You ran a campaign and then did a post-mortem analysis to improve your skills. Keep doing that and you're on the road to being a great GM.

If a *lich* couldn't teleport out of a pit, I'd be very underwhelmed with that result. "What kinda dumbass lich is this?!" is likely what my party would say, led by another DM.

@Okayest__DM

Жыл бұрын

As a player, I'd argue that being encased in solid rock prevents both verbal and somatic spell components. So unless the lich had a different teleport ability or the Subtle Spell metamagic, it can't get out via teleporting. That being said, you bring up a great point! I'm glad someone thinks I did it right, even if I don't 😅

@abfg616

9 ай бұрын

@@Okayest__DM maybe a cool way to have the lich enter a second phase after being encased like that would be to have it release some kind of energy blast, destroying their tower or whatever and disrupting the once-in-an-eternity ritual they had been trying to protect this whole time. Now, with nothing left to lose, the lich goes all out to destroy the party. I guess they wouldn't need to be encased to do this, but I think it would make for a neat moment, with your players both gaining ground in preventing the ritual while simultaneously still having a harrowing fight ahead of them. Obviously, hindsight is 20/20, and this would require some setup that you probably hadn't been setting up, but still. Also, thanks for making this video! I'm trying to get a D&D campaign of my own off the ground, and I like how your video hits a nice middle ground between 'these are the ideal circumstances' and 'look at this horror story where the DM is literally stabbing people with a knife, a cautionary tale about how you shouldn't stab your own players with a serrated blade, ribbed for their pain' which makes it a really intuitive kind of learning experience. I've been having a bit of worldbuilding paralysis with my own game tbh. I really want to create a unique world for them full of novel concepts for them to explore but I realize that at some point I really just need to start, and that the actual game ought to matter more than its setting.

I love the implication in the first few seconds that the cat is a member of the party and is dipping out with the othersb

(Apologies for how long this goes, but I had to share.) The best plot twist for a BBEG fight I experience in a campaign I ran was actually caused by one of the players. We were running the "Legacy of Fire" Pathfinder Adventure Path. General simplified backstory, evil Ifrit warlord was trapped centuries ago with his army of genies and demons in a tropical island like demi-plane. Players eventually got their hands on a scroll artifact that opened the portal, causing the army to escape and the players to be trapped in the demi-plane. Players found a way to escape, causing the scroll to be destroyed, but also causing the demi-plane's prison-like qualities to be destroyed as well... so it's just now another demi-plane high level character could theoretically teleport in and out of. Anyway, after additional sections of the adventure going through the Elemental Plane of Fire, the party returns home to find out the town that was their base of operations and the surrounding area was taken over by said ifrit warlord. They prep themselves and start trying to sneak into the guy's base, taking out some minions on the way, until they confront the ifrit in a dangerous cavern. Now, the ifrit wasn't just taking over the area. He was trying to use magic to summon a major evil creature that would make him unstoppable, etc, etc. All the ifrit needed to do was to get people to make a wish, and in return he used part of that wish magic to boost himself up for the creature resurrection. By the time the PCs got to him, he needed one more wish; and instead of instantly attacking the PCs, he offered the party a wish instead. Seeing the chamber was filled with lava creatures, extreme heat, a prisoner, and a number of other effects that would the fight extremely dangerous, the group stopped to confer with each other a moment to see if they could come up with a wish that would screw the ifrit over. The problem is that any wish that was too obvious, the ifrit could just hear the wish and go "Uh, no" and not grant it. As the party started to argue, one gnome druid PC in the group snuck past the group unseen, and approached talked to the ifrit. "A few months ago, I was staying at some mage's house and I kept my things in a bag under my bed. Since then I lost a lot of that equipment. I wish that I got my bag back along with everything that was in it at the time." I, as the GM, blinked, and at the moment I wasn't sure what was going on, and in-character as the ifrit, I couldn't think of a reason to block the wish so.... he granted it. The wish was granted. The stuff appeared by the gnome's feet, and the room started to erupt in laughter as the power surged into the Ifrit. The rest of the party noticed what happened and screamed "What did you do!?!" Then, as the ifrit began the spell to bring back the creature, the gnome opened up his returned bag of holding, pulled out the scroll to the demi-plane, and quickly activated it. As the GM, I forgot the scroll was in the bag back then; and for a moment I had to stop and think "could the wish recreate a destroyed artifact". But here's the thing, without the prison-like defenses around the demi-plane, the scroll more acted just like a massive forced teleport with no saving throws. Since the scroll isn't actually a true gateway to that plane anymore, I couldn't justify it really being an artifact anymore either. So... it's just a powerful teleport scroll. I had the player roll to see if the PC was able to use the high-level scroll... and she succeeded. So the entire party and the prisoner and the ifrit were all pulled into the demi-plane... out of the cavern... yanking the BBEG away from where he needed to do the ritual.... away from the massive number of threats and negative effects the lair gave to the party and boosted the ifrit... to a beach location the BBEG recognized as his former prison. He was horrified and pissed and 90% of my plans for the final fight just got flushed down the toilet. What was worse is that the ifrit didn't know the prison-like qualities of the plane were gone, so he thought he was imprisoned again and focused on trying to murder the party in a near-blind rage. So instead of a close confined battle where lava that could reach up and grab people was going to be major detriment... instead the BBEG was moving around a wide open sunny beach nearby the rotted corpse of a dragon-turtle the party murdered months ago. It was still an epic fight, but man I had to wing a lot. In the end, the entire group had fun wailing on this guy as he tried to attack from a distance as he flew around; and the final strike ended up bisecting the genie from... well.... *cough* head to head. After looting the guy and a plane shift later, victory was completed. Never had I had to trash an entire battle-map and rebuild a map I thought I was done with, plus have all of my plans for the final fight be completely scrapped... and yet it was one of the best final fights I ran. (Second best, truly. Best one was a massive battle where the PCs and NPC allies attacked a group of 60 drow and demons, and the fight ended with only one PC alive (all other PCs and ally NPCs dead) with the BBEG being the only enemy left alive. Both of them were completely out of non-0th level spells, in single digit hit points, and were just exhausted trying to tick off the remaining HPs each had through difficult terrain over the bodies of the fallen. The PC won with only a few hit points left. It was a tiring finish, but damn that felt good. A massive battle, and the difference between victory and failure was just about as close as you could make it. Anyway... back to the other campaign.) Technically, I could had let the ifrit test to see if he could had teleported out and escaped the "prison", but it felt much better for him to just assume that was still the case and go after the PCs. He (*cough* I *cough*) had been duped, and I wanted that to hold. It felt more epic. I had been completely f***ed over by a player, and I couldn't had been prouder.

My BBEG nearly teleported away from the party when they had him on the ropes, but then someone reminded me the allied npc had counter spell. I was about to tell them she was out of spell slots, but then I remembered she had some sorcery points left. After she countered the teleport, they tore the BBEG to shreds and I congratulated them on their victory. I don't believe in fudging things to make the fight feel better or be more epic. Once the pieces are in place, I play things out in a way that makes sense for all involved. Regardless, I am happy I had an npc in place that was able to legitimately stop the BBEG from escaping rather than me arbitrarily removing or forgetting about the teleport spell on the high level wizard's spell list.

I recently had a big boss fight that ended a major arc of my campaign. Up until then, I experimented with a mechanic for introducing multiple phases to boss fights since my players are able to take them out very quickly with their use of control spells and solid damage. The last fight was one of the most enjoyable since it actually had 3 phases, all of which used everything they had learned up until then and actually threatened everyone (not just the tank). Overall, they are only level 10 and dealt over 600 points of damage amongst the 3 phases with 3 PCs and 2 NPCs (one was purely support and the other used to be a PC until our friend couldnt commit the time). Plus, it put an end to a hated NPC and provided that much needed catharsis. Luckily, I didn't need to fudge the HP to ensure the boss wasn't killed by and NPC

This was very helpful! Some of the lessons learnt were new to me, but some also reiterated important things I should keep in mind for a big boss fight. I really feel that first story, cause it’s the type of stuff that I’ve tried too as a dm, to disappointing effect. Not saying it’s impossible to pull off, but twists like that can feel unfair as a player.

Thank you for this, I remember you talking about the Baphomet fight in Michael Ghelfi’s discord, and I will be sure to use a lot of these tips for my next campaigns.

Excellent video!

THANK YOU! I've used 4e-styled Skill Challenges numerous times to great success. Just don't freak out if they have a means to circumvent it.

This is very useful! Thanks for sharing your experiences and lessons learned. I'm always excited to discover new dnd channels!

@Okayest__DM

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the support! If these videos can help just one person, I consider them a success 😁

Amazing video! Amazing advice! Loved the stories! This channel is awesome, new subscriber! 😄

@Okayest__DM

Жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoyed, and thanks for the support!

Agreed!!! I needed this video. Thanks! I’ve only run a few games at this point, but the final fight has not been epic.

Literally so excited to see this video, I'm like 2 sessions away from ending my campaign

@Okayest__DM

Жыл бұрын

May it be a truly epic ending 😁 Hope this video helps!

Great video! I am getting ready for the final battle in a campaign I have been running for over a year. I really like what you had to say about having the party gather all their old friends! I’m definitely going to do that. I’m now thinking that maybe I should take it a step further and have the party’s old enemies or rivals join the evil king they are facing for even more familiar faces….

@Okayest__DM

10 ай бұрын

Brilliant! Ive actually been thinking about doing the same. Glad I could inspire another nostalgic moment!

You're beautiful, this storyline was epic and I'm now subscribed.

@Okayest__DM

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the support! ❤

Lol whenever i heard the Lich my mind immediately goes to adventure time

@Okayest__DM

Күн бұрын

That would be a GREAT setting for a SAGAS campaign

A final battle against an ancient shadow dragon vs a multitude of allies from two years of play... They had pinned it down in a cave....and ROT GRUBS thrown by an NPC accidentally crit..... burrowed and killed it with little ceremony. Well, shit.

@Okayest__DM

Ай бұрын

Sounds like it's Dracolich time!

@davidstone9624

Ай бұрын

@@Okayest__DM it's in the works, my friend

The thing that I did may have been a bit of a dick move on my part. The party was level 8-9 I think and I gave them a stereotypical DMPC for one of their adventurers. He was a level 20 rogue or a fighter I think, one of those classes that does insane damage regularly. When they got to the end of the dungeon and came across a giant cave, everyone knew instantly that shit was going down. One of the players made a snide remark about how the DMPC was going to just one shot whatever was in here, and I described the DMPC walking out in the middle of the cave, weapon in hand... And immediately getting rolled by the BBEG.

@Okayest__DM

Жыл бұрын

Haha the player sealed their fate

Funnily enough I’ve always had the opposite problem of not using allied npcs when they should probably be actually useful

@Okayest__DM

Жыл бұрын

Oh, I definitely have that issue too! Most of the time I forget to roll their initiative 🤣

I have a final set piece in an altered campaign where the final fight will be two on two(two pcs for two bbegs) at the peak of a mountain, on a blood moon, whilst the town inside the mountain is set alight. Cue smoke, fiery skies, and an equal battle… idk should be pretty cool.

@Okayest__DM

Жыл бұрын

Best of luck! Sounds atmospheric AND epic!

@songbird6414

Жыл бұрын

@@Okayest__DM thanks! I think I’ll need it. I’ve been in two sessions, and so far my players seem like they’re gonna completely derail the campaign long before we get there so who knows😂😂😂

I my god that lichfight went south 😅 I am GMing a '90s campaign that will end this year. Believe it or not, every PC will get a chance to finish the BBEG .. but the last action is canonically done by an npc .. I will not do it like that ^^ thank you for your advice.

interesting things to talk about

I think having the BBEG able to reform can be good, it just needs to be done in a way that it doesn't come as a surprise. If the party kills the BBEG to find out they can simply reform it'll be underwhelming. If the party knows beforehand they can reform they will come up with a plan (hopefully) that would involve beating them in a different way like finding a way to imprison them

Personally, for me as a DM, the only kill that an NPC should have are grunts. The BBEG and super tough creatures should be killed by the players.

A soothing Hugo moment 🥰

@Okayest__DM

Жыл бұрын

Full versions of the Hugo clips are available for my Patreon supporters! Your comments every time he appears don't go unnoticed ;) www.patreon.com/Okayest_DM

@cadenceclearwater4340

Жыл бұрын

@@Okayest__DM I don't know what you're talking about 😏😅

I will be finishing up Curse of Strahd soon

@Okayest__DM

Жыл бұрын

Good luck, Hope the battle is epic!

@aidanjones8288

5 ай бұрын

How’d it go? I’m about to end Curse of Strahd for my group

Oh god I made those same mistakes with the end of our Rise of Tiamat campaign. In my defense, okay not much of a defense given what I just wrote, I had this idea for a fight against Tiamat on a giant robot. The players WOULD control the robot I will get to that in a second. I was also... VERY burned out with the campaign. Tyranny of Dragons is NOT a good campaign. The first half is a railroaded journey, and the second half is basically side-mission/dungeon jumping. The players can't... really decided what they want to do like in stuff like Curse of Strahd. But this was something I realized later on. No, I was a little burned out from having to endure a player always doing their own "thing" (you know the kind, the kind that feels like if the story isn't about them SPECIFICALLY PERSONALLY then they don't pay any attention) and another player that was like a mini-dm to the point that sometimes I felt like I was third wheeling my own freaking campaign. It's fine for players to do things between themselves, as a DM it can be entertaining and free us from some work... but not to the amount that it happened. Anyway, burned out, had this idea that I had been excited for MONTHS about. My mistake was that the whole giant robot thing happened in ANOTHER campaign with other players and I tried to include some of Tiamat's players on the action so they would have some idea of what was going on when the giants came to save their asses with a giant robot in tow... It didn't work that well, what a shocker, since they weren't invested in the whole giants thing at the moment. So they skip some of the cult's forces, fight against some of the leaders in their rush to the cathedral to stop the ritual, the cleric actually success in his Divine Intervention and gets the party restored to full everything... and the final fight starts. Some smart twisting of the events without undermining their effort allows me to give them the fight against "Tiamat", it would kinda of suck if after all that they just stopped the ritual without an ACTUAL dramatic final fight. And they beat her... SHOULD HAVE ENDED THERE BUT NOOOOOOO, I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE SUCH AN EPIC MOVE IF IT WAS REVEALED THAT THE WHOLE MESS, THE WHOLE FIGHT AND CLASH AND DEATHS HAD BEEN ORCHESTRATED BY TIAMAT SO SHE ACTUALLY COULD REVIVE. So I describe the revival of this COLOSSAL monster, trying to bury deep the fact that no, you can't fight her, she is half the size of the volcano. But oh! GIANT ROBOT! Yeah it did not work out. Shoooould have not try to have my cake and eat it. Moral of the story: Do not allow your players to have more than one character, they will split their attention on them and it won't be the same as if they are focused in a single one. Don't try to mix campaigns, specially in this kind of way, the other players will have zero investment on that kind of twists. YOU ARE THE DM, YOU DEAL WITH CHARACTERS' DRAMAS. Players can work with each other using minor npcs if you want, but keep it to the minimum or YOU will be the one just sitting there without doing anything. And if the players beat the big boss and are satisfied by it END IT THERE. LAST MINUTE TWISTS ARE ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO PULL OFF AND THEY ARE MORE LIKELY TO FALL FLAT ON THEIR FACE THAN ANYTHING. And after so much time of work, it is not worth it.

@Okayest__DM

Жыл бұрын

Thank god, I'm not the only one who has done this! We learn from our mistakes 😅

the Baphomet fight could of worked if you had Baphomet stop his own minions maybe kill them and say. "Let them escape they earn a reprieve From this fight but it is not over the hunt will Continue." Baphomet would be Honouring their skills in a fight but not letting them leave that easily and he could then be a recurring Villain.

@Okayest__DM

Жыл бұрын

Oh man, that's actually kind of good... it also sets up nicely for a lvl 20 epilogue. Brilliant!

What sword did the barbarian have? That sounds really cool

@Okayest__DM

Жыл бұрын

Auger is its name. A two-bladed greatsword like an enormous tuning fork, Auger rings deep bass tone you can feel in your chest whenever enemies are near. The vibrations also help the sword bore into solid rock or even metal. Its stats are a Weapon of Warning that deals double damage to objects and structures. The black fire came from the party's spells in the combo move.

@urinalpatty5386

Жыл бұрын

@@Okayest__DM How did the guiding bolt power up the sword tho? Is that another one of its properties?

@sonyafleming9773

Жыл бұрын

@@urinalpatty5386 Speaking as the player of said barbarian, nah, that wasn't Auger. DM just wanted a sick combo move as much as the rest of us!

@Okayest__DM

Жыл бұрын

Nope, just made it up on the fly!

you have a pretty kitty

@Okayest__DM

10 ай бұрын

And he knows it! We haven't figured out if he's my familiar, or if I'm his.... 👀

I actually disagree completely with the large scale combat point. I've run mass combat a few times in my current campaign, and my players always seem to have a blast with it, even sometimes referring to those battles as highlights of the campaign. That said, I add a lot of home rules to speed things up. I'll quickly go over them in case anyone's interested. I've heard a lot of negative things about tabletop mass combat, so hopefully this can help another table to enjoy their game more. Pretty much, each player can use an action or bonus action - or both - to command a unit of troops within 30ft. of them to move and attack or take cover, cast a spell, etc. A 'unit' of troops is literally just a Warhammer style glob of minis with similar weapons and armor. What you see is what you get. Mini looks like he has medium armor and is wielding a sword? He goes with the other sword guys. Simple. On a sticky note I had two numbers for each type of unit. An 'attack' dice, and a 'to die' number. Example; Swordsmen. Attack: 1d6. To die: 4+ Heavy Guard Guys: Attack 1d6. To die: 5+ So if a unit of 8 Swordsmen attacked a unit of 5 Heavy Guard Guys, they would roll 8d6 and kill one Guard for each 5 or 6 rolled on the dice. Similarly, if the 5 Guards were attacking the 8 Swordsmen, they would roll 5d6 and kill one enemy for each 4, 5, or 6 on the dice. It's like Warhammer but without all the complex stuff attached. And if a player attacks a enemy in a unit, they just have the AC of whatever armor it looks like they're wearing and use the weapon damage of whatever weapon it looks like they're wielding. Again, just look at the miniature for reference. He looks weak? He probably is. He looks strong? +4 to strength checks and some extra health. I only keep track of damage taken by an enemy *after* they've been hit by a player. The players had to balance commanding their troops with moving themselves closer to kill the enemy generals and advance (Since both ally and enemy troop blobs only move when commanded by a general, and just defend or free each round without them.) That's most of it. I had some simple rules for moral, but that pretty much boiled down to me rolling dice whenever something major happened and having units flee or act against orders on a low enough roll. The big thing is just to remember to have a constantly changing battlefield. Rivers that flood, bridges that snap when too many troops go over it, a siege weapon that digs a massive trench behind it, defensive walls that break down once a battering ram is close for a few rounds, etc. Use timers if you have to. Dice that count down each turn to a horrible storm, halving movement, etc. Each time we had a large combat session, it took most of the night and we used the whole table. Lots of wargame terrain and fantasy minis help if you have them. My Bretonnian army came in clutch for cavalry miniatures. Have fun with it, and don't be afraid to go wild with the descriptions if your players do something cool on a large scale with their class abilities or magic items.

@Okayest__DM

Жыл бұрын

Man, I wish my group would like learning this sort of thing, but the learning curve is just too high for how often I use it. Good to know there's groups out there that enjoy large scale combat though!

I don't get this use of guiding bolt; is this pure homebrew?

@Okayest__DM

3 ай бұрын

As part of the full party combo? pretty much. I kept the damage the same, and just applied it to another PC's attack roll instead of its own. I'd only ever do this as a combo in an epic boss fight, not in every battle.

@caelmarquard

3 ай бұрын

@@Okayest__DM ah, I see!

Teleport is only a V component... therefore it is a perfectly viable and dare I say EXPECTED counter to something like being imprisoned. If the Lich didn't have it prepared he isn't worthy of the power he claims to have. Combine that with a number of Glyphs that should be around him and it should be very difficult and taxing to overcome such odds... However, to echo the point about having the NPCs take the spotlight. When I was in college I had the same issue. Don't do this whenever possible. Unfortunately, our Descent into Avernus campaign is shaping up to have a NPC do what should be the PCs job but it is a character of someone that rolled up and didn't ever start with us... he is the only honorable one in the group so he will end up with the sword unfortunately.

Is boss is dead I wait to end of round for him to die then I have everyone roll who ever wins gets a free action as a killing blow

It sounds like you just undermine your players over and over. 🤣 At least you're learning though.

Dont kill npcs

@Okayest__DM

2 ай бұрын

Why not?

Yeaaa bull*****, none of this hapend, nobody make some of this big error in a end of campaign, if you want to make a video at least be honest about wat hapend

@Okayest__DM

Жыл бұрын

Which mistake are you referring to?

@patrickfleming9300

Жыл бұрын

As a player in his campaigns, I can attest that this is pretty much what happened. A few details left out for brevity, but nothing added.

@swattofficer6624

Жыл бұрын

These are really easy things to have happen in a game, why in the world are you so convinced it's fake?

Great video!