Support the channel and get truckloads of AWESOME D&D DM RESOURCES you can use in your games right here! www.patreon.com/thedmlair Join our awesome, welcoming community of game masters who encourage and help each other out: discord.gg/thedmlair Get 100% FREE D&D 5e adventures and DM resources right here: www.thedmlair.com/

@lekuppi5950

3 жыл бұрын

I would love to back your kickstarter - since I love fey - but there is no shipping option to Switzerland 😭 Edit: *in the Rogues voice* "Dear Dungeonmaster, Sir, could we not get shipping to Switzerland to get this nice gal (and maybe others) your awesome book, Sir?"

@theDMLair

3 жыл бұрын

Yes! I just added Switzerland as a shipping option. Thank you! 😀

@lekuppi5950

3 жыл бұрын

@@theDMLair thank you so much! 😍

@lekuppi5950

3 жыл бұрын

@@theDMLair made my pledge already 😍

Bare room with 4 walls, a ceiling and a floor: Boring, generic, bland. Bare room with 4 walls, a ceiling and no floor: Exciting, fresh, spicy.

@Scorpious187

3 жыл бұрын

Just don't put a chair in the middle of the room. Your players will bluescreen and do nothing but focus on the chair for 30 minutes.

@FrostSpike

3 жыл бұрын

@@Scorpious187 Or a single silver coin. That works too...

@alexiavya722

3 жыл бұрын

Mans has a point

@GoblinHours-im2ue

3 жыл бұрын

@@Scorpious187 fun story. I did that to a player with a copper coin... it’s a trap either way, the more time they waste the closer the goblin horde gets, if they touch it it gives them oneD6 damage (this whole adventure was an April fools one shot so they liked it)

@wilsonjonah

Жыл бұрын

@@FrostSpike My first Tiefling Rogue can attest to this, after he picked up ONE SINGLE coin off a floor of a treasure room which then awakened a horde of undead

"They have achieved the title of chonker". Awesome title for a faction...

@theDMLair

3 жыл бұрын

Yes! My next in-game faction! 😂

@jamieadams2589

3 жыл бұрын

You may have joined the feline Council but we do not grant you the rank of chonker

As a player, you can also massively help. Describe your attacks. Even as a fighter. Look up some techniques, search a few HEMA videos on youtube and you can do more than just cut.

@bibbobella

3 жыл бұрын

Agreed. It does so much! Doesn't even have to be anything too flamboyant or specific. Just specifying where you are attempting to hit and possible what you would like to have happen if you do hit both helps the dungeon master visualise it and makes it so much more fun! Going "I would like to swing my sword and attempt to decapitate him" or just "I will try to shoot him between the eyes with my arrow" can make wonders for the DM. "You swing your heavy sword with a powerful hit. BBEG barely manages the move his head out of the way as the sword swings past it and instead cuts deep into his left shoulder leaving a big fleshy wound behind the armor" "The arrow flies right at his head. He just barely manages to get his arm up to block the arrow that inbets itself in his arm as he scream" Doesn't have to work out perfectly if it isn't a killing shot but can make for some interesting visuals to describe.

@greatauntlizbethg9137

3 жыл бұрын

My very cross bard attacking a skeleton who has been avoiding his slashes, dealing damage and has very low hit points left. "i POKE him with my rapier!😡" 😁

@Verbose_Mode

3 жыл бұрын

It has become a signature of one of my players to flavor her opening attacks as smashing humanoid opponents weapons out of the way before body-checking them into oblivion, or using her (blunt tipped) executioners greatsword as a thrusting weapon for killing blows. To the point that when she had to leave the game for a few months, her reintroduction brought cheers to the other players as I described the attack from the "mysterious figure" before she even joined the call.

@Spiceodog

3 жыл бұрын

I like to ask the dm if I can decide how a enemy misses me, not because he's not good, but I know my character better. it's the difference between " the ogre raises his mighty club, eyes filled with rage, which blinds his thoughts as he strikes where you stood three seconds ago, hitting nothing but dirt. but when I do it, it's more like" as the raging ogre charges me in anger, I calm myself, thinking back to the days where I stood on dancing with the bards. as the the club swings towards my head, I take a dramatic actors bow, the club sailing over my head,imbedding into the tree. as he pulls it out , readying for another attack, he looks to see nothing, as I've rolled through his legs, getting up, shocking, electric energy crackling through my violin as I steady myself for my next attack. edit, both of them are better then simply saying, " and that's a miss, bard , your turn" but one has more character connection then the other

@bibbobella

3 жыл бұрын

@@Verbose_Mode sounds like an amazing player and s great group you have found :)

One of my favorite suggestions for improving combat came from Matthew Colville's "Action-Oriented Monsters" -- the first step is to ensure every important monster has an Action, a Bonus Action, and a Reaction (other than Attacks of Opportunity). This ensures monsters are able to keep up with player action economy, and it also gives them both more threat and more flavor. Create actions that make sense for the creature. Further, for bosses or for solo encounters that are meant to be challenging, even for a single monster, give them Villain Actions (essentially Legendary Actions for non-legendary creatures). A Goblin Boss opens up combat by commanding his boys to attack, having them move toward the nearest enemy without using their action/movement, or attacking if they're already adjacent... further in combat, he tells them to focus a single target, and they get a free movement to all go focus a single threat. An Ankheg in the wild unburrows to surprise the party, attacks, and after the first player's turn, villain action burrows back underground. On the next turn, its villain action unburrows and it attempts to pull someone underground with it. Those ideas can be applied to so many creatures to make all of combat more interesting in general, whether it's a random encounter or a boss fight, since it ensures that whatever the enemy is, it's getting some extra actions to help keep it up to speed with players...but it also adds extra flavor to the encounter. I also ensure to apply the "Make sure they have Bonus Actions and Reactions other than Attacks of Opportunity" to my players -- for classes that get less reactions, I make sure to homebrew an item for my player that gives them a specific conditional reaction that may be relatively easy to trigger but doesn't have a powerful effect...The more reactions a player has, the more reasons they have to pay attention to the other players' and monsters' turns in battle, because they have a good chance to interact with them.

@peterwhitcomb8315

3 жыл бұрын

I hope one day Luke expands on Matthew Colville's "Action-Oriented Monsters." Well, from memory the idea isn't Matt's but he took it and ran with it and I am hoping Luke will be able to do the same. Heck, maybe Matt and Luke can do a collaboration and produce a PDF for Drive Through RPG with over 100+ monsters in it with this theme. That could be interesting and worth the money.

The Barbarian is back! Long live his glorious antics!

@GlitchGull

3 жыл бұрын

I’m very glad he is

@theDMLair

3 жыл бұрын

The Barbarian has plot armor... 😂

@teridactyl1250

3 жыл бұрын

Ah yes, plot armour. AC: one higher than the attack roll

@iIxInertiaxIi

3 жыл бұрын

Does plot armour stack with unarmoured defense?

@Alresu

3 жыл бұрын

Maybe not long. But repeatedly.^^

Great tips, Luke. I am glad to say that I already do quite a few of these things. Since my world is canonically supposed to be a storybook written by my first character (a pacifist bard), combat is very often optional/avoidable and has more goals than "kill everything". Enemies want to live too, after all. Giving enemies special abilities that throw the players off is also a favourite of mine. The two dragons I have run have both had breath weapon modifications. Not only do they have an alternative breath weapon (separate recharge too), they instantly regain and use their main one (as a reaction!) the moment that they hit 50% HP. The white dragon's alt allowed him to freeze a single target solid on a failed CON save (this actually led to our first PC death!) while the black dragon had an alt that turned his acid line into a short-range cone that blinded targets on failed saves. Those were fun battles. I also like using things that make the players doubt their "eyes". When some pirates attacked the port, our ranger was stumped when he found that his favoured enemy ability wasn't working on these "humanoids". After dropping one to 50%, the fake skin graft on its face tore partially, revealing a skeleton head with glowing red orbs for eyes underneath. That's right guys, they are undead. Suddenly, the party was scrambling to find ways to destroy these skeleton pirates who refused to stay dead. Oh, and if you are going to make a stealth brag about how many cats you have, we need to see them all. It is only fair, after all (says the totally-not-crazy-cat-guy who uses a fat dressed cat as an avatar). =D

@theDMLair

3 жыл бұрын

My cats are regularly featured on my live streams. 😸

I watch all of KZread at 1.5 speed so it completely threw me off when I started the video on your Kickstarter, "wait.. that's not how he sounds?" took a second for reality to set in lol

@TiberiusAudley

3 жыл бұрын

I also watch KZread at 1.5 or 2x speed. It makes ASMR videos weird though.

Letting players describe the killing blow is super important. It lets players have the spotlight for that moment. When done right, they also get to do some character building. "As he drive the blade into the man's neck, he winces at the gratuitous violence." Even if my DM doesn't ask I always describe the killing blow for my character.

@theDMLair

3 жыл бұрын

Totally agree. It's a great opportunity for RPing.

@TerryAVanguard

3 жыл бұрын

I think that once a round the gm should ask a player to describe a miss, hit, dodge, how they are interacting with their party members during the fight. Let them have more narrative say

Recommended battle music: Two Steps From Hell on youtube. Their music is absolutely awesome.

@SquatBenchDeadlift455

3 жыл бұрын

Agreed! And for outside of combat I like ambiance ("Michael Ghelfi - RPG Ambiences & Music") or stuff from the "Grimm Music World" channel. Music that sets the pace but doesn't have too strong of lyrics or pull attention away from the game.

@erc1971erc1971

3 жыл бұрын

I love Two Steps from Hell - I have them in my "Fantasy" playlist on my iPod while at work...really helps me brainstorm adventure ideas while driving.

@sparemobius7430

3 жыл бұрын

I have been toying with the idea of music to set the theme of fights recently, you could even come up with a sidequest, with an evil bard who made a deal with a demon or something to collect sacrifices or something through his shows, and use the music as his boss phases. So just as an example, I was going to do this in my next game, have a few options and roll so the combat is a bit random, but here is an idea how it will go, also to cut down on links Ill just put what you would search to find it Some banter happens, the party finds out what the bard has been up to and this is the person they were sent to investigate, battle eventually starts. Fight phase 1: bardcore paint it black (second one no lyrics) The bard jumps onto the stage, the song starts to play, and as it does the door at the entrance slams shut, it begins to turn pitch black and seems to disappear into the surroundings, as does the bard. Enemies are summoned into the fight in random locations, and every round the floor and walls start to turn pitch black as well at a rate of 10 feet per round in all directions form the bard and the door until the whole room is covered. The party members may choose to jump it when it gets close and it will do nothing to them to step on it, however if they are in the square as it covered it, they will lose all sight until they roll a save. The enemies will be harder to see (maybe +1-2AC or just a 10% evade chance or something) and be able to stealth much easier, the bard melds into the shadows and phantasmal instruments can be seen around the room playing the music. Fight continues until the enemies are beaten, in which the bard will move to phase 2. Fight Phase 2: bardcore sound of silence A few enemies spawn and target the mages, who will be silenced for this phase (no spells) easy phase goal, protect the mages, kill the enemies. Fight Phase 3: bardcore megalovania 3-4 depending on party size skeletons will spawn, only one of them is corporeal, players will have to figure out the tell, it swaps which one each round at the end of their turn. Their turns will be taken together, the corporeal one will do a normal attack, while the other two will store any damage the would have taken and dish part of it out in a, energy based line attack + some base damage if it wasn't hit, after which they will all sort of phase and shift about a bit to randomize the new location of the one that can be hit and end turns, take out the main one they all go down. Final Phase: The bard is ejected form the shadows, his demonic partner now with him, he seems to have lost control of the instruments around the room, the demon is clearly displeased at having been forced out. (play all the random bardcore songs open for a bit while this exchange is going on, closing them slowly until only one remains and start playing - Korobeiniki (Medieval Cover)) Chairs and furniture in the room start to float and fly randomly. The party can attempt to deflect anything at them, if they do they will find out they can sort of direct where ti goes fairly easily. You can then fling these at the demon or bard for bonus damage, or they can just avoid them and do it the normal way. After the bard and demon are defeated, the room will change back to normal, totally trashed though, the instruments will vanish and quest completed. There are lots of fun things that can be subbed in on this fight, I just chose the bardcore theme to fit the bard and style he would have, but I will admit it isn't the most epic of music, but I think it would be fun for a boss fight. Lots of other songs you can use too, like thunderstruck, or pretty much whatever you want really.

@lastbaumstanding1802

3 жыл бұрын

In theory: Yes epic music is super cool. In practice: Epic music for every forest or bandit encounter is pretty garbage. Safe those spicy tunes for when it is a really epic fight.

@benbogolan3696

3 жыл бұрын

I know this comment is 5 months old but nevertheless: for epic battles the "the witcher 3" soundtrack and for standard battles the combat soundtrack from the game "Battle Brothers" have been proven the favourites of my gaming group.

I have to say that your group initiative method has really helped combat in my groups, nobody asks for the turn if they don't know what they'll do. There's no waiting for the magic users, it's just perfect.

Favorite intro by far! Dropping the “DM since high school” AND cat flex while in character should be worth some luck points DMing my first session in

@theDMLair

3 жыл бұрын

Cat flex. Lol 😂 Good luck on your first session as a DM! 😀

@KeizerSosebee

3 жыл бұрын

Sure hope there arent any necromancers. Then combat will last 40 years

@grantbaugh2773

3 жыл бұрын

Good luck on your first session! Remember to be patient with yourself, as pretty much everyone struggles to get used to DMing, so don't get too flustered if you struggle.

@shadowheartart3898

3 жыл бұрын

Good luck on your first session! 😀

@Chefrabbitfoot

3 жыл бұрын

How did your first sesh go? I'm starting my first DM campaign in 2 weeks! Any first-timer tips?

Okay. You *need* to do an intro video soon where you say "Hi, my name is Luke Hart and I have 4 fat chonker cats and 3 regular cats." Instead of the usual. It would be hilarious lol

@theDMLair

3 жыл бұрын

DONE! Look for it in October! 😂

@ShugoAWay

3 жыл бұрын

@@theDMLair but by October it might be 5 chonkers or more

‘Another dungeon master who has seven cats!’ The Pokemon battle music plays along the with the text ‘a challenger approaches’

I don't say hit or miss. I usually describe what happens. A far miss is either a skillful dodge. A minor miss is a parry. A miss by 1 shows fear in the enemy's eyes, as they know how close they were to being hurt.

@danielclark-hughes692

Жыл бұрын

I like this, very cinematic

Amazing video as always! My combat has always been the downfall of my campaigns, I'm sure this is gonna help! Thank you for the epic video, love your intro skits!

@theDMLair

3 жыл бұрын

You are very welcome! Happy to help. 😀

"They have gained the title: Chonker" sounds like a tabaxi lord

I have lists of Sample NPC Actions that I use during combat, such as: -He ducks your swing, and comes up with a quick slashing blow. -The warrior sidesteps your attack, and counters with a heavy bash across your back. -They look for an opening, and dart in with a series of quick, coordinated attacks. -The monster jumps in and rakes its claws deep in your flesh. Descriptions like these, as well as only giving the players 10 seconds to relay their actions, really helps to speed up the game and make it more entertaining for everyone. I also use terrain, combat and boss-battle music, enemy surrender, and even an enemy leader challenging the party leader to one-on-one combat to make my game more interesting.

"Alright, your turn Ranger." "Uhhh... not sure..." "Right, fighter you are next in initiative, tell me what you do while ranger thinks." I love creating special abilities. I took the earth elemental, made it crystal, enhanced his con and gave it an AOE attack that created crystal stalagmites and magic absorption, enhancing the damage on his first hit or AOE by 1d8 for each spell... with 2 half casters, a wizard and a single fighter in the party. Muahahaha. When that thing died, it exploded and released the Allip that was contained within. This thing made an area of Darkness every time it took damage from spells and forced a save on hit, giving madness on failed save.

@hikikomicklori9290

3 жыл бұрын

I've run tables where if a player isn't able to give me their action during their turn their initiative moves to last in the round. (I run random initiative each round so my players really have to be on the ball)

@TerryAVanguard

3 жыл бұрын

@@hikikomicklori9290 intresting

@TerryAVanguard

3 жыл бұрын

I love unique monsters too, really spices up the game. Steal from 4e too as 5e monsters are super bland.

@vincentrosatti6892

3 жыл бұрын

Interesting! If I can ask, how do you check if your custom monster is not too much powerful for your players?

You're uploading this one day before my most combat heavy session starts! You're great!

@Spiceodog

3 жыл бұрын

ask the players if they would like to describe when an enemy misses them, it might sound something like,: dm: " ok that's a miss" monk" as the troll juggernaut charges towards me, I take a deep breath in, and out, waiting, as it gets a mere 2 feet from turning my body into a smear stain on the wall, I jump up, kick off the wall behind me, plant a hand on his shoulder to push of again and front flip over him, steadying myself to ensure a well performed strike on my next attack"

@Spiceodog

3 жыл бұрын

or for a transmutation wizard, " the ballista aims true, about to pin me into the tree like a human poster, my body to old and frail to dodge it, as I see my life flash before me, I don't cry, or feel bad for myself, I grin. as the bolt is less then a second away from spearing me through the heart, I just feel paper, as the bolt turns into confetti, with the sound of a party horn" bahhhhahaha, your messing with a master of the arcane, I'm not one to trifle with" I say in glee

@theDMLair

3 жыл бұрын

Awesome, happy to help! 😀

@TerryAVanguard

3 жыл бұрын

@@Spiceodog agreed, allowing players to describe the dice rolls in ways the game wont allow but fit the narrative, character and world is a great way to world build and make things a lot more interesting.

Yeah we should remove anything requiring multiple dice from D&D so it wouldn’t be unfair to cats!

@Zaprozhan

3 жыл бұрын

Using average for damage rolls might speed things up.

I've been following you for a year, since I started being a Master in a campaign of my own, in the world of Elder Scrolls . Thanks to you, I've already started at a high level. I can only thank you and support you for doing more and more content💪🏻. Greetings from Spain, and apologise for my English 😂

I do most of these, but the “one minute between rounds” is a new and EXCELLENT idea! You never disappoint! 😄

Great video. I have a "session 0" for a new campaign on saturday (basically making characters, talking house-rules, getting any big questions out of the way...), and I think I'll implement some of these suggestions. I especially like the one about giving time between rounds to talk tactics! It's not just about combat, but there is one thing I stamp down on hard when I'm GM'ing: When players spend a lot of time explaining why their character does/says something, based solely on what the character is thinking. If your character doesn't say it out loud and I haven't asked why, then I really don't want to hear it. About 20 years ago I played in a group, where a guy kept going on and on "well my character thinks that XXX, because YYY, and then ZZZ, but..." until I lost patience and asked if the character was saying all that stuff out loud, and the answer was always "uhh, no". He'd start talking reasons based on experiences from before his character met the group, and none of it was ever things that was actually shared in-game. It was horrible! Maybe I'm just an impatient asshat, but if it's not shared ingame so the other characters can join in/react/whatever, then I don't want it in my game. It takes up time and excludes the other players.

I've been recommending your videos for quite some time now and I'm glad that you're starting to get more and more views on them with each successive video. Proud of your progress man

Love your content Luke, thank you for all the advice

@theDMLair

3 жыл бұрын

You are very welcome! Happy to help. 😀

Luke: "Roleplaying doesn't stop when initiative is rolled." Me: "Of course not. You're still *rolling* the dice. :D"

@theDMLair

3 жыл бұрын

Great...uh point. 😂

Over the course of nine months I’ve slowly gotten used to learning and making combat work over discord. I recently made my own grid map and some minis for my players out of clay, this was a massive improvement. This video had lots of good tips that I hope will further improve combat now that I’ve got the mechanics sorted!! Thank you (:

I like all ten tips, tanks for sharing with us! And congrats on your kickstarter already smashing your first goal (as of 18:30 EST) by $7k.

That was the single best intro to a video that I've seen this year! Instant sub! Fingers crossed that the content is of equal value 🤞😊

Love the tips. Use most of them from previous videos you made. My tip I learned from someone, I always have my players roll damage dice with their attack rolls to speed things up. If they hit, damage is there. If they miss, ignore all dice. Even fighters with 2 attacks. Different color dice they use, roll both sets telling me which color is first attack. Players love this as they see "what could have been if they hit, etc...". Rolling advantage or disadvantage is harder but then only one attack at a time is rolled.

Good luck on the Kickstarter!

@greatauntlizbethg9137

3 жыл бұрын

Its zooming along

Please make a short video series of all your characters playing a short adventure together because all your intros are GOLD! :D

@theDMLair

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you! Glad you like them. Yes, I'll consider it. 😀

I think the plan for having 1 minute of strategy discussion between rounds is an excellent idea! I've also found that rather than limiting players turns to a few seconds, letting the next player whose turn it is know before hand is good. "Morgran, it's your turn, and then Harrow, your turn is next after a 3 enemies." this perks them out of their stupor and gets them thinking. I've also been using environments a lot more and it makes things a lot more interesting.

@TerryAVanguard

3 жыл бұрын

I do both because even when a player knows there turn is comeing up, they can still take forever and thats not fair to the other players.

“There is a thing as too much description.” *cough* Tolkien *cough*

@Bladezeromus

3 жыл бұрын

Bruh. That's why i cant get into his shit. I dont want a 1000 words about how the swirl of leaves in the wind ties back to the whatever of ancient elven whatever.

@danacoleman4007

3 жыл бұрын

more like Brooks

@theDMLair

3 жыл бұрын

I live Tolkien. 😂 But a game is a far cry from fiction literature.

@akrinornoname2769

3 жыл бұрын

His combat wasn't overly described though

@richardreumerman5449

3 жыл бұрын

Game of Thrones doubles as a fashion catalogue.

Funniest thing, when you said "I actually have pizza in the fridge" An add popped up, I thought to myself, "He's on his way to get some pizza now" I literally paused the video and made a quick sandwich. This time you made me hungry. This is BK Dan from Friday's live-stream

A few new things learned - again. Keep up your cool stuff in your channel!

I am running a starfinder module and totally re-wrote the final combat for the book we are one. Instead of a field of minions with one big baddie on a cliff with a sniper rifle, I added a medium baddie that was melee and shotguns to be a buffer for the sniper and had those original minions (skeleton mage types) shamble out of the tall walls of bone the gorge was made from to dynamically and really shake up combat. As a less experienced GM, it was one of the best combats I've ever run (and my players agreed too!)

I like to believe that fat cat is a representation for all of Luke's cats

@theDMLair

3 жыл бұрын

And that's not far from the truth... Lol

@handlebarfox2366

3 жыл бұрын

@@theDMLair fat cat doesn't shed as much, though.

Thanks man, even if I know some of those things, I keep forgetting them in the heat of combat. Now everything is fresh.

I recently tried the alternate initiative rule where it’s like a JRPG. I roll against the players and one side goes all at once then the other. It made it faster and the players got to pull some sick combos. As the dm it also allowed me to do the same. The only thing I had to be careful of is making sure the monsters included could survive at LEAST that first round of PC bullying and still leave enough to challenge them.

I've always wondered "What are my limits to making and modifying bad guys" and you good sir have provided that limit I needed. I'v giving my dragons a "tail swipe" and a "devour" cause right now they are just giant lizards of the elements.

@TerryAVanguard

3 жыл бұрын

Add limb damage, bloodied attack, damge types triggering unique conduction. I steal heavily from 4e, Fallout, Final fantasy, and monster hunter. Its a lot of extra work but I would rather have one memorable fight then 10 forgetable ones. Ill make those forgetable ones skills challenges with the players pretty much gaurentees to win but how they achieve victory effects narrative.

1. RP everything 2. Describe everything 3. Ask players to describe their killing blow 4. Time a player turns, they dodge if they dont act. 5. Give players 1 min between rounds to discuss tactics. 6. Enemies use tactics and special abilities 7. Use terrain and environmental effects (OP gives some great examples) 8. Monsters and NPCs flee or surrender 9. Introduce goals besides killing 10. Use combat music

How do these videos keep improving!!? I love it!

When I know the path that my players are taking, I set up a powerpoint presentation on my TV. This gives the players a better visual of NPCs, monsters, and the environment that they're exploring. I also created initiative cards with their PC's pictures along with general info on my side to include AC, save DC, and 3 init blocks for them to preroll before the game. There is SO MUCH time lost when the DM asks for AC/Saves all of the time that this is my answer for it. Prerolling init also smooths transition into combat and very rarely does a game have 3+ fights so it's a good benchmark. I also do the avg dmg in order to end my turn more quickly. With so many monsters to deal with on my side, it does help IMO.

@TerryAVanguard

3 жыл бұрын

The prerolled int is a great idea, thanks

These are excellent tips. One option I've seen help with player decision-making is using team-based initiative: if more than half the PCs' initiative rolls beat the highest "passive initiative" of their opponents, then they all go first, in whatever order they want. This way the decisive ones can go while the indecisive ones think, and they also tend to strategize and coordinate more. Of course, the monsters get to do the same! This does impact a few abilities more than others, but I think it's worth working around.

A player used fireball on a few enemies hiding among trees. I rolled dice to decide in which direction the trees fell and the look on the player's faces when they realized they were too close was priceless. They got lucky though, none fell in their direction.

I really love turn-based combat in RPGs, and I think you pretty much got everything covered. Tho one thing I'd add as just general advice is, unless it's a L + O*10^4 +NG dungeon crawl or something, you should mostly aim for hard or deadly encounters. Medium ones are usually easy, and easy is trivial. One of the best combat encounters I threw so far was pitting my pirate players against the navy. They nearly got wiped, and their ship nearly got sank, but there were so many different things to keep track of or utilize and it was amazing. Navy soldiers boarding their ship, 2 squads of musket men hitting them every round, cannons firing, ship movement, multi-height terrain, cover, environmental "kills". The Wizard was diving in an out of cover and slinging spells, an NPC crewman (controlled by players in fights) with the Healer feat was saving their lives, the Rogue...was unconcious on the deck, but he still had a sharpshooter NPC to control, so it was fine. The Barbarian eliminated 5 enemies in 5 hits by grappling them and throwing them overboard, and if he was just striking instead, he'd probably have been dead. Towards the end he killed 2 enemies by throwing improvised weapons, having already thrown both of his hand axes. Crushed one's throat using a barrel lid frizbee, and brained the other one by critting him with an empty rum bottle. He actually had to rage twice during this combat, because his 1 minute rage expired. All in all, some 25 1/2 CR and 1/4 CR enemies, plus a CR 3 Giff captain were just barely eliminated that day.

I like to speed up combat by using a small 30 second “hour glass” it seems to really speed up my players. It it runs out, first time they dodge, second tone the miss their turn.

@Spiceodog

3 жыл бұрын

ive tried this before, but I made the mistake of that being how long their turn takes, not how long to choose what there going to do. make room for description and such

Multiple cat shot outside. Best intro. Also woo I can finally go start giving you kickstarter money to make cats chunkier.

@theDMLair

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks! Chonkier cats... Oh dear... 😂

Vrigin Barbarian: "I attack." Chad Barbarian: "What the biggest thing I can pick up and swing around?" "What's the environment like?...Okay. I wanna grapple the guy and take him towards that."

@TerryAVanguard

3 жыл бұрын

You know thats one thing I wish there was more of in dnd, the ridiculousness. The barbarian suplexing a train even though he should have the strength. The rouge stealing the enemies mass so they are weightless. The fighter useing a spoon to cut through a tree 15 feet away. I guess what Im saying is I want a anime style dnd game where shit gets crazy

Luke! Love your videos and streams! Top 3 favorite people on youtube! Congrats on the kickstarter, I wpuld be so in if not for...well... college.

An excellent collection of tips, thanks for your much-appreciated insight. Just thought I'd throw in a house-rule I've been using for a while to keep the player's invested in combat. I explain to my players that any strike from a weapon could be a killer blow, and that hit points act as a buffer between their characters and a fatal wound, but only if they have their wits about them. When in combat if an enemy successfully hits, I describe the attack as it comes down, and the player has to interject, describing how their character evaded certain death (at the cost of a few hit points), whether by deft parry, desperate block or anything in-between. If they hesitate too long, then the blow lands, the character is reduced to zero hit points and starts making death saves. My players find this helps keep them on their toes during combat, even when outside their turn.

@TerryAVanguard

3 жыл бұрын

INTREstinggg. You dont find that doing it all the time gets stall? I do like Anything else you can tell me about how it plays and what your players think? Please

I'll add an addendum to number 7. Add puzzles to battle set ups. Give them a broken or jammed ballista they can try to repair on the fly before combat starts. Give battles conditions that put the combat itself on a timer. Like the doors to the chamber they're trapped in are slowly being broke down by an enemy horde. While they try to kill a few guards and make an escape. Create neutral 3rd parties of events to toss a battle into chaos. Like the fighting attracts a huge monster that might attack either you or the antagonists. In short giving your players a bit of agency and a little urgency will make combat way more engaging.

@theDMLair

3 жыл бұрын

Yes, all great ideas. 😀

Thanks Luke, I’ll use it in my next combat!!

2 sessions ago the party were helping some elves rescue one of their female members from a tree as a frost giant tried to get at it. The eldritch knight cast friends on it and told it there were fictional giant ladies down the road, and succeeded on the checks. Everyone then escaped and the giant couldn't track them. 'Beating' it with a cantrip rather than spend an hour whittling down hitpoints was both efficient and more interesting

Fat Cat is adorable. Who agrees

@theDMLair

3 жыл бұрын

Me! 😸

@kokonaharuka2436

3 жыл бұрын

I’m agree..

In the defense of players taking long to choose spells, I have to say as a DM and Player, it's easy to say the monster does x or y spell without thinking twice, but as a PC who might have only one or two chances to use a spell during the encounter, you want to make the most of it! 15 minutes is just crazy, but I do regularly take maybe one minute on my turn because we are all invested in each others' actions and are not looking at our spell for next turn because we do not want to miss out on the amazing descriptions that our DM and fellow PCs make during the combat. I also have found as a DM that some of my caster PCs do take about one minute on their turn, but as long as I see they're just flipping through different spells and not reading the description at length, I find it beneficial to let them take a wee bit longer than the stabby stab rogue. Great advice nonetheless, but I wanted to mitigate for the players and DMs out there who are too literal and can't see the difference between flipping through your spells cause the situation is tense and you are afraid of dying because you didn't upcast vs. the player who's on his phone and then reads each of his spells in their entirety before casting eldritch blast after all. Love what you do!

Simple things can make combat more fun. In my last game, for example, I introduced the party to two new enemy types. One was a humanoid with an inmate magic 10 foot burrow speed, so while fighting in a cave there are a lot of tricks that they can pull in their movement. The other had haste and could give haste simply by cutting the player, the downside being that, on a failed CON save the player also became poisoned.

@TerryAVanguard

3 жыл бұрын

Nice, I like to take current monsters and give them regional variants explaining why not all monsters are the same because the MM only covers the most basic and simplest of monsters.

@TerryAVanguard

3 жыл бұрын

All the really scarey and unique monsters usally killed those trying to learn about them

you know if more dm's would have their foes flee it does add some more utility to ranged and mobile classes, it makes a monk with mobile the last thing you want to see chasing you down.

@TerryAVanguard

3 жыл бұрын

Yeah I always hated how I could have rhe ability to see a mile away and a bow with the feet that gives me no disadvantaged to long range only to have enemies on the open plan pop up surrounding us and within 30 feet. Its rare that Ive played a game which has let me take advantage of long range.

DMing my first session ever tomorrow evening. Your videos have been extremely helpful!!

@theDMLair

3 жыл бұрын

Awesome, happy to help! 😀

@TerryAVanguard

3 жыл бұрын

How did it go¿

@Retinage

3 жыл бұрын

@@TerryAVanguard rocky to start, but got better as it went on

@theDMLair

3 жыл бұрын

That's awesome dude. Good luck with the session and happy to hear that the videos have been helpful. :-)

Thank you for the awesome video's!!

"Describe out you vanquish your foe" Is a fantastic way to really bring excitement into the climax of a tough fight. Consider: "And they're dead" vs. "Care to describe how you dispatch the foe" For the sake of expediency, I will as a gm, narrate most deaths of mobbies. I mean six kobolds are not that big of a one. Plus somebody like a barbarian describing generic kills will spoil the fun over time. So I roleplay present the battles and what happens with the killing hit on minions, but big baddies or tough fights are all the players narration to make it extra special.

I’m running a CoS campaign via roll20 for the first time and using audio has been a massive game changer for me. I’ve found so many great and creepy pieces. Skyrim has some excellent tracks (I just avoid the main ones as they’re obvious and ruin immersion) and sword coast soundscapes make some phenomenal content. The trick is not to play it too loud, especially combat music The exception there is high tension chase music, that needs a bit more volume for sure

Agree with 1,2 and 4, but not 3 and 5 personally. Reason for 3: I've seen it work on Critical Role, but it jsut doesn't work with my group. Doesn't fit Reason for 5: In the heat of combat is not when you have time to make plans. As a free action on the wizard's turn, the fighter can call out something like, "Fireball. I can take it", but there is no time to tell the goblins, "Time out. We need to discuss our plan" As a player, with a protection fighting style fighter, who is meant to be a strategist, I cal out things like, "Stay close" to our monk, so I can use my reaction to put disadvantage on the atack against her, or, "Surround it" to the echo knight fighter to get a flanking bonus. Beyond that just isn't something you have time to sit and casually converse about while the fight is raging. A minute to strategically plan between rounds? 60 seconds worth of player conversation going on in the gap between 6 second combat flurries? Hard pass.

My top tip is to have a default action ready, so no matter what happens, you can still go on your turn immediately. I've seen players find themselves lost when the people before them mess up their plans. Attack the nearest enemy or buff/aide the nearest ally are always good to fall back on. For spellcasters, if you need something quick, just use the most appropriate cantrip. You won't be potentially wasting a spell slot you might need when you have a better idea.

As someone who currently is in control of 4 slaadi in their current campaign (DMs oversight XD ), I definitely make an effort to be prepared each turn because I'm a spellcaster on top of that. I've had a turn where I get through all of the slaadi and then my turn comes around and I forget three specifics of the spell I was going to use, so I just default to a different one so that I'm not wasting more time. I usually brush up my spells but I got distracted memorizing the slaadi's stats so I could run them quickly. So yeah, players need to be quick as well XD

I love your D&D stuff, but I'm gonna need a "Top Chonkers" list featuring your cats. Thanks. 🙂

"It's time to fatten the kitties up!" Luke's cats: Food?

Cats! You can never escape them. Lol. Anyway, I agree with Luke that describing the killing blow is a lot of fun. I remember when I got to deliver the killing blow to an evil pirate Queen. I used guiding bolt at fourth level to blast a hole of holy light through the pirate Queen’s chest and she died instantly. I felt really connected to my character and role playing that as a player was so much fun.

2 things: Barbarian’s resurrection, And You have 7 cats!!??

@handlebarfox2366

3 жыл бұрын

down from 9, if I recall correctly.

My combats as DM definitely will be helped by this!

@theDMLair

Жыл бұрын

Awesome, happy to be able to help!

Omg im in love with the barbarian, he is so adorable!!

Good video, I've been using all of these except the 1 minute between rounds to discuss with each other what's the plan. I hope it doesn't backfire and make combat slower, because I could definitely see them taking the full 60 seconds every round for every combat.

Good advice It’s a fine line between bogging down and making it exciting

@theDMLair

3 жыл бұрын

Agreed!

Hey you’re channel is awesome

having a player describe the killing blow is absolutely brilliant! never heard anybody suggest that before! great idea!

@an8strengthkobold360

3 жыл бұрын

I've started doing it and it's going really well.

@theDMLair

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks! 😂

Depending on the number of players, group initiative works well. They can go in any order when their group goes

Love these!

@theDMLair

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks dude!

im just sat hear catching up on Lukes vids and i heard the word cake and my head snaped right around

Personally, the Doom OST is my go to combat music. And nobody has complained yet. I also use a similar potion rule as the guys at critical role, where you can carry potions in a hotbar. And I also completely overhauled spell slots when I had almost entirely new players and have never looked back. So, it's more like a mana bar in a game like WoW, where spells cost mana. First level spells cost 1 slot. Second level spells cost two slots. And so on. There's no more spell slot levels, and it's so much easier and faster to use.

Great video today my friend and that skit was funny

@theDMLair

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks! 😀

Very helpful video 10/10

Something I pulled from critical role is the "on deck" announcements during initiative. Let a player know their turn is coming up and they're more likely to start with an action in mind and smoothly pass their turn to the next one, or know what kind of questions they want to ask the DM if they're trying something off-menu

You're awesome!!

@theDMLair

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks! You're pretty awesome, too. 😀

Thanks for the tips

@theDMLair

3 жыл бұрын

Happy to help! 😀

@Spiceodog

3 жыл бұрын

extra tip, ask if the players want to describe when an enemy misses them it makes for great scenes like this: dm:' oh, that's just one off from hitting you" the teleporter wizard" as the massive boulder blots out the sky above me, just inches from turning me into a wizard pancake, it disappears, the giant looks baffled, as I look of into the distance, I see a large boulder land hard on a mountain across from ours,"

I have a feeling Luke would enjoy Astraea. She asked an Yuan-ti to surrender after his leader had been one shot by a Lady clad in Red Armor. He took it and Astraea allowed him to leave after he swore an oath to no endanger the party, sadly another party memeber shot him from behind.

Ever since watching a Dungeon Craft video, I roll my damage dice at the same time as I roll my d20(s). And during other players' turns I am planning what I will do, looking up my spell to recall ahead of time what it does, and what has to be rolled and by whom. It's simple time-saving and ought to be common courtesy. - And if I get into analysis paralysis, I just default to Firebolt. - In our game a couple of days ago, we had a non-lethal combat and chase when a pickpocket failed to lift our bard's lyre. The pickpocket took a couple of punches and escaped a grapple to eventually lose the four of us in a crowded street. The bard didn't dare a Sleep with so many people in a city where public displays of magic draw unwelcome attention. My rogue, with his extra bonus dash was defeated by a sudden merchant's cart backing into the road (/thunk). The only attempt at real damage was from the pickpocket who threw a fairly nice dagger at my rogue. So, not only did we NOT get pickpocketed, but we gained a dagger.

Yay new video.

Nice video

Add additional stakes and/or a ticking clock element...in 10 rounds the princess you are trying to rescue will be lowered into the lava and you will have to listen to her screams of agony as her body and soul is consumed in order to summon forth Orcus! You can bet your behind the player's are going to feel that urgency! As a terrain crafting junkie...I love love love using terrain to spice up combat. Having the forest or village physically on the gaming table is just awesome! Strangely enough I find music a poor option to use during the game. Its timing always going to be off - going into a lull just as the fighter confronts the evil warlord who killed his parents for example. And volume is a problem as well. If it is quiet enough to not disturb the game, after 30 seconds it fades into the background and no one even notices it is there. About the only time I use it is for dramatic effect when describing a scene, then I turn it off. Example: I played the Imperial March last weekend as I described the Star Destroyer docking in the space station, cloaking the cockpit of the PC's freighter in darkness as it blocked out the lights in the spaceport, then the ominous voice of Grand Moff Tarak coming over their com's as the Empire stated it was taking control of the space station. With the scene set, music went off.

With having to take someone alive, a house rule I use is that non-lethal attacks do half-damage, which means that in order to not kill someone, you have to put yourself in more risk.

RE: Number 4. I find that if you recap the relevant information from the last round of combat for the player (with narrative flourish) and ask them what they do in direct response to these actions, it instills a sense of urgency and that if they don't do anything this second, things are going to get worse. It's combat, you have to make split second decisions. It doesn't matter if it's optimal, so long as you think, in that split second moment, it'll be beneficial to the survival of yourself and your friends. I won't even grant them a default dodge action: they're clearly paralyzed in indecision or fear or what have you. For example: Don't ask, "Warlock, it's your turn, what are you doing?" Instead, ask, "Warlock, the cleric just handed the magic knife to the druid but she just got possessed by the ghost. The druid, the party mom, your own basically adoptive mother is now brandishing a knife at you with nothing but with fury in her normally calm eyes, what do you do?" Will the warlock eldritch blast? Will they lash out with their dagger? Will they attempt to distance themselves from the immediate danger? Do they even care about what's happening with the rogue or bard? None of this matters as long as they do anything at all. I suppose this also falls under roleplaying combat and continuing to provide a narrative as well.

In my last session, the druid was shapeshifted into a bear, holding onto a vampire's head in her mouth, while the vampire dangled from the ceiling with its spider climb. So my suggestion for improving combat: let your players do crazy stuff!

@TerryAVanguard

3 жыл бұрын

Yes, and find ways to put them in crazy situation

6:42 me and my relationship with Pizza

If people are okay with extra rules try out beyond damage dice from kobold press. It gives new manuevers for each weapon to make it beyond i swing the sword

My top tip is breaking 'basic' enemies into groups. If you have 9 Orcs, break them into groups of 3 so you have less initiatives to keep track of. This also can increase the tension of the battle for the players! It gives them more incentive to thin the numbers of the Orc War Band rather than just focusing the leader. Action economy is important!

A single turn can take up to 5 minutes but still feel fast paced if the description is good enough. Make sure that your speaking the way an author would describe a fight, not the way they would describe a room. Evocative words with a fitting tone and descriptions and analogies are quick but still fitting and get the point across. Take the first time you describe how your character wields there sword, what stance they’re holding, descriptive “ like / as” words and really go into detail. After you get across what a standard attack looks like when delivered by your character, then you can shorten it up for all the other attacks unless your doing something a little different.

A good tip for speeding up combat is have your enemies go in groups. You have 10 enemies and 5 players? Split the enemies into groups of 2 and 3, or 5; speeding up combat. If you run dnd on Roll20, setup macros for group saves and attacks, so you only klick one button instead of *number of attacks* times. Something I find that it works to devide player attention as well. Combat seems to go faster if you have the players get surrounded or you start making them fear something like character death This is personal experience though and may not be applicable to every group..

The intro skits have gotten more elaborate....

@theDMLair

3 жыл бұрын

I blame the barbarian.