This is why your D&D boss fights aren’t working (and how to fix them)

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Күн бұрын

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@theDMLair Ай бұрын

DM LAIR PATREON | Get D&D 5e, Pathfinder 2e, and Shadowdark GM resources: adventures, traps, puzzles, monsters, and Foundry VTT modules. www.patreon.com/thedmlair 👉👉👉 Dungeon Drifters | The competitive dungeon exploration game where opportunistic "heroes" race to defeat enemies, pocket the most loot, and escape the dungeon first! presale.dungeondrifters.com/

@shellsterdude Ай бұрын

I like having the bad guy release a super powerful spell or ability early in the fight. It immediately lets the players know that they aren't playing. The rest of the fight, the players are bracing for when another massive damage hit could come and it makes them sweat that low health pool. I also think it makes a lot of psychological sense. When a bad guy has a limited number of slots, he might burn a very powerful spell early to try and get a quick kill or end the fight. He might also hold on to the rest of his really powerful spells until he is desperate.

@BubbleSlaya16 Ай бұрын

I love the return of the pre video skit

@Jfurg Ай бұрын

I love your videos. They’re very helpful and easy to follow. I’m not sure why you don’t have more followers but don’t give up!!

@theDMLair Ай бұрын

Thank you so much!

@johnhodges2760 Ай бұрын

Hell, yeah! Welcome back, fighter, barbarian, wizard, and rogue!

@theDMLair Ай бұрын

Giddy up! :D

@RIVERSRPGChannel Ай бұрын

Yes tactics and terrain really help in a boss fight. Time is never on the side of the heroes.

@twilightgardenspresentatio6384 Ай бұрын

Those three, right there. Also, brevity where it helps.

@martinvoncannon6436 Ай бұрын

Your tips and list is a great start. I can use them as is, but it is inspiring more.

@travisvwright Ай бұрын

You don't completely suck.

@twilightgardenspresentatio6384 Ай бұрын

Some guys do but definitely not you

@LordOz3 Ай бұрын

When the players are given a choice between dealing with adds or piling on the boss, you have to make the adds/minions dangerous enough that ignoring them really isn't an option - otherwise they'll focus fire the boss. If the minions can go after the squishies -or better, grapple them and drag them away, it will force the players to split their focus.

@OrangeCat371 Ай бұрын

I agree. An example of this I love is Nezznar's giant spiders in lost mine of phandelver. They can restrain and paralyze the characters, which forces them to focus some attention on the spiders before they can focus fire the boss. If they ignore the spiders, they'll all be taken out of the fight.

@DUNGEONCRAFT1 Ай бұрын

Hiya Luke! Best of luck in the new year!

@davidbower9802 22 күн бұрын

Your content helps me so much as a new DM. I appreciate the time and effort put into these videos. I am attempting to fold these tips in over the course of my campaign.

@cwhip9 Ай бұрын

Timing on this is actually good as my players did kill a boss i was preparing to fast last session I ran thanks for the tips. Also happy new year!

@ianlayton6949 Ай бұрын

Really useful stuff mate. I'm just back to DM-ing after about 30 years away and am now heading towards the Boss Encounter with my 2e Lev 1 players. Keeping it all varied and staged makes total sense to me - keeping it light weight enough so the Boss' pet poodle doesn't TPK the lot is a different challenge! Thanks for all the pointers though mate.

@YawdroGaming Ай бұрын

Strongly agree with the approaching reinforcements idea! Nothing gets players moving like hearing the sounds of clanking armor or scratching claws quickly approaching where they are fighting something else, working on a locked door/chest, or looting bodies. The stress in their faces as they're trying to down the bad guy, pick the lock, and make a getaway or reform before they're pincered is delicious!

@Godzillawolf1 Ай бұрын

One of my party's favorite boss fights I've ever done was Yanwu, the Green Dragon, because the first stage happened in a crowded theater in which she was making use of the innocent civilians as a living shield or to force the party to take hits on purpose to protect them. Phase 2 triggered when they managed to lure her into a pit trap down to a previous area they knew was there (I honestly didn't expect them to do that and was happy to see it) and she used potions to power herself up, giving herself additional resistances, Enlarging herself for more damage, and giving herself magic claws and teeth. The party doesn't know exactly what potions she'd downed, so they're cautious and don't know exactly what she's now capable of. They loved that uncertainity, because they knew she was stronger, but not by how much or in what ways. It was also a case of her adapting tactics because the party had taken away her main trump card and she needed to go to plan b. It was also foreshadowed by the fact she was an alchemist in her human disguise, so potions were a natural means for her to up the ante.

@littlesun2023 29 күн бұрын

Great structure and explanations. Will use all the stuff in my next session

@jierdareisa4313 Ай бұрын

I do really love ALL the DM Lair videos!!!! ❤

@michaelmuirhead910 Ай бұрын

I really like this. Adding a time factor to encounters is a great way to overcome the bag of hp slog of combats. Multi stage combats, or my new favorites, traps and environmental hazards, adds stress and urgency to player decisions. I returned to the dm chair about a year ago, and I’m having a lot of fun with it. Thank you for all of your advice and tips. I’ve used plenty of them already, and can’t wait to add more. P.S. You don’t suck. 😂👍

@bastionsea2829 Ай бұрын

Remember that a boss doesn't have to just sit and wait, they can have multiple different lairs to challenge the players, giving both sides time to plan and adapt for their opposition

@justarabbit1982 Ай бұрын

Happy new year DM Lair and everyone else, here's many more videos! Cheers 🍻 PS Luke doesn't suck... as far as I know!

@waynechambers503 29 күн бұрын

Your advice is really good thanks for a great channel. Keep up the good work.

@uptheironschris17 Ай бұрын

And here I thought I was all prepared for the final battle with Nezznar in Wave Echo Cave in the Lost Mine of Phandelver adventure. Now this video has me thinking…

@jorgepedrofernandes Ай бұрын

Great video. Loved the intro. Happy new year.

@EclipsE-sn8xu 28 күн бұрын

Had the players bargaining with a boss I intended they would fight. In my roleplaying improv I went through basically the same structure, overconfidence turned into curiosity, then into anger and fear as the players blackmailed the boss (don't even ask...). So multi-stage social interactions seem to work the same way for me

@asolanara Ай бұрын

Ever since D&D Shorts launched their multi-stage boss fights setting, I've been using it and it has helped bring so much more tension to my players

@OpenWorldAddict0 Ай бұрын

I think that some boss fights should included a 'Bloodied' ability.

@stuartwebb2287 Ай бұрын

Great advice. thank you Luke.

@razzlebazzle420 Ай бұрын

I recently ran a 14th level paladin as a general attacking a town with several hill giants, ogres, mounted martial goblins, against my level 3 12s. Groups paladin used Hold person while the wizard mounted the druid polymorphed into a giant eagle, and cast telekinesis on him, and they flew for 3 turns straight into the air. Took his 20d6, then the paladin dropped a pair of 3rd level smited into him. Couldn't even cleansing touch himself.

@ramzcoldlampin5460 21 күн бұрын

I know it’s more work, but the skits are always wonderful.

@BrazenBard Ай бұрын

From experience, the first rule of a multi-stage boss fight - *plan the stages in advance*. In 3.5, I was in a multi-stage boss fight in a place similar to the Arcane Sanctuary from Diablo 2. I cast Disintegrate on turn 1, targeting the ground under the boss, dropping him into the void... the DM looked amused at me, turned over a page in his notes, and said "On to stage 2..." a humongous, godlike dragon... after he was pecked down a few hundred hit points, he returned to his humanoid form, and the epic spell he'd cast in round one (without visible effects at the time) became a problem, as it hadn't expired yet... we should've used a few more rounds to hammer him down... 😅

@coffee1139 Ай бұрын

In a recent fight I ran against an orange dragon, I gave him three 'stages' this was foreshadowed that the dragon was preparing something with the hoard. The first was your typical dragon fight. Once he hit 1/2 to 1/3rd hp, he fled underwater, running to drink his healing potions while his minions (treants) focussed on damaging the party. When he emerged, he destroyed some terrain, flooding the place so he had better access to using his Sodium breath weapon. Stage 3 was when he hit his mythic phase, losing his wings, but gaining some nasty mythic actions and moving into a more melee focussed role instead of strafe and hit n run tactics Environment, strategy, *foreshadowing* and keeping the combat changing is very important in multi stage boss battles. This one was a level 9 party, against an adult orange dragon and 9 minions, they had 5 NPC's that they gathered to help them As a DM keeping NPC turns down to a minute or less to give the players the majority or time was a great help to keep everything moving and no one particularly zoned out as it was mostly player turns that took up the time

@DanTarbellIII Ай бұрын

Your ALWAYS a big help, i am a better DM THANKS to YOU! thank you for all your videos

@sleepinggiant4062 Ай бұрын

Chitin is not CH like in church with a short i. It's K sound and a long i (like kite). Great advice! The key to multistage boss fights is to not do them frequently. Get good at designing encounters so the boss fight is a challenge for the players and you don't have to adjust on the fly. You should be familiar with your party's capabilities.

@ShugoAWay Ай бұрын

It actually can be both as language is complex

@sleepinggiant4062 Ай бұрын

@@ShugoAWay - The English language is very complex. That doesn't mean words don't have a correct pronunciation. Do you have any sources that list alternatives? I looked up a handful, and could not find any popular sources that list it with an alternative one.

@ShugoAWay Ай бұрын

@sleepinggiant4062 just like gif tomato and several other words, they can have multiple ways they are said

@sleepinggiant4062 Ай бұрын

@@ShugoAWay - Not all words have alternate pronunciations. Do you have a source that lists this for chitin?

@ShugoAWay Ай бұрын

@sleepinggiant4062 isn't really needed as like a ton of words it is just personal preference and as long as they are understandable why does it matter

@emillsba Ай бұрын

Great advice! Thank you!!!

@mayhem_64 29 күн бұрын

Great vid. Even normal combats require 1:1 ratio of number of players to number of monsters or greater ratio 2:1, 3:1 otherwise dogpile occurs.

@badhorse4679 28 күн бұрын

hmm, changing tactics and terrain. that gives me some things to think about. thanks for the video.

@TurboWulfe Ай бұрын

Great ideas, thanks 😎🤘🍻

@dmcdraws Ай бұрын

You don't completely suck. :) Thanks for the great advice and insight! Very useful!

@wesleyboyett2203 Ай бұрын

Yay the pre video skit❤❤❤❤

@Cyryvy Ай бұрын

This sounds pretty good. Good advice.

@Starfloofle Ай бұрын

I really wish I could remember which dndtuber I got this from, but I love the idea of making *Legendary Resistances* a gate for phases. It COSTS them something to use them. I have a legendary swordmaster who wields up to four different elemental blades as he sees fit, but each one of his legendary resistances *IS* one of his swords. Is it WORTH it to sacrifice one of his weapons for the entire rest of the fight to force a success on something he can probably succeed at next turn? If it is, then that's instantly how you know that he's suddenly taking you seriously. Making a boss burn their resistances shouldn't just be a "ugh, GM fiat says no I can't have fun" no it should make your players feel AWESOME, they should feel like they're *making a god bleed* by forcing them to use those things. And you can DIRECTLY tie those things to how their abilities and tactics change in battle too; my swordmaster shifts from being dismissive 'I'll kill you with a single cut' to a flurry of blades across a wide area, to eventually a very defensive single-sword style entirely focused on punishing the players' aggro that might have gotten him there in the first place. I also run Lair Actions totally differently, obviously in a conventional setting there's normal lair actions, but all my big bosses have them no matter where they are-- They're something they start the prep for at the start of one turn, and execute on the next, preparing another one immediately after. They don't usually interfere with their normal abilities but they might limit them in some way. Once the players have SEEN an attack once (or if they have some other way to recognize it) I start putting down telegraphed markers (if possible) or otherwise making the declared intent obvious. By having these gigantic, ultra-threatening (but entirely avoidable) attacks or abilities on the field every single round, even before the phase change it should change how the players approach the battle every single turn, helping to keep the battle dynamic, which is CRUCIAL in making a boss fight feel climactic.

@cgathunder2 Ай бұрын

My favorite use of a multiphase boss was when my party fought a corrupted Jabberwocky and its "spirit" (red shadow dragon) once they cut off the head.

@backonlazer791 Ай бұрын

Good tips, though I don't think every boss battle should follow the same formula as it may make them predictable. Throw in some surprises. Perhaps the boss set up an illusory decoy while the party was busy fighting the minions. Maybe the boss is the aggressive sort and joins the fight at full force immediately. Perhaps the boss isn't there in person at all at first, instead observing and commanding their minions through magical scrying or other means, and the party must navigate through the lair while being constantly observed. Another thing I find is that the parties usually just immediately target the boss, especially if they have mages or other ranged characters. There should be some way for the boss to stay relatively unharmed at first for the four part structure to work.

@syrupchugger421 Ай бұрын

You don't completely suck. You also have a good video with inspiring ideas

@jamesm2577 24 күн бұрын

Gotta catch my ride to Shell Beach!... CATCHPHRASE

@DM-Timothy Ай бұрын

Fun take on stage fight design! Curious, how long in rounds would you expect such a battle to take in order to land well instead of feeling like the emotional depth was lost to rapid dpr?

@VentsongeGaming 4 күн бұрын

the trick I use : no matter the speed they kill it... there is a 2nd/3rd phase always when i have a final boss, so it's always narratively though through XD

@sbncaptain8209 Ай бұрын

You might be worthy of bacon still... maybe...

@silasrobertshaw8122 Ай бұрын

I definitely misunderstood your poll. I thought you were talking about boss fights where you defeat one form only to have another form that also must be defeated right after. The stuff you talk about here is bread and butter for my boss fights, though I don't always get the balance right.

@ShugoAWay Ай бұрын

Yeah I also thought he was talking about the obnoxious 2nd hidden bar of hp like what was shown in the skit

@michaelthomas1916 Ай бұрын

I like the time sensitive idea. Would it be to much to straight out tell the PCs to start a big encounter that X "really bad thing" will happen in Y rounds if the boss isn't stopped?

@PresidentAshenHeart Ай бұрын

So I ran a boss fight for a party of 6. Just a single enemy. He had Double Initiative (enrages to triple initiative at 2/5 health), and triple action- so he could attack 6 times in a turn before enraging, evening out the action economy. He also had Superior Resistance so that way he rolled advantage on all saving throws, making it harder (but not impossible) to debuff him. He even had an unfair 10d10 fire (roll DC 16 DEX to take half) aoe attack at the end that downed three players. Even though this fight was a close one, it still wasn't a very well designed encounter in retrospect. Mostly because, while my 4 DPS players seemed to have more fun, my 2 support players could only heal or buff. Consequently, having one target and objective (kill the boss) severely limited the amount of creativity and options for everyone. He even had mechanics that blinded and frightened the players, but what difference did that make in terms of strategy? None, it just made the pulling off the one objective less likely. This is why providing multiple enemies and/or goals in the fight is crucial, especially in large groups. You could homebrew the toughest boss that your players barely defeat, but if the fight is only 'hit, hit, get hit, roll a saving throw, get hit, hit, roll a saving throw, hit' with a single target, it gets stale.

@herman1francis Ай бұрын

Me a dm running curse of strahd taking notes furiously

@theDMLair Ай бұрын

pro tip: Strahd with anti-magic field cast (make him a spellcaster) and give him battle caster (advantage on Con saves to avoid losing concentration) :D

@bloobrush1679 Ай бұрын

The way I make sure my 2nd Phases don't seem like they got added is by having them be clear. In my current campaign, the bosses give themselves a shield at the start of a fight and let my players know about it. Once the shield breaks, Phase 2 starts. Their attacks get stronger because they aren't splitting their focus between the shield and their attacks.

@samuelecinelli3685 Ай бұрын

I agree with your advice!

@disunsnogoot3319 Ай бұрын

Good ideas for a final boss

@princesskanuta3870 Ай бұрын

I love the skits!! and bacon!

@theDMLair Ай бұрын

Thank you!!! BACON!!!

@primeemperor9196 25 күн бұрын

If you want, you could even add another phase in between "anger" and "fear." I call it: Even More Anger. If you want your boss to change into a new form, this is the time to bring it out. However, do be warned that doing this may feel very video gamey.

@ajdynon Ай бұрын

Even worse than the players easily killing the boss is when they manage to beat the boss without even really fighting. This happened when I ran Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth recently... (Spoilers ahead, I will try to be as vague as possible while still giving the necessary information) They cast Wall of Force around the final boss (who had no abilities that would let her get out of it), grabbed the item they'd been sent to get, and left. On the plus side, they left her alive, so she can come after them for revenge... but on the other hand, there's nothing really stopping them from doing the same thing again.

@TTM1895 Ай бұрын

The dice giveth and the dice taketh away. This is the problem with combat.

@rhmagalhaes Ай бұрын

Several times I had to change the strategy because I was taking 15+ and destroying the party.

@yellingintothewind Ай бұрын

Nothing quite like the overconfident stage ending with the boss crit failing a save for double damage combined with an improbably high damage roll killing them outright from near max health. You know the rest of your encounter is set up properly if it doesn't fall flat when that happens on round 2.

@elawrence3420 Ай бұрын

The skits r great..and funny....the barbarian is my favorite

@brettpettitt6531 Ай бұрын

Not going to lie - I have written out a 'Final fight' for the characters, and when I say final, it could be depending on the choice of the players after. However before the party arrives, one of them may have been replaced - fitting with a characters back story and player development - being an ally to the boss. Also the phrase 'any strong soul in this room will finish the ritual' will be spoken before the fight - meaning the boss will shift

@Zarkonem Ай бұрын

Ok, here's how mine goes. Turn 1: Start off with stage one and the boss is sending minions after them and not taking the players seriously. The warlock player's turn comes around and he drops sickening radiance on the whole room basically instantly locking down everything but the boss himself. He blows a legendary resistance to avoid getting points of exhaustion and moves out of the area to save himself from it. The monk then moves in with their speed of "YES" and then attempts to stunning strike the boss, blowing another one of his legendary resistances. Turn 2: skip stage 2 because the party is about to incapacitate this bastard and i go straight to stage 3, anger. The boss blows his biggest spell to try and blow up the party, the bard counterspells it then tries to polymorph the boss into a snail so that they can shove him into a tiny metal box, end the polymorph and crush him to death. Final legendary resistance is gone, Warlock hits him with mental prison, the monk stuns him, then the barbarian goes into reckless attacks and wipes out half his health bar in a single turn. The boss is now stunned, and even if he can save against it next turn, if he does anything at all he's getting blasted with 10d10 psychic damage. My party is level 18 lol. I am throwing multiple ancient dragons at a time to challenge them at this point. CR is worthless confirmed. Gonna try Pathfinder next game.

@greggp4840 9 күн бұрын

Ah, someone else who learned the word "chitinous" from reading rather than hearing it ;)

@HugaMoga Ай бұрын

this video is right on time. recently my players wiped the floor with my former bbeg and even cut them up into pieces and offered their teeth to the tooth fairy. i could use some tips on how to make the new bbeg actually terrifying and not just a chew toy for them.

@roguebarbarian9133 20 күн бұрын

Always, always have an urgent crisis going on just to the side. Cultists are burning relics the players need, the portal is slowly enveloping the townspeople, the glowing crystals keep restoring the health of the BBEG, etc. The moment your players need to decide between fighting the boss and dealing with x crisis, the stakes will raise exponentially because it will invariably go from a dogpile to desperately holding down the fort while the other players put out as many fires as they can.

@JC-ew5ss Ай бұрын

That looked like an SCA helmet! You do not completely suck!

@scroletyper8286 Ай бұрын

I've been using multiple stage boss fights since eldin ring came out more or less. At least since I bought it. First time I did it my players were hyped and they remain so every time.

@michaelpinkston2602 Ай бұрын

Where's the bacon? Also, cool shirt. Where did you get it?

@potatoo5531 Ай бұрын

I want to try to be a DM with two players who are completly new to the game. Do you have any advise?

@bakuiel1901 Ай бұрын

You don't completely suck, actually I quite enjoy your videos

@paulstasiak8482 Ай бұрын

Time; great idea if you have it. I introduced the boss mid-combat and all of my PCs shifted their focus from the minions to the boss. I had to resurrect damage reduction to keep him alive for one round. Even then, all I heard was, "Wow, we've done X amount of damage and he's still standing." Time can't be used if once all the PCs focus on your boss, you're struggling to keep him alive. They have way more turns available to them than does your boss. Granted, I tried to use my minions to distract them by attacking villagers, but my PCs took the mindset of drop the boss and it's all over. It was an incorrect mindset as I slaughtered villagers left and right, but they dropped my boss in less than two rounds. Time was not an options.

@paulstasiak8482 Ай бұрын

And I can't get to these stages without lasting more than one round. Yeah, the health progression helps, but that's all happening within the span of a round.

@guitarmuser6150 Ай бұрын

With respect, the purpose of minions is not to try to distract, but to be something the PCs "have" to deal with. I never have minions focus on NPCs. Maybe one to a few for flavor, but minions are for swarming the PCs to make the boss fight harder. Minions can even become the boss themselves with environment, time, and etc things becoming a factor. The sheer volume of 1 hp minions can be a deadly encounter all on their own. All that to say, don't waste them on trying to dangle a carrot of distraction. Use them "on" your PCs directly as a threat that must be dealt with and a shield of sorts for the boss. You'll have a blast and hopefully, so will your players while being terrified at the same time. 8-) Having "waves" of minions keep arriving while other stuff is going on is something fairly easy to have as a "trigger" in a multi-stage fight as well.

@michaelmullenfiddler 28 күн бұрын

More Skits!

@MechbossBoogie Ай бұрын

Can I just get a group that wants to interact with the world instead of trying to brute force everything they come in contact with because they don't want to have to think about it?

@rhmagalhaes Ай бұрын

Be ready to TPK. Give the players a way out during the first wave. If they decide to stay, you can either give them a second chance or be ready to TPK. DMs don't kill characters, players do.

@lotsaspaghetticodejr.6488 Ай бұрын

The Tarrasque doesn't die.

@joshuaevans3592 Ай бұрын

Will 2025 herald the return of skits? Can this be a sign of the glorious return of... the intern? Please?

@chaddemink7731 Ай бұрын

You still don't suck, Luke!

@theDMLair Ай бұрын

Thank you!

@kevindaniel1337 27 күн бұрын

Hi Luke, this is a more than seven word comment to help game the algorithm. Also, you don't suck at all. I think, I haven't actually played at your table so it's actually purely anecdotal and therefore unreliable.

@ticflixproductions2989 27 күн бұрын

You don’t suck!

@ShugoAWay Ай бұрын

Yeah unfortunately its almost impossible for it not to be obvious that the 2nd phase only existed because the party did too good and wouldn't exist if they had pretended to struggle which leads to lackluster fights of everyone just using cantrips and base attacks or it replaces the cool finish (like the biggest spell the party had) then it gets back up and now it just becomes a lackluster finish (often just a series of low lvl spells) which just doesn't make for a good story

@dennisthornton4434 Ай бұрын

Yeah barbarian back

@theDMLair Ай бұрын

oi oi oi!!! (the sound the barbarian makes when he's excited)

@doctorlolchicken7478 Ай бұрын

For my tastes it sounds too gamified. I always wonder why the boss underestimate the players - don't people break into his lair on a daily basis. To make it more realistic, I would find a reason why the boss is not full powered at first. Maybe he is channeling a ritual, or maybe he has to do something he'd rather not do to get more powerful, like break a magic item, sacrifice a pet, or ingest a outages. Boss fights in general are hard to pull off because, unlike a video game, there is no do-over if the party wipes. Suspicion that the DM is inventing things to draw out the fight is a real problem. I would avoid surprise transitions based on the boss being injured and have it more based on time (rounds), or make it kind of obvious that something is going to happen based on what the boss is doing (a ritual for example). I would even go so far as to write down different boss actions on cards and have a player turn over a card on round x, just so they know you didn't make it up on the fly. I would even perhaps have three or more cards with different actions so that not even you know for certain which one will occur. All that said, my main two tips would be: (1) Don't make your ttrpg like a video game - that's what video games do best, and (2) Don't use 5e if you want an encounter to be challenging and fun.

@nathanreiter6908 Ай бұрын

Other sources like flee mortals have fun monsters, agree the monster manual sucks from WOTC\Hasbro.

@tsstahl 25 күн бұрын

Well, nobody _completely_ sucks.

@trainer1kali Ай бұрын

So, you wanna suck? Well, try harder! You're too good to suck right now.

@Jerthanis 26 күн бұрын

I find this advice somewhat divorced from the realities of a TTRPG battle. Like, if you have four stages, do they each play out over a single round? Over two rounds? Three? A variable number? Are we talking about 12+ round behemoth fights taking place over the course of two sessions? That feels unwieldy, even for once in a while boss fights. Second, this attitude is very specific to the psychology of a very particular kind of villain, exposing a hubristic main villain who uses the lives of minions casually and has overconfidence in their own abilities. Any villain for whom those qualities don't apply would be poorly served by this advice. "Here's an idea for running one specific villain archetype" is a much more narrow topic than "This is why your D&D boss fights aren't working (and how to fix them)" Also, the 'best' abilities are the ones that work, so if they use Hold Person pn a PC on round 2 when they're still testing the PCs out and holding back and the PC fails the save, that will feel way more like him pulling out the big guns than when they use Finger of Death on round 4 after they've supposedly stopped taking it easier on them, and the PC makes their save against that, so it's hard to imagine it feeling like an escalation if that's the way it plays out, even if you're trying to follow this advice. In addition, if the players are alpha strike builds, as are so common and popular specifically in 5e, the boss monster often MUST drop their most powerful abilities in the opening round, paralyzing, stunning or dropping PCs before they can act, or they will be too exposed to that alpha strike to even last until the later stages. I'm not sure how this advice was arrived at, or how to implement it, because it seems like advice for a kind of game other than TTRPGs.

@fhuber7507 Ай бұрын

Rewrite the monsters so they actually meet CR...

@GeraldKatz Ай бұрын

I hate waves of combat. For me they are frustrating as a player, not fun. I can take a second wave of reinforcements. The combat is still fun as it's just a few more rounds. It tells players this is the big one. Go nuts. Nova for a round. Use your stuff, not only class abilities but any consumable resource magic items you have. Drink that potion of Giant Strength. Use that scroll of big blasting. Use the Things you've been saving for when you need it. You need them. Then the third wave comes. Your stuff is gone. All you have is whatever buffs that are still going and maybe an ability or two you haven't used yet. You're on round 16. You've been playing this battle for 3 real world hours. Let's wrap it up. No, then comes wave number 4. At this point the whole night is ruined. The combat is a chore. The DM just wants to kill everyone if PCs haven't dropped already. Maybe the DM planned a Deus Ex Machina where surprise your NPC allies arrive to fight wave number 4 allowing you to retreat.