Azrakan you can have regular goblins too. they're motivated by their desire to not die, but the necromancer kinda wants them to, so he can raise them with extra loyalty.
True, thats actually pretty fair. That being said, the reason I'm going to be using zombie gobs is that there is no necromancer, but rather the land itself is raising them as a natural side effect of the story. If anything I'm going to sequence the team's encounters vs goblins as 1) Regular Goblins just being in the team's way a couple times, 2) Undead Goblins en masse that become their own arc, and 3) Giant Goblins when the team finally know the situation thats going on as a way to introduce them to the Giant Monster arc.
"Then when the players fought this awesome half-vampire monk they were fighting Craig's old character and they were like, 'Wow, we hate this!' Super memorable!"
Hi Matthew, At the age of 30, I just got home from playing my first ever D&D session this evening. I never would have sought out a place to play without these videos.
I know there is a star wars reference I can put in here... I got it! master RedXiongmao! you must save us from the boredom of regular life with your dming skills! you are our only hope!
"Floating across the floor towards the inkeep as though the act of walking itself was beneath him" That is one of the best description of a characters gate I've read in a long time. You get a clear picture not only how he moves but his personality within his movement.
Man that introduction to that villain had me hooked. I've just found your channel but that opening alone shows your skill as a storyteller you have earned a subscriber.
While I'm commenting on your videos, I should say here that your introduction of Caloril in this video is a paragon of narration, applicable well outside the RPG context. I played the first 5 minutes of this to my s/o, who doesn't game at all, but who is a performer... she was absolutely hooked.
Same here. Though it does make me slightly melancholic. With a smaller channel he could more directly interact with his viewers and he also didn't have to consider, to quote the man himself, that he is a product.
"I didn't want the video to get too long." at 22 minutes, with 8 minutes left in the video. Classic Colville! :D I, for one, love the long videos. Wouldn't mind an hour a day! \o/
I also love the long videos. I've watched them all (some twice) and not once have I been bored. If my mind wanders it's because Matthew inspired an idea.
As soon as I heard "red gold" I immediately thought of the Belgariad! This is wonderful. I'm enjoying your videos so much, and as a noob player and even more noob DM I'm finding them so incredibly insightful and helpful. Thank you so much for making them :)
Be an actor. Or be very creative. There's no quick and dirty way to get good at improvisation. It's something that comes with experience. Often improvisation is simply reusing ideas you've known or used in the past and adapting them to a new or current situation. Your mileage may vary. So don't be afraid to work from a script for most of the time if need be.
@@Madhattersinjeans I DM'd my first session a few weeks ago and everyone immediately went off the rails for what I had proposed. But before I'd describe a new place or a PC or something important, I'd close my eyes, visualize it, then describe it. My PC's thought I had everything planned in the festival they explored. Nope. I had to make up not one, but FIVE magical carnival games on the fly. They thought it was all prepared. Nope. :P
+Aaron Jarrett That's exactly what these videos are about! You can pick up the 5e starter set for around $20. Grab like 2 or 3 other friends and DM for them. The starter set gives you a nice little adventure (I do warn that the first dungeon is a little unbalanced. Try reading online) and just play! Have one day for character creation. You can all work together, figure out the rules from the rule book you get given in the set. Then have another set and just go for it! It's how I started about 2-3 months ago. I'm in the process of world building a campaign of my own for my friends now and it's fantastic. Feel free to ask me more questions, from a newbie to a newbie.
+Aaron Jarrett I play as a DM and still completely agree with your comment....just happy to sit and listen to his ideas and stories of past and current campaigns.
I watch this at least once a year and it has made me use "Scion of X" for a lot of my villains. Now every time I introduce one I have to explain to at least one person that its not Psion and they do not have psychic powers thank you Matthew.
If Phil feels his warlock is underpowered, you may wish to tell him, if he is unaware, that warlocks get all their spell slots back on a _short_ rest, unlike the other classes. One of my players didn't realize this until recently. Other than that, I don't really know much about warlocks. I do know that my warlock player usually deals lots of damage with AoE spells, and he also has an invocation that lets him add his charisma modifier to his eldritch blast damage. He seems pretty effective.
+Noah Topper Warlocks are the best. They are well known for being very powerful blasters, having the best attack cantrip and the Invocations that make it better. But they can excel at a lot of things. Phil should have a think about what he wants to do for the group. Several of their Invocations make powerful spells at-will(detect magic, mage armor, arcane eye, speak with dead, all effectively made cantrips for the Warlock) to make up for their odd Pact Magic, and they can be hell on wheels for sneaking around and infiltrating in disguise. They usually run out of spell slots before other casting classes in a combat, but they can have a power nap and be back in shape when the wizard and cleric is starting to get nervous. If Phil doesn't find joy in the class in a few levels, Warlock multiclasses hilariously well with other Charisma casters, even Paladin, and he could write his own oaths to his Patron.
My level three warlock and I thank you deeply for this two year old comment. I had no idea about the short rest refresh. This is huge. I'm so glad I didn't find out even later.
Could be an issue with the party not taking enough short rests. My party in general doesn't get a lot back on a short rest, so the Warlock is often starved for slots.
I know this post was made a while ago, but the other reason he may feel underpowered is because his warlock is not specialising into any particular part of being a warlock, instead mixing together different elements. In general, focusing on being the best warlock at one or two things possible is a lot better and more fun, I find.
Given that Matt borrowed from Where No Man Has Gone Before for the Omega Nails plot, I wonder if it's not a nod to The Alternative Factor... The Madman pursuing The Murdering Monster.
The belgariad was the one about the blue rose gem that had tons of power or something right? I've got the books, but it must have been like 10 years since I read them, and I'm only 24 :). I really enjoyed reading it, but can't really remember much of it now.
When my friends and I started playing in high school, we totally didn't know the rules. We were using the 2nd edition books one of us found in his attic with a 3rd edition module someone picked up, and it was an absolute blast.
+Atrinoch You're gonna be disappointed! My game is pretty much like everyone else's! But that's one reason I want to get it recorded; I want people to see it so they'll think "Oh hell, *I* can do that!"
+Matthew Colville no way! You write for a living. I'm sure it's super epic, but you've been playing for so long you've got to be used to it. It sounds so good when you describe it so it has to be even better actually being there.
Honestly, a warlock is essentially an archer with a bit of magical options. He should be focusing on things boosting eldritch blast in his invocations. Think things like agonizing blast and the range increase one. The spells are limited but come back in a short rest. Tell him to USE THEM during combat. They are literally a combat blaster wizard who sends out a bunch of eldritch blasts. They have decent damage if you treat them like an archer with some magical options for flavor. He will feel really bad outside of combat if he plays as an archer, he has poor skills and skill selection, so you need to use your magic but then you literally only have eldritch blast left in combat. Eldritch blast is essentailly 'shoot an arrow' that's better damage than an arrow. Warlocks scale well and get the same 6+ level spells as bards essentailly in uses per day. Warlocks are pretty much just blasters though, think old school evocation wizards. His utility spells that he has should generally be the ones granted by his patron status. Those are the flavor spells, he needs to focus on damage because that's what warlocks do, they're an archer with some extra magical oomph but less survival. Warlock is SUPER overpowered btw if you let your players short rest too often since they get their spells back on short rest, be careful on that. But the non damage spells are usually dictated by the patron and their 'domain' style spells. The warlock doesn't chose his own powers though(for crunch we let the player chose on level up, but... you don't have to), they're granted by the patron, have some fun with him. It's also the EASIEST way btw to help a warlock player out. The patron is usually extremely knowledgable as a great old one. If you know your warlock is about to be poop cause he has very little to do with undead other than 'I cast eldritch blast' maybe his patron will impose a minor penalty and CHANGE his spells(you get to do this as the DM running his patron). Honestly, if your warlock is struggling to feel good, change his spell loadout as his patron, you can influence him that way and give him a little more fun suddenly having a different spell set. Just make sure he doesn't get to abuse or chose the spells, and if negotiating(yes you can talk to your patron) you can take something FROM the player to change spells.
+David Folsom I agree very much with the range blaster concept of the class. Usually what the Warlock is very strong when it's spamming Eldritch Blasts. And it is his trademark spell. It's what most think of when they go about trying out the Warlock class. Though, depending on the group or DM, certain other options are certainly fun to try too. Endless Disguise Self or Silent Image can create lots of interesting scenarios (from his Invocations). Or add proficiency to two social skills. Some things can be changed around but overall I feel the Warlock is a ranged blaster when he is at his best. But I very much disagree with the DM interfering with his spell selections. That is something the player himself should decide, always and regardless of class. Just as the other classes that have deities or other divine entities bestowing them power but don't dictate anything else. The Warlock already has a very limited number of spell slots and taking away the option to choice what he should know of spells from his as player feels very unfair in my opinion. They get access to magic through the power of their Pact - but the patron doesn't necessarily do anything.
Tommy Frost The gm changing his spell selection is mostly so he can have some variety while he figures out what he REALLY likes. It's something the player is involved in trying to get a change, but the DM has the eventual choice is what I mean. Like your warlock goes 'Man I feel crappy in X situations with no tools' because they chose wrong. You as a DM have noticed they never use X you can see about having a little fun change over time.
David Folsom That's my issue with Warlock is because eldritch blast is the option everyone uses because it is the focus of the class, but I don't want a warlock like that.
its not much of a solution at higher levels, but if you use the hexblade warlock from unearthed arcana for the the first five to ten levels you can be a really effective melee fighter with spell options.
I go to these videos over and over for reference. So useful. Thank you so much Matt Coleville “D&D is not the things written between the covers of the books (sic) D&D is what happens at the table among the people playing the game.”
For fallen heroes like Domnall and Lady Sariel, have you considered having them be aware of what's going on but powerless to stop it while the evil version of them is in control? For example, Lady Sariel's soul could still be in her body despite being undead, and Caloril the Vile just made an evil copy of it and forced it into her body. It would be an "And I Must Scream" scenario of sorts, although it might not be readily apparent to the players until Graves tries to read her mind.
Reminds me of what happened to Durkon in the webcomic Order of the Stick lol. He was basically imprisoned in his own body by a vampire, who can talk to him and sift through his memories for useful information.
Best part about that is it opens the door to reviving the old character, though if she's still undead that would be a weird one. Maybe she can never fully get rid of the evil without finally dying, so she may regain her autonomy but is still undead with an evil entity inside her trying to control and manipulate her. I'd love to see that happen in a game.
Appropriately powerful revival spells (mainly True Resurrection or even Miracle), or the use of Wish (as in the case of vampires), can revive certain characters from undeath. The character can also be revived normally if you kill the vampire. And that's just the stuff that's RAW, you can come up with other stuff on your own. For instance, if your party is acting on the behalf of a god/goddess they might reward them by reviving their fallen/corrupted comrade.
I loved your Palpatine story. It reminds me of how I set up my current mini-campaign that I'm running. It's set in a world which follows different rules. Nothing bad happens here. The heroes always win and are never in real danger. People don't hurt each other. They fight generic monsters that drop loot and turn to dust like a video game... This is how most of the first session went. They were searching for a robe stolen from a local prince, fighting clay soldiers and low level oozes in a dungeon set up as a challenge to earn gold along the way. They eventually tracked the thief to a desert cave lit by magical blue fire by the end of the session. They could hear loud talking, like some kind of religious gathering. They entered to find a room full of robed cultists who had just sacrificed the thief to some nebulous moon God. Their characters were all very confused of course, but were noticed and forced into fighting these cultists. But when the tide started to turn, the leader killed one of his own while trying to flee to prevent them from being taken hostage. It was a great opening to a campaign about escalation and entropy which went exactly how I wanted it to.
I also liked the idea of player characters later becoming bad guys and the multiverse thing. My friends and I have a connected multiverse that expands with each new campaign as we take turns and some of my favorite moments have been the ones when we realized how things tied in to the overarching story. One of my proudest moments was in my third campaign. The party ran across a beast city (kitsune, gnolls, wyvaran, etc.) on the island of vincere which was incredibly peaceful despite the fact that it seemed there were no guards in the entire place. They discovered the reason when they witnessed a thief flee into an alley and encountered "the night guard" a mysterious force of vigilantes keeping the peace with fear, who seemed to have a godlike power level. They didn't think anything of it at the time... But later on, they met a friendly wendigo shaman, which they realized was a character from a former campaign that we affectionately named "friendigo" when a player put a hat of reverse alignment on a wendigo. This blew open the door as everyone started to realize all the connections they had missed, including the island of vincere which had the same name as a mountain from the last campaign where one of the players had established a city for beasts and they had housed the maguffin of the campaign, which allowed them to perform miracles at will, but corrupted those who held it. They then realized that "the night guard" were actually their former characters who had been given immortality by the maguffin and were now tasked with protecting it for the rest of time.
You know, I just started watching your videos because your explanations were useful (and you are a great orator) for my personal writing hobby, but now I really wanna get into D&D :0
Congratulations! This comment made me smile. I just ran my first short campaign for my friends, to introduce them to the game, and to test out DMing. It went crazy well and we will continue to play. Matt is the reason I play and I'm eternally grateful to him.
The bad guys actually being the good guys is more of a middle plot point. A turning point in the story, where the heroes then have the opportunity to right their wrongs and fight the real bad guy that was once their ally and maybe even friend.
As me being a non native, self taught, not perfect at all English speaker I have you say that, even talking as fast as a gatling gun, Matthew has one of the most perfectly comprehensible English I've ever heard. Thanks for the content in general and for this video in particular, this has helped me SO much to develop my first big campaign as a DM.
That's one awesome trick. Just a few weeks ago, I introduced some high level villains for my playgroup. They decided to fight the villains through combat and 3 of the PCs were knocked down. The manage to escape in the end but with a price. One of the PC's childhood friend lost his life in order to save them. Oh and also, their Pixie friend was captured. They left the battle scene with grief on their hearts and swore that they will come back one day and finish off those villains.
WOO HOO!!! Someone else has read the Belgariad!!!! I literally cheered when you said that, and told my family that you are officially the coolest person on youtube. (No one else I've ever talked to has read it.)
So many great tips! I'm definitely introducing the "hologram villain" and "really creepy dude who's relatively neutral to my party's adventure but kinda tracking them anyway" to my homebrew pf2e campaign. Also, an evil resurrected PC? *Chefs kiss*
Another great "Bad Guy" intro is to pull what I'll consider a Moriarty. I've not been able to pull it off well yet, but knowing that there is a bad guy, that this is his name, and that he has fingers EVERYWHERE, can really feel epic. It fits better for a Rogue type villain instead of the more common Fighters and Spellcasters, but I can't wait to finally have a true faceless villain show up in a campaign I'm running. As for Warlocks, perhaps too late to be of help, but their biggest drawback is a limited number of slots, however, those slots are always max level and recover on short rests instead of long rests. Add to that invocations and at higher levels things get great. After reading about Graves though, I'm fairly certain he took Tome, and that means he might not realize the super power he has gained. Tomelocks can learn and cast ANY ritual spell, from any list. Graves could become the ultimate Swiss Army caster, and since Ritual spells do not use slots when ritual cast, as long as he has time, he has a solution. Kind of like Dresden in that way, as long as he has the money and access to copies of the spells to write done in his book
Definitely. involving players in your story arcs is perfect for their agency in storytelling. I used to run a party of ten players, over seven years. At one point, the party split, and I found that in order to play each session without leaving anyone out, or running long gaps between each groups arc, the non-spotlight group controlled monsters or NPCs the in-spotlight team was interacting with, or up against. And it worked. It was a welcome change of pace, and expanded the attitudes and characteristics of the NPC lineup.
Phil (?) will likely have received Warlock advice by this point, but if I may, I suggest the following: My Warlock builds are almost exclusively Blade Pact builds. A Blade Pact Warlock is never disarmed, and with the right Invocations, always ready. All that's required is taking the right Patron and spell choice to maximize your ability to get in and out of combat. Pact Weapon, Thirsting Blade, Armor of Shadows, and Agonizing Blast would be my 5th level choice. Add the Tough feat, and you have essentially a Fighter, but with built in magical armor, a magical melee weapon they cannot lose, and a ranged weapon in the form of Eldritch Blast+Hex. Since Phil has an...owl...? ...He has Find Familiar and is obviously a Chain Pact (unless he has the Magic Initiate, or Ritual Caster feats, or learned the spell as part of being a Tome Pact Warlock with the right Invocation...yeah...this can be confusing). If he is a Chain Pact, he deserves a better familiar, as they are allowed an Imp, Quasit, Psuedodragon, or Sprite. In any regard, it's important to pick the right Invocations to match spell choice or play style. Devil's Sight (invocation) partnered with the Darkness spell works well. Hold Person to a Bladelock is basically pre-arranged murder. Blindness/Deafness matched with Hex (Wisdom) could render a foe in a bad way, as one sense is gone and the other is at Disadvantage to detect your presence. B/D is not a concentration spell, allowing Hex to work. Any Pact Warlock can take advantage of this. Phil could really maximize his Familiar by using it to deliver touch-based spells like Vampiric Touch. Eldritch Blast as a cantrip cannot be overstated, especially when paired with the Hex Spell. Agonizing Blast as an Invocation turns this combo into great damage generation, because each beam of the Blast will do 1d10+1d6+Charisma Mod. At 5th level, that means twice that potential. It gets even moreso from there. There are other Invocations for this Cantrip that extend range or create knockback - which can be brutal when knocking guard off high castle walls. Dropping Hunger of Hadar over an area that has a simple Grease spell can be brutal. Really, it comes down to how Phil looks at his playstyle and how he wants to engage his foes. Everyone has a preference. Since he's a Great Old One pact, using more of the bonus Pact spells might be useful, as they create fear, confusion and madness. Using his Patron as an inspiration, generating this kind of chaos among his foes might be not only thematic, but effective.
I'm five years late here....but man your videos sure do make a brand new DM a lot less anxious/stressed about running the game. Thanks for what you do, good sir.
I like morally ambiguous bad guys, with one caveat-- let the players end things peacefully with them, if they play their cards right. It feels really good to spare your foes (makes you feel like Batman or something), and it could net the players a new NPC contact or even ally.
I made a villain called the Buzzkiller once. He was a wizard enchanter who used dominate monster on a giant queen bee and controlled the hive to terrorize the nearby settlement. He also had a costume just like a super villain, used the fly spell and lightning bolt. He was great. Eventually my party stopped him but he got away. He attacked the party two times after that, trying to get revenge, yet was never able to. Unfortunately, the party died to bounty hunters before the Buzzkiller could make a fourth appearance
13:27 That's basically what the original Baldurs Gate does to keep amping up the stakes. (Spoilers for an over 20 year old game ahead!) There's an Iron Crisis! Travel to the Mines of Nashkel -> Discover evil plot with Mulahey and kobolds -> Mulahey had correspondence with some Agent -> confront Agent -> he directs party to bandits in the forest -> bandits in the forest are lead by The Black Talons and the Cold Hand -> kill their leader Tazok -> He had correspondence that points to the Iron Throne -> go after them -> Discover that Sarevok is pulling the strings -> ... It's letters and bigger "bad guys" all the way down. :D
Great stuff, although I prefer the term 'Misunderstood Guy' to 'Bad Guy'. Just to share, in one of my games I made the recurring villain the identical twin brother of the wizard PC. This inevitably created a lot of headaches for the party because whenever they came across surviving victims of the evil wizard's nefarious handiwork they would frequently mistake the wizard PC for his evil sibling and be blamed for his deeds as his accomplices. To make matters worse, because of a somewhat convoluted backstory involving a magical experiment conducted by the twins' somewhat deranged father (also a powerful wizard), their life essences became tethered to each other but also created an arcane polarity between them, causing magic to work unpredictably or fizzle entirely whenever one brother cast spells directly on or in close proximity of the other. Even worse, if one of them died it was theorized (as laid out in their father's notes) that his twin would also die and the resulting resonance would cause a tear in reality. While the theoretical death effect was never put to the test (it was a 1% chance that would still test positive with Legend Lore), it created an unusual dynamic between the PCs and the evil wizard whereby they could only ever foil his plans and slay his minions but never take him out personally for fear of the repercussions. In turn, the evil wizard would sometimes assist his brother in the form of warnings, useful information, or 'care packages' of scrolls and potions. The evil wizard did this when the mood suited him in order to flaunt his superiority and in the process annoy the PC wizard (because brothers sometimes suck, Neutral Evil ones even more so) and because despite everything, at the end of the day he and the wizard PC were still family. I found this whole situation really interesting because under normal circumstances these two sides would simply annihilate each other on sight. But here, because of what was essentially the threat of mutually assured destruction, good and evil needed to coexist to a certain degree and that, in turn, fostered dialogue (a fair amount of which was trash talking, but still). Also, because the evil wizard was occasionally helping them deal with other powerful villains (really just the evil wizard's rivals, but they were unaware of this), it created a blurring of ethical lines and every so often the PCs would find themselves letting the evil wizard get away with certain with things, never enough to change anyone's alignment, but, you know...baby steps. Needless to say, one of the main goals of the wizard PC was to find a means of undoing the effect that magically bound him to his brother, but sadly I never got to bring this particular campaign to any satisfying conclusion.
Over the past few days I've been watching this playlist to help prepare myself for a party of 8 that I brought together to DM, and I have never DM'ed, but these videos have really help!
Thank you so much, Matt. I just noticed, through watching this video, that my previous DM stole a looooooot of bad guy content from this particular video. And I LOVED it. My character straight up HATED the bad guy that bought corpses because she felt like he was belittling and using her. It was great and I hope to one day become a DM just as skilled as the likes of yourself, Mercer and the many others who I see as my idols of D&D. Thanks.
First time viewer. (Literally... this is my first video of yours.) Love this video. You sir, have gained yet another subscriber :) Def gonna listen to this while working on my upcoming campaign in 3.5
I think I remember a Jess who was on the old Evolve streams back before that game came out, liked post big alpha but pre release. That would have probably been the same Jess you mention in this episode eh? Crazy how small this big world feels sometimes. Used to watch those evolve streams religiously heh.
I've played a warlock from level 1 to level 7 (so far) and I'd say the best way for them to feel more useful/powerful is one: try to always take one short rest per day. Two: make a house ruling on how scrolls are made. Three: magic items. My warlock has a couple that give him more options in combat (he's book of shadows, fey patron) and I have a lot of fun with him. The only thing i feel a little disappointed with is the relatively short spell list, and that you only "sort of" get level 6-9 spell slots.
I'm DMing a game for the first time in a week, we are all complete novices at this and I ended up DMing but the more I think about it the more I get excited about the prospect. Anyway, for our first two sessions we have a player attending- Sam - who will not be able to attend other sessions (He's in the Royal Air Force so doesn't have the time), I want the first couple of sessions to be geared towards giving his character a decent arc. So we're playing the Lost MIne of Phandelver from the starter set - seeing as we're all starters it seemed a good place to... start. And I've decided that Sam's character will be an apprentice to the wizard Iarno Albrek - the missing wizard who the party can look for in the Redbrand manor. Anyway, spoilers for LMP - but in the quest Iarno is the bad guy and is in charge of the Redbrand bandits. I have made some adjustments such that when the party reaches the wizard's chamber they find Iarno in the middle of some great and terrible magical experiment - he is drawing magical power from a soul trapped in a giant glass flask - the figure in the flask being Sam's character. Shock, horror! Turns out that Sam has been playing a construct which has inhabited his body and Iarno is using him to draw more poo souls for his experiments. Then I say "Sam (he's not chosen a name yet) attacks Flynn" and then Sam fights alongside Iarno and some bandits against the party. If the party smashes the flask then Sam regains control and switches sides etc. Eventually Iarno flees or is captured or killed, and Sam's character thanks the party - he can then drop in and out of the story as and when Sam is able to play him (I'm going to give him some dodgy ethereal travel abilities as a result of being separated from his essence for so long). I did steal it somewhat from your vignette you mentioned a few videos back, hope you don't mind.
I like that you shared about how you make a ruling and look it up later to keep the game going, makes me feel better about continuing to do that myself
Matt, I'm a new DM 5 sessions in, and your videos are really saving me. My party is up to 8 people now. Everyone loves the game and I have a hard time turning people away. In any case, I find that after a session I'm pretty drained. I can't eat really while it's going because I'm thinking too much and talking there is a lot to organize and remember. I game on Thursday nights, and though I love doing it, I'm finding that on the weekend, when I should really be planning out the next session, my mind wanders and I put it off. I usually spend the night before the session scrambling to come up with something interesting and memorable. I'm running the starter set right now (Lmop) and embellishing heavily. I'm really looking forward to your "finding the content" video you mentioned that is coming up. I love this episode!
Read and watch series that entertain you. Then, blatantly rip off stuff that you like. Character traits for npcs, villains, plot twists... you name it. It also helps to carry a notebook or pad to scribble down ideas. If none of your players are around, dictate ideas into your phone for later... A good ripoff is almost always more entertaining than bad or hurried originality, although time pressure occasionally yields some real gems. I just realized that you've probably gone on to becoming an even better DM in the two years that have passed, but even two years ago you ran a game for eight players! That is already a feat that few may rival.
About bad guys retreating, in real life soldiers break/retreat when 33% of their unit is killed/incapacitated. In game, I make most normal enemies retreat when reduced by 33% of max or when 33% of their allies are downed. The only ones that never retreat are mindless undead, constructs, and zealots.
Totally agree about the rule ignorance, and not just regarding D&D. When I first started playing a board game called Splendor, we played using the rules as understood by the game's owner. Turns out there were several rules he'd got wrong, but the game was still plenty of fun with the wrong rules. Now we know how they actually work, we play properly, but it does show that no matter what the official rules may be, it's okay to tinker with them.
DrawnSteelHero I know you made this Comment 10 months ago but I thought I'd respond anyway: I like Splendor a lot too, and the rules are confusing and boring when you first start but get better lol.
I love splendor and I didn't find the rules confusing. Then again I didn't actually play when I learned the rules. I learned the rules from watching other people play. Though I wish the game was larger to support more than 4 people playing because that in my opinion is the only real downside.
One thing I'm personally pretty open to, especially with D&D, is if you don't like how a certain rule is meant to work, change it. As long as it's not unbalancing the game and still fits with the rest of the rules you do chose to abide by then go ahead and change it to something that works for you and your group.
I love how confident you are as you RP bad guys. I always worry if I get too IC my players will think it's /me/ that's evil (which is only partly true!)
Little did he know a bit less than 2 years later he raised 2 million bucks to publish a book about a somewhat smallish part of the game overall. Good job Matt C. you really are a wellspring of good for the game.
Fill a cave with explosives, lure a bandit into it, kill the bandit while in possession of the blood coins, Caloril teleports into cave filled with explosives. Profit.
+Mary Meissinger it's really NOT! :D that's why I want to record a session so people will see my game is just like everyone else's. If you could see my game you'd say "oh hell *I* can do that!" Which is sorta the point!
+Matthew Colville +Jim Murphy Haaha he's not fooling anyone ! He taught me to care about my players so many DM's don't do that , and the detail in his maps and the props that hes use are so cool .I really hope your able to get a session recorded ,I'd love to see players interact with you.
When playing a low-level Warlock you really have to give them a gimmick that they can follow. With only two spell slots they have to focus on one or two things, and stick with that until they reach level 11. Look at trying to combine eldritch invocations, cantrips, and spells. A good example is Eldritch Blast (cantrip, ranged spell attack), Devil's Sight (eldritch invocation allowing the warlock to see normally in both normal and magical darkness up to 120 feet), and Darkness (spell which conjures a globe of darkness). Now your character has a sniper position from which he can attack with advantage and most creatures are at a disadvantage to attack against. If you add the Spell Sniper feat you ignore 1/2 and 3/4 cover, and double the range of your eldritch blast.
once, I created an ally npc that was introduced in the first couple of minutes, then spent a bit of time talking about who he was, then gave the characters a sheet about his backround incase they wanted to know more, then, in the beginning of the adventure, I made one of the bad guys kill him before anyone could do anything
Matt mentions Red Hand of DOom. It is a very cool adventure, and theres lots of stuff on the net about running it. I have posted some descriptions in the reddit forum FOR red hand of doom. There is an entire subreddit R/Red Hand of Doom, I recommend this highly for anyone wanting to run it, along with the GiantITP posts about it.
Yet another excellent video Matt. Thanks so much for the time and effort in making these videos. You've inspired me to run my very first game. Fingers crossed!
Coincidentally, I decided to run Keep on Shadowfell as a 5th ed. Adventure for what was supposed to be a quick little jaunt for my players who wanted to take a break from our main game. A year later, I have built a new campaign setting around it and completely changed the latter half of the adventure, cutting out Coloril and Orcus completely and replacing them with a Cult of the Dragon Priest trying to release a captive dracolich. If they do manage to release him, they would also inadvertantly release an embryonic lovecraftian elder god onto the world. Party doesn't know yet.👍
I'm a little leery of the "Killing you is beneath me" idea - I prefer my villains to at least act like they've heard of the Evil Overlord list (in this case, #11: "I will be secure in my superiority. Therefore, I will feel no need to prove it by leaving clues in the form of riddles or leaving my weaker enemies alive to show they pose no threat.") Of course, there are reasons why someone wouldn't want to kill everyone who tried standing up to them - particularly if they can be relied upon to provide you with more supplies in future, but, still, an intelligent villain shouldn't fall into too many of those traps... On another note entirely, some years ago, I ran a Shadowrun campaign where I did character generation with the players individually before the first session, and got one of the players to generate two characters - one they actually intended to play, and the other a villain. For the whole of the first adventure, pretty much, he played the villain as a member of the party, until, when they'd got the macguffin and escaped, he gave a mocking speech and disappeared with the loot. I then very publicly and pointedly thanked him and handed him his *real* character sheet. That villain kept crossing the characters' path, and occasionally I'd get the player to play the guy himself. Eventually, things went metaphysical and I wrapped things up, but Drax (named after a Bond villain) is still the most memorable villain I've run, largely because of his introduction.
"We're only as good as the obscurity of the references we steal from" My new favorite quote. Also, hey! I've used the Belgariad too! I love that series!
I just wanted to point out: I've listened to this entire series, five times now. And I keep getting something new out of it each time. Thank you for putting so much of your time and life energy into this Matt. You're the best.
Hey Matt! I love your videos and they really helped my feel more confident in running my 1st campaign! We're in a homebrew setting of mine, where two different countries are at war. Monarchy vs. Paramount Union (Like European union), Aggressive Imperialism vs. Peaceful Coexistence. Order vs. Freedom, Will vs. Whim. In total I have 9 players, split into two parties i do every alternating weekends. One party of four, in the Monarchy country and one party of 5 in the Union country. Most of them haven't played but they are having a ton of fun. I wrote a TON of stuff before hand, built an 18,000 mile long hexographer, wrote tons of lore and history that I know will never be used (i just wanted to have it all available of course.) But watching your videos made me realise a few mistakes i was making but I also noticed similarities in how you play your game to mine so that made me feel like I was doing something right! Thanks Matt!!!
Honestly considering how past episodes have come up with clips in response to a similar quote with the red cap title I half expected a clip of Wesley claiming to be the dread pirate roberts.
I love this channel. I'd like a video on random encounters, and how to run encounters who are not for the players, I realized my friends realized everything is balanced around their characters, but since they aren't familiar with the monster manual that much, its hard for them to gauge the difficulty of an encounter, so I'd really like some tips of not killing people with over powered encounters, but also give them a feeling that the world is alive.
+kikedragoon The simplest way to show the players that they're out of their depth is the one Matt mentioned in the video - have the bad guys effortlessly stomp them but leave them alive because they're beneath their notice.
Great video as always! I was really enjoying what you were saying about the rules and shifting them so that they don't get in the way of a good time. I think that could be a definite episode topic "House Rules & The Rule Of Cool", basically talking about how the PHB or DMG gives you guidelines for things, but can be deviated from if it would better serve the game you're trying to run.
So for a campaign where you have multiple tiers of villain could you have a scenario where the actions of the lower tier villains is a direct result of the ultimate villain your heroes no nothing about. Namely the Fable III idea where the first main villain is gathering power so that he and the people he cares for can survive the coming storm of a larger threat before you beat him. Or your heroes could be in a fight with a powerful evil wizard who is draining the magical energy from a forest inhabited by npcs who befriended the heroes only to have the ultimate villain appear, kill the wizard, and then double down on the magic siphon destroying the forest and all of the npcs without the heroes being able to stop him at that time.
I would just like to say thank you for this amazing video for a 30 min video i have been writing out ideas and notes from this for over 3 hours i filled half of a note pad my games are going to be better just from watching this one video and im slowly working my way through them all
long time lurker, first time commenter, etc. I've decided to re-watch all of your videos from start to finish because I'm procrastinating from my thesis and also because you inspire me to be a better DM. That said I decided to pop in here because I FUCKIN KNEW IT. Love, a fellow Belgariad fan :P
Warlocks are primarily unlimited cantrips and carefully chosen invocations, spells should be used as extra oomph or utility. Spell slots refresh with every short rest, so while you may have only two spell slots you have to choose from, using them sparingly doesn't mean you can't take a breather and be at full compliment again. Invocations allow some spells to be cast at-will and without using spell slots, like Mage armor, levitate, Detect magic, False Life, Etc. Several allow you to improve the Eldritch Blast cantrip Distance, damage, or adding a push on hit mechanic to it with no save. Probably not the most diverse spell caster, but once you get used to being conservative with spell slots, and pestering the group for short rests (The monk will agree for Ki points too) It's not as limited as it feels.
+DiasKull I would agree with this. It largely depends on frequency of short rests. If you can get a rest per combat, the warlock is on-par with other full casters (although spells are still used more for changing the direction of battle than conventional damage). If you rarely get short rests, spells are essentially for emergencies only and your warlock will be under-powered. So spell choice and invocation choice (for at-will and passive abilities) is key either way. I tried to make a fiend-pact of the blade warlock that focused on melee and spells, gish-style, who wouldn't rely on eldritch blast. Bad decision. It's taken several levels to fix that build. Eldritch blast is your go-to combat skill as a warlock, there isn't really a way around it.
+Norman Maynard Also worth mentioning that warlocks get few useful bonus actions (nothing comes to mind except Hexing & hoping to maintain concentration), so they are typically limited to doing one thing per round. Classes like ranger, paladin, or bard (and anyone with healing word, really) do a better job of setting up action-bonus action combos, so being a warlock in a party with those kinds of abilities can make it feel like you're not achieving as much, at least in a fight.
+Norman Maynard Don't sell a warlock too short, with the right feats, invocations, and spells they can be a force to deal with. They don't need components, get some great at-will spells, and if so inclined can be melee with two attacks a round using spell modifier instead of strength. They're the red mage of the family.
DiasKull All true, it just take a lot of planning to make it viable. An optimized warlock can be fantastic. They're just not very forgiving if they're not optimized. I didn't optimize mine, and it's taken six levels of fixing it to get where I'm comfortable with my combat contribution. Can't beat a warlock for flavor and RP opportunities, though.
You mentioned red gold coins, and I immediately thought of the Belgariad, which I loved as a kid. You later said that most of your players haven't read or heard of those books, and I felt old >_>
YAAAAS! If you have found a fairly simple way to do Time Tracking, you will be my savior. That is the one thing every single DM that I have played for seems to struggle with most and we players ask about it ALL the time. LOL
Hehe, the last bit reminds me of when I played my first campaign. All of us were new, even the DM, and we were using the 5e starter set. Unfortunately, we didn't go that in-depth into the Player's Handbook, so we pretty much didn't even use AC for the first half of the campaign. It was... a nightmare, to be sure. But we had lots of fun.
silly Mathew. everyone knows that when you can't decide between goblins or undead, just make them undead goblins
I was a fool not to think of that!
Mind Blown.
When I finally get around to DM'ing when my schedule finally clears up, undead goblins are actually in line for a recurring part of my campaign :D
Azrakan you can have regular goblins too. they're motivated by their desire to not die, but the necromancer kinda wants them to, so he can raise them with extra loyalty.
True, thats actually pretty fair. That being said, the reason I'm going to be using zombie gobs is that there is no necromancer, but rather the land itself is raising them as a natural side effect of the story. If anything I'm going to sequence the team's encounters vs goblins as 1) Regular Goblins just being in the team's way a couple times, 2) Undead Goblins en masse that become their own arc, and 3) Giant Goblins when the team finally know the situation thats going on as a way to introduce them to the Giant Monster arc.
"For instance, I often have bad guys resurrect dead good guys. They HATE that!"
*menacingly-self-satisfied DM stare*
hilarious
sorry for the late reply but what minute is this?
@@michaelstraw211217:10
"Then when the players fought this awesome half-vampire monk they were fighting Craig's old character and they were like, 'Wow, we hate this!' Super memorable!"
"steal from stuff no one has ever heard of, and you are a genius" SO TRUE
+Elizabeth Reece Unknown source quote
Nothing is original. Seriously. Read older literature (or the SparkNotes of it) and you'll see how far the copy+paste idea stretches in the past.
-Ian Hall-Watt
Honestly, I tell my players what i steal from sometimes to get them to actually Read/play it (I love stealing from my favorite game Baldurs gate)
I'm running a campaign for all new players so you bet I'm gonna steal some of Matthews genius probably also stolen ideas xD
"As DMs we're only as good as the obscurity of the references we steal from" HAHA! Brilliant. Couldn't agree more ;)
"Well that's the end of the video."
*Video carries on for another 10 minutes*
Fucking hell Matt haha
Matt Colville:"You have reached the MIDDLE OF THE FILM" *1/5 of the way through the video.
Me: Uh oh
Hi Matthew,
At the age of 30, I just got home from playing my first ever D&D session this evening. I never would have sought out a place to play without these videos.
+RedXiongmao When do you start DMing!? :D
+Matthew Colville Already asking a newbie when, not if, she's going to be a DM? I knew I liked you.
+RedXiongmao It's the entire reason we're here! It's your destiny!
@@mcolville Luke, you must GM, it is your destiny!
I know there is a star wars reference I can put in here... I got it!
master RedXiongmao! you must save us from the boredom of regular life with your dming skills! you are our only hope!
"Floating across the floor towards the inkeep as though the act of walking itself was beneath him"
That is one of the best description of a characters gate I've read in a long time. You get a clear picture not only how he moves but his personality within his movement.
It's beautiful, and perfectly paints the moment for the players
Hell, if I had the ability to fly, it *would* be beneath me to walk anywhere!
And it's a great pun, too ;) (Walking is beneath him, heh)
You “read”?
I think you meant "gait"
"steal from stuff no one has ever heard of, and you are a genius"
I'm stealing that idea about stealing wizards. It's genius.
"I've made this channel because I want more people to run D&D"
Well you certainly succeeded among my small group of friends.
Me as well!
Man that introduction to that villain had me hooked. I've just found your channel but that opening alone shows your skill as a storyteller you have earned a subscriber.
While I'm commenting on your videos, I should say here that your introduction of Caloril in this video is a paragon of narration, applicable well outside the RPG context. I played the first 5 minutes of this to my s/o, who doesn't game at all, but who is a performer... she was absolutely hooked.
Well you should run D&D for her! She'll be super hooked!
thanks matt
yeah he's a writer
I still come back to watch this intro when I want inspiration for DMing. There's so much great stuff to unpack there!
Same here.
Though it does make me slightly melancholic.
With a smaller channel he could more directly interact with his viewers and he also didn't have to consider, to quote the man himself, that he is a product.
"I didn't want the video to get too long." at 22 minutes, with 8 minutes left in the video. Classic Colville! :D I, for one, love the long videos. Wouldn't mind an hour a day! \o/
I also love the long videos. I've watched them all (some twice) and not once have I been bored. If my mind wanders it's because Matthew inspired an idea.
As soon as I heard "red gold" I immediately thought of the Belgariad! This is wonderful. I'm enjoying your videos so much, and as a noob player and even more noob DM I'm finding them so incredibly insightful and helpful. Thank you so much for making them :)
I propose for next topic: How to improvise without players noticing
That's really good he should do this.
Flip open a notebook and pretend to read it before telling what happens
Be an actor.
Or be very creative.
There's no quick and dirty way to get good at improvisation. It's something that comes with experience.
Often improvisation is simply reusing ideas you've known or used in the past and adapting them to a new or current situation.
Your mileage may vary. So don't be afraid to work from a script for most of the time if need be.
@@Madhattersinjeans I DM'd my first session a few weeks ago and everyone immediately went off the rails for what I had proposed. But before I'd describe a new place or a PC or something important, I'd close my eyes, visualize it, then describe it. My PC's thought I had everything planned in the festival they explored. Nope. I had to make up not one, but FIVE magical carnival games on the fly. They thought it was all prepared. Nope. :P
doesnt matter if they notice and the intelligent ones always will notice
the REAL topic : how to improv in a fun way so no one cares
I use the Cheshire Cat as my go-to example for True Neutral.
.... and the momeraths outgrabe....
I dont even play D&D, I just love listening to this man.
+Aaron Jarrett Well you should run D&D! I bet you'd like it!
+Matthew Colville My girlfriend and I have always talked about it but we don't even know where to start!
+Aaron Jarrett Roll app.roll20.net/lfg/search/
+Aaron Jarrett That's exactly what these videos are about! You can pick up the 5e starter set for around $20. Grab like 2 or 3 other friends and DM for them. The starter set gives you a nice little adventure (I do warn that the first dungeon is a little unbalanced. Try reading online) and just play! Have one day for character creation. You can all work together, figure out the rules from the rule book you get given in the set. Then have another set and just go for it! It's how I started about 2-3 months ago. I'm in the process of world building a campaign of my own for my friends now and it's fantastic. Feel free to ask me more questions, from a newbie to a newbie.
+Aaron Jarrett I play as a DM and still completely agree with your comment....just happy to sit and listen to his ideas and stories of past and current campaigns.
I watch this at least once a year and it has made me use "Scion of X" for a lot of my villains. Now every time I introduce one I have to explain to at least one person that its not Psion and they do not have psychic powers thank you Matthew.
If Phil feels his warlock is underpowered, you may wish to tell him, if he is unaware, that warlocks get all their spell slots back on a _short_ rest, unlike the other classes. One of my players didn't realize this until recently. Other than that, I don't really know much about warlocks. I do know that my warlock player usually deals lots of damage with AoE spells, and he also has an invocation that lets him add his charisma modifier to his eldritch blast damage. He seems pretty effective.
+Noah Topper Warlocks are the best. They are well known for being very powerful blasters, having the best attack cantrip and the Invocations that make it better. But they can excel at a lot of things.
Phil should have a think about what he wants to do for the group. Several of their Invocations make powerful spells at-will(detect magic, mage armor, arcane eye, speak with dead, all effectively made cantrips for the Warlock) to make up for their odd Pact Magic, and they can be hell on wheels for sneaking around and infiltrating in disguise.
They usually run out of spell slots before other casting classes in a combat, but they can have a power nap and be back in shape when the wizard and cleric is starting to get nervous. If Phil doesn't find joy in the class in a few levels, Warlock multiclasses hilariously well with other Charisma casters, even Paladin, and he could write his own oaths to his Patron.
My level three warlock and I thank you deeply for this two year old comment. I had no idea about the short rest refresh. This is huge. I'm so glad I didn't find out even later.
koritsimou Warlocks are beast, dude
Could be an issue with the party not taking enough short rests.
My party in general doesn't get a lot back on a short rest, so the Warlock is often starved for slots.
I know this post was made a while ago, but the other reason he may feel underpowered is because his warlock is not specialising into any particular part of being a warlock, instead mixing together different elements. In general, focusing on being the best warlock at one or two things possible is a lot better and more fun, I find.
"The betrayed and the betrayer chasing each other across universes."
Is that a Dark Tower reference by any chance?
Given that Matt borrowed from Where No Man Has Gone Before for the Omega Nails plot, I wonder if it's not a nod to The Alternative Factor... The Madman pursuing The Murdering Monster.
OMG I love the idea of someone else running a bad guy off-screen in your campaign. That's something I'm definitely going to employ.
Along with Tolkien, it was the Belgariad that got me into fantasy fiction!
Man, been 25 years since I read the Belgariad! Forgot about the cursed Murgo gold!
Thank you for making me feel old. LOL
I've now heard of the Belgariad from two different content creators that I really enjoy, I may have just ordered the first volume.
I'm looking forward to it. This is one time I'm very glad to have amazon prime.
One more Belgariad lover here. Hope you enjoy it like I did!
The belgariad was the one about the blue rose gem that had tons of power or something right? I've got the books, but it must have been like 10 years since I read them, and I'm only 24 :). I really enjoyed reading it, but can't really remember much of it now.
Blue stone(Belgariad), Blue rose was the sparhawk books Alipheese.
When my friends and I started playing in high school, we totally didn't know the rules. We were using the 2nd edition books one of us found in his attic with a 3rd edition module someone picked up, and it was an absolute blast.
Ugh dude! I can't wait to see a full session of D&D where you DM! You're such a good story tell I wish I was there watching or playing your campaign!
+Atrinoch You're gonna be disappointed! My game is pretty much like everyone else's! But that's one reason I want to get it recorded; I want people to see it so they'll think "Oh hell, *I* can do that!"
+Matthew Colville no way! You write for a living. I'm sure it's super epic, but you've been playing for so long you've got to be used to it. It sounds so good when you describe it so it has to be even better actually being there.
+Atrinoch no he is telling you the truth, we have had great games but so can you.
If you put this on 0.5 speed he sounds drunk xD
Oh god he does!
Perhaps it's how he emphasizes things?
wat the hek?
And at 1.25 it sounds like he's coked up.
OH MY GOD
Marlon Duarte thanks for 60 Minutes of joy
Honestly, a warlock is essentially an archer with a bit of magical options. He should be focusing on things boosting eldritch blast in his invocations. Think things like agonizing blast and the range increase one. The spells are limited but come back in a short rest. Tell him to USE THEM during combat. They are literally a combat blaster wizard who sends out a bunch of eldritch blasts. They have decent damage if you treat them like an archer with some magical options for flavor.
He will feel really bad outside of combat if he plays as an archer, he has poor skills and skill selection, so you need to use your magic but then you literally only have eldritch blast left in combat. Eldritch blast is essentailly 'shoot an arrow' that's better damage than an arrow. Warlocks scale well and get the same 6+ level spells as bards essentailly in uses per day. Warlocks are pretty much just blasters though, think old school evocation wizards.
His utility spells that he has should generally be the ones granted by his patron status. Those are the flavor spells, he needs to focus on damage because that's what warlocks do, they're an archer with some extra magical oomph but less survival. Warlock is SUPER overpowered btw if you let your players short rest too often since they get their spells back on short rest, be careful on that. But the non damage spells are usually dictated by the patron and their 'domain' style spells.
The warlock doesn't chose his own powers though(for crunch we let the player chose on level up, but... you don't have to), they're granted by the patron, have some fun with him. It's also the EASIEST way btw to help a warlock player out. The patron is usually extremely knowledgable as a great old one. If you know your warlock is about to be poop cause he has very little to do with undead other than 'I cast eldritch blast' maybe his patron will impose a minor penalty and CHANGE his spells(you get to do this as the DM running his patron). Honestly, if your warlock is struggling to feel good, change his spell loadout as his patron, you can influence him that way and give him a little more fun suddenly having a different spell set. Just make sure he doesn't get to abuse or chose the spells, and if negotiating(yes you can talk to your patron) you can take something FROM the player to change spells.
+David Folsom I agree very much with the range blaster concept of the class. Usually what the Warlock is very strong when it's spamming Eldritch Blasts. And it is his trademark spell. It's what most think of when they go about trying out the Warlock class.
Though, depending on the group or DM, certain other options are certainly fun to try too. Endless Disguise Self or Silent Image can create lots of interesting scenarios (from his Invocations). Or add proficiency to two social skills. Some things can be changed around but overall I feel the Warlock is a ranged blaster when he is at his best.
But I very much disagree with the DM interfering with his spell selections. That is something the player himself should decide, always and regardless of class. Just as the other classes that have deities or other divine entities bestowing them power but don't dictate anything else. The Warlock already has a very limited number of spell slots and taking away the option to choice what he should know of spells from his as player feels very unfair in my opinion.
They get access to magic through the power of their Pact - but the patron doesn't necessarily do anything.
Tommy Frost The gm changing his spell selection is mostly so he can have some variety while he figures out what he REALLY likes. It's something the player is involved in trying to get a change, but the DM has the eventual choice is what I mean. Like your warlock goes 'Man I feel crappy in X situations with no tools' because they chose wrong. You as a DM have noticed they never use X you can see about having a little fun change over time.
David Folsom That's my issue with Warlock is because eldritch blast is the option everyone uses because it is the focus of the class, but I don't want a warlock like that.
its not much of a solution at higher levels, but if you use the hexblade warlock from unearthed arcana for the the first five to ten levels you can be a really effective melee fighter with spell options.
I go to these videos over and over for reference. So useful. Thank you so much Matt Coleville “D&D is not the things written between the covers of the books (sic) D&D is what happens at the table among the people playing the game.”
For fallen heroes like Domnall and Lady Sariel, have you considered having them be aware of what's going on but powerless to stop it while the evil version of them is in control? For example, Lady Sariel's soul could still be in her body despite being undead, and Caloril the Vile just made an evil copy of it and forced it into her body. It would be an "And I Must Scream" scenario of sorts, although it might not be readily apparent to the players until Graves tries to read her mind.
Thats a nice twist.
Reminds me of what happened to Durkon in the webcomic Order of the Stick lol. He was basically imprisoned in his own body by a vampire, who can talk to him and sift through his memories for useful information.
Best part about that is it opens the door to reviving the old character, though if she's still undead that would be a weird one. Maybe she can never fully get rid of the evil without finally dying, so she may regain her autonomy but is still undead with an evil entity inside her trying to control and manipulate her. I'd love to see that happen in a game.
Appropriately powerful revival spells (mainly True Resurrection or even Miracle), or the use of Wish (as in the case of vampires), can revive certain characters from undeath. The character can also be revived normally if you kill the vampire. And that's just the stuff that's RAW, you can come up with other stuff on your own.
For instance, if your party is acting on the behalf of a god/goddess they might reward them by reviving their fallen/corrupted comrade.
Thumbs up for "And I must Scream" reference.
Having someone else control the villians sounds AMAZING and really inspiring. It sounds like a great way to keep me creative as a gm
Probably won’t see this as I’m posting so late, but I thoroughly enjoy your content and I’m looking to buy your books. Thank you!
I loved your Palpatine story. It reminds me of how I set up my current mini-campaign that I'm running.
It's set in a world which follows different rules. Nothing bad happens here. The heroes always win and are never in real danger. People don't hurt each other. They fight generic monsters that drop loot and turn to dust like a video game...
This is how most of the first session went. They were searching for a robe stolen from a local prince, fighting clay soldiers and low level oozes in a dungeon set up as a challenge to earn gold along the way.
They eventually tracked the thief to a desert cave lit by magical blue fire by the end of the session. They could hear loud talking, like some kind of religious gathering. They entered to find a room full of robed cultists who had just sacrificed the thief to some nebulous moon God.
Their characters were all very confused of course, but were noticed and forced into fighting these cultists. But when the tide started to turn, the leader killed one of his own while trying to flee to prevent them from being taken hostage. It was a great opening to a campaign about escalation and entropy which went exactly how I wanted it to.
I also liked the idea of player characters later becoming bad guys and the multiverse thing. My friends and I have a connected multiverse that expands with each new campaign as we take turns and some of my favorite moments have been the ones when we realized how things tied in to the overarching story.
One of my proudest moments was in my third campaign. The party ran across a beast city (kitsune, gnolls, wyvaran, etc.) on the island of vincere which was incredibly peaceful despite the fact that it seemed there were no guards in the entire place. They discovered the reason when they witnessed a thief flee into an alley and encountered "the night guard" a mysterious force of vigilantes keeping the peace with fear, who seemed to have a godlike power level. They didn't think anything of it at the time...
But later on, they met a friendly wendigo shaman, which they realized was a character from a former campaign that we affectionately named "friendigo" when a player put a hat of reverse alignment on a wendigo. This blew open the door as everyone started to realize all the connections they had missed, including the island of vincere which had the same name as a mountain from the last campaign where one of the players had established a city for beasts and they had housed the maguffin of the campaign, which allowed them to perform miracles at will, but corrupted those who held it.
They then realized that "the night guard" were actually their former characters who had been given immortality by the maguffin and were now tasked with protecting it for the rest of time.
You know, I just started watching your videos because your explanations were useful (and you are a great orator) for my personal writing hobby, but now I really wanna get into D&D :0
And here I am, DMing for my friends.
Congratulations! This comment made me smile. I just ran my first short campaign for my friends, to introduce them to the game, and to test out DMing. It went crazy well and we will continue to play. Matt is the reason I play and I'm eternally grateful to him.
The bad guys actually being the good guys is more of a middle plot point. A turning point in the story, where the heroes then have the opportunity to right their wrongs and fight the real bad guy that was once their ally and maybe even friend.
As me being a non native, self taught, not perfect at all English speaker I have you say that, even talking as fast as a gatling gun, Matthew has one of the most perfectly comprehensible English I've ever heard. Thanks for the content in general and for this video in particular, this has helped me SO much to develop my first big campaign as a DM.
I have to turn him down to .85, but yeah...he has a great voice. Hope your campaign went well.
That's one awesome trick. Just a few weeks ago, I introduced some high level villains for my playgroup. They decided to fight the villains through combat and 3 of the PCs were knocked down. The manage to escape in the end but with a price. One of the PC's childhood friend lost his life in order to save them. Oh and also, their Pixie friend was captured. They left the battle scene with grief on their hearts and swore that they will come back one day and finish off those villains.
WOO HOO!!! Someone else has read the Belgariad!!!! I literally cheered when you said that, and told my family that you are officially the coolest person on youtube. (No one else I've ever talked to has read it.)
So many great tips!
I'm definitely introducing the "hologram villain" and "really creepy dude who's relatively neutral to my party's adventure but kinda tracking them anyway" to my homebrew pf2e campaign.
Also, an evil resurrected PC? *Chefs kiss*
My art professors championed a quote:
"Good art is made, great art is stolen"
And here I am, a massive fan of vaporwave
Powerful stuff man
Another great "Bad Guy" intro is to pull what I'll consider a Moriarty. I've not been able to pull it off well yet, but knowing that there is a bad guy, that this is his name, and that he has fingers EVERYWHERE, can really feel epic. It fits better for a Rogue type villain instead of the more common Fighters and Spellcasters, but I can't wait to finally have a true faceless villain show up in a campaign I'm running.
As for Warlocks, perhaps too late to be of help, but their biggest drawback is a limited number of slots, however, those slots are always max level and recover on short rests instead of long rests. Add to that invocations and at higher levels things get great. After reading about Graves though, I'm fairly certain he took Tome, and that means he might not realize the super power he has gained. Tomelocks can learn and cast ANY ritual spell, from any list. Graves could become the ultimate Swiss Army caster, and since Ritual spells do not use slots when ritual cast, as long as he has time, he has a solution. Kind of like Dresden in that way, as long as he has the money and access to copies of the spells to write done in his book
As someone who likes the long videos, I'm super happy to see you haven't reduced the length yet.
Definitely. involving players in your story arcs is perfect for their agency in storytelling. I used to run a party of ten players, over seven years. At one point, the party split, and I found that in order to play each session without leaving anyone out, or running long gaps between each groups arc, the non-spotlight group controlled monsters or NPCs the in-spotlight team was interacting with, or up against. And it worked. It was a welcome change of pace, and expanded the attitudes and characteristics of the NPC lineup.
Phil (?) will likely have received Warlock advice by this point, but if I may, I suggest the following:
My Warlock builds are almost exclusively Blade Pact builds. A Blade Pact Warlock is never disarmed, and with the right Invocations, always ready. All that's required is taking the right Patron and spell choice to maximize your ability to get in and out of combat. Pact Weapon, Thirsting Blade, Armor of Shadows, and Agonizing Blast would be my 5th level choice. Add the Tough feat, and you have essentially a Fighter, but with built in magical armor, a magical melee weapon they cannot lose, and a ranged weapon in the form of Eldritch Blast+Hex.
Since Phil has an...owl...? ...He has Find Familiar and is obviously a Chain Pact (unless he has the Magic Initiate, or Ritual Caster feats, or learned the spell as part of being a Tome Pact Warlock with the right Invocation...yeah...this can be confusing). If he is a Chain Pact, he deserves a better familiar, as they are allowed an Imp, Quasit, Psuedodragon, or Sprite.
In any regard, it's important to pick the right Invocations to match spell choice or play style. Devil's Sight (invocation) partnered with the Darkness spell works well. Hold Person to a Bladelock is basically pre-arranged murder. Blindness/Deafness matched with Hex (Wisdom) could render a foe in a bad way, as one sense is gone and the other is at Disadvantage to detect your presence. B/D is not a concentration spell, allowing Hex to work. Any Pact Warlock can take advantage of this.
Phil could really maximize his Familiar by using it to deliver touch-based spells like Vampiric Touch.
Eldritch Blast as a cantrip cannot be overstated, especially when paired with the Hex Spell. Agonizing Blast as an Invocation turns this combo into great damage generation, because each beam of the Blast will do 1d10+1d6+Charisma Mod. At 5th level, that means twice that potential. It gets even moreso from there. There are other Invocations for this Cantrip that extend range or create knockback - which can be brutal when knocking guard off high castle walls.
Dropping Hunger of Hadar over an area that has a simple Grease spell can be brutal.
Really, it comes down to how Phil looks at his playstyle and how he wants to engage his foes. Everyone has a preference. Since he's a Great Old One pact, using more of the bonus Pact spells might be useful, as they create fear, confusion and madness. Using his Patron as an inspiration, generating this kind of chaos among his foes might be not only thematic, but effective.
I'm five years late here....but man your videos sure do make a brand new DM a lot less anxious/stressed about running the game. Thanks for what you do, good sir.
Now this was interesting... And it showed me that I'm still not reading enough.
I like morally ambiguous bad guys, with one caveat-- let the players end things peacefully with them, if they play their cards right. It feels really good to spare your foes (makes you feel like Batman or something), and it could net the players a new NPC contact or even ally.
+1 for THE BLACK COMPANY - Glenn Cook is criminally underappreciated . . .
Agreed. It's a real shame that he is barely known even though he has shaped modern fantasy more than pretty much anyone other than Tolkien himself.
I made a villain called the Buzzkiller once. He was a wizard enchanter who used dominate monster on a giant queen bee and controlled the hive to terrorize the nearby settlement. He also had a costume just like a super villain, used the fly spell and lightning bolt. He was great. Eventually my party stopped him but he got away. He attacked the party two times after that, trying to get revenge, yet was never able to.
Unfortunately, the party died to bounty hunters before the Buzzkiller could make a fourth appearance
10 000 subscribers? How about 300k+ :D Go Matt!
13:27 That's basically what the original Baldurs Gate does to keep amping up the stakes. (Spoilers for an over 20 year old game ahead!)
There's an Iron Crisis!
Travel to the Mines of Nashkel -> Discover evil plot with Mulahey and kobolds -> Mulahey had correspondence with some Agent -> confront Agent -> he directs party to bandits in the forest -> bandits in the forest are lead by The Black Talons and the Cold Hand -> kill their leader Tazok -> He had correspondence that points to the Iron Throne -> go after them -> Discover that Sarevok is pulling the strings -> ...
It's letters and bigger "bad guys" all the way down. :D
Great stuff, although I prefer the term 'Misunderstood Guy' to 'Bad Guy'.
Just to share, in one of my games I made the recurring villain the identical twin brother of the wizard PC. This inevitably created a lot of headaches for the party because whenever they came across surviving victims of the evil wizard's nefarious handiwork they would frequently mistake the wizard PC for his evil sibling and be blamed for his deeds as his accomplices.
To make matters worse, because of a somewhat convoluted backstory involving a magical experiment conducted by the twins' somewhat deranged father (also a powerful wizard), their life essences became tethered to each other but also created an arcane polarity between them, causing magic to work unpredictably or fizzle entirely whenever one brother cast spells directly on or in close proximity of the other. Even worse, if one of them died it was theorized (as laid out in their father's notes) that his twin would also die and the resulting resonance would cause a tear in reality.
While the theoretical death effect was never put to the test (it was a 1% chance that would still test positive with Legend Lore), it created an unusual dynamic between the PCs and the evil wizard whereby they could only ever foil his plans and slay his minions but never take him out personally for fear of the repercussions. In turn, the evil wizard would sometimes assist his brother in the form of warnings, useful information, or 'care packages' of scrolls and potions. The evil wizard did this when the mood suited him in order to flaunt his superiority and in the process annoy the PC wizard (because brothers sometimes suck, Neutral Evil ones even more so) and because despite everything, at the end of the day he and the wizard PC were still family.
I found this whole situation really interesting because under normal circumstances these two sides would simply annihilate each other on sight. But here, because of what was essentially the threat of mutually assured destruction, good and evil needed to coexist to a certain degree and that, in turn, fostered dialogue (a fair amount of which was trash talking, but still). Also, because the evil wizard was occasionally helping them deal with other powerful villains (really just the evil wizard's rivals, but they were unaware of this), it created a blurring of ethical lines and every so often the PCs would find themselves letting the evil wizard get away with certain with things, never enough to change anyone's alignment, but, you know...baby steps.
Needless to say, one of the main goals of the wizard PC was to find a means of undoing the effect that magically bound him to his brother, but sadly I never got to bring this particular campaign to any satisfying conclusion.
Over the past few days I've been watching this playlist to help prepare myself for a party of 8 that I brought together to DM, and I have never DM'ed, but these videos have really help!
Advice for Phil: eldritch blaaäst!
Thank you so much, Matt. I just noticed, through watching this video, that my previous DM stole a looooooot of bad guy content from this particular video. And I LOVED it. My character straight up HATED the bad guy that bought corpses because she felt like he was belittling and using her. It was great and I hope to one day become a DM just as skilled as the likes of yourself, Mercer and the many others who I see as my idols of D&D. Thanks.
First time viewer. (Literally... this is my first video of yours.)
Love this video. You sir, have gained yet another subscriber :)
Def gonna listen to this while working on my upcoming campaign in 3.5
I came by to listen again. This is my second or third pass through Running the game. I always hear something cool.
HE DID THE EPISODE ON KEEPING TIME! IT TOOK A YEAR, BUT HE DID IT. I DON'T KNOW WHY I'M YELLING!
I think I remember a Jess who was on the old Evolve streams back before that game came out, liked post big alpha but pre release. That would have probably been the same Jess you mention in this episode eh? Crazy how small this big world feels sometimes.
Used to watch those evolve streams religiously heh.
"steal from stuff that no one knows about, and your a genius." is totally my ethos.
I've played a warlock from level 1 to level 7 (so far) and I'd say the best way for them to feel more useful/powerful is one: try to always take one short rest per day. Two: make a house ruling on how scrolls are made. Three: magic items. My warlock has a couple that give him more options in combat (he's book of shadows, fey patron) and I have a lot of fun with him. The only thing i feel a little disappointed with is the relatively short spell list, and that you only "sort of" get level 6-9 spell slots.
I'm DMing a game for the first time in a week, we are all complete novices at this and I ended up DMing but the more I think about it the more I get excited about the prospect. Anyway, for our first two sessions we have a player attending- Sam - who will not be able to attend other sessions (He's in the Royal Air Force so doesn't have the time), I want the first couple of sessions to be geared towards giving his character a decent arc.
So we're playing the Lost MIne of Phandelver from the starter set - seeing as we're all starters it seemed a good place to... start. And I've decided that Sam's character will be an apprentice to the wizard Iarno Albrek - the missing wizard who the party can look for in the Redbrand manor. Anyway, spoilers for LMP - but in the quest Iarno is the bad guy and is in charge of the Redbrand bandits. I have made some adjustments such that when the party reaches the wizard's chamber they find Iarno in the middle of some great and terrible magical experiment - he is drawing magical power from a soul trapped in a giant glass flask - the figure in the flask being Sam's character. Shock, horror! Turns out that Sam has been playing a construct which has inhabited his body and Iarno is using him to draw more poo souls for his experiments. Then I say "Sam (he's not chosen a name yet) attacks Flynn" and then Sam fights alongside Iarno and some bandits against the party. If the party smashes the flask then Sam regains control and switches sides etc. Eventually Iarno flees or is captured or killed, and Sam's character thanks the party - he can then drop in and out of the story as and when Sam is able to play him (I'm going to give him some dodgy ethereal travel abilities as a result of being separated from his essence for so long).
I did steal it somewhat from your vignette you mentioned a few videos back, hope you don't mind.
I like that you shared about how you make a ruling and look it up later to keep the game going, makes me feel better about continuing to do that myself
Matt, I'm a new DM 5 sessions in, and your videos are really saving me. My party is up to 8 people now. Everyone loves the game and I have a hard time turning people away. In any case, I find that after a session I'm pretty drained. I can't eat really while it's going because I'm thinking too much and talking there is a lot to organize and remember. I game on Thursday nights, and though I love doing it, I'm finding that on the weekend, when I should really be planning out the next session, my mind wanders and I put it off. I usually spend the night before the session scrambling to come up with something interesting and memorable. I'm running the starter set right now (Lmop) and embellishing heavily. I'm really looking forward to your "finding the content" video you mentioned that is coming up. I love this episode!
+boneforge Well, take some heart in the fact that what you describe is basically what I do too!
+Matthew Colville Heart taken!
Read and watch series that entertain you. Then, blatantly rip off stuff that you like. Character traits for npcs, villains, plot twists... you name it.
It also helps to carry a notebook or pad to scribble down ideas. If none of your players are around, dictate ideas into your phone for later...
A good ripoff is almost always more entertaining than bad or hurried originality, although time pressure occasionally yields some real gems.
I just realized that you've probably gone on to becoming an even better DM in the two years that have passed, but even two years ago you ran a game for eight players! That is already a feat that few may rival.
About bad guys retreating, in real life soldiers break/retreat when 33% of their unit is killed/incapacitated. In game, I make most normal enemies retreat when reduced by 33% of max or when 33% of their allies are downed. The only ones that never retreat are mindless undead, constructs, and zealots.
Totally agree about the rule ignorance, and not just regarding D&D.
When I first started playing a board game called Splendor, we played using the rules as understood by the game's owner. Turns out there were several rules he'd got wrong, but the game was still plenty of fun with the wrong rules. Now we know how they actually work, we play properly, but it does show that no matter what the official rules may be, it's okay to tinker with them.
DrawnSteelHero I know you made this Comment 10 months ago but I thought I'd respond anyway: I like Splendor a lot too, and the rules are confusing and boring when you first start but get better lol.
I love splendor and I didn't find the rules confusing. Then again I didn't actually play when I learned the rules. I learned the rules from watching other people play.
Though I wish the game was larger to support more than 4 people playing because that in my opinion is the only real downside.
One thing I'm personally pretty open to, especially with D&D, is if you don't like how a certain rule is meant to work, change it. As long as it's not unbalancing the game and still fits with the rest of the rules you do chose to abide by then go ahead and change it to something that works for you and your group.
I love how confident you are as you RP bad guys. I always worry if I get too IC my players will think it's /me/ that's evil (which is only partly true!)
Little did he know a bit less than 2 years later he raised 2 million bucks to publish a book about a somewhat smallish part of the game overall. Good job Matt C. you really are a wellspring of good for the game.
He is a river to his people!
This comment aged like wine
Fill a cave with explosives, lure a bandit into it, kill the bandit while in possession of the blood coins, Caloril teleports into cave filled with explosives.
Profit.
I’ve watch this video six times in three years. It’s great every time.
Thats a great reference to the Belgariad...I immediately made the connection - but there is enough of a twist that it isn't a lame connection
Your storytelling is just .... Enthralling ! Playing D & D with you as the DM must be the most amazing thing ever
+Mary Meissinger it's really NOT! :D that's why I want to record a session so people will see my game is just like everyone else's. If you could see my game you'd say "oh hell *I* can do that!" Which is sorta the point!
+Matthew Colville ohm he is good, don't let him fool you
+Jim Murphy Jim is the best DM I've played with, he's just being nice to me.
+Matthew Colville +Jim Murphy Haaha he's not fooling anyone ! He taught me to care about my players so many DM's don't do that , and the detail in his maps and the props that hes use are so cool .I really hope your able to get a session recorded ,I'd love to see players interact with you.
When playing a low-level Warlock you really have to give them a gimmick that they can follow. With only two spell slots they have to focus on one or two things, and stick with that until they reach level 11. Look at trying to combine eldritch invocations, cantrips, and spells.
A good example is Eldritch Blast (cantrip, ranged spell attack), Devil's Sight (eldritch invocation allowing the warlock to see normally in both normal and magical darkness up to 120 feet), and Darkness (spell which conjures a globe of darkness). Now your character has a sniper position from which he can attack with advantage and most creatures are at a disadvantage to attack against. If you add the Spell Sniper feat you ignore 1/2 and 3/4 cover, and double the range of your eldritch blast.
It's funny, when I see you in motion you always seem so positive, fun and excited, but whenever I pause the video you look angry and scary lol!
once, I created an ally npc that was introduced in the first couple of minutes, then spent a bit of time talking about who he was, then gave the characters a sheet about his backround incase they wanted to know more, then, in the beginning of the adventure, I made one of the bad guys kill him before anyone could do anything
Whenever I watch this, I’m always in the dilemma of wanting to show these to my players but at the same time to shamelessly steal all your ideas.
Matt mentions Red Hand of DOom. It is a very cool adventure, and theres lots of stuff on the net about running it. I have posted some descriptions in the reddit forum FOR red hand of doom. There is an entire subreddit R/Red Hand of Doom, I recommend this highly for anyone wanting to run it, along with the GiantITP posts about it.
my DM made our bad guy a NPC on our team
That is truly epic. Just as they find out that their torch-bearer "Verbal" was Keyser Söze all along...
Yet another excellent video Matt. Thanks so much for the time and effort in making these videos. You've inspired me to run my very first game. Fingers crossed!
You say “we” a lot, I like that. Thank you Colville
Coincidentally, I decided to run Keep on Shadowfell as a 5th ed. Adventure for what was supposed to be a quick little jaunt for my players who wanted to take a break from our main game. A year later, I have built a new campaign setting around it and completely changed the latter half of the adventure, cutting out Coloril and Orcus completely and replacing them with a Cult of the Dragon Priest trying to release a captive dracolich. If they do manage to release him, they would also inadvertantly release an embryonic lovecraftian elder god onto the world. Party doesn't know yet.👍
"Don't get in a fight."
...
Sounds like something said at best a minute before a fight.
I'm a little leery of the "Killing you is beneath me" idea - I prefer my villains to at least act like they've heard of the Evil Overlord list (in this case, #11: "I will be secure in my superiority. Therefore, I will feel no need to prove it by leaving clues in the form of riddles or leaving my weaker enemies alive to show they pose no threat.")
Of course, there are reasons why someone wouldn't want to kill everyone who tried standing up to them - particularly if they can be relied upon to provide you with more supplies in future, but, still, an intelligent villain shouldn't fall into too many of those traps...
On another note entirely, some years ago, I ran a Shadowrun campaign where I did character generation with the players individually before the first session, and got one of the players to generate two characters - one they actually intended to play, and the other a villain. For the whole of the first adventure, pretty much, he played the villain as a member of the party, until, when they'd got the macguffin and escaped, he gave a mocking speech and disappeared with the loot. I then very publicly and pointedly thanked him and handed him his *real* character sheet. That villain kept crossing the characters' path, and occasionally I'd get the player to play the guy himself. Eventually, things went metaphysical and I wrapped things up, but Drax (named after a Bond villain) is still the most memorable villain I've run, largely because of his introduction.
"We're only as good as the obscurity of the references we steal from" My new favorite quote. Also, hey! I've used the Belgariad too! I love that series!
Letting someone else, outside the campaign, play the BBEG is absolute GENIUS!
I just wanted to point out: I've listened to this entire series, five times now. And I keep getting something new out of it each time. Thank you for putting so much of your time and life energy into this Matt. You're the best.
Hey Matt! I love your videos and they really helped my feel more confident in running my 1st campaign! We're in a homebrew setting of mine, where two different countries are at war. Monarchy vs. Paramount Union (Like European union), Aggressive Imperialism vs. Peaceful Coexistence. Order vs. Freedom, Will vs. Whim. In total I have 9 players, split into two parties i do every alternating weekends. One party of four, in the Monarchy country and one party of 5 in the Union country. Most of them haven't played but they are having a ton of fun. I wrote a TON of stuff before hand, built an 18,000 mile long hexographer, wrote tons of lore and history that I know will never be used (i just wanted to have it all available of course.) But watching your videos made me realise a few mistakes i was making but I also noticed similarities in how you play your game to mine so that made me feel like I was doing something right! Thanks Matt!!!
My dad made me read the Belgariad when I was 12 and i loved him for it! Love that you referenced it!
Honestly considering how past episodes have come up with clips in response to a similar quote with the red cap title I half expected a clip of Wesley claiming to be the dread pirate roberts.
I love this channel. I'd like a video on random encounters, and how to run encounters who are not for the players, I realized my friends realized everything is balanced around their characters, but since they aren't familiar with the monster manual that much, its hard for them to gauge the difficulty of an encounter, so I'd really like some tips of not killing people with over powered encounters, but also give them a feeling that the world is alive.
+kikedragoon The simplest way to show the players that they're out of their depth is the one Matt mentioned in the video - have the bad guys effortlessly stomp them but leave them alive because they're beneath their notice.
Wouldn't that be more in touch with an intelligent villain?
"Domnall?"
"Who the hell is Domnall?"
Great video as always! I was really enjoying what you were saying about the rules and shifting them so that they don't get in the way of a good time. I think that could be a definite episode topic "House Rules & The Rule Of Cool", basically talking about how the PHB or DMG gives you guidelines for things, but can be deviated from if it would better serve the game you're trying to run.
Wow, someone drank a "potion of haste" as it seems 😄...
So for a campaign where you have multiple tiers of villain could you have a scenario where the actions of the lower tier villains is a direct result of the ultimate villain your heroes no nothing about. Namely the Fable III idea where the first main villain is gathering power so that he and the people he cares for can survive the coming storm of a larger threat before you beat him. Or your heroes could be in a fight with a powerful evil wizard who is draining the magical energy from a forest inhabited by npcs who befriended the heroes only to have the ultimate villain appear, kill the wizard, and then double down on the magic siphon destroying the forest and all of the npcs without the heroes being able to stop him at that time.
I would just like to say thank you for this amazing video for a 30 min video i have been writing out ideas and notes from this for over 3 hours i filled half of a note pad my games are going to be better just from watching this one video and im slowly working my way through them all
long time lurker, first time commenter, etc. I've decided to re-watch all of your videos from start to finish because I'm procrastinating from my thesis and also because you inspire me to be a better DM. That said I decided to pop in here because I FUCKIN KNEW IT. Love, a fellow Belgariad fan :P
Warlocks are primarily unlimited cantrips and carefully chosen invocations, spells should be used as extra oomph or utility. Spell slots refresh with every short rest, so while you may have only two spell slots you have to choose from, using them sparingly doesn't mean you can't take a breather and be at full compliment again. Invocations allow some spells to be cast at-will and without using spell slots, like Mage armor, levitate, Detect magic, False Life, Etc. Several allow you to improve the Eldritch Blast cantrip Distance, damage, or adding a push on hit mechanic to it with no save. Probably not the most diverse spell caster, but once you get used to being conservative with spell slots, and pestering the group for short rests (The monk will agree for Ki points too) It's not as limited as it feels.
+DiasKull I would agree with this. It largely depends on frequency of short rests. If you can get a rest per combat, the warlock is on-par with other full casters (although spells are still used more for changing the direction of battle than conventional damage). If you rarely get short rests, spells are essentially for emergencies only and your warlock will be under-powered. So spell choice and invocation choice (for at-will and passive abilities) is key either way.
I tried to make a fiend-pact of the blade warlock that focused on melee and spells, gish-style, who wouldn't rely on eldritch blast. Bad decision. It's taken several levels to fix that build. Eldritch blast is your go-to combat skill as a warlock, there isn't really a way around it.
+Norman Maynard Also worth mentioning that warlocks get few useful bonus actions (nothing comes to mind except Hexing & hoping to maintain concentration), so they are typically limited to doing one thing per round. Classes like ranger, paladin, or bard (and anyone with healing word, really) do a better job of setting up action-bonus action combos, so being a warlock in a party with those kinds of abilities can make it feel like you're not achieving as much, at least in a fight.
+Norman Maynard Don't sell a warlock too short, with the right feats, invocations, and spells they can be a force to deal with. They don't need components, get some great at-will spells, and if so inclined can be melee with two attacks a round using spell modifier instead of strength. They're the red mage of the family.
DiasKull All true, it just take a lot of planning to make it viable. An optimized warlock can be fantastic. They're just not very forgiving if they're not optimized. I didn't optimize mine, and it's taken six levels of fixing it to get where I'm comfortable with my combat contribution.
Can't beat a warlock for flavor and RP opportunities, though.
You mentioned red gold coins, and I immediately thought of the Belgariad, which I loved as a kid. You later said that most of your players haven't read or heard of those books, and I felt old >_>
YAAAAS! If you have found a fairly simple way to do Time Tracking, you will be my savior. That is the one thing every single DM that I have played for seems to struggle with most and we players ask about it ALL the time. LOL
If I don't know what the rules are, I always think of what story-wise would be the most interesting.
Hehe, the last bit reminds me of when I played my first campaign. All of us were new, even the DM, and we were using the 5e starter set. Unfortunately, we didn't go that in-depth into the Player's Handbook, so we pretty much didn't even use AC for the first half of the campaign. It was... a nightmare, to be sure. But we had lots of fun.