How to Customize Creatures! (GM Tips w/ Matt Mercer)
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 29 сен 2024
- Critical Role's Dungeonmaster Matt Mercer is here with another installment of GM Tips!
Customizing the creatures and characters in your campaign can add a nice flavor to the experience. How you customize is dependent on many factors: party size, mobility, recovery ability, story relevency, and more.
Subscribe to Geek and Sundry: goo.gl/B62jl
Join our community at: geekandsundry.c...
Twitter: / geekandsundry
Facebook: / geekandsundry
Instagram: / geekandsundry
Google+: plus.google.com...
His first suggestion is literally a bandit shouting POCKET SAND.
STEALTH
*gets king of the hill flashbacks*
rest in peace dale
did... did matt just recommend pocket sand as an attack?
If players have been doing this forever, why wouldn't a random guy in the bar be doing it?
I built an encounter around a guy who uses various kinds of pocket sand both alchemical and magical to fight
My Dream Weaver's Level 11 Summon Night Knight minion uses a Sleeping Sand ranged attack... :)
In real life it would be a good tactic, especially for a rogue type. Good distraction and really painful if it gets in the eye. About as effective as pepper spray.
You haven't tasted what pocket sand can do until you sucker punched a fallen deity with it.
Love those Literally Sinister shots of your left, when you evil-chuckle!
One thing I've found that's useful for a small or low-level party is putting an obstacle between them and what they're fighting. Putting the Dire Wolves on the other side of the river and making them swim over gives your party a chance to put a few shots in before they close. Or making the Troll climb up the side of the cliff before it can reach the party. Bolt holes and fall back positions are good too if the party is smart enough to use them. It's let me put some more interesting monsters into my games earlier than I would otherwise be able to.
ive been GM'ing for little over a year now, and thoroughly enjoying it; just started watching these clips, and its helped me so much with how I GM to people. It's helped me to change my style of GM'ing to match the tone, and has made a lot of it more relaxing and fun-filled, so thank you Matt!
I once ran a campaign where the Zulkir of transmutation in Thay had disappeared and was now leading a cult of wizards who performed magical alterrations on all sorts of creatures. this really gave me a chance to customize monsters adding some new abilities, but also utilizing some of the abilities which are rarely seen. Not only this but it gave me a chance to use some of the monsters which are very circumstancial. A clearly remember the look on their faces when a giant earth-based octopus dropped from a cavern ceeling... priceless... :D
dem sound effects.
But seriously, I'm loving this series and am finding it really helpful.
Matthew Q Mercer....Conditions as damage... pure genius. I have Encounters to write up, and you've inspired at least three.
Thank you.
The ironic part is that a truly devastating spell attack dies not always have TO BE about damage dealt.
Case in point at Level 18 my Earth Render's can turn an opponent to Stone, my Sages can totally wipe their minds clean, and my Magicians can 'lock' someone away frozen in Time....
Veng3r Poisoned is as likely to kill anyone as damage. When you roll everything at Disadvantage...
The Paralyzed condition is basically death. Every attack on you is at Advantage, and every hit is a Crit.
A simple effect like Frightened can channel foes into hampering or dangerous terrain, as they will not willingingly come close to you.
It can be brutal
The Advantage & Disadvantage dynamic is a fairly recent 'crutch' addition that is way WAY overused IMHO...
For making bosses easier, you can also often just adjust the terrain.
In our Pathfinder campaign, we were surprised by a linnorm in the morning. The spellcasters didn't have all their spells, our archer was missing and melee characters were entirely ineffective. It was easily able to fly outside of effective range and almost entirely destroyed us. An NPC's interference saved us as we fled.
The next time we fought it, we were prepared. We had laid an ambush and were inside a small cave where it could not fly. As it entered, we blew up the entrance to the cave, so it could not escape, either. We killed it in a few rounds with none of us even close to death.
I've been trying to create a spell casting goblin to spice up an encounter and this should certainly help. We have a very powerful Half-Orc barbarian in the party and even though he's level 1 he can deal an insane amount of damage that will take out a goblin in a single strike. It has been an interesting challenge to figure out how to counter his close combat abilities.
A really easy way to do it is to look for a different monster that can cast spells in the books and then call it a goblin spellcaster. Something more or less the same level as a goblin but with a few tricks up its sleeves. I mean, customizing is great and all, but it's worth a look first so you don't just end up duplicating effort.
From that potential near-match you can then tweak further and get the ideal kind of enemy for a fight. It helps to think of the enemies in books less as discrete monsters and more as "pre-balanced stat block templates".
Thanks. I have ended up combining a base goblin stat line with a scaled down version of a mage. A fellow player has had a look at it and he reckons it should work well. I have also added a cliff element to the cavern the fight will take place in. If it playtests well it I will use it again.
You could try giving it class levels if you want to give it a boost without going too in depth, maybe a level in barbarian to give it a rage and ac boost and a couple of levels of a spellcaster class.
i personally tend to mix and match monster abilities, like giving pack tactics or echo location to feral vampires.
I wonder if Matt will do a one shot of open legend considering he helped make the standard setting for it? I bet it would be fun to watch.
You're awesome Mercer. Thank you for the tips.
I feel like there are some pretty funny bloopers on these eps... I DEMAND A BLOOPER REEL AT ONCE!
G&S videos often seem to have lower volumes than other channels I've watched. I have earphones (not noise cancelling earbuds) up to max but can't hear anything unless it's completely quiet wherever I am. I just watched CinemaSins with no issues or need to go max.
Thanks for the good tips Matt, long live Matts.
I'm consistently amazed by Matt's ability to create challenging encounters that take Vox Machina to the brink of TPK where they often only save themselves with clever clutch play. I always think they are in way over their head yet somehow they keep going.
This series is amazing!!
Just wish there were less camera angle switching
These are so helpful, love them alot
my favorite thing about this video is the noises they added when Matt wiggiles his fingers
Love these! Keep em coming!
Always wonderful information for a DM.
Good advice!
Miniature of Umbrasil on the left. He is freaking huge.
Aver Raiher That's Thordak.
Customizing a monster question I'm hoping some kind soul will answer! I would like to know is, if/how it would effect a zombie's CR if I changed it's "slam" attack to a "bite", and added the "Sewer Plague" mechanic (DMG p.257) to create an infectious Walking Dead-style zombie? Would this be too risky if I were to throw hordes of these against the party on a regular basis?
Ironically my Rogue character in a session i have with a friend frequently uses pocket sand
Raishan foreshadowing!!
I once had a dream about a dragon that had beholders as its eyes instead of regular eyes, that was several years ago......will never forget
Using the dungeon to scale the boss is great and all, if the party doesn't pacify the entire dungeon. Noteworthy monsters were a Cerberus and a Balor (both highly nerfed)with a Hierophant for the boss. The party was 2 pc's and a God that was just freed by the players. They befriended the Cerberus, and altered the summoning circle for the balor so that a winged kobold was summoned instead. They didn't even go through the goblin room! They got to the hierophant (who turned out to be a shit boss AC 15, 135 hp, party avg level 3), and they were only able to finish in under an hour because of the god's passive ability (on hit regenerate 20 hp and deal 6d6 necrotic damage to the attacker).
My party falls between a lot of these, as I'm sure a lot of parties do. The group doesn't have a true caster for damage, they are mostly physical damage dealers. I've found an HP, Strength and Constitution saves, and a slight damage increase work best, while monsters like a Rakshasa, thanks to their ridiculous magic immunity, aren't quite as useful.
that raishan reference ahahah XD
one person who downrated thinks your fun is wrong
Oh no, it's 2 people now! 2 wrong funs! -Nerdarchist Ryan
It's now three, they're just a little confused about what the thumbs up and down means.
Four! Four people thing they're better DMs then Matt Mercer, ah-ah-ah!
And then there were 8... they should be hunted down...
Jeremy Mason Kill all the trolls! and make sure to burn the bodies!
Mercer is a nut job........................I love it.
I need advice. The party is level 8. One player wants to bring in a level 1 monk. That’s 11 years old. And human. To develop the charecter. But she requested a “monster” companion. Any suggestions that won’t over power her. But will keep her up to party status.
2:43 Watch this part without sound
God I want to play D&D with him as the DM, please
Was 2:08 a reference to Raishan?
mueflo I was thinking Vecna. One of Vox Machina's first boss encounters (pre-recording) was a "newborn" lich. Since that orb first appeared in "the place that shan't be named," I suspect it ties into a campaign final boss.
"LVL20TPKGGLAWL" adventure inbound. ;)
Although Raishan is definitely on the dinner menu ;)
Yeah, I thought of Raishan immediately, too. xD *foreboading* O_O
2:09 .... did... did Matt just bait us about Raishan...?
At 4:04, isn't it "lair actions"? I've never heard of layer actions
what are 'layer' actions? or did they mean 'lair' actions like dragons and other high CR monsters have?
I had the problem of figuring out CR on custom mobs in my World of Warcraft RPG (D&D 3.5ish). The party was fighting a mechanical construct with a whopping 600ish hp. Based on the vague wording in both WoW and 3.5 books the monster CR came out to 12. What I mean by vague is If ability give monster a major advantage add X to CR. But what if it has more then one? What if it also has X DR or X SR or X Nat Armor? Do I apply the +CR for each? Well that can't be right cause my mob is now CR "30"... The outcome of the fight seemed right for the CR12 the CR10 party beat it without any lost of life. On mobs turn I rolled a D12, if the number was odd it was reg attack. If the number was even it was one of its special attacks/abilities. So did I do it correctly by only add the +CR once or was suppose to do it for each
advantage?
i too want McCree as DM..
I don't get pocket sand
A surprise encounter for low-level PCs: a necromancer animates some skeletons whose rib cages happen to be the anchor point for a wasp's nest. Once the skeletons are animate, they gain what amounts to a non-magical damage "aura" at close ranges that only worsens as the PCs strike the skeletons. Or scale it up by pairing the necromancer with a despoiler/blighter (other name for an anti-druid) who hijacks the stinging vermin after the initial shock of irregular skeletons wears off.
Also, the "albino red dragon" is only funny once. I had a DM go the extra mile and place it in an ice cavern.
Calm down Satan xD
That's evil
Albino Red Dragon in an ice cavern?
So an invisible fire breather while everyone is surrounded in ice?
... Yeah Imma steal that
holy fucking shit. I never thought about albino dragons! Stealing that (laughs as I construct encounter)
I personally really wants to be a GM and this series really helps me to prepare and remove some of the anxiety i have leading up to the first session. Keep up the good work.
Don't forget to check out Matthew Colville's series. He makes references to Critical Role and even gave Liam that neat Meteorite die. He gives you very basic rules and even gives you a mock set up if you want to try out some things.
Being a GM is pretty fun. I started out my D&D experience as a GM, and I can say the bit of advice I can give is don't over extend, know you're not going to always be right, and don't let it get crazy with homebrew.
With my first point, by don't over extend I mean you should aim for a party size of 4 or possibly 5. Matt makes running a game for 7 people look easy, trust me- it's really REALLY not.
Oh boy did that second point kick my ass in the beginning. Try and stick to the books and other WOTC material, and if you do allow homebrew content keep an eye on well made content. Also make sure to take the time to completely read over the content. My DM currently, for example, allowed someone to play a class which essentially let them be the Hulk. Doesn't sound bad on paper until he convinced the party wizard to make him grow every combat and he also had stolen a minotaur's axe- so all and all he became very powerful very early.
With that last point, however, you are GM and if you are adamant about something the players disagree with just settle it in a civil manner. "Look, this is happening and after the session should you all wanna talk further about this we can- but for now we are moving on."
I really like Matt Mercer as a DM, he is so amazing at preparation and story telling, just everything! He only has so many videos with DM tips I can't wait until he makes more. However there's also "How to be a Great GM" that can also help too. Tons of videos and advice there to help you become a more knowledgeable DM. I think Matt is a fantastic example but don't be afraid to look around a bit for more advice as well!
I think an important comment from one of Matthew Colville's videos is "don't compare yourself to Mercer, he's an expert who has honed his craft over the years". It's more of a 'i'd like to do that' rather than 'i can never be that good' kind of deal
Yeah, I use Mercer as an example, myself. I'm totally new to DMing and fortunately, the team I'm playing with is mostly novices so little mistakes are overlooked (and sometimes swept under the board). It was a bit scary trying to GM at first especially using Mercer as an example. I soon realized that there is one thing Mercer does innately that is the first rule of all good GMs - no matter what happens, just make sure everyone is having fun. When that hit me, I quickly found out that our play sessions were great because my first goal was to analyze everyone and see if they were enjoying themselves. If suspected someone was getting bored, I'd focus on their character and change the situation in some way that the bored player's character would be a perfect fit for success, or would otherwise ingrain their character into the situation to give them a risk/reward scenario they could get into. And if at any point I or someone else messed up on a rule, we'd consult the book, correct it, and then move on to the next fun scenario. As long as everyone is having fun and everyone can agree on how to fix mistakes or incorporate new ideas into the game, you're succeeding!
I love the "cutaways" where Matt just shows how evil a GM can get.
Love all the faces Matt makes when he gives suggestions
The scary part was at the frequency that he KEPT saying "TPK"... (is VERY afraid for the next episode) O_O
I can still see old man Matt doing them
keep with the cheesy cuts. the cheesy cuts make my day.
When creating or customizing things for your game.. Treat it like cooking!
You can always ADD things, but it's very hard to REMOVE things once they're in there.
This goes for enemies, but also for items you want to reward your players with. Err on the side of caution. It's easier to buff something that turns out to be less powerful than you intended, than it is to take away damage or abilities the players have already come to love. And probably abuse.
Another tip for if you want to have a flavorful enemy that isn't immediately identifiable, or if you need to come up with a unique foe on the fly as the result of... Fun:
It's always an option to just take the stat block of an existing monster and "re-skin" its abilities into the flavor you want them to be. So, for instance, if you want dragons to be these colossal engines of destruction, existing for millennia without challenge, you can take a red dragon wyrmling and rehash it as a fire-breathing velociraptor instead of a true dragon.
For a high-tech war machine from a bygone civilization, lost and buried until the villain found it and reactivated it, you can use a beholder's stats and abilities, with each eye beam being a different weapon in its arsenal. Some of the beams might need to be retooled to make sense in the new context, but that's just a storytelling problem.
And a DM's plans go sideways in record time lol
DM plans mean nothing, I've been running a campaign for a year now and I write half a page for a month of play. My PC's make their own fun and take their sweet time doing things. We are hopeful going to finish our Halloween even soon. Yes they are still doing it. They spent two hours messing with a lich bard and his orchestra.
Lucky! We are roughly 20+ hours in, but we have clocked about 150+ hours getting there. I honestly don't mind it; in fact it is quite funny watching them try and open a door that requires a key (think fire door from LOZ or Resident Evil) by saying fire in every known language, writing on it with blood and ink, pouring water on it, kicking it, arguing about how to open it only to find that the Ranger/Rogue has gone off and found the keys and killed everything while the other 4 messed with a door. They don't get subtle hints... like the door has a massive keyhole in the center of it.
Yep, I made a campaign set in a completely customized world with completely customized foes. All my creatures take homage between Lovecraftian lore and H.R. Gieger weirdness just to make them terrifying. Of course, my first attempt was to role stats from the ground up and that went.... okay. Someone in the group recommended to use stats from DnD monsters (as you mentioned), tweak a stat or two and reskin them with my own ideas. So far that has worked pretty well, so I'd agree that anyone wanting to create their own monster should start there. The Monster Manual has a ton of great starting points!
Alternatively, just put in more low level enemies to help the boss escape, or give the boss a couple of PC levels (side note: a Lich’s stats are really weird (rules as written) in making it less powerful than it ought to be by (1) only giving it 3 Cantrips instead of 5 (what an 18th level wizard is supposed to have), (2) and not giving it the 18th level wizard ability to cast 1 level 1 spell at will and one level 2 spell at will, (3) and also that Liches ought to have the 14th level necromancy wizard ability to control an undead creature with an intelligence less than 12 forever (such as a ghost), (4) that liches ought to have the 6th level necromancy wizard ability to have their own proficiency bonus added to the damage rolls of undead creatures the lich makes (as well as have the max hp of its undead creatures needing to be increased by 18 (the level of the lich)), that the lich must be immune to having its hp maximum reduced, and a lich really ought to also have a Simulacrum and Familiar (from Find Familiar) allies if they are going to be a real wizard).
0:45 I always like to consider my party make-up to be *faaabulous*! 😂 -Nerdarchist Ryan
When I get that feeling
I want Clarota healing
Clarota healing, oh baby
Makes you feel so fine
Please don't flay my mind
Clarota healing, baby, is good for you
Clarota healing is something that's good for you
Scanlan sung it in an episode of Critical Role to Clarota, it's gold.
it's a critical role reference :P
TheLastWiller then you have a good reason to rewatch :P
Matt you shouldnt have said something about pocket sand now im gonna use it lol
Wish i had friends to play D&D with
roll20.net is the answer friend
I went from having one friend who liked it and now im DM for a 9 player party.
I do gaming from skype
Google adventures league
mRPG is what I'm using during this quarantine. I call it "D&D, corona style."
Matt talks about "less is more" approach and then the suggestion pops up "no survivors" hahaha
I don't know anything about dungeons and dragons but it seems so awesome. I'd be willing to learn.
Pixie-Chan try it out! it's great
I'm gonna try to learn
Pixie-Chan here are some resources to help you: www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/5c5isq/my_favorite_videos_for_dms/
thank you so much!
If you have a local comic /game shop, they sometimes have a LFG ads there. I know a few around me do, also maybe through FB,G=. I have been RPGing since '79 with the original D&D.
Absolutely loving this series so far! :D
Praise be upon Lord Mercer
Praise the S..! No, wait, that's from something else.
lol
GrimBrotherIV I called him Mercer-Sama
(Sama in japanese means "Lord"
Lol most game devs can take some pointers from this video tbh.
I always add some sort of item that can help massively in boss fights because I trust in the players' bad luck. Unless it's d&d 3.5, there I am confident because I have a 7 page long banlist.
soulkutu In my custom world there are no gods only genies, for this sort of situation usually PCs will
have a wish spare that they gain from doing cool stuff. they say the wish 'I wish this dragon was covered in flamable oil', i roll fudge dice to see how the genies will react or just choose myself if they abuse wishes. then usually the the thing happens.
I find its a fun way to help along struggling parties or get an advantage after some unlucky rolls during bosses. plus it means I can kill off a charater or two, they'll jump at the chance to bring a PC back from the dead with a wish.
Dear editor/title writer: I think he meant 'lair' not 'layer'.
iiiit'ssss high HOLY SHIT A NATRUAL 20 !!!!
Warhound Redemer lol
A fun creature I made once was a coal dust mephit. It mostly has the same stats has a regular dust mephit. It had a weakness to fire damage. but it could light itself on fire damaging a player character, and itself. I also let it choke people on its dust making them have to pass a constitution saving throw, or lose a turn.
This Sunday is my first DM-ing session.
I shall pray to my god to whom I shall be as best a champion I can be, the god of GM/DM-ing and Roleplaying Matt Mercer!
Fellow DMs, GMs and other brothers and sisters of the Roleplaying kind! Heed my words! I will teach my players to roleplay, as much as I learn it myself, I shall bring them fun and grant them the best DnD experience I can!
(someone pray for me too, I'm scared)
It's hiiiigh noot!
Matt pleeease make a video on making voices for characters! I just find it so immersive and fun.
my favorite custom creature is Quackthulu
I've learned that it's good to use the same NPC's as enemies during one session and make it interesting by changing the environment of battle. If players invade heretic lair make them fight the same heretics in every encounter, but change starting conditions of a fight: let the heretics surprise players or let them surprise heretics, give the heretics advantagous position on the wall or make them numerous assaulting the wall on which players are defending. Make one group strong in numbers, but with very low morale and fleeing at first opportunity. Make the other one honorable and caring for they compatriots - healing them and carrying them out of the battle as a priority. Besides having the same stats doesn't require you to give them the same personality.
And all you need for it is only one NPC sheet and set of rules. You can check out the tactics that the NPC can utilize and make the most of'em - even plan the typical behaviour for an NPC for an encounter, it's "AI".
Funny thing, almost all of the rulebooks state contrary - that you should include many different NPC's in one session.
Watching recently as I am a newbie DM. Have to say though, POCKET SAND!
My first full dnd campaign as dm, I created bunny bees. They look all cute and cuddly but they shoot bees out of there eyes.
One of the final bosses of my most recent campaign was a Mutated Remorhaz. A tribe of various Merfolk and Triton were working together to create more aquatic creatures that they could use to defend themselves from a Dragon Turtle that threatened their peaceful life. They created a Remorhaz that could see, breathe and fight underwater, but it was in immense pain since it's skin still wasn't made for the pressure of the depths. It was enraged because of the pain and ran from the Merfolk, who couldn't stop it. I tried to keep it as similar to a normal Remorhaz in battle as possible, but the whole thing went down underwater, it made for a very interesting encounter.
a favorite of mine for fun creatures was a deep one that when it was hit and didn't die it vanished into the mist of the planet and reappeared behind pc's when another died or appeared later in the turn, made for a careful and slow fight with lots of tension.
I was just looking into this stuff, and BAM the wise Matt Mercer answers my prayers.
...yuss
Can we get a DM tips episode on storyboarding? I've been really impressed with how Critical Role's arcs transition from one to the next, but have trouble settling on a clear path for my own campaign. What strategies can I use to take the pieces of the world I've built and tie a story through them?
@Geek & Sundry please get Matthew Mercer to do an episode on building buildings or taverns or other things specifically. Thank you the videos are awesome!
Love these tips! So helpful!!! (and entertaining :P)
I am not good at these types of games and don't really like to play myself, but I find it absolutely fascinating how creative people can be and love watching others play
idk it's just so amazing to me how people really dive into these adventures it's so cool!
layer, or lair?
I prefer layer actions.... the actions involving chocolate cake.. mmmm, chocolate cake layers. -Nerdarchist Ryan
Yeah, don't do it like me. Once I was GMing and the party found a treasure, atop that treasure was a magic oil lamp (see where this is going?) they take the lamp, rub it, and from it a freaking Eefreet comes out. He bargans with the players, since he was magically bound to the lamp and could only grant wishes, he grants them a wish, but that wish must be for his freedom (Loophole), and they could keep the treasure. They accepted, the eefreet flew away and they collected the treasure. On their way out, they see the town nearby being bunt to ashes by the Eefreet. They challanged him. And that's how I TPK'd my first party.
2:52 that little squishing noise xD
a session of mine almost began with a TPK when 3 Orcs led by an Orog ambushed my party... a druid fell with one attack and a wizard almost died... good times...
Even better if it's the beginning of the campaign.
yea... let them know shit's happening and that they aren't invincible!
*****
On his way to chop down a tree my sasquatch (battle) lumberjack lost a leg first thing in the morning to a bunch of small tree demons due to a few critical failures...
It was a traumatising experience for poor Bjorn.
@@gigacooler You are a shit GM got it. This is when I change one letter in my characters name and go again
When he's talking, what's the ambient score in the background? It's very Potter-esque and fun!
I like to add a weakness to strong enemies to help balance with a newer party. For instance I'm currently running curse of Strahd. The vampire spawn are very strong against level 3 players so I decided to give them radiant vulnerability, allowing the paladin to make up for the lack of dmg with divine smite. In order to rebalance it later I made it so Strahd would give his spawn magic accessories to help them overcome this, but only once per accessory. It worked pretty well, creating a bit more tension in these otherwise too easy fights while also allowing a bit of strategy since the accessories had limited use.
Blinding sand? I think you’ve been McCree too long
Hi there,
First off, Big fan of these guide and tips. Could you do a video on Diplomacy in RP? Would love some tips on writing for encounters that are best handled with diplomacy, dealing with Diplomacy checks by PC's versus NPC's you've written for. I'm just starting a campaign in D&D 3.5 format (its what I know best) and I really like the ideas I've gotten from the series thus far. Thank you!
negative status effects. best way to pump up the stress/danger factor without equally increasing the actual risk as much
Sometimes you don't even need to modify the stat block to make the encounter more interesting.
You know the first encounter in Lost Mines of Phandelver, with the goblins?
I like to run it such that the goblins, who have arrows and therefore an advantage at range, attack from atop a tree branch. I've done this twice, and it's a good way to make the players think of different ways to approach an encounter.
If your party kills two level 15 NPCs when they are at level 5, it doesn't mean you could throw a level 20 enemy (even if it is a non-magic user level 20 enemy) and expect not to have a TPK. I learned it the bad way...
if i hadn't been watching critical role for a few months, iwouldn't have known what to do, when i almost whiped out my small 3 PC group with an unexpectedly gnarly low level boss. thanks to a little bit of Matt's wealth of experience rubbing off on me, i could improv a spooky blood ritual that brought our Paladin back to live, which might even have one or multiple payoffs later down the road.
My level 2 Fighter, a Bard and a Rogue were pitted against a Spirit Naga and basically he took one bite at my fighter and he was 1 damage point away from perma-death so the DM had to let the magical book interfere. (My fighter had 24 HP and the Naga did 47 damage)
Wanna customize an enemy or make it memorable? Make him unpredictable. It doesn't matter that the Monster Manual states the moster has X amount of HP and does X amount of damage and has X attacks. Make it attack in different ways, up his damage and resistânte and make it in a way that your players have to think in order to defeat it, instead of only attacking it like if it was some kind of J-RPG from the PS1 era.
2:30 great tip. You don't want the Boss fight to be the paladin who is almost impossible to hit with his high AC, up front, wailing on the boss while all 6 of the other players stand back with ranged and magic attacks. Boring and way too easy. I have found that it is the battles that widdle down the PC's to near death are the ones that players get excited about and celebrate when they rise victoriously!
Yeah I didn't know that Trolls were quite high CR for a level 3 party to encounter and as such I made 2 of them attack the party, it was a terrible stealth roll that caused it, 3 Nat 1s for the party stealth and a Nat 20 for the trolls perception, no one died apart from the trolls but it took up the full session fighting them, I learned from my mistake though and made it a bit easier for them progressing
I really appreciate this series, thank you all for your hard work & time!!
I'm thinking about creating a monster. I'll have it's hair be able to charm those who look at it, and it have that ability to transform into different creatures or people. I think I'll call it a "Mathew Mercenary"
I wish I had seen this earlier, I just wiped my party because I didn't consider their lack of offensive or AOE magic when I threw a bat swarm at them.
dire wolf goes awoo.
Don't make a gestalt because you think a 6 person group should be able to take on a paladin bard.
Paladins shouldn't have haste and that many spell slots.
Especially if they are a sword bard who now can just boost their ac to unhittable levels.
Also making a monster to cast the simple spell of greater invisibility can be a very easy way to cause problems, as they may still attack whilst being invisible, forcing your players to need need to think of were the monsters current location is, perhaps get forced to use a area damage spell such as fireball to find there enemies location.
The teleport ability literally gave me flashbacks of trying to catch an Abra in the first few pokemon gens, only have it constantly freaking teleport away.