do.

[@Lukanis.]

This is some really good stuff! I had decided not to buy any more D&D content as I'm favouring other systems, but I will seriously consider picking this book up now haha.

[@igorvaz2164]

This is amazing and I will try it in almost every oportunity in my games. Great work, Pointyhat. And you too, Shorts.

[@grenveld7015]

Well, i think this video has a good point but it only really apllies to massive scale bosses. My DM sent our party into a boss fight recently which i thought was super cool. To give you some context, we're playing an Ebberon domain of dread campaign called dread metrol, where basically the capitol of Cyre, Metrol, has become a domain of dread with the queen of Cyre as its dread lord and now the city is under siege from endless hordes of undead that pour out of the mists. The boss we fought was actually one of the dark powers that trapped Metrol in the mists, she was called "Aspect of the Empress of Shadows" and she was pretty terrifyingly strong. Her whole thing is that she would bombard the party with a huge number of saving throws, and then try and get her nycaloth goons to finish us off, her multiattack let her make two attacks that forced you to make a con save or gain one level of exhaustion, and one attack that forced you to make a wis save or become charmed, it was pretty terrifying. I remember, on one of the first turns she turned hee attention to me and I had to use everything i had just to pass those saving throws but I did, and though our wizard did get killed temporarily and our fighter got incapacitated by psychic scream for the whole fight (so maybe he didn't have a great time) the rest of us had a pretty good time i think

[@chiepah2]

I was trying to figure out how to fix an issue where one character was dealing significantly more damage than the others without making things so tough that the other characters feel like they aren't doing anything at all, I think this will solve that issue, thanks.

[@glassberg5018]

I love these ideas and it addresses all the issues I've had with running solo monsters in DnD.

[@markturner1220]

Epic! So love those Kaiju! I’m certainly gonna pinch those climbing on monster rules for my current dragon campaign

[@xexus101]

Ok fine you've convinced me. This sounds like fantastic additions to combat, very excited to back this

[@nicewithacupoftea]

I love dnd with a twist format and I love your energy and knowledge, combining the two often would be amazing

[@GeeKielle]

This is very similar to how I run my boss fights! So I can't wait to back your kickstarter and garner new material and ideas for my bosses ^^ I love giving my players investigative prompts to find and learn vulnerabilities in the enemy that they can hone in on. It's like a reward for them engaging so much in the story outside of just battle (i.e. talking to npcs, researching the history of the world/area, strategizing with the environment taken into account). I just love seeing it.

[@kamisguide]

Good luck!! I'm so excited for your kickstarter!

[@craigarthur7599]

I have been going back and forth over buying this for a while and this video sold me

[@marioavilag]

Amazing Content Creator and Amazing Content, its never been this easier to support and purchase a product. Looking forward for this Kickstarter Campaign and any other future project.

[@Deltaxion]

Absolutely amazing, so incredibly hyped, can't wait any longer for this amazing addition

[@gandora0738]

Can't thank enough for this guide, I've been working on my own world where the final bosses are literally marine monsters like Jormungander, Cectus and many more. So, the additions and advices here are literally liquid gold.

[@SolidSkow]

This looks amazing! I can't wait for the backing to go live and for it to get in our hands. I'm going to be looking at doing a Kaiju campaign or something. I think this is something DnD needs (even though it's still fun without.)

[@BobbyGentile]

Perfect timing, prepping an enhanced Cryovain fight into a monster hunter style fight with an adult crystal dragon. I was struggling to come up with some cool evolving fight mechanics and you have some great stuff here!

[@krelekari]

this vid/ad put me on the verge of tears of happiness by doing everything right it all makes me so happy

[@TheUglyGoblin]

Woah! A LONG D&D short- wait- wait WHAT! This video made me so happy to see! (Also loved the thumbnail art)

[@KingOFtheGamezz]

I NEEDED THIS SO MUCH LISTEN Honestly - behaviors, weak spots.... such amazing ideas

[@henriquepadovese4335]

Well, you sold me. Gotta buy Ryoko’s now!! Seems like a blast of an adventure

[@garland336]

Pretty badass mechanics you built here, nicely done

[@Hungry_Raccoon_]

This is why i love world of io 2:45 the Dm, Brett, is really good at making bosses like this, and they feel and act real

[@SimonLasone]

A Monster Hunter like fight system? Count me in! What I gathered from this overview sounds absolutely awesome! Keep up the great work!

[@TheDersitePhantom]

I've been thinking about it, but this clinches it. I'm definitely getting your book.

[@RevolutionBreaker]

Best well-disguised ad ever. Might pick this up honestly

[@OnigoroshiZero]

The best boss fight mechanics, incredible work. Now, I am gonna "steal" and repurpose a few of these for my use.

[@erichowell8770]

Wow those kaiju mechanics sound cool as hell, and I love a good and well researched East Asian theme! You’re doing great work here.

[@joeyfromschool]

this system is so cool! ryokos seems incredibly rad

[@syrupchugger421]

Such amazing ideas! I love these! Great job. I'll check this out

[@terrorofdeath3280]

I already wanted Ryoko's Guide, but now I *need* it.

[@1rotzy]

I can see Uka'toa as a major inspiration for this system. A Rage mechanic that could nuke the field, damage types having unique effects, and areas on its body that are vulnerable. Your team has just taken that one battle, as well as looked at the other massive creatures in the game, and expanded upon them in such a beautiful way. Well done. 🎉🎉🎉

[@alfblack2]

Im already very excited to get this book

[@davidbingham4348]

Those are some epic ideas for boss fights. Thank you!

[@kelmirosue3251]

These are really nice rules! I'm making my own TTRPG where the main focus is similar to MMO's of fighting big powerful bosses. But also similar to monster hunter where you have to learn about the monsters or even dungeon to prepare. These will be great as inspiration and to learn from, while also remixing them to fit for my own game and the setting of my system

[@Junebugsnest543]

Wait a damn second, did he just seamlessly weave D&D advice and a Longford kick-start ad into one video? Incredible, I'd definitely pledge if I had the money

[@fl8m76]

Damnit, now i need to back your book. It's going to be awesome and I've had a plan to make the last adventure to get the party to level 20 a battle versus the tarrasque. I suspect you're kaiju will for that theme perfectly

[@personguy8839]

Oh this is great, I was actually looking for how to setup my BBEG recently.

[@StarkRhino]

This is the first video of yours that made me want to back the Kickstarter

[@blindkaiser1]

This is really cool. Love this kind of stuff. More help for the DM.

[@Qball0019]

This is a way better, more fleshed out version of boss fights/encounters I’ve done on very few occasions.

[@sortfaar3]

Ryokos seems so well developed! cant wait to back it :D

[@bennhart2335]

That miniature (losely named) is beautiful!

[@SeverusSnape12345]

Oooh, I'm going to back this! I'm looking into dming a game and this sounds amazing! :D

[@darkdmon]

I have to admit you have done a really good work of promoting your upcoming book, I will definitely back your book for 2 reasons 1.- the content is really interesting and 2.-Give me the shiny rolling stones!!!!!!!!

[@nadaveh7598]

man do I love your content wish you uploaded more

[@rednassie1101]

I am SOOO stealing this idea for my hyped up Void Dragon bossfight

[@JurneeJakes]

This sounds amazing, and should be in the Core Rules.

[@ratter1023]

I love that you used this particular picture for the thumbnail, because this was the very first boss we had to fight with my 2-person 5 lvl party, on a second session 😂 (dw, this was all fun and laughs though, he just wanted some entertainment in watching us suffer :D)

[@zenithas4785]

On one hand, awesome ideas, and I'm keen to see how some of them pan out over time. On the other, I'm a little weirded out with how close some of them are to stuff I've already got in IP. Going to take it as obviously great minds thinking alike.

[@RossoCarne]

This is so video-gamey. I'm so glad I dropped support for this project

[@jj-sc1kq]

Interesting. I'm mentally trying to imagine how all this applies to boss battles with other "boss" monsters. The initial list of issues to be fixed is very interesting and useful.

[@kandihustty5610]

I'd definitely love to see what you've done with Team attacks! I've got a rule for it but I'd love to see a second opinion.

[@jamesholder5613]

Dude. Absolutely amazing.

[@last2nkow]

You sir just sold a book. I'm literally getting ready to run a Land of the Primordials campaign so kaiju rules are something I've been playing with for a month now.

[@bassdropyoface]

Wow well played, this was great!

[@thedarkbard]

Another thing is have dynamic settings. An example that I’m thinking of using is that a red archdragon made their lair in a dormant volcano. Once the players reached a certain damage point (and say, cut off a limb, stabbed an eye, anything to make the moment feel epic), the dragon roars in pain, it’s fury causing the volcano to wake up as the dragon takes off. So the players now have to deal with a dragon using its breath attack in flyby, shifting terrain, and, if you want to make a moral decision, a lava flow heading towards a nearby town.

[@Tototoron]

I was real proud of an impromptu kaiju monster fight I had for a party of 3 a while back. It was an ice spider colossus with each leg being over 100 feet tall with bristles as thick as a human body. It summoned a blizzard periodically that would obscure the parties vision and fire pins of ice for very little but very constant damage (this was a party with no healing options so I didn’t want a big bad monster that would crush the wizard, sorcerer, or fighter) they found that every time they dealt enough damage to a leg it would screech in pain, ending the blizzard temporarily but otherwise wasn’t going to stop the monster. After 100 or so damage to a leg, it would simply break off a portion and stand in the new stump. Feeling discouraged, 2 of them climbed to the top and onto the spiders back. There they found the spider wasn’t one solid carapace but a series of gargantuan plates that would shift as the spider moves. While up there, feeling even more discouraged, the sorcerer did some more damage to the legs, causing it to screech in pain and temporarily dissipating the snow storm below but now that 2 of them were up top, they also saw the plates would flare, exposing sensitive areas of the spider, including its actual brain. They figured it out! One deals pain to the spider and the others hold their actions to strike the brain as soon as the plates flared! The spider did begin to rampage, nearly throwing the fighter and wizard off its back but they held on! They defeated the spider and it’s hellish limbs came crashing to the ground! To reward their toughness (it was like a 6 minute in game fight which as we all know is forever) and they were rewarded the tough feat, the title of conqueror of the white death, with appropriate medals, the towns mayor granted them the ability to shop at any business and he’ll cover the tab (within reason. Fighter wanted a bow with cool quivers and homebrew arrows like green arrow, bladesong wizard wanted a buffed whip and sword as well as access to their wizard if library for new spells, and sorcerer got some cool homebrew magic items). The lumberjack guild was so grateful for the deed they did that they crafted them a beautiful wagon with the spiders skull for the back of the wagon that’s jaw would open up and allow them access within. spiders skull was like 10-15 ft in dimension with plenty of eye holes so they could cover within and use them to shoot from cover. Spiders skull also had high AC and hitpoints so it was a light weight tank for the party

[@hoeyinwong5087]

I find this video; right after i ran my very first boss fight in a campaign Im really glad to see that i applied a few of the things on here already though, just means i got more practise to make the next boss fight better :)))

[@Lazurmang]

This is legit the type of thing I was looking for prior to running my last session (just scaled down to a non-kaiju scale)

[@matthewblaszak6096]

I love how close knit the Dnd creator community is!

[@ltrigga219]

Holy hell, this is amazing!

[@astralaegis6283]

I feel like im gonna buy this book and then just stat my own monsters based on your design philosophy. Seriously, this is an amazing evolution of tabletop boss fights.

[@loganfrandrup6590]

....ok, fine, you won me over with team-attack mechanics, fine I'll preorder the book!...and I'll be using those kiju rules for some other giant bosses too.

[@Tysto]

Very cool. These are some terrific ideas.

[@travisbuschette8609]

Holy crap, THIS is how you advertise a kickstarter campaign! I told myself I was done buying books, but now I might just have to!

[@this_epic_name]

D&D meets Shadow of the Colossus (saw the clip!). Love it.

[@GooseEnjoyer]

me and my dnd group recently played an eberron one-shot where we fought in a great war against fiends, while allied with the rest of the world. In the final boss fight, our DM used a slightly altered version of the Soul Khatesh and the anti-magic field, instead of being permanent, was an orb the Soul Khatesh placed in the sky, which had hit points and an AC, meaning that we could destroy it in order for our spells to work. Imo that was a really cool way of applying this mechanic. Even though he only altered it slightly.

[@OlafPijl]

Chaos Tresholds reminds me of Dark Souls, Elden Ring, or Bloodborne - where bosses enter new phases. This is awesome and I can't wait to try this out as a DM!

[@dlewdm]

This was the best ad for a book ever

[@NotAnAlchemist_Ed]

I love the rules presented

[@RandomAttemptGaming]

TAKE MY MONEY!!! this looks amazing and I can't wait

[@affarinoxa]

So hyped for this book ngl

[@Drahcar]

I need this right now for my campaign.

[@timoisbarn1552]

Perception and Survival to spot the vulnerable areas are fine, but I think you can give the option of Investigation after reducing the Chaos Threshold... simply like "We did 10 Attacks on that damn thing, but some areas are more protected, generate stronger responses of the creature". Investigation. When you look around for clues and make deductions based on those clues, you make an Intelligence (Investigation) check. You might deduce the location of a hidden object, discern from the appearance of a wound what kind of weapon dealt it, or determine the weakest point in a tunnel that could cause it to collapse. I think that would work beautifully in the case of the Kaiju battle, maybe after 5 to 10 reductions, or depending on the battle. And I would add a DM "Tool-bag" for smashy types... if they don't go for clues you could tie different weaknesses to different checks of the Intelligence variety and depending on the Kaiju: Like Religion if it is a divine beast, Nature if it is more of a giant Beast, Arcana if the kaiju is more of an eldritch or magical entity. History to recall legends about the mighty beast would work as well. It just gives more direct reference to the possibilties of Int and not only Wis and can be a great "toolkit" for some DMs if they are newer, or if they simply never thought about it.

[@michaelcolon4162]

Would be cool to see gameplay of you and a few other player with the kaiju rules.

[@quietwulf]

Absolutely wonderful:-) Thanks man!

[@bryanstrahm9961]

God I really wish this had a pf2 version. It sounds awesome. Might have to pick it up and try and homebrew my own version for my game.