Thanks for watching! Have you ever been part of this situation as either the DM/GM or as a player? Lets us know about it! How did it make you and the others feel/react/handle things?
One thing my players really liked was how I introduced The Bagman as a threat in a campaign. The artificer in the party kept a lot of gadgets and consumables in their bag of holding and at one point I clarified a scene where he was throwing an alchemist fire by subtly saying "You reach into your bag of holding and are HANDED an alchemist fire." Then when they asked about what that meant mid combat I basically gaslit them and did not elaborate, even more or less skipping his next combat turn to fruitlessly investigate his paranoia. Later an item they reached for went missing and instead they found a brooch in the bag shaped like the logo of the Merchant they bought the bag from, and they found out it belonged to the merchant's brother who got taken by The Bagman.
Holy crap that sounds soooo creepy! Did you end up kidnapping someone with the Bagman??? If anyone is curious about the Bagman, check this out… www.dndbeyond.com/sources/vrgtr/monsters-of-ravenloft#BewaretheBagman
@@JNJTabletop I had planned to but they ended up quarantining all their bags and trying to bait it out and trap it. I eventually just let that pay off and one of them almost got taken in the encounter. I let it loom for quite awhile though and still teased it from time to time when they were in the presence of bags such as them finding a bag with loot in it and feeling watched.
I like when characters are occasionally given encounters that are overpowered and occasionally underpowered. Thank you for another great video that helps deal with the overpowered encounters!
We totally agree! The big thing is making sure the players know what they're getting into so they can make an informed decision. Thanks for watching, Octavio :)
Agreed! It's their responsibility as players to take caution and own the outcome, and it's our responsibility as DMs to properly communicate the dangers so they know what they're getting themselves into.
I mentioned the discussion to my DM, who did feel bad about Dan’s character’s death. And I brought up the telegraphing the danger, or, having us do checks and he thought that was a great idea and moving forward he said he’s going to try to do that more often. He also said he was dumb to assume we all knew the danger level going in and that we’d automatically metagame it.
Hindsight is a Natural 20. Jake has literally killed characters because he misread an enemy stat block before! We’re all on a journey of learning how to get the most out of our TTRPG games.
@@JNJTabletop and that’s really what it came down to. He wasn’t familiar with the stats of the intellect devourer. Since they are a CR 2 monster, and we are level 7, he thought nothing of it. It wasn’t until he took control of Dan and kept reading all the text that he realized what it actually meant (hence his nervous laughter in that moment). We realistically had a turn to kill the devourer, but I was hiding in a corner of a side room (squishy sorcerer), and our barbarian was being swarmed by rats and had a Duergar on him. So he decided it didn’t make sense that he would have even noticed.
Even if our characters die, we live and learn! The great news is, especially in 5e, death really is just another obstacle to overcome. But even if you don’t bring them back, there’s always another character to play
Thanks for watching! Have you ever been part of this situation as either the DM/GM or as a player? Lets us know about it! How did it make you and the others feel/react/handle things?
One thing my players really liked was how I introduced The Bagman as a threat in a campaign. The artificer in the party kept a lot of gadgets and consumables in their bag of holding and at one point I clarified a scene where he was throwing an alchemist fire by subtly saying "You reach into your bag of holding and are HANDED an alchemist fire." Then when they asked about what that meant mid combat I basically gaslit them and did not elaborate, even more or less skipping his next combat turn to fruitlessly investigate his paranoia. Later an item they reached for went missing and instead they found a brooch in the bag shaped like the logo of the Merchant they bought the bag from, and they found out it belonged to the merchant's brother who got taken by The Bagman.
Holy crap that sounds soooo creepy! Did you end up kidnapping someone with the Bagman???
If anyone is curious about the Bagman, check this out… www.dndbeyond.com/sources/vrgtr/monsters-of-ravenloft#BewaretheBagman
@@JNJTabletop I had planned to but they ended up quarantining all their bags and trying to bait it out and trap it. I eventually just let that pay off and one of them almost got taken in the encounter. I let it loom for quite awhile though and still teased it from time to time when they were in the presence of bags such as them finding a bag with loot in it and feeling watched.
That sounds like so much fun! Truly, well done!
I like when characters are occasionally given encounters that are overpowered and occasionally underpowered. Thank you for another great video that helps deal with the overpowered encounters!
We totally agree! The big thing is making sure the players know what they're getting into so they can make an informed decision. Thanks for watching, Octavio :)
I tell the players in session zero that any combat could be unwinnable. So it is their responsibility to always take caution and discern a tpk.
Agreed! It's their responsibility as players to take caution and own the outcome, and it's our responsibility as DMs to properly communicate the dangers so they know what they're getting themselves into.
There's also the classic DM response 'Are you sure you want your character to do that?'
The most dangerous words in the game!
@@JNJTabletop 🤣😱
I had my party run into a beholder at level 3 or 4, they knew they couldn't win . They did strike a deal with it though
They had to be shaking in their adventuring boots!!
In my experience, sometimes they aren’t afeared and just go for it. Then Tommy Birdlicker gets to use all the potions he’s been hoarding 😂
Hahaha this is incredible! “When Birdlicker polymorphs into Potionlicker”
@@JNJTabletop 😂😂😂 yessss!
Oh my goodness, you mentioned the Intellect Devour discord discussion! Yeah, I am watching this video a second time just to jot down some notes.
You most certainly inspired this video!!
I mentioned the discussion to my DM, who did feel bad about Dan’s character’s death. And I brought up the telegraphing the danger, or, having us do checks and he thought that was a great idea and moving forward he said he’s going to try to do that more often. He also said he was dumb to assume we all knew the danger level going in and that we’d automatically metagame it.
Hindsight is a Natural 20. Jake has literally killed characters because he misread an enemy stat block before! We’re all on a journey of learning how to get the most out of our TTRPG games.
@@JNJTabletop and that’s really what it came down to. He wasn’t familiar with the stats of the intellect devourer. Since they are a CR 2 monster, and we are level 7, he thought nothing of it. It wasn’t until he took control of Dan and kept reading all the text that he realized what it actually meant (hence his nervous laughter in that moment). We realistically had a turn to kill the devourer, but I was hiding in a corner of a side room (squishy sorcerer), and our barbarian was being swarmed by rats and had a Duergar on him. So he decided it didn’t make sense that he would have even noticed.
Even if our characters die, we live and learn! The great news is, especially in 5e, death really is just another obstacle to overcome. But even if you don’t bring them back, there’s always another character to play