🔴 Join us this Friday, November 9, at 8 pm Eastern US time when we'll be having part 2 of our LIVE adventure creation. We got most of the way done with our evil "garden" gnome adventure, and I hope to finish it up Friday. Also, let me know here in the comments of the worst Dungeon Master advice you've ever heard!
As a DM/player for over 35 years who runs a game/plays at the local game store. I have meet a lot of bad DMs who put no/very little time into the game. I think the best games are the ones I put the most detail/work into and the same goes for other DMs. Hand outs, menus, various NPCs, and so on. Most players and even experienced players are not that good. I have meet less experienced players who I consider better than players with decades of game play. As a DM you make a world/module and then you are just the moderator of that session. You are not god.
Aarakocra are bird people. They have wings. Letting people play them and then saying, "Oh, but you can't fly." is the worst possible solution. Either don't let players play them, or let them fly. Tieflings on the other hand, should absolutely not be able to fly at lvl 1. Plus, a lot of fighting already occurs in caves and indoors in DnD. You wouldn't need a single alteration to anything to make things work most of the time.
Since almost all of my adventures occur indoors, most of the time things wouldn't need to be changed too much. Also, as the adventurers game a reputation, enemies will know what they can expect and prepare accordingly.
And maybe have slightly more ranged enemies. Nothing more. Do not make the whole world incompatible with the players. In the first place, if you are not prepared. Why are you allowing your players to play winged characters in the first place? Anyway. This videos advice is also bad. Why did the PC s pick winged characters? Because they want to play characters that can fly. Don't undermine the players by removing the part that attracts them to their characters. Instead adjust the style of play. If you want the players to stay grounded, have there be lots of underground locations and tight spaces. In open spaces have ranged attackers attack flying PC because they don't have any cover. That is perfectly logical. Mayybe limit flying if only the character is wearing Light armor for example. Lorewise Aarakorra are free spirited and open race in the plane of air. If that is the case, then maybe they have crippling claustrophobia. Underground locations are borderline horrifying to them.
@@theDMLair For me mostly the first idea of simply removing the flying ability of flying characters by clipping their wings is pretty much throwing the baby out with the bathwater. The characters picked flying races because they wanted flying characters. Instead of forbidding them of flying, the GM rather should modify the encounters and the General feel of the campaign to fit the party. If the party is full of fliers then maybe have epic aerial battles with flying monsters or humanoids riding griffons for example. Non-cover flying is dangerous so have ranged archers peppered in some of the encounters to discourage reckless flying. After all. If a flier drops to 0, they fall and take a failed death save. You might even rule that if they fall down high enough, it is an instant death.
I don't think removing flying is necessarily the solution to that specific problem either. That was just an example, and perhaps not the best one. My point really is that sometimes advice beats around the bush and doesn't solve the actual problem.
Most humanoids will at least have a bow or crossbow anyways. That's common, and if theey are fighting dumb stuff like zombies then those can ready attack actions to grapple or something. If the grapple suceeds then the PC will not be able to fly whatsoever.
Right, slings and crossbows are simple weapons in earlier settings and are easy to use and get ahold of. Another option would be cover. Ambushes normally happen when the ambusher wants, some branches layered with extra grass, other branches as a lean to. Can't snipe what you can't see. Spears are also simple weapons and can be braced against charges. Spears and crossbows/slings for all.
@@patrikg.6320 Well the fact you always throw nets at disadvantage, and they are a bit easy to escape from, even from monsters, is why people tend to avoid them.
My party has a level 1 aarokora. Its no big deal. Tree cover, things happen in dungeons, buildings, etc. Enemies have ranged weapons, spells, can fly as well. It's not an issue.
The Broom of Flying, and Winged Boots are both uncommon magic items. It is reasonable for a low level boss to have one of those. Maybe he is backed up with a fleet of imps
@@theDMLair perhaps there should be a category between uncommon and rare, because a lot of uncommon items are still pretty powerful (Gauntlets of Ogre Power). I'm working on my own flying video right now, discussing the various ways to get airborne. I guess low level characters flying at will isn't so bad in a dungeon, but it is more game breaking in a LOTR/Breath of the Wild type setting where outdoor exploration is the main focus.
Seriously, one of the best tools in a ranged combatants bag of tricks is the ability to take cover, you can't do this in the air. Just use enemies that have ranged attacks when you are in open areas and don't let them fly in enclosed spaces.
Geez... Many enemies come with crossbows... Other can just throw stuff (spider's web, manticora's spikes, orc's spear, etc)... some are really tall and could reach them (giants or trolls). But when none of those works... your monster can always run and hide and wait for players to show up.
Now just wait a gosh darn heckin second there partner. You’re telling me that I can put my big boy pants on and actually have a civil discussion with my players!?!
What?!? How are you supposed to tpk them if you see them as actual people?!? I'd get way too attached to my players to kill their characters if we were civil to each other.
Also, how are they going to fly in dungeons? Those things are cramped with low celings. Seriously, if they have mission that sends them inside of somewhere, then wings will become null. I honestly would let them do it, and fully accept creative solutions they have for puzzles with them. Surely not all of the pcs have wings? If they do, oh well, there is not going to be any real threat of travel encounters. That means less XP for them
@@faxmachine1162 Yeah. Or you can just ban anything that flies at level 1. Or use one of the trillions of creatures with ranged attacks. Or just let them fly and have their fun. They didn't pick an Aarocokra (I may have misspelled that) just to have their flying be useless.
PCs can fly at LVL. 1 in my games. I just reworked some encounters to counteract flight and eventually made a better encounter and player experience for it. (Example) I took an evil mage's tower and made it seem like he was at the top. The floors leading up were guarded by monsters and creatures alike. The aarokacra took time flying each member to the top of the tower. He succeeded every acrobatics and athletics check for each. Once they got in the room at the top it was empty. It was a lab/library of sorts and looked like it had been recently used. They investigated and found a different color book sticking out of one of the bookshelves. When pulled the floor vanished out from beneath them and they began falling from the top of the tower to the very bottom. When the aarokacra attempted to grab our dwarf barbarian from falling, guess who failed their strength check and then their acrobatics check? Turns out people had come to the mage's tower before and he saw his flaw in the design of his tower. He instead lived beneath the tower in an underground reverse of the tower, filled with Gnolls, Bugbears, and Animated Armors. The players had a great time, learned from their mistakes, and next time around when they saw a tower, they walked right through the front door and right into my trap. Mwahahahaha......(maniacal laughing ensues)
@@fairystail1 Nah, I just made it to where not all encounters can be bypassed by having the ability to fly. I'd hate to take away from my players. I want them to enjoy every aspect of their characters and the game. In the past I've had players that tried to power game and make themselves better than everyone else in the party. I want them to realize that there will always be a time for their character to shine, but the object of the game is to work together with the party. Of course there are always those times where they subvert my expectations and try some crazy shit that ends up working, but without situations like that D&D wouldn't be D&D.
I think it's perfectly acceptable to fly even at 1st level. There's a pathfinder build I use that gives a flying mount (as an animal companion) even down to that level, And yeah GMs complain but I point out "I have all of these weaknesses that the rest of the party has, and you don't utilize them." and they just shrug. I prefer also a loose-plan to a tight-plan. Mind you, I don't advocate a *NO*-plan game. A loose-but flexible plan means that you don't have to throw away hours of work because the PCs ignore one statue in one room in one dungeon etcetera. And agree with point 3. Never kill a PC for out-of-character reasons (except in Paranoia).
i wouldn´t kill a PC out of pure wish for punishment. it allmost came to the point one of my players put their pc by herself in a thight situation. i had an adventure in my campaign involving a tournament to win a mansion with winefields as a selfsustaining Homebase, of course i wanted the players to get the mansion, so i rigged the adventure so that on the monsterfighting day several beast escape and the katastrophy following ends the tournament without the price given out, but now the mansion is for sale. of course there was a possible patreon watching the groups fight with a beast, and he offers them to buy them the mansion in exchange for a secret (not illegal) errand. the thight spot my player put her character in was before that came up, she tried to ask several people including the dutches (the patron of the tournament) chambermaid on ways how to cheat (in that area such a violation of honor is punished by dead) i warned her several times as npc, as Pro-player-GM, but she taunted me like i wouldn´t go that far. at the point she insisted on asking the chambermaid 5 times after that npc threatend to call the guards an let her be arrestet. i let the guards show up and gave her a last chance to saver her pc arse, she went silent and the guard asked our paladin what was on, and he succeded on a DC 24 Pursuasion roll to let the guards believe nothing major happend just a little cat fight that escallated. before the next session i talked to that player how lucky she was our buddy rolled a nat-20 so with his +4 charisma the chance was just 5% that he could pull that off. in the talk before the next session, she said that she assumed that the players can do whatever they want coz i said so in the session zero, i did say that but i also said you have to live with the consequences of those actions, like talk to wrong people about the wrong subject and you make an npc set up as a friend into an enemy, be smart say the right words to a set up enemy and that npc may become an ally. you can do all that and more even fetch yourself a stable lad at an inn for a night in the hay, but the wrong words to the wrong person can also put you in jail or worse, anything goes but that doesn´t mean i let my players rampage and stampede through my world without reasonable consequences, like kill an innocent you are wanted, burn robb the mayors mansion you are seriously wanted, etc.
@@theDMLair Im in at least one of the facebook groups you are in, and pretty much anything from "my pally is being a pally and my rogue is being a rogue" to "my players arent going down the path I specifically set for thwm to go" has at least 30 comments of "just kill them all"
The sad thing is that you're not exaggerating in the least... I've considering pulling up Facebook in one of my live streams and just marching through posts and people's "advice"... Might be entertaining... LOL
Yeah, that's a really good point. I'm hesitant because I don't want to call out specific individuals. I would probably want to curate the questions/responses ahead of time and blur out the names. But yeah, I think it might be valuable for viewers.
The first problem seem to have a simple solution to me. In open world mode let them use them freely . Have dungeons with low ceilings, have a few incidents in to revolving around the winged players seeing as flying beings are slightly rare.....but yes Archers are a thing
About being prepared for a game session, I'm a DM that actually already has everything prepared like I wont do anything in between sessions except maybe talk to the players. But thats because before i started DMing my own world (no modules) I had spent a few years flushing out an entire world and people who live in it, a government, monsters (both that already exist and some ive created on my own), a calender, etc. Becasue I have all of this even if the players go off the rails, I have to tools need for that already. And i spent YEARS on it. There's no "Spending 15 minutes on the way to the session to prepare" unless, like you said" that you have years of experience under your belt.
"I don't want to invalidate/alter their builds.": Proceeds to suggest removing the players' wings. You can't blame people for giving advice that doesn't address the root cause of the issue if, in your example, the person asking for advice expressly states they don't want to go that route. I would personally be annoyed if I posted asking for "any advice except X" and people responded to my post with "just do X". The other two points were spot on.
@@jordanflutes i saw a good advice, seal the wings with a curse and make it the big goal of the adventurers to lift the curse, on the way you can throw a shitload of adventures in their way to bring them up to the level you want them being able to fly again. another way would be once after a long rest for 90 ingame minutes they can flex their wings something like that, races that can fly all the time wouldn´t be playable on my table. on the other hand there are harpies and lot of other monsters that can fly and why not battles in the air, humanoids using airships? the limits are the gm´s creativity ;)
I must admit I am one of those DM's that don't do a whole lot of prep (at least at low levels) I have been running games for almost 26 years and find low level without a lot of work. I concentrate on Plot and story arcs, that being said as soon as my players hit MID Tier I prep the hell out of everything.
I spend hours prepping my campaign I write as much as possible, then break it into segments, which I can use for individual sessions. If the players go off the rails, oh well. The time you spend on writing can never be a waste, because it teaches you how to make plans. It can also help flesh out your world. Having locations, npc’s, and loot planned out ahead of time is always a good idea, because you can use them to either fill gaps in the narrative or they can be used to trigger plot hooks. “Plans are nothing. Planning is everything.” -Dwight Eisenhower
Ah yes, the "0% prep" strat. I tried that once when all my prep got deleted by a computer issue and I just couldn't muster the morale to remake a dungeon. I was in "Oh shit! I have no idea what to do if my players go literally anywhere." mode the entire time. I ended up cobbling together a dungeon out of rooms that I still remembered and what was supposed to be at least 3 floors of dungeon turned into roughly 6-10 rooms and 3 combat encounters. Would not recommend not planning if someone isn't already experienced in running the game that way.
Yeah, totally. I wouldn't wish that kind of panic and pressure on my worst enemy. I put all my D&D stuff on DropBox these days so everything is saved on the cloud. I even pay $10 a month for it. The peace of mind is priceless. I'd be devestated if I lost all my D&D stuff.
@@cadenwerner3930 heck REGULAR Kobolds have Slings...you know you're bog standard 5hp 7 strength Kobolds have a ranged option that deals just as much damage as their dagger.
"I don't want to go out of my way to specifically plan against one player with access to flight." Is it really that hard to justify your encounters having access to ranged weapons?
Wall of text coming, apologies! I had a horrible player, thankfully no longer at my table. For months his warlock went out of his way to antagonize every NPC of authority he could. He picked fights with town guards, insulted arch mages and priests, and threatened to cut off a king's head, to his face. He and his rogue buddy robbed, or tried to rob, every magic goods store they found in the hopes of scoring "free items" and it was only by pure chance and diligent security they were mostly foiled. When begged by a cleric acting as their guide in an undead-filled tomb not to desecrate the graves, he pissed on one and tried to steal a gold crown from the corpse of an ancient king, only stopped by the rest of the party. I had a few frank discussions with him about his disruptive and disrespectful attitude towards npc's in the game and his only reply was always "It's what my character would do". At my wit's end, and trying to keep him happy but checked (because most the players were his friends and he drove them to every game) I warned him the next story arc was in a highly restrictive country with very real consequences for practitioners of "dark magic" and his warlock would have to curb his homicidal tendencies for a few weeks. I told him all my npc's would act "as they would" in a realistic manner. Absolutely never, for any reason, could he summon demons like he desperately wanted to the moment he got access to the spell Summon Greater Demon. Two games later he murdered a guard captain. Broke into a wealthy merchant's town house and threatened to murder their entire family in the crowded streets when told to leave. They then rode out to the merchant's country villa, slaughtered the father, his guards and most the house staff then, you guessed it, summoned a demon and let it run amok. They left several witnesses behind them when they left. Three times that game I asked "are you sure?" and three times he told me "nobody saw me do it, they can't prove anything". When I told him "you never searched for survivors, are you absolutely sure?" he again told me there was no way anyone could know what he had done. "They" certainly did. It was one of the players who turned on him, dividing the party in two. The warlock and his rogue buddy tried to flee, convinced they could outrun the law and the remaining two party members after them. I was fair. I gave the warlock a chance to turn himself in or co operate with the authorities quickly bearing down on him. The rogue was captured and questioned, and only by the barest thread of mercy was he not executed on the spot for refusing to turn over his warlock associate. Eventually the demon summoner was caught and imprisoned for life. The warlock made a new character and everyone seemed in high spirits to get the game back on track. I thought the worst was behind us and they would finally stop purposefully trying to derail every encounter. I was wrong. The warlock's next character was a homicidal madman completely bent on causing as much mayhem as possible. After another 2-3 months I heard through a mutual friend the now two problem players were planning to kill the rest of the party and quit the game immediately after, ending the year-long campaign for everyone. I asked everyone bluntly if this was true and they, by refusing to answer, admitted their guilt and quit immediately. I later found out the two problem players were in it for the fun of ruining the game from the first few months. They enjoyed the game up until about lvl 4-5 then decided rather than leave, they would get as much fun as possible out of game night by purposefully ruining it for everyone else. They made bets how much longer I could keep the sinking ship afloat and how far they could push me before I broke down and called it quits. From the very early days, the campaign was doomed as long as they were a part of it. I punished their characters after taking every possible course to correct the problem maturely, but I was dealing with children. I hoped a new character would change their play style but in hindsight I should have seen the signs and cancelled the game long before it got that bad. Happier tone to finish. When the warlock and his two friends left, I called some players I know to ask if they were interested in picking up the campaign, and they were more than eager. I made a short side arc quest for them to learn their lvl 10 starter characters, gave them some magic items suitable to their classes and they had an amazing time. Their intro story brought them in line with the original party and the one remaining player who, now abandoned and betrayed by his friends, has joined this new band to carry on his quest. Everyone is meshing very well, actual role play is happening where before there was next to none outside bad memes and slinging insults at npc's "for lols" and the quest's story is picking up intensity as the fate of a whole city lies on a knife's edge. Already one of the new characters has had elements of a player-driven side arc thrown his way, with more in the works for the others and major plot points are coming together. The shared chat is buzzing with excitement before every game and we couldn't be happier. The three of the original party that left are now potentially enemies to encounter in future, perhaps even with the imprisoned warlock sprung from jail to form an evil party against the current heroes, so I was able to make the best of a bad situation. The real kicker? I know the problem players tried to run their own campaign only a few weeks after sabotaging and abandoning mine, but got bored of trying to DM after one session and quit, and are now starting to regret what they did. I'm waiting for the day they ask if they can play again, but to my knowledge they don't know the campaign has carried on without them, and there's no way they'll ever be allowed back at my table.
To be honest doesn't sound like you are a fun DM. I alway give my Players the complete freedome to do whatever they want, but then they have to live with the consequences. I would never even ask them to change their Character. As a DM you should either addabt to such Players and give them the possibilitie to do such things (because that can be fun aswell) or just straight out tell them that this is not how you as a DM have fun, since you should also not be forced to do something that isn't fun for you. Never fight them or try to point them in a direction they don't want to go. Create a way where people want to go, not where you want them to go.
@@ArnLPs Did you even read the post? They had complete freedom and I warned them multiple times that their decisions would lead to their destruction, but they ignored the warnings and did it anyway. They made new characters after basically committing suicide on the old ones, and only so they could continue to troll the campaign and run it into the ground. There WAS a discussion to address why their so-called "play style" wasn't compatible with the group, and they outright lied about getting back on track, so they could continue to wreck the game for everyone else... and eventually succeeded. It was doomed from the start for their internal private joke. The new players also have complete freedom, are enjoying it, and the game is going spectacularly well with people who are here to play, not to be assholes for their own twisted sense of fun.
@@kriddius Yes, but that sense of fun is still fun. Claiming that "they ruined the campain" is just stupid in my opinion. And if their Characters can't be assholes because it "ruins everything" then that doesn't sound like complete freedom to me. If you're not able to laugh with them, then at least be honest about it and just say so. But don't give them the fault for trying to have fun, just because their sense of fun is diffrent from yours.
@@ArnLPs Their sense of fun was *ruining* the game for the rest of the table, including the DM. A serial killer could be having fun murdering, sure, but does that make it right? Even a sandbox has a border to keep it in its place, and in D&D, the DM is what holds the sand in the box. But what these two players were doing was shoveling sand out onto the ground, ruining a sandbox which many people worked hours on. Sure, it's fun for them, in that moment, but there are consequences for damaging someone elses property, correct? So why are you arguing that they're innocent? They *did* destroy property, so they must be punished.
two train thoughts on allowing lvl 1 flying PC : 1. seal it up or curse them, make it a quest to unseal/ remove the curse at a certain lvl you are comfortable to allow them to fly. 2. Let them have it, let them powercarry it. They will become famous.... or infamous to the point that bounty hunters will make sure they are equipped with long range net gun or a sniper to clip their wings by ambushing. Thoughts on Improvise everything: They can FARK off, I will roll a damn Insight on them. When i was a newbie I could already could detect that even a pro, slip up and forgot what he just improvise. Which is why in the end that Pro is just a 1 shot session adventure pro only and a terrible Long campaign DM. My opinion is prepare to ur best ability but expect some to improvise, and when u do improvise WRITE IT DOWN!
With flying you can even set up detrimental situations such as a low ceiling cave or even a valley with goblins that have nets at the top and, as you point out, a famous winged tiefling would draw a lot of attention with bounty hunters, bandits, and even intelligent monsters in the area carrying nets and attempting to ambush them.
A level 1 flying PC can work so long as you just set your quests in a bunch of dungeons. Flying doesn't matter in a room with a 10 ft ceiling, also winged flight won't work at all if it's too cramped and there's no room to use the wings. If you want to do a bunch of wilderness quests though, pretty much don't allow flying PCs. Flight essentially breaks most wilderness battles if they're not specifically designed to counter flyers.
I like this man's style......when he said "what do I know I'm just a guy how rants about D&D on RUclips......love the attitude.... such a breath of fresh air instead of the (I'm a RUclips content creator so I'm Infallible) mentality.....bravo dude stay humble
Lol. Thanks. Being a content creator just means I know how to make videos and I perhaps don't totally suck on camera. 😂 (one of these days, I may venture to play D&D too!)
You have to be a pretty bad DM for flying to ruin your game. I don't at all understand DMs who feel the need to nerf characters... like you're the DUNGEON MASTER! YOU'RE PRACTICALLY A GOD! There is no problem a player can cause that you cannot solve.
I believe in root cause problem solving. To an extent I'll adjust things to account for game imbalance, but at some point the DM needs to stop doing all the work and ask for some help from their players, too.
@@theDMLair Sure, but the time for that was when they were making the characters. Basically, removing something that they sacrificed potential optimization for (racial choice in general, racial spellcasting in the case of the tieflings) is ex post facto punishment for them unknowingly choosing options that the DM was not okay with. There are plenty of ways to solve this problem without resorting to that, then for future characters flying racial options can be banned.
In regards to #1 of punishing players in game. In a campaign I wasn't a DM in but just a PC, we had two problematic players (out of a party of 6 players). Now, one was a murder hobo and the other was a support refusing to play support and vehemently tried to be the main character of the campaign. Both guys were extremely immature and every time we tried to talk to them as a group or the DM had a conversation with them one on one, they wouldn't really take it to heart. They would behave well for one session and then go back to misbehaving. So, in those situations I wouldn't necessarily kill their characters, but would try to implement consequences for their actions. As a DM I do this often, not even to punish just to be more proactive to my players' decisions. Their actions dictate how the towns folk behave towards them, whether they score the quest and what the reward for completing a quest is and so on and so forth. I think more DMs should implement this, a lot of them are softies and sometimes one problematic player can dictate too much of the campaign for the DM and the rest of the party and they should have consequences for it, also through the party itself, like not trusting that PC or not endowing them with buffs or healing because a Chaotic Good healer doesn't want to bring back to life a chaotic Evil murder hobo and I think that's fair. Also, imo, not enough groups and DMs implement this, but if a player is too much to handle and is taking away from the game for everyone and after several conversations have not improved, it's completely ok to BOOT THEM from the campaign. Some people just don't take criticism well or aren't mature enough to understand how badly they're impacting the game and never rise to the occasion and honestly, I don't have time to babysit children during my spare time for indulging in my hobbies.
Good lord... are people STILL giving that crap out??? Some things never change. Used to hear it in the cross-flow of chatter at the game shops and around convention stands or "Q&A's"... Figures if you open a platfom like FacePalm or RedSh*t where just anyone can "give advice from a pro"... it's going to be a trawl of garbage before you find a gem. SO step 1, be VERY cautious what "advice" you take from online sources. A lot of "goofy named nobodies" just post garbage because they think it's funny... AND for the matter (and record) when at conventions, meeting spots, and other online or IRL hotspots, understand that those people DO NOT have to meet you or deal with the fallout ever again... as in ever. What do they care? Flight at Lvl 1... never been a problem. Most Players around me even somehow just avoid asking for it as a "perk" for whatever reasons... most of the time. Even when they DO ask, I have no trouble with it... Lack of challenging monsters that don't outright offer a TPK??? That's why the gaming gods invented "Re-skinning"... shift a few descriptive terms, throw rainbow feathers instead of scales and a baby black dragon can be returned to the game with stat-block intact as anything from a weird feathered serpeant to any of a thousand "giant birds"... Other minor beasties can be retro-fitted with a "pseudo-culture" to fly in flocks of whatever size to give the PC's grief without a promise to drop more than one or two in six... average spread-numbers. * BUT that's not even the concern in the video... It's what to do when you've clearly got a "broken level OP" going on... AND the answer is usually under one of two directions tactically :* 1... Have "that" conversation and reduce the OP situation. Taking the direct approach with the Player doesn't have to result in a "ban" on that PC, either... Either a compromise can be reached, OR the PC can be returned to a folder JUST EXACTLY for the future game where you (the GM) have had enough research and prep' time to complement this thing rather than hate it to pieces. 2. With some understanding that legendary characters are legendary for REASONS, if a PC has some severely altering power, and it practically makes them irretrievably powerFUL... then you can re-engineer your world-setting so that it isn't so legendary after all... That means, where the psionic PC is fluently reading everyone else's minds... then maybe everyone else needs an upgrade to counter act it. If a PC's ability to fly makes it difficult to contain... you're going to have to alter your own perspectives and NPC's to be able to adjust. A super-power is only as super as it is unheard of or unreckoned with. Zero Prep'... Yeah, I actually HAVE decades of experience running the game. editions come out, and I don't bother with the books anymore, since it's so ingrained in me numerically, I can probably scratch out the requisite charts on my own... BUT I DO remember those early years... AND I still ACTUALLY LIKE TO MAKE THINGS FOR PREP'... The better advice is to LEARN your work while you prepare for the game. It's fine to home-brew a dungeon and get all the associated notes and charts together... It's another entirely to be organized in your thoughts well enough, that the PC's can literally try any silly or stupid idea even possible and you won't be rattled or set off outside your usual (GM's) comfort zone. SO they don't go directly from quest-giver to dungeon... The party dubiously decides to buy several barrels of lamp oil and a few thousand yards of silk cord before loading the wagon and heading off... you're prepared for that already, or relaxed enough and self assured that it's only going to be cool... whatever they're thinking. Improvisation IS a very big and important part of being a good GM, and it's not nearly so heavy a responsibility to any Player (though I do give XP awards for that sort of thing)... BUT before you're going to be able to "just improvise something" you're going to open a DMG around 600 MILLION times. Prep' is EXACTLY what you should be doing, but while you work on that, remember that the Players are GOING to derail it in part of whole... so don't detail it TOO tightly. AND finally, "just kill 'em"... I've been around a block or two. There actually are one or two circumstances where I've physically dealt with a problem Player. It's rare... and usually has more to do with that Person being obnoxiously toxic and physical well before I decided to take up myself. In-game consequences for in-game antics are one thing... PC's either have agency in the world and carry consequences... OR they do not. BUT punishing PC's for something between you (GM) and a Player you don't see eye-to-eye with is a violation of the sanctity of the Table. AND you know what they call a bad GM? A sh*tty novelist... ;o)
Yeah man it is amazing the crap advice you'll read. Those two places you mentioned are prime places. The face one being the worst place to get advice. The red one seems to be quite a bit better. Some folks there have really good stuff to say actually. The difficulty is stepping around all of the negativity and biting sarcasm and Loathing hatred and Egos and the list goes on.
@@theDMLair You know... "sifting through bullshit" is the primary function and skill of any decent researcher. Kind of like panning for gold. You'll frostbite at least three toes, and move a mountain of mud before you make more money that way than I can flipping burgers. On about any platform, I'm sure there are a few reasonable spots and "communities" to trade craft... It's just worth being careful how much stock you put into anything NOT directly tied to your own Table. There are antics around my Table that I'd guarantee would through you off your game... and yet, we play on and laugh about it. We've always had a rougher hewn sense of humor than most, and weathering the sh*t-storm to earn stripes is only a part of it... BUT that's not necessarily something I'd recommend to others... simply because I know how far out of hand it can get and how easily it can get there. ;o)
Don’t make an adventure, make a world with more than a single adventure and if they ignore all adventures, then I improvise a new adventure until they get engaged and I try to lead them into one of the other adventures. But the best way to make your players enter a story, tell them “you walked 5,000 miles to enter a dungeon and you were prepared to enter the dungeon” and if they decide to leave best just ask them “you came 5,000 miles to enter the dungeon... and you are now just going to leave the thing you came to confront” if they proceeded to leave, ok then, also the best way to get rid of a rule guy problem is just say “the DM’s job is to decide the rules, and as my job, I am supposed to make them, just stop complaining if you aren’t in charge of the adventure” (Say it in a friendlier way than me please, thank you) I usually say it friendlier than that.
also some advice i feel NEEDS to be shared. Don't be afraid to get a little meta or railroady. A friend has a tale of a game he tried to run, it was storming and the players came across a castle. We all know what that means. Most players will go for it, his group did not. They decided 'fuck it, it's storming out here, we are drenched and there is a nice warm castle but nah' He described the storm getting worse, players didnt go for it. Game session ended. Going meta, or occasionally having to force the railroad sucks but come on, you need to introduce that new character somehow, the GM only has so much prepared, splitting the party here will make the game end (had characters argue over which way to travel, by land or boat had to sit them down and say they had to vote, majority wins they ALL go that way or someone rolls new characters cause no way will I run 2 completely different campaigns) This is all especially important with new GM's, there never seems to be enough GM's as it is. It's best if we make the experience as players as painless as possible and that means getting Meta-ey. After all why else would strangers in a tavern save the world together even though they are from wildly different backgrounds?
As one of those DMs who do very minimal prep (sometimes close to none), I want to concur with you. I would never tell a DM how much prep they should do as every DM is different. And to further your point, yes I have 24 years of DMing under my belt now and I didn't start off on low prep, I pretty much over-prepped for years.
I've had several "surprise" sessions that i didn't get to prepare for. And while I thought they were just the biggest Charlie Foxtrots ever. They're the sessions my player talk about the most fondly. Here all this time I thought my players were just idiots but it turns out I'm a D&D rockstar. That's the ego boost I needed this morning. Thanks 🤣🤣🤣
Regarding 14:25 I wasn't so much "talked to" as just lied to. "We're not playing that day." "We have other things going on." It did get rid of me. So, there you go. 👍
I appreciate your advise. I wanted to add that I have a Aarakocra in my game, joined last minute. I have not found his flight to be a problem. A mix of ranged attack options, indoor combat and thick forest combat quickly makes the flight less useful. The PC has used it to his advantage when getting around town, trying to get a view of the landscape, etc, but I have not found this to be disruptive during combat. If this PC were to just fly away, then he would be out of combat, leaving the rest of the PCs to fend for themselves, who certainly will not be very happy. So, I do not believe you need to nerf a PCs ability, but there are realistic scenarios (dungeons) where flying is not possible. (large birds cannot really hover, so even a high ceiling dungeon flight would not really be possible.
I agree. I have players in my games with winged PCs. It doesn't bother me. (An entire party of them might be a different story though.) And yes, in most scenarios such as dungeons with low ceilings, the advantage of flight is minimal.
Put an inflatable raft on you back and try to walk through a crowded bar without touching people. That should be pretty close to moving through a D&D tavern with a set of wings. "You just knocked over a half-orc's barrel-o-ale, spilling it into his lap. he stands up to his whole seven foot of height and roars a curse at you. Roll initiative, please." Or maybe. "Flying past a cave you hear a shill squawk behind you and a baby gold dragon flies out to play with the newest flying toy his poppa dragon "Goldar" must have gotten him." Think a kitten with a feathered cat toy. Harpy mating season? Drunk at a inn and the innkeeper's wife needs some new feathers for the mattresses. And just how many large flying creatures see smaller flying things as their next meal? Give me till about level three. I'll have my players ready to chop off their own wings.
TheJestingCross It’s not being a dick it’s acknowledging the character and makes for a more immersive and inclusive campaign. Maybe if you were a good DM you’d understand that
On point 2, I think this comes from the fact that most newer DMs have a tendency to overprepare rather than underprepare, and this often comes with the side-effect of being too attached to a plan to the detriment of player agency. A lot of stuff people do for prep is wasted and unimportant, might never come up or be derailed by player actions, can be streamlined by making use of archetypes, drawing from experience, recycling old prep or improv skills. Some prep is essential for having coherent clues, foreshadowing, and satisfying payoffs, no matter how good your improv skills.
Oh I totally agree. There is defintely a balance to be struck. If I were to swing one way, I'd personally rather over prep than walk into a game session unprepared and look like an idiot.
Agreed. One thing that can be done is: Don't plan for things that aren't going to come up. Preparing is good but do you really have to plot out every NPC's life story? I find it much easier to plan the dungeon, the important NPCs and have a few back-up plans based on things you think the PCs might do. The PCs are likely to talk to the bartender and the Shopkeepers. They are probably not going to talk to the random farmer who works in the field so no need to plan him out. If they DO talk to him, it's much easier to improv one NPC than to improv a dungeon/quest. Also, if the players aren't going to get to something until 5 sessions later, it's probably better to not plan for that thing as long you have a basic gist of what that thing is.
About the 3rd tip about punishing players on game for out of game actions... We once had our dm respond to a player bothering him by making a magic elephant fall on the players pc, making him drop down a level. Yes. I am not kidding. The player then got pissed, as you would expect. What did the dm do? He dropped another magic elephant in him, instantly killing his pc. Once again, this was a real accourance at our table.
I need hours of prep for a session and then a couple more hours, but I used to have a forever DM who improvised an entire session with a puzzle, fight, challenge, trial, and social interaction that was all off the seat of his pants. Honestly, one of my favorite sessions ever, but he's the only guy I've ever met who could do that
1) use ranged weapons and casters against flying pcs. 2) occasionally mix in flying enemies. 3) make them have to go into enclosed spaces. Aka: DUNGEONS. Literally the simplest solution. 4) recurring enemies will learn what they are dealing with and develop additional countermeasures that you can justify without breaking immersion. 5) don't hit anyone over the head with a bag of nickels.
I've never found flight to be an issue, nor do I feel it's game breaking to have a level-1 flying character. I think most of the issues DMs have with flying characters is that they change the difficulty of certain obstacles. Walls, traps, and encounters can be bypassed, which creates a situation where the DM is unable to slow the advance of the players through the story. I think a lot of DMs need to remember that the game can take place beyond the two dimensions of the battlemat. In a world where flying creatures both intelligent and monstrous exist, it would stand to reason that most cultures/societies/tribes of orcs/whatever would have methods of combating flying people. Spellcasters can get Levitate at level 3, Druids can wildshape into fliers, and by 5th level casters can give Fly to anyone. This issue isn't limited to winged characters. The way I see it, if the DM can't provide an challenge to a flier at level 1, how are they going to manage when all the other characters get their Super Saiyan powers? As I said before, I think it's just that DMs need to remember that fights can and will take place in 3 dimensions. Prepare for it.
I see what you're saying, but it's much easier to deal with flying at higher levels. Two of my groups are at levels 12 and 20. Lots of flying PCs, magic and otherwise. However, I also have greater access to monsters that can fly and/or have access to better magic. At low levels, there is less to pick from, I feel, so I would need to customize and adjust things more. This is for a party where everyone can fly, of course. If just 1 or 2 PCs can fly, it's no big deal.
I'm a master of improving. However, I would never claim to do zero preparation for my games. I do however have a tendency to build the next session within the session I'm currently in. I world build with my players in game, letting an idea I present to them in the world grow with their interpretation of it. This also allows me to build sessions tailored to what their interests are. If my players are really interested in exploring some random mountain I described off in the distance during the session, I will run with that and get them to the base of it by the time we wrap the game up for that day. Then I make that place interesting for the next game with light backstory and lore ideas that they can develop as they explore it. I find that this allows for the most effective and efficient way to plan for sessions without wasting time building a railroad that could potentially be ignored.
When I run my games I usually don't plan to much but I will still plan I spend about an hour tops planing stuff like town names npc names town layouts dungeon layouts a lot of quests and points of interest and just lay them out like dungeon tiles as the players encounter them I do this because I usually don't do long term game and I can reuse assets in other games without it being the same game
For the first one, I had recently started DMing at the time and I had several books. My friend liked the winged tiefling and the warlock class (we shall call him Jeff) so he was that and my other 2 friends were ground based so he used his character as close air support. My friends were lvl 1 and escorted a merchant through a pass when they were assaulted, when they dealt with the bandits I realized how strong my friend's flying is. Fast forward a bit, and they finish escorting the merchant, level up, and meet a samurai who needed help with a bounty on some ogres terrorizing a few of the other near by roads. So they went and found the cave which Jeff was worried about since he wouldn't be able to fly properly to avoid danger. My other friends convinced him since they were a fighter and a cleric so they were confident in their ability to keep anything inside at bay and they had the samurai. They killed the ogre that was in there and the other returns... through the entrance they used... that nobody was watching. Well Jeff's character who survived the initial assault ran to the other side of the cave whilst our friends moved to meet the new ogre. They won with the help of the samurai. A little later the short adventure was nearing the end and they were in a valley that was roughly 20ft wide 30ft tall. Goblins were said to guard a temple that the samurai needed to perform a ritual. Jeff was not flying while they were going towards the temple. They got ambushed by the goblins which had archers on the high ground and some warriors on the low ground. I was expecting Jeff to fly up since he had done so against the bandits. Scouts had seen the party without alerting them and found out about the winged devil looking guy. They had nets on the high ground but 1 problem occurred. He didn't fly. After the battle they went to the temple, samurai guy got possessed by a demon and the PCs had to kill him. Jeff didn't fly again and I genuinely think he forgot. I even had a plan for it since I had the possessed samurai be able to do something similar to misty step at will. After that the demon was sealed and they had a funeral for the samurai and the cleric who died in the encounter. TL:DR My friend forgot he could fly and I had precautions in place for if he did fly.
i think the biggest issue with the flying at level 1 is that every player has it, when only one player or two of the players has flying, it becomes much easier to deal with because solutions they can fly over, the rest of the party cant, during combat using ranged attacks or flying creatures is good, but its also not a bad idea to put the player in situations were flying wont work to well like in a dungeon, thick forest, or a place with crazy weather that limits either there flying or there vision. also try to remember that a creature flying in the air will be target more by smart creatures. but i feel whats most important is to let the player fly, it is one of there benefits and it can be really fun for them, so remember to give situations were there flying can be used in fun or cleaver ways and force the player to think through how they use this advantage they have
Bows, crossbows, javelins, daggers, spears, guns (if appropriate in your world), flying enemies, spells (only like 90% of them are RANGED!). It's not hard to answer, and if they all fly up 30 feet and shoot down at the enemies, have the enemies take cover under the wagon or use the treeline or anything like that as cover, the flying party members won't have cover, it's really not hard at all to figure this out.
I wanted to play an aarakocra in a game but knew it could cause issues. So I created a back story where my characters wings were severely damaged. That way my characters ability to fly is in the GM’s hand. When he wants my character to fly they would be healed. Four adventures later and my character is still not flying. :)
In the case of Aarakocra, I actually allow my players to choose in the biology of their character. I ask them if their character has hollow bones. If they say yes, they get a -2 to Constitution, but unlimited flight. If they say no, then there is no constitution penalty, but they can only fly for 5 minutes every short or long rest before needing to make athletics checks to avoid taking points of exaustion
Flying 1st level characters are fine, just adjust the mod. It's great that they can fly, just stick them in doors and in dungeons that has a eight foot tall ceiling. Stick them in a dense forest canopy with 12 foot tall clearance. It's simple.
Imrovisation is an important part of DMing, because your players absolutely will throw stuff at you you weren't expecting, but if it's not built on a larger plan you're gonna be screwed.
This is one of my personal favorite videos. I was given the advice when looking for campaign help one time (before watching your video) and got this piece of advice: “A good plot line for your players is one that kills the characters. You will have fun.” How stupid.
For flight at level 1. Dungeons. That thing in the name of the game. Put your flying PC's in dungeon quests. This dude is probably using a ton of open area combat scenarios. Just put them in areas at low level where flight isn't a huge bonus. Falling rocks, floor to ceiling arrow slit batteries, wind tunnels, magic aura areas, dangerous fogs, enemies with reach weapons, and so on. The list goes on in interesting and fun ways you can introduce thought provoking traps and tricks to give the players a chance to use their minds to handle a situation before you progress to levels where traps are explosions and rolling boulders and other potentially insta-death sorts of things. This will also make flight a lot cooler as later missions provide more opportunities to really stretch your 3D tactics as a player. Airships, flying monsters, snipers with long bows, etc. Usually, as they become more famous, the bad guys will adjust their tactics specifically to fight them. Introduce the net guns only gradually. Don't trap them entirely in a cave or something all the time, let them scout and travel with flight and enjoy some advantages. Give them some vulnerable enemies who struggle against them because they fly sometimes, but when it comes time to challenge, enclosed areas are the biggest game changer you can throw at them besides just taking away their wings, which'd definitely make me just find a different game.
I ran my first session last night on roll20 with a group of friends. I spent hours preparing earlier in the week for 4 hours of gameplay. There was alot I didn't have to improvise due to preparation (also it's a module so its written out for me lol) but I enjoyed preparing for it. Setting up the enemies, uploading maps, etc. It's another hobby of it's own.
Hey! Love your videos! You have helped me alot for my first time DMing, i didn't realise that a lvl 1 charachter that could fly was super OP . He plays an Aaraakockra, but we figured out a way that kinda balancing the game, he is not allowed to fly, while wearing anything heavy.Lucky for me he plays a paladin, so whenever he wants to fly, he has to strip. If he starts abusing this, i will use some of your other tips from other videos, like making him an open target, let more monsters wear ranged weapons and so on! Thanks again for the content you're posting I love it!!
I must say that I really respect you for the fact that your thumbnail says “parental advisory”, but you bleep out crap in the video. Awesome videos dude! Keep up the awesome work!
Indoor areas and low ceilings are an effective method, I played a flying character (a fairy) and I was able to cheese combat a few times due to a mixture of flying out of reach and ranged attacks but the DM was well aware of how to deal with me if i became an issue and it was common enough that i never became a huge issue. Dark areas, low ceilings, taking advantage of the fact that I was technically a melee and short range character (mostly due to an agreement with my DM involving changing my damage dice in exchange for losing some of my other racial abilities, which i was willing to part with for the sake of my interesting build) And taking advantage of my tiny size. Flight only becomes an issue depending on the character build as long range attackers with flying is a nightmare I admit.
I was given the second bit of advice when I told someone I'd written pages of material and spent hours preparing for my *homebrewed* campaign that is also the first one I've ever run. Needless to say I had no choice but to completely ignore them, and complain about it later with a friend.
I actually have my own responses for each of these points: 1. If I allow wings, I simply HAVE to warn my players that enemies will shoot at their wings during combat; after all, in real combat flight is huge advantage and if the enemy has a way to remove that flight, then they will try. Secondly, the character has a realistic wingspan. Thus, they cannot use their wings in all combat scenarios (such as in a hallway or small chamber) 2. Hahahahaha!!! Don't bother planning? Yeah... I've tried that in the past and it DOES NOT work at all. Every session of a campaign needs a certain amount of planning. I usually plan out each of my sessions the day before the game for roughly 15 to 45 minutes, and my players rarely do everything I have planned (somehow). And yes, I know plenty of Dungeon Masters plan for much longer than I do and that's awesome. This isn't exactly connected to the point, but I do think it's important to suggest: I believe that every Dungeon Master should run one or two adventures that have little to no planning and are mostly driven by improvisation. It's a very handy tool to learn; I know I use it all the time. 3. Yeah... don't kill player characters just because they're a problem. Talk to them. Send them to Matt Colville's video if necessary. And if need be, kick them from your game. Yeah, this is basically the same as what Luke said, but it's pretty hard to say different. Luke, if you see this, I'd be very interested to hear what you think of my thoughts on these points. I love this sort of discussion, sooooo.... yeah... I'm also happy to discuss these points with people who comment on this comment for some reason... even though this video is like 2 years old.
I do little to no planning for my adventures because I find it harder to get into a world myself. I have a basic idea of what I want to do but I don't actually do much planning beyond "this puzzle room is a big focus, this boss needs to be worked on, this key encounter should be here"
DM: "Pls help me... character lv 1 can fly.... This is so OP... What do I do?" Me: It's called DUNGEONS & Dragons... DUNGEONS have CEILING, and usually it is near 10 ft. tall.
I know I'm a bit late to the party on this but I have in fact had games with winged PC'S that I was not expecting. The best workaround I've found has been explaining how the wings or flight could break the early game, we come up with a list of suitable reasons why their character cant fly at the moment be it a recent injury or even simply having never learned or had had a need to. normally it comes down to either an Experience cap to get the wings or a certian in game event or progression and the injuries have healed to allow for use again or enough time has been spent to allow a PC to learn to fly properly. It solves most issues while also providing PC's an early game personal arc to overcome which can come with it's own rewards other than just gaining flight and can even be used to weave in some side plot.
With regards to the flying PCs, you just need to have enemies who can fight at range. A bandit can have a light crossbow. If they are flying, I would be surprised if they could be behind cover. If flying really becomes a problem, see if you can get them to go on adventures indoors (although I get a feeling they'll buck against that as much as possible). Anything the players can do to deal with flying monsters can be used against flying PCs. Also, on a final note, I would recommend letting them occasionally take advantage of their flight. They seemed to really want it. Let them have a fight or two that lets them enjoy their advantage. DMs need to challenge players so they don't stay in a comfort zone, but that doesn't mean the players shouldn't enjoy their choices sometimes.
Yes, agreed. Those are all good ways to counter flying PCs. If the DM is running a game where all PCs can fly, I agree, too, that he should let them take advantage of that and not always invalidate it. Otherwise, as a player, I'd be pissed that the DM was always taking away my cool ability!
I have one Aarakocra pc, who has been a part of the game since 1st lvl. When the player asked, I did some serious soul searching as to whether or not to let him play a flying character. Then, I realized that he would be the only character with this ability. I also made it a part of my campaign setting that planar travel is very difficult if not impossible in most regions. Therefore, the Aarakocra are a rare race and looked upon as something to be avoided or something to be used for its magical, elemental properties. As for gaming adventures, it's amazing how often the players find themselves adventuring in buildings and caverns with low ceilings. Then, as an alternative, they occasionally get ambushed when outdoors, which allows the player to fully enjoy the benefits of having a natural flyer. Now that the game has entered 9th level, they're starting to face off against villains with extreme, ranged attacks and the ability to bring down flyers like the gunslinger class.
I've met 1 DM that could run a game without prep time. Dude was wild, his formula was reskining a plot from an obscure game or book, and pull monsters that seemed like they would fit. No clue if he was some kind of rain man and could balance it in his head or if he just adjusted stats on the fly so it felt challenging enough. But I wouldn't recommend another DM prepare less, I typically recommend them to prepare more broadly. Spend the same amount of time prepping, but cover more options/topics slightly less indepth so if they end up there you have to improv a little instead of doing a lot of improv if you missed that because you spent the entire time on another option.
You're not only helping DM's, but also the players like me! I wouldn't be handling my Ranger at all if I wouldn't watch such Videos from you or Matt Mercer or Matt Colville or watch other groups playing. Thanks for your efforts and I hope you have fun at your table/tables ;-)
I'm no kind of rock star; I'll plan carefully, trying to be flexible enough to be able to roll with the punches and deliver the best experience I can wherever the players decide to go. This might take a while.
Here is how I prepare for a session or prep a quest line. I make a list of bullet points the party needs to accomplish, in order if their needs to be one, and then how the players accomplish these is up to them. Don’t make them super specific, just a basic task that leaves the method and details up to the players to fill in.
My thoughts are that you gotta build the world around flight if you're gonna let EVERYONE fly. If they're common enough that an entire party happens to be that way, than I think they'd be common enough that most bad guys are going to either have access to fliers or have access to counters like heavy crossbows. However, I think what really needs to be said is that if the plot takes them underground or in a building, wings are going to be less of an issue.
Instructions unclear, ran a game using all this advice. Players decided to punch me in the throat after I TPKd them twice for disrespecting me in the first session. But seriously these vids are awesome, keep up the good work!
I actually really like doing prep, but I keep things pretty general until I have an idea of what the PCs are interested in doing. Then I prep the stuff it seems like I'll need, and if any of it gets skipped (which, let's be honest, happens a lot) I'll find a way to recycle it back into relevancy later on. There's nothing better than seeing the look on my players faces when they go haring off in a direction I clearly didn't expect and then I bust out a pre-written encounter or piece of treasure. Really it was something I had planned to use earlier that they ignored or avoided, but they don't have to know that!
1. About the flying. I just had the greatest idea about a cloud island / celestial themed campaign (world) where flying is a REQUIREMENT for the PCs to get around. 2. Preparation. To be honest, I think what you prepare matters far more than how long you prepare. I tend to spend my prep time more on the NPCs and less on "how are the PCs going to solve this problem". I just assume they will somehow solve the problem and spend my time coming up with ways the NPCs and world will react to it. 3. Didn't have that problem yet, no rules lawyer in my games thus far.
I can absolutely asspull entire adventures and be told that the PCs had no idea and everyone had a great time but here is the thing; it burns me out, fast. After a couple of sessions I don't even want to DM anymore for a long while. On the other hand, if I DM from a book it's... like zero stress, like "I can do this all day" in fact when I do that I sorta do the opposite of preparing, yes I carry a large kit of stuff for running a game but in so far as reading ahead and whatnot? I do very little of that, makes everything a lot more fun, because in a way it's like playing with the party, as I get to experience things when they do and we are doing it together.
One of my players found a sword that is imbued with flight, he found it at level 5 but still pretty early in the campaign, hes a human wizard, and they also found a circlet of scorching as well near the end of the dungeon. So far have had no real issues with it, but I've also prepared for the flying when I saw it in the loot, but what happened to be a genius idea, is the area is heavily infested with dragons of varying types, and without revealing anything basically now whenever he goes to fly he looks for them and has stayed flying low for now due the threat of dragons sweeping in, who can be seen flying around randomly plus they've witnessed a green dragon ambush a golden dragon above the forest canopy, along with other dragon sightings up to this point. So they are all very paranoid about flying, its resolved into some hilarious roleplay and actions. The wizard uses the sword to basically hover 5 to 10 ft off the ground and wont go higher at the moment. Just prepare for the treasure in your campaign if the item allows special abilities plan for at least a few uses of whatever the the item is. That's what I've done atleast thank you for reading
Maybe allow them to fly very short term at low levels, maybe even consider having them make con con rolls vs exhaustion. Until they get more accustomed to flying (leveling up). Or maybe treat it like mounted combat and they have to make acrobatics rolls to stay in flight.
I struggle a lot when I prep and adventure and then my players try to go off book. Usually instead I give them a setting with a few open ended goals and enough information that I can generate interactions and predict the results of player decisions on the fly.
For the flying one being abused by ranged fighters, I make one of my players, a gunslinging Artificer have disadvantage on his ranged attack everytime he tries to shoot in flight if he fails a DC 12 con save. It's like having his boots of flying unpredictably give out
Here's an idea for flying races: depending on the size of your group have a limited number of pcs be able to use flying races and if the pcs want more than the limit make them talk it out to see who won't be a flying race
My DM had this issue, he simply just said the wings weren't strong enough to use and said he didn't get the power to use them until the tefling warlocks diety gave him the strength to use it.
Best way to deal with rules lawyers? Learn the freaking rules. Another option, and how I handle it, is let the rules lawyer run the rules while I handle story and narrative. "Grak wants to grapple the orc!" *Look at rules lawyer* *Rules lawyer spouts out the rules* ~Continue on our way~
Lol, i have 17 years of dm experience and i don't prepare much ahead of time, like maybe 30 minutes of time. Admittedly my world is already very fleshed out, of my own creation, and is very flexible depending on what everyone wants to do. I don't have to often make new npcs or create new locations because I've already done all that. Admittedly I've put in 100s of hours overall into my world, but it lets the actual game be fairly impromptu
Well, that was fun! Gotta say, on the second point, my game before last was almost completely improvised, completely because I threw out the plan for the game an hour or so before arriving because that session in the module was a bit lame so I intended on replacing it with something else. Basically I'm running Storm Kings Thunder and the last part especially of the Nightstone arc is pretty crap so I decided to add a little from Lost Mines of Phandelver in just to give them a little more work before hitting level 5. So that meant I ended up improvising a session based around them travelling up from Nightstone to Phandelver. As it turns out, that kind of session is relatively easy to improv as you have Waterdeep right there, so giving the PC's a little escort mission is easy, and then giving them a little encounter ended up being quite nice too as looking into my box of mini's I saw I had a bunch of zombies, and looking at the map of the Swords Coast, well wouldn't you know, there's the Mere of Dead Men, right on their rout! Ended up being quite the enjoyable session! My point is, sometimes the situation means that you'll have minimal prep time, and that's fine. There's even ways of grabbing a little extra time during a session just to think things through by calling for a quick 10 or 15 minute break. Your players won't mind the toilet break and it gives you an opportunity to make a quick plan. It also helps if you actually have an end goal for the session anyway so you can improvise your story accordingly! As for the example of these genius DM's out there, well I'm sure there are, but as you mentioned, experience plays a lot into that! Mercer has even admitted that the group has gone so far off the rails that he has imporved significant portions of the show, if nothing else just so he can either find the rails again, or get to the end of the session so he can go back and prep the chosen story for next week. And the main reason this works so well isn't the fact that he is a very talented story teller and DM, that's a given, but the fact that he's blessed with such an amazing group of role players and improvisers that he can bounce off and develop that story. I agree that as a DM you will fall to the level of your preparation, but your players are also a massive factor in how much prep you may have to make as well. We are all story tellers, not just the DM! ;-)
If one of my players decided they wanted to do that, I’d make an effort to use confined spaces and indoor fights to lesson the advantage. If more then half my party was flying at level one I’d do that and add more flying stuff to the world at large. Not just to counter the players, but to give the sky they spend most of their time on more interesting features then clouds and the occasional bird. A whole campaign that uses flight as a central mechanic is possible and potentially really cool.
A solution for the flying characters having a natural fly speed is to have flying work like concentration. If they get hit in mid flight then they have to make the concentration check, if they fail then they immediately fall their full movement speed downwards. Assuming they don't hit the ground after getting hit then they can use their action at the start of their turn to try and catch themselves from falling. I'd give them a d100 roll where they need to roll under the amount of feet they have left to fall. For example, our player is 40-ft in the air and gets hit. They fail the concentration check and immediately fall 30-ft. At the start of their turn they are still falling the 10 more feet unless they use their action to roll a 0 to 10 on a d100. If they succeed then they stop their movement and stay air-born, if they fail then they have to keep moving downwards their full movement speed until they hit the ground and take falling damage equal to when they started falling. So 40-ft is equal to 4d6 worth of bludgeoning damage. The damage gets worse the higher up the players flys, but at the same time the save also gets easier with more then 100-ft being an instant success. I'd also have this work for the enemy monsters as well, and now that I've thought of it, I'm more then likely to implement it into my games because shooting enemies out of the sky sounds like fun. As for having enemies to deal with flying PCs, just use flying enemies, or enemies that have ranged attacks. You could even have the enemies hide under carts or be forced to lure the players into buildings/caves/sewers where they can only fly so high up to where the normal enemies could hit them normally anyway. Flying characters are only hard to deal with if all the enemies can only attack from melee range. And if that's the case then they should be smart enough o know they can't deal with the situation and try to retreat and get help, taking dodge actions and held actions as they do.
after finding you tpk video ive subbed and been going back through your vids. for the games ive run ive had a general idea that i want to run. then have my players make their characters run an introductory fight to break the ice for the first session. Read their backstories and build my idea into their backstories. the only real planning i do is reading up on monsters and challenge rating but i tend to be primarily good at improvisation. also i keep a handy list of generic names generated at pick from them when we go to towns, meat npcs, things of that nature then write them down as we go.
Fun and easy way to solve Level 1's flying: incorporate it! Make a map that is just hanging in the sky, with plenty of flying enemies, traps targeted for flyers, massive holes in the dungeon they have to fly through or over to progress. Players have fun, DM doesn't get a headache, and makes use of massive, multi-leveled mazes, going up and down levels as well as forward. Worked for me.
The campaign I play in is still low level with one aarakocra PC, and we used him to scout for the first few encounters until he was shot out of the sky immediately after taking flight. His character was almost insta killed and we all decided we needed to diversify our tactics. Since then, his flight has been more of a fun RP thing than an overpowered combat trick.
I do a lot of prep. I am always watching videos on ideas and tips and researching the setting. I make NPC stats and know monster abilities. I talk with my players between sessions. I believe this is what a GM should do. I don't, however, spend a lot of time planning the adventure. I learn where the players want to go and do and I research that setting. The players drive the story and I react to it.
Completely agreed - I am a GM for over 20 years, I lead parties regularly all that time, and I do not recommend improvising sessions to anyone. Even if you are good enough to do it, your games will STILL be better if you do prepare.
Came across this video and the first problem of early flying characters could be fixed with starting the campaign with a great unnatural storm to investigate. It could work that the winds are dangerous and unpredictable to fly in needing difficultly checks to stay on course plus avoid damage while in open areas. This would hopefully give the party a goal and use to flying sparingly until they finally complete this starting quest where by that point they have gained enough lvls for the ability to fly to be less difficult for the dm to manage/worry about.
I prep then shit goes off the rails but end up using the same scenario in a different way. There are rines where I prep but I have to improve a great deal but I always have side things that I use.
Its fine for there to be fliers. If,as a dm i cannot deal with my players having some form of advantage and find a way to deal with it, then i do not need to be the dm.
With flying PC's I would just include more bows, more crossbows, maybe a black powder rifle or 2, someone else suggested bounty hunters that would actually have a net gun, final plan magic users. Maybe a really bad wound to the wing that would knock them down for a while and then allow them to heal it at higher levels.
Admittedly, I do improvise most of a game at the table. My planning is generally in the NPCs and the world, and then having those react to the PCs actions. I put about 3-6 months into story plotting, but then I let the PCs do what they do. Of course, I also make adjustments based on what the PCs play. If they play a group of mostly wizards? Magic based NPCs and threats are more common. If they play an all flying PC group? Then there are going to be more bows and crossbows and less slings and spears, secure places are going to be more secured from aerial attack, and there will be more NPCs either able to fly or with ways of effectively engaging flying enemies, because a party of level 1 fliers means fliers are more common in the world.
I'm a noob at all this, but would 2 possible solutions be: 1. Maybe put a level on when they gain the ability to fly. Like lvl 3 or something. (Idk birb people lore so sorry if that doesn't work) 2. Put some sort of length of time/distance they can fly or x times it can be used per long rest (maybe it can increase as they lvl up). Makes them have to choose between using it to skip a battle altogether or saving it to escape a situation.
I usually come up with A way things will go, and then try to adapt to what happens. It helps me to figure out what the other characters are planning/going to do to figure out how players actions will go. In my campaign I was planning on the PCs breaking into a base looking for a guy only to be told he was in a convoy heading to the base. They ended up steaking out the base for a while so I’m like Ok the convoy reaches the base.
🔴 Join us this Friday, November 9, at 8 pm Eastern US time when we'll be having part 2 of our LIVE adventure creation. We got most of the way done with our evil "garden" gnome adventure, and I hope to finish it up Friday.
Also, let me know here in the comments of the worst Dungeon Master advice you've ever heard!
the DM Lair I am sry your channel is dying
As a DM/player for over 35 years who runs a game/plays at the local game store. I have meet a lot of bad DMs who put no/very little time into the game. I think the best games are the ones I put the most detail/work into and the same goes for other DMs. Hand outs, menus, various NPCs, and so on. Most players and even experienced players are not that good. I have meet less experienced players who I consider better than players with decades of game play. As a DM you make a world/module and then you are just the moderator of that session. You are not god.
Luke can you do a video about critical fumbles
So just to be clear. Killing a players character for something the player did is bad.
... so killing the actual player should be fine right?
Andrew Howard “An insult to my DMing skills is not acceptable, enjoy the flames of hell you little bastard”
Nah, you need to cast a satanic ritual to destroy his soul to prevent him coming back with vengeance
Aarakocra are bird people. They have wings. Letting people play them and then saying, "Oh, but you can't fly." is the worst possible solution. Either don't let players play them, or let them fly. Tieflings on the other hand, should absolutely not be able to fly at lvl 1. Plus, a lot of fighting already occurs in caves and indoors in DnD. You wouldn't need a single alteration to anything to make things work most of the time.
Since almost all of my adventures occur indoors, most of the time things wouldn't need to be changed too much. Also, as the adventurers game a reputation, enemies will know what they can expect and prepare accordingly.
And maybe have slightly more ranged enemies. Nothing more. Do not make the whole world incompatible with the players. In the first place, if you are not prepared. Why are you allowing your players to play winged characters in the first place?
Anyway. This videos advice is also bad. Why did the PC s pick winged characters? Because they want to play characters that can fly. Don't undermine the players by removing the part that attracts them to their characters. Instead adjust the style of play. If you want the players to stay grounded, have there be lots of underground locations and tight spaces. In open spaces have ranged attackers attack flying PC because they don't have any cover. That is perfectly logical. Mayybe limit flying if only the character is wearing Light armor for example. Lorewise Aarakorra are free spirited and open race in the plane of air. If that is the case, then maybe they have crippling claustrophobia. Underground locations are borderline horrifying to them.
Been a while since I did this video. Which piece of advice is bad?
@@theDMLair
For me mostly the first idea of simply removing the flying ability of flying characters by clipping their wings is pretty much throwing the baby out with the bathwater. The characters picked flying races because they wanted flying characters. Instead of forbidding them of flying, the GM rather should modify the encounters and the General feel of the campaign to fit the party. If the party is full of fliers then maybe have epic aerial battles with flying monsters or humanoids riding griffons for example. Non-cover flying is dangerous so have ranged archers peppered in some of the encounters to discourage reckless flying. After all. If a flier drops to 0, they fall and take a failed death save. You might even rule that if they fall down high enough, it is an instant death.
I don't think removing flying is necessarily the solution to that specific problem either. That was just an example, and perhaps not the best one. My point really is that sometimes advice beats around the bush and doesn't solve the actual problem.
DM: “Help! My PC’s have wings and can fly at first level.”
So give their opponents ranged weapons.
Most humanoids will at least have a bow or crossbow anyways. That's common, and if theey are fighting dumb stuff like zombies then those can ready attack actions to grapple or something. If the grapple suceeds then the PC will not be able to fly whatsoever.
Right, slings and crossbows are simple weapons in earlier settings and are easy to use and get ahold of.
Another option would be cover. Ambushes normally happen when the ambusher wants, some branches layered with extra grass, other branches as a lean to. Can't snipe what you can't see.
Spears are also simple weapons and can be braced against charges. Spears and crossbows/slings for all.
Winged kobolds are there for a reason XD
Nets are the bane of flying creatures both of the PC kind and the monster kind and NO ONE ever uses them just use them when it makes sense
@@patrikg.6320 Well the fact you always throw nets at disadvantage, and they are a bit easy to escape from, even from monsters, is why people tend to avoid them.
My party has a level 1 aarokora. Its no big deal. Tree cover, things happen in dungeons, buildings, etc. Enemies have ranged weapons, spells, can fly as well. It's not an issue.
Also acrobatics checks for flying indoors or inbetween tree branches
although it is a bit different when literally everyone can fly
The Broom of Flying, and Winged Boots are both uncommon magic items. It is reasonable for a low level boss to have one of those. Maybe he is backed up with a fleet of imps
They are uncommon. But similar magic items that grant flying are rare or very rare. I have a video coming out about magic items quite soon in fact. 😁
@@theDMLair perhaps there should be a category between uncommon and rare, because a lot of uncommon items are still pretty powerful (Gauntlets of Ogre Power). I'm working on my own flying video right now, discussing the various ways to get airborne. I guess low level characters flying at will isn't so bad in a dungeon, but it is more game breaking in a LOTR/Breath of the Wild type setting where outdoor exploration is the main focus.
Even Puffin Forest made an entire video about that last point
They have wings?
Just use Bows, crossbows and magic stuff, what are we even talking about
yeah people shoot birds all the time and an arakokra has got to be way easier to shoot
Seriously, one of the best tools in a ranged combatants bag of tricks is the ability to take cover, you can't do this in the air. Just use enemies that have ranged attacks when you are in open areas and don't let them fly in enclosed spaces.
@@zztophatzztophat Agreed, a house rule we have is that if you're flying via wings, in the theater of the mind, you need enough room to actually fly.
Geez... Many enemies come with crossbows... Other can just throw stuff (spider's web, manticora's spikes, orc's spear, etc)... some are really tall and could reach them (giants or trolls). But when none of those works... your monster can always run and hide and wait for players to show up.
Or maybe they players need to fight indoors... or in a dungeon?
Now just wait a gosh darn heckin second there partner. You’re telling me that I can put my big boy pants on and actually have a civil discussion with my players!?!
No, I wouldn't do that. Just give their PCs curses. Take their magic items away. And finally, yes, death. It's what the pros do. 😉
Hey your the guy from the discord...
Yep, we both are. :)
What?!? How are you supposed to tpk them if you see them as actual people?!? I'd get way too attached to my players to kill their characters if we were civil to each other.
@@theDMLair lmao yeah
Problem: All my PC's are flying at level 1
Solution: Use bows. They exist for a reason.
You're the next einstein.
Also, how are they going to fly in dungeons? Those things are cramped with low celings. Seriously, if they have mission that sends them inside of somewhere, then wings will become null. I honestly would let them do it, and fully accept creative solutions they have for puzzles with them. Surely not all of the pcs have wings? If they do, oh well, there is not going to be any real threat of travel encounters. That means less XP for them
@@faxmachine1162 Yeah. Or you can just ban anything that flies at level 1. Or use one of the trillions of creatures with ranged attacks. Or just let them fly and have their fun. They didn't pick an Aarocokra (I may have misspelled that) just to have their flying be useless.
All my pc's are flying at lv 1
Dont like it
Cancel the game ?
PCs can fly at LVL. 1 in my games. I just reworked some encounters to counteract flight and eventually made a better encounter and player experience for it. (Example) I took an evil mage's tower and made it seem like he was at the top. The floors leading up were guarded by monsters and creatures alike. The aarokacra took time flying each member to the top of the tower. He succeeded every acrobatics and athletics check for each. Once they got in the room at the top it was empty. It was a lab/library of sorts and looked like it had been recently used. They investigated and found a different color book sticking out of one of the bookshelves. When pulled the floor vanished out from beneath them and they began falling from the top of the tower to the very bottom. When the aarokacra attempted to grab our dwarf barbarian from falling, guess who failed their strength check and then their acrobatics check? Turns out people had come to the mage's tower before and he saw his flaw in the design of his tower. He instead lived beneath the tower in an underground reverse of the tower, filled with Gnolls, Bugbears, and Animated Armors. The players had a great time, learned from their mistakes, and next time around when they saw a tower, they walked right through the front door and right into my trap. Mwahahahaha......(maniacal laughing ensues)
so you basically invalidated the benefit of a character feature???
@@fairystail1 Nah, I just made it to where not all encounters can be bypassed by having the ability to fly. I'd hate to take away from my players. I want them to enjoy every aspect of their characters and the game. In the past I've had players that tried to power game and make themselves better than everyone else in the party. I want them to realize that there will always be a time for their character to shine, but the object of the game is to work together with the party. Of course there are always those times where they subvert my expectations and try some crazy shit that ends up working, but without situations like that D&D wouldn't be D&D.
I think it's perfectly acceptable to fly even at 1st level. There's a pathfinder build I use that gives a flying mount (as an animal companion) even down to that level, And yeah GMs complain but I point out "I have all of these weaknesses that the rest of the party has, and you don't utilize them." and they just shrug.
I prefer also a loose-plan to a tight-plan. Mind you, I don't advocate a *NO*-plan game. A loose-but flexible plan means that you don't have to throw away hours of work because the PCs ignore one statue in one room in one dungeon etcetera.
And agree with point 3. Never kill a PC for out-of-character reasons (except in Paranoia).
i wouldn´t kill a PC out of pure wish for punishment. it allmost came to the point one of my players put their pc by herself in a thight situation.
i had an adventure in my campaign involving a tournament to win a mansion with winefields as a selfsustaining Homebase, of course i wanted the players to get the mansion, so i rigged the adventure so that on the monsterfighting day several beast escape and the katastrophy following ends the tournament without the price given out, but now the mansion is for sale.
of course there was a possible patreon watching the groups fight with a beast, and he offers them to buy them the mansion in exchange for a secret (not illegal) errand.
the thight spot my player put her character in was before that came up, she tried to ask several people including the dutches (the patron of the tournament) chambermaid on ways how to cheat (in that area such a violation of honor is punished by dead) i warned her several times as npc, as Pro-player-GM, but she taunted me like i wouldn´t go that far. at the point she insisted on asking the chambermaid 5 times after that npc threatend to call the guards an let her be arrestet. i let the guards show up and gave her a last chance to saver her pc arse, she went silent and the guard asked our paladin what was on, and he succeded on a DC 24 Pursuasion roll to let the guards believe nothing major happend just a little cat fight that escallated. before the next session i talked to that player how lucky she was our buddy rolled a nat-20 so with his +4 charisma the chance was just 5% that he could pull that off.
in the talk before the next session, she said that she assumed that the players can do whatever they want coz i said so in the session zero, i did say that but i also said you have to live with the consequences of those actions, like talk to wrong people about the wrong subject and you make an npc set up as a friend into an enemy, be smart say the right words to a set up enemy and that npc may become an ally. you can do all that and more even fetch yourself a stable lad at an inn for a night in the hay, but the wrong words to the wrong person can also put you in jail or worse, anything goes but that doesn´t mean i let my players rampage and stampede through my world without reasonable consequences, like kill an innocent you are wanted, burn robb the mayors mansion you are seriously wanted, etc.
Im surprised you didnt talk about all the TPK advice in those DM groups, lol
Oh, that would be a fun video: "2018, A Year in Review: D&D TPK Advice" and then run a real of tpk advice screenshots... 😀
@@theDMLair Im in at least one of the facebook groups you are in, and pretty much anything from "my pally is being a pally and my rogue is being a rogue" to "my players arent going down the path I specifically set for thwm to go" has at least 30 comments of "just kill them all"
The sad thing is that you're not exaggerating in the least... I've considering pulling up Facebook in one of my live streams and just marching through posts and people's "advice"... Might be entertaining... LOL
@@theDMLair I would do it, its comedy gold, sometimes, and a great example of what not to do
Yeah, that's a really good point. I'm hesitant because I don't want to call out specific individuals. I would probably want to curate the questions/responses ahead of time and blur out the names. But yeah, I think it might be valuable for viewers.
The first problem seem to have a simple solution to me.
In open world mode let them use them freely . Have dungeons with low ceilings, have a few incidents in to revolving around the winged players seeing as flying beings are slightly rare.....but yes Archers are a thing
About being prepared for a game session, I'm a DM that actually already has everything prepared like I wont do anything in between sessions except maybe talk to the players. But thats because before i started DMing my own world (no modules) I had spent a few years flushing out an entire world and people who live in it, a government, monsters (both that already exist and some ive created on my own), a calender, etc. Becasue I have all of this even if the players go off the rails, I have to tools need for that already. And i spent YEARS on it.
There's no "Spending 15 minutes on the way to the session to prepare" unless, like you said" that you have years of experience under your belt.
"I don't want to invalidate/alter their builds.": Proceeds to suggest removing the players' wings.
You can't blame people for giving advice that doesn't address the root cause of the issue if, in your example, the person asking for advice expressly states they don't want to go that route. I would personally be annoyed if I posted asking for "any advice except X" and people responded to my post with "just do X".
The other two points were spot on.
Thought the same.
@@jordanflutes i saw a good advice, seal the wings with a curse and make it the big goal of the adventurers to lift the curse, on the way you can throw a shitload of adventures in their way to bring them up to the level you want them being able to fly again. another way would be once after a long rest for 90 ingame minutes they can flex their wings something like that, races that can fly all the time wouldn´t be playable on my table. on the other hand there are harpies and lot of other monsters that can fly and why not battles in the air, humanoids using airships? the limits are the gm´s creativity ;)
Simple. No bird men or demon cows.
I must admit I am one of those DM's that don't do a whole lot of prep (at least at low levels) I have been running games for almost 26 years and find low level without a lot of work. I concentrate on Plot and story arcs, that being said as soon as my players hit MID Tier I prep the hell out of everything.
I spend hours prepping my campaign
I write as much as possible, then break it into segments, which I can use for individual sessions.
If the players go off the rails, oh well.
The time you spend on writing can never be a waste, because it teaches you how to make plans.
It can also help flesh out your world. Having locations, npc’s, and loot planned out ahead of time is always a good idea, because you can use them to either fill gaps in the narrative or they can be used to trigger plot hooks.
“Plans are nothing. Planning is everything.” -Dwight Eisenhower
Yes, I feel like the more I plan, the more prepared I am for when they go off the rails. :)
Ah yes, the "0% prep" strat. I tried that once when all my prep got deleted by a computer issue and I just couldn't muster the morale to remake a dungeon.
I was in "Oh shit! I have no idea what to do if my players go literally anywhere." mode the entire time. I ended up cobbling together a dungeon out of rooms that I still remembered and what was supposed to be at least 3 floors of dungeon turned into roughly 6-10 rooms and 3 combat encounters. Would not recommend not planning if someone isn't already experienced in running the game that way.
Yeah, totally. I wouldn't wish that kind of panic and pressure on my worst enemy. I put all my D&D stuff on DropBox these days so everything is saved on the cloud. I even pay $10 a month for it. The peace of mind is priceless. I'd be devestated if I lost all my D&D stuff.
Flying at lv1
You know goblins have...short bows right? You guys know theres monsters with ranged weapons and spells right?
Charles Duncan there are spellcasting Kolbolds.... yet people STILL COMPLAIN
@@cadenwerner3930 heck REGULAR Kobolds have Slings...you know you're bog standard 5hp 7 strength Kobolds have a ranged option that deals just as much damage as their dagger.
"I don't want to go out of my way to specifically plan against one player with access to flight."
Is it really that hard to justify your encounters having access to ranged weapons?
Wall of text coming, apologies!
I had a horrible player, thankfully no longer at my table. For months his warlock went out of his way to antagonize every NPC of authority he could. He picked fights with town guards, insulted arch mages and priests, and threatened to cut off a king's head, to his face. He and his rogue buddy robbed, or tried to rob, every magic goods store they found in the hopes of scoring "free items" and it was only by pure chance and diligent security they were mostly foiled. When begged by a cleric acting as their guide in an undead-filled tomb not to desecrate the graves, he pissed on one and tried to steal a gold crown from the corpse of an ancient king, only stopped by the rest of the party.
I had a few frank discussions with him about his disruptive and disrespectful attitude towards npc's in the game and his only reply was always "It's what my character would do". At my wit's end, and trying to keep him happy but checked (because most the players were his friends and he drove them to every game) I warned him the next story arc was in a highly restrictive country with very real consequences for practitioners of "dark magic" and his warlock would have to curb his homicidal tendencies for a few weeks. I told him all my npc's would act "as they would" in a realistic manner. Absolutely never, for any reason, could he summon demons like he desperately wanted to the moment he got access to the spell Summon Greater Demon.
Two games later he murdered a guard captain. Broke into a wealthy merchant's town house and threatened to murder their entire family in the crowded streets when told to leave. They then rode out to the merchant's country villa, slaughtered the father, his guards and most the house staff then, you guessed it, summoned a demon and let it run amok. They left several witnesses behind them when they left.
Three times that game I asked "are you sure?" and three times he told me "nobody saw me do it, they can't prove anything". When I told him "you never searched for survivors, are you absolutely sure?" he again told me there was no way anyone could know what he had done.
"They" certainly did.
It was one of the players who turned on him, dividing the party in two. The warlock and his rogue buddy tried to flee, convinced they could outrun the law and the remaining two party members after them. I was fair. I gave the warlock a chance to turn himself in or co operate with the authorities quickly bearing down on him. The rogue was captured and questioned, and only by the barest thread of mercy was he not executed on the spot for refusing to turn over his warlock associate. Eventually the demon summoner was caught and imprisoned for life.
The warlock made a new character and everyone seemed in high spirits to get the game back on track. I thought the worst was behind us and they would finally stop purposefully trying to derail every encounter. I was wrong. The warlock's next character was a homicidal madman completely bent on causing as much mayhem as possible. After another 2-3 months I heard through a mutual friend the now two problem players were planning to kill the rest of the party and quit the game immediately after, ending the year-long campaign for everyone. I asked everyone bluntly if this was true and they, by refusing to answer, admitted their guilt and quit immediately. I later found out the two problem players were in it for the fun of ruining the game from the first few months. They enjoyed the game up until about lvl 4-5 then decided rather than leave, they would get as much fun as possible out of game night by purposefully ruining it for everyone else. They made bets how much longer I could keep the sinking ship afloat and how far they could push me before I broke down and called it quits. From the very early days, the campaign was doomed as long as they were a part of it.
I punished their characters after taking every possible course to correct the problem maturely, but I was dealing with children. I hoped a new character would change their play style but in hindsight I should have seen the signs and cancelled the game long before it got that bad.
Happier tone to finish. When the warlock and his two friends left, I called some players I know to ask if they were interested in picking up the campaign, and they were more than eager. I made a short side arc quest for them to learn their lvl 10 starter characters, gave them some magic items suitable to their classes and they had an amazing time. Their intro story brought them in line with the original party and the one remaining player who, now abandoned and betrayed by his friends, has joined this new band to carry on his quest. Everyone is meshing very well, actual role play is happening where before there was next to none outside bad memes and slinging insults at npc's "for lols" and the quest's story is picking up intensity as the fate of a whole city lies on a knife's edge. Already one of the new characters has had elements of a player-driven side arc thrown his way, with more in the works for the others and major plot points are coming together. The shared chat is buzzing with excitement before every game and we couldn't be happier. The three of the original party that left are now potentially enemies to encounter in future, perhaps even with the imprisoned warlock sprung from jail to form an evil party against the current heroes, so I was able to make the best of a bad situation.
The real kicker? I know the problem players tried to run their own campaign only a few weeks after sabotaging and abandoning mine, but got bored of trying to DM after one session and quit, and are now starting to regret what they did. I'm waiting for the day they ask if they can play again, but to my knowledge they don't know the campaign has carried on without them, and there's no way they'll ever be allowed back at my table.
To be honest doesn't sound like you are a fun DM. I alway give my Players the complete freedome to do whatever they want, but then they have to live with the consequences. I would never even ask them to change their Character.
As a DM you should either addabt to such Players and give them the possibilitie to do such things (because that can be fun aswell) or just straight out tell them that this is not how you as a DM have fun, since you should also not be forced to do something that isn't fun for you. Never fight them or try to point them in a direction they don't want to go. Create a way where people want to go, not where you want them to go.
@@ArnLPs Did you even read the post? They had complete freedom and I warned them multiple times that their decisions would lead to their destruction, but they ignored the warnings and did it anyway.
They made new characters after basically committing suicide on the old ones, and only so they could continue to troll the campaign and run it into the ground.
There WAS a discussion to address why their so-called "play style" wasn't compatible with the group, and they outright lied about getting back on track, so they could continue to wreck the game for everyone else... and eventually succeeded.
It was doomed from the start for their internal private joke. The new players also have complete freedom, are enjoying it, and the game is going spectacularly well with people who are here to play, not to be assholes for their own twisted sense of fun.
@@kriddius Yes, but that sense of fun is still fun. Claiming that "they ruined the campain" is just stupid in my opinion. And if their Characters can't be assholes because it "ruins everything" then that doesn't sound like complete freedom to me.
If you're not able to laugh with them, then at least be honest about it and just say so. But don't give them the fault for trying to have fun, just because their sense of fun is diffrent from yours.
@@ArnLPs Their sense of fun was *ruining* the game for the rest of the table, including the DM. A serial killer could be having fun murdering, sure, but does that make it right?
Even a sandbox has a border to keep it in its place, and in D&D, the DM is what holds the sand in the box. But what these two players were doing was shoveling sand out onto the ground, ruining a sandbox which many people worked hours on. Sure, it's fun for them, in that moment, but there are consequences for damaging someone elses property, correct? So why are you arguing that they're innocent? They *did* destroy property, so they must be punished.
@@ludwigv928 Sure, whatever. It's not like I have to play a roleplay with you.
two train thoughts on allowing lvl 1 flying PC :
1. seal it up or curse them, make it a quest to unseal/ remove the curse at a certain lvl you are comfortable to allow them to fly.
2. Let them have it, let them powercarry it. They will become famous.... or infamous to the point that bounty hunters will make sure they are equipped with long range net gun or a sniper to clip their wings by ambushing.
Thoughts on Improvise everything:
They can FARK off, I will roll a damn Insight on them. When i was a newbie I could already could detect that even a pro, slip up and forgot what he just improvise. Which is why in the end that Pro is just a 1 shot session adventure pro only and a terrible Long campaign DM.
My opinion is prepare to ur best ability but expect some to improvise, and when u do improvise WRITE IT DOWN!
With flying you can even set up detrimental situations such as a low ceiling cave or even a valley with goblins that have nets at the top and, as you point out, a famous winged tiefling would draw a lot of attention with bounty hunters, bandits, and even intelligent monsters in the area carrying nets and attempting to ambush them.
A level 1 flying PC can work so long as you just set your quests in a bunch of dungeons. Flying doesn't matter in a room with a 10 ft ceiling, also winged flight won't work at all if it's too cramped and there's no room to use the wings. If you want to do a bunch of wilderness quests though, pretty much don't allow flying PCs. Flight essentially breaks most wilderness battles if they're not specifically designed to counter flyers.
I like this man's style......when he said "what do I know I'm just a guy how rants about D&D on RUclips......love the attitude.... such a breath of fresh air instead of the (I'm a RUclips content creator so I'm Infallible) mentality.....bravo dude stay humble
Lol. Thanks. Being a content creator just means I know how to make videos and I perhaps don't totally suck on camera. 😂 (one of these days, I may venture to play D&D too!)
You have to be a pretty bad DM for flying to ruin your game. I don't at all understand DMs who feel the need to nerf characters... like you're the DUNGEON MASTER! YOU'RE PRACTICALLY A GOD! There is no problem a player can cause that you cannot solve.
Are you paraphrasing Puffin Forest?
I believe in root cause problem solving. To an extent I'll adjust things to account for game imbalance, but at some point the DM needs to stop doing all the work and ask for some help from their players, too.
@@theDMLair Sure, but the time for that was when they were making the characters. Basically, removing something that they sacrificed potential optimization for (racial choice in general, racial spellcasting in the case of the tieflings) is ex post facto punishment for them unknowingly choosing options that the DM was not okay with. There are plenty of ways to solve this problem without resorting to that, then for future characters flying racial options can be banned.
In regards to #1 of punishing players in game.
In a campaign I wasn't a DM in but just a PC, we had two problematic players (out of a party of 6 players).
Now, one was a murder hobo and the other was a support refusing to play support and vehemently tried to be the main character of the campaign. Both guys were extremely immature and every time we tried to talk to them as a group or the DM had a conversation with them one on one, they wouldn't really take it to heart. They would behave well for one session and then go back to misbehaving.
So, in those situations I wouldn't necessarily kill their characters, but would try to implement consequences for their actions. As a DM I do this often, not even to punish just to be more proactive to my players' decisions. Their actions dictate how the towns folk behave towards them, whether they score the quest and what the reward for completing a quest is and so on and so forth.
I think more DMs should implement this, a lot of them are softies and sometimes one problematic player can dictate too much of the campaign for the DM and the rest of the party and they should have consequences for it, also through the party itself, like not trusting that PC or not endowing them with buffs or healing because a Chaotic Good healer doesn't want to bring back to life a chaotic Evil murder hobo and I think that's fair.
Also, imo, not enough groups and DMs implement this, but if a player is too much to handle and is taking away from the game for everyone and after several conversations have not improved, it's completely ok to BOOT THEM from the campaign.
Some people just don't take criticism well or aren't mature enough to understand how badly they're impacting the game and never rise to the occasion and honestly, I don't have time to babysit children during my spare time for indulging in my hobbies.
Good lord... are people STILL giving that crap out???
Some things never change. Used to hear it in the cross-flow of chatter at the game shops and around convention stands or "Q&A's"... Figures if you open a platfom like FacePalm or RedSh*t where just anyone can "give advice from a pro"... it's going to be a trawl of garbage before you find a gem.
SO step 1, be VERY cautious what "advice" you take from online sources. A lot of "goofy named nobodies" just post garbage because they think it's funny... AND for the matter (and record) when at conventions, meeting spots, and other online or IRL hotspots, understand that those people DO NOT have to meet you or deal with the fallout ever again... as in ever. What do they care?
Flight at Lvl 1... never been a problem. Most Players around me even somehow just avoid asking for it as a "perk" for whatever reasons... most of the time. Even when they DO ask, I have no trouble with it...
Lack of challenging monsters that don't outright offer a TPK???
That's why the gaming gods invented "Re-skinning"... shift a few descriptive terms, throw rainbow feathers instead of scales and a baby black dragon can be returned to the game with stat-block intact as anything from a weird feathered serpeant to any of a thousand "giant birds"...
Other minor beasties can be retro-fitted with a "pseudo-culture" to fly in flocks of whatever size to give the PC's grief without a promise to drop more than one or two in six... average spread-numbers.
* BUT that's not even the concern in the video... It's what to do when you've clearly got a "broken level OP" going on... AND the answer is usually under one of two directions tactically :*
1... Have "that" conversation and reduce the OP situation. Taking the direct approach with the Player doesn't have to result in a "ban" on that PC, either... Either a compromise can be reached, OR the PC can be returned to a folder JUST EXACTLY for the future game where you (the GM) have had enough research and prep' time to complement this thing rather than hate it to pieces.
2. With some understanding that legendary characters are legendary for REASONS, if a PC has some severely altering power, and it practically makes them irretrievably powerFUL... then you can re-engineer your world-setting so that it isn't so legendary after all... That means, where the psionic PC is fluently reading everyone else's minds... then maybe everyone else needs an upgrade to counter act it.
If a PC's ability to fly makes it difficult to contain... you're going to have to alter your own perspectives and NPC's to be able to adjust.
A super-power is only as super as it is unheard of or unreckoned with.
Zero Prep'... Yeah, I actually HAVE decades of experience running the game. editions come out, and I don't bother with the books anymore, since it's so ingrained in me numerically, I can probably scratch out the requisite charts on my own...
BUT I DO remember those early years... AND I still ACTUALLY LIKE TO MAKE THINGS FOR PREP'...
The better advice is to LEARN your work while you prepare for the game. It's fine to home-brew a dungeon and get all the associated notes and charts together... It's another entirely to be organized in your thoughts well enough, that the PC's can literally try any silly or stupid idea even possible and you won't be rattled or set off outside your usual (GM's) comfort zone.
SO they don't go directly from quest-giver to dungeon... The party dubiously decides to buy several barrels of lamp oil and a few thousand yards of silk cord before loading the wagon and heading off... you're prepared for that already, or relaxed enough and self assured that it's only going to be cool... whatever they're thinking.
Improvisation IS a very big and important part of being a good GM, and it's not nearly so heavy a responsibility to any Player (though I do give XP awards for that sort of thing)... BUT before you're going to be able to "just improvise something" you're going to open a DMG around 600 MILLION times.
Prep' is EXACTLY what you should be doing, but while you work on that, remember that the Players are GOING to derail it in part of whole... so don't detail it TOO tightly.
AND finally, "just kill 'em"...
I've been around a block or two. There actually are one or two circumstances where I've physically dealt with a problem Player. It's rare... and usually has more to do with that Person being obnoxiously toxic and physical well before I decided to take up myself.
In-game consequences for in-game antics are one thing... PC's either have agency in the world and carry consequences... OR they do not.
BUT punishing PC's for something between you (GM) and a Player you don't see eye-to-eye with is a violation of the sanctity of the Table.
AND you know what they call a bad GM?
A sh*tty novelist... ;o)
Yeah man it is amazing the crap advice you'll read. Those two places you mentioned are prime places. The face one being the worst place to get advice. The red one seems to be quite a bit better. Some folks there have really good stuff to say actually. The difficulty is stepping around all of the negativity and biting sarcasm and Loathing hatred and Egos and the list goes on.
@@theDMLair You know... "sifting through bullshit" is the primary function and skill of any decent researcher.
Kind of like panning for gold. You'll frostbite at least three toes, and move a mountain of mud before you make more money that way than I can flipping burgers.
On about any platform, I'm sure there are a few reasonable spots and "communities" to trade craft... It's just worth being careful how much stock you put into anything NOT directly tied to your own Table.
There are antics around my Table that I'd guarantee would through you off your game... and yet, we play on and laugh about it. We've always had a rougher hewn sense of humor than most, and weathering the sh*t-storm to earn stripes is only a part of it... BUT that's not necessarily something I'd recommend to others... simply because I know how far out of hand it can get and how easily it can get there. ;o)
Never had a problem with flying at first level. Never understood what the big deal was
Don’t make an adventure, make a world with more than a single adventure and if they ignore all adventures, then I improvise a new adventure until they get engaged and I try to lead them into one of the other adventures.
But the best way to make your players enter a story, tell them “you walked 5,000 miles to enter a dungeon and you were prepared to enter the dungeon” and if they decide to leave best just ask them “you came 5,000 miles to enter the dungeon... and you are now just going to leave the thing you came to confront” if they proceeded to leave, ok then, also the best way to get rid of a rule guy problem is just say
“the DM’s job is to decide the rules, and as my job, I am supposed to make them, just stop complaining if you aren’t in charge of the adventure”
(Say it in a friendlier way than me please, thank you)
I usually say it friendlier than that.
also some advice i feel NEEDS to be shared. Don't be afraid to get a little meta or railroady.
A friend has a tale of a game he tried to run, it was storming and the players came across a castle. We all know what that means. Most players will go for it, his group did not. They decided 'fuck it, it's storming out here, we are drenched and there is a nice warm castle but nah' He described the storm getting worse, players didnt go for it. Game session ended.
Going meta, or occasionally having to force the railroad sucks but come on, you need to introduce that new character somehow, the GM only has so much prepared, splitting the party here will make the game end (had characters argue over which way to travel, by land or boat had to sit them down and say they had to vote, majority wins they ALL go that way or someone rolls new characters cause no way will I run 2 completely different campaigns)
This is all especially important with new GM's, there never seems to be enough GM's as it is. It's best if we make the experience as players as painless as possible and that means getting Meta-ey. After all why else would strangers in a tavern save the world together even though they are from wildly different backgrounds?
As one of those DMs who do very minimal prep (sometimes close to none), I want to concur with you. I would never tell a DM how much prep they should do as every DM is different. And to further your point, yes I have 24 years of DMing under my belt now and I didn't start off on low prep, I pretty much over-prepped for years.
Cool cool. Time DMing definitley makes less prep easier to do. 😁
I've had several "surprise" sessions that i didn't get to prepare for. And while I thought they were just the biggest Charlie Foxtrots ever. They're the sessions my player talk about the most fondly. Here all this time I thought my players were just idiots but it turns out I'm a D&D rockstar. That's the ego boost I needed this morning. Thanks 🤣🤣🤣
Regarding 14:25
I wasn't so much "talked to" as just lied to. "We're not playing that day." "We have other things going on."
It did get rid of me. So, there you go.
👍
I appreciate your advise. I wanted to add that I have a Aarakocra in my game, joined last minute. I have not found his flight to be a problem. A mix of ranged attack options, indoor combat and thick forest combat quickly makes the flight less useful. The PC has used it to his advantage when getting around town, trying to get a view of the landscape, etc, but I have not found this to be disruptive during combat. If this PC were to just fly away, then he would be out of combat, leaving the rest of the PCs to fend for themselves, who certainly will not be very happy. So, I do not believe you need to nerf a PCs ability, but there are realistic scenarios (dungeons) where flying is not possible. (large birds cannot really hover, so even a high ceiling dungeon flight would not really be possible.
I agree. I have players in my games with winged PCs. It doesn't bother me. (An entire party of them might be a different story though.) And yes, in most scenarios such as dungeons with low ceilings, the advantage of flight is minimal.
The problem being, all the of PC's had flight.
Flying is awsome.
Too bad it's such bad weather when my campaign starts.
Put an inflatable raft on you back and try to walk through a crowded bar without touching people. That should be pretty close to moving through a D&D tavern with a set of wings.
"You just knocked over a half-orc's barrel-o-ale, spilling it into his lap. he stands up to his whole seven foot of height and roars a curse at you. Roll initiative, please."
Or maybe.
"Flying past a cave you hear a shill squawk behind you and a baby gold dragon flies out to play with the newest flying toy his poppa dragon "Goldar" must have gotten him." Think a kitten with a feathered cat toy.
Harpy mating season?
Drunk at a inn and the innkeeper's wife needs some new feathers for the mattresses.
And just how many large flying creatures see smaller flying things as their next meal?
Give me till about level three. I'll have my players ready to chop off their own wings.
LMAO. I love it. 😂
Geez your mind should come with the warning, " Trust Me. You don't want this."
TheJestingCross It’s not being a dick it’s acknowledging the character and makes for a more immersive and inclusive campaign. Maybe if you were a good DM you’d understand that
On point 2, I think this comes from the fact that most newer DMs have a tendency to overprepare rather than underprepare, and this often comes with the side-effect of being too attached to a plan to the detriment of player agency.
A lot of stuff people do for prep is wasted and unimportant, might never come up or be derailed by player actions, can be streamlined by making use of archetypes, drawing from experience, recycling old prep or improv skills. Some prep is essential for having coherent clues, foreshadowing, and satisfying payoffs, no matter how good your improv skills.
Oh I totally agree. There is defintely a balance to be struck. If I were to swing one way, I'd personally rather over prep than walk into a game session unprepared and look like an idiot.
Agreed. One thing that can be done is: Don't plan for things that aren't going to come up.
Preparing is good but do you really have to plot out every NPC's life story? I find it much easier to plan the dungeon, the important NPCs and have a few back-up plans based on things you think the PCs might do. The PCs are likely to talk to the bartender and the Shopkeepers. They are probably not going to talk to the random farmer who works in the field so no need to plan him out. If they DO talk to him, it's much easier to improv one NPC than to improv a dungeon/quest. Also, if the players aren't going to get to something until 5 sessions later, it's probably better to not plan for that thing as long you have a basic gist of what that thing is.
My golden rule is to only prep the things I don't want to improv. (And I routinely break it because I'm a chronic over preparer.)
About the 3rd tip about punishing players on game for out of game actions... We once had our dm respond to a player bothering him by making a magic elephant fall on the players pc, making him drop down a level. Yes. I am not kidding. The player then got pissed, as you would expect. What did the dm do? He dropped another magic elephant in him, instantly killing his pc. Once again, this was a real accourance at our table.
I need hours of prep for a session and then a couple more hours, but I used to have a forever DM who improvised an entire session with a puzzle, fight, challenge, trial, and social interaction that was all off the seat of his pants. Honestly, one of my favorite sessions ever, but he's the only guy I've ever met who could do that
1) use ranged weapons and casters against flying pcs.
2) occasionally mix in flying enemies.
3) make them have to go into enclosed spaces. Aka: DUNGEONS. Literally the simplest solution.
4) recurring enemies will learn what they are dealing with and develop additional countermeasures that you can justify without breaking immersion.
5) don't hit anyone over the head with a bag of nickels.
I've never found flight to be an issue, nor do I feel it's game breaking to have a level-1 flying character. I think most of the issues DMs have with flying characters is that they change the difficulty of certain obstacles. Walls, traps, and encounters can be bypassed, which creates a situation where the DM is unable to slow the advance of the players through the story. I think a lot of DMs need to remember that the game can take place beyond the two dimensions of the battlemat.
In a world where flying creatures both intelligent and monstrous exist, it would stand to reason that most cultures/societies/tribes of orcs/whatever would have methods of combating flying people. Spellcasters can get Levitate at level 3, Druids can wildshape into fliers, and by 5th level casters can give Fly to anyone. This issue isn't limited to winged characters. The way I see it, if the DM can't provide an challenge to a flier at level 1, how are they going to manage when all the other characters get their Super Saiyan powers? As I said before, I think it's just that DMs need to remember that fights can and will take place in 3 dimensions. Prepare for it.
I see what you're saying, but it's much easier to deal with flying at higher levels. Two of my groups are at levels 12 and 20. Lots of flying PCs, magic and otherwise. However, I also have greater access to monsters that can fly and/or have access to better magic. At low levels, there is less to pick from, I feel, so I would need to customize and adjust things more. This is for a party where everyone can fly, of course. If just 1 or 2 PCs can fly, it's no big deal.
I'm a master of improving. However, I would never claim to do zero preparation for my games. I do however have a tendency to build the next session within the session I'm currently in. I world build with my players in game, letting an idea I present to them in the world grow with their interpretation of it. This also allows me to build sessions tailored to what their interests are. If my players are really interested in exploring some random mountain I described off in the distance during the session, I will run with that and get them to the base of it by the time we wrap the game up for that day. Then I make that place interesting for the next game with light backstory and lore ideas that they can develop as they explore it. I find that this allows for the most effective and efficient way to plan for sessions without wasting time building a railroad that could potentially be ignored.
When I run my games I usually don't plan to much but I will still plan I spend about an hour tops planing stuff like town names npc names town layouts dungeon layouts a lot of quests and points of interest and just lay them out like dungeon tiles as the players encounter them I do this because I usually don't do long term game and I can reuse assets in other games without it being the same game
For the first one, I had recently started DMing at the time and I had several books. My friend liked the winged tiefling and the warlock class (we shall call him Jeff) so he was that and my other 2 friends were ground based so he used his character as close air support. My friends were lvl 1 and escorted a merchant through a pass when they were assaulted, when they dealt with the bandits I realized how strong my friend's flying is. Fast forward a bit, and they finish escorting the merchant, level up, and meet a samurai who needed help with a bounty on some ogres terrorizing a few of the other near by roads. So they went and found the cave which Jeff was worried about since he wouldn't be able to fly properly to avoid danger. My other friends convinced him since they were a fighter and a cleric so they were confident in their ability to keep anything inside at bay and they had the samurai. They killed the ogre that was in there and the other returns... through the entrance they used... that nobody was watching. Well Jeff's character who survived the initial assault ran to the other side of the cave whilst our friends moved to meet the new ogre. They won with the help of the samurai. A little later the short adventure was nearing the end and they were in a valley that was roughly 20ft wide 30ft tall. Goblins were said to guard a temple that the samurai needed to perform a ritual. Jeff was not flying while they were going towards the temple. They got ambushed by the goblins which had archers on the high ground and some warriors on the low ground. I was expecting Jeff to fly up since he had done so against the bandits. Scouts had seen the party without alerting them and found out about the winged devil looking guy. They had nets on the high ground but 1 problem occurred. He didn't fly. After the battle they went to the temple, samurai guy got possessed by a demon and the PCs had to kill him. Jeff didn't fly again and I genuinely think he forgot. I even had a plan for it since I had the possessed samurai be able to do something similar to misty step at will. After that the demon was sealed and they had a funeral for the samurai and the cleric who died in the encounter.
TL:DR My friend forgot he could fly and I had precautions in place for if he did fly.
Didn't mention his character was shot at repeatedly by enemies not tied up by the melee guys.
i think the biggest issue with the flying at level 1 is that every player has it, when only one player or two of the players has flying, it becomes much easier to deal with because solutions they can fly over, the rest of the party cant, during combat using ranged attacks or flying creatures is good, but its also not a bad idea to put the player in situations were flying wont work to well like in a dungeon, thick forest, or a place with crazy weather that limits either there flying or there vision. also try to remember that a creature flying in the air will be target more by smart creatures. but i feel whats most important is to let the player fly, it is one of there benefits and it can be really fun for them, so remember to give situations were there flying can be used in fun or cleaver ways and force the player to think through how they use this advantage they have
Bows, crossbows, javelins, daggers, spears, guns (if appropriate in your world), flying enemies, spells (only like 90% of them are RANGED!).
It's not hard to answer, and if they all fly up 30 feet and shoot down at the enemies, have the enemies take cover under the wagon or use the treeline or anything like that as cover, the flying party members won't have cover, it's really not hard at all to figure this out.
Just use some ranged weopons or give ur monster a cantrip like firebolt or elderblast not that hard
^This.
I wanted to play an aarakocra in a game but knew it could cause issues. So I created a back story where my characters wings were severely damaged. That way my characters ability to fly is in the GM’s hand. When he wants my character to fly they would be healed. Four adventures later and my character is still not flying. :)
In the case of Aarakocra, I actually allow my players to choose in the biology of their character. I ask them if their character has hollow bones. If they say yes, they get a -2 to Constitution, but unlimited flight. If they say no, then there is no constitution penalty, but they can only fly for 5 minutes every short or long rest before needing to make athletics checks to avoid taking points of exaustion
Flying 1st level characters are fine, just adjust the mod. It's great that they can fly, just stick them in doors and in dungeons that has a eight foot tall ceiling.
Stick them in a dense forest canopy with 12 foot tall clearance. It's simple.
Imrovisation is an important part of DMing, because your players absolutely will throw stuff at you you weren't expecting, but if it's not built on a larger plan you're gonna be screwed.
This is one of my personal favorite videos. I was given the advice when looking for campaign help one time (before watching your video) and got this piece of advice: “A good plot line for your players is one that kills the characters. You will have fun.” How stupid.
Uh yeah, horrible advice. Lol
For flight at level 1.
Dungeons. That thing in the name of the game. Put your flying PC's in dungeon quests. This dude is probably using a ton of open area combat scenarios. Just put them in areas at low level where flight isn't a huge bonus. Falling rocks, floor to ceiling arrow slit batteries, wind tunnels, magic aura areas, dangerous fogs, enemies with reach weapons, and so on. The list goes on in interesting and fun ways you can introduce thought provoking traps and tricks to give the players a chance to use their minds to handle a situation before you progress to levels where traps are explosions and rolling boulders and other potentially insta-death sorts of things.
This will also make flight a lot cooler as later missions provide more opportunities to really stretch your 3D tactics as a player. Airships, flying monsters, snipers with long bows, etc. Usually, as they become more famous, the bad guys will adjust their tactics specifically to fight them. Introduce the net guns only gradually.
Don't trap them entirely in a cave or something all the time, let them scout and travel with flight and enjoy some advantages. Give them some vulnerable enemies who struggle against them because they fly sometimes, but when it comes time to challenge, enclosed areas are the biggest game changer you can throw at them besides just taking away their wings, which'd definitely make me just find a different game.
Agreed! All great ways to challenge flying PCs without nerfing their flight.
You take a lot of weapons to the bathroom.
I ran my first session last night on roll20 with a group of friends. I spent hours preparing earlier in the week for 4 hours of gameplay. There was alot I didn't have to improvise due to preparation (also it's a module so its written out for me lol) but I enjoyed preparing for it. Setting up the enemies, uploading maps, etc. It's another hobby of it's own.
Hey! Love your videos!
You have helped me alot for my first time DMing, i didn't realise that a lvl 1 charachter that could fly was super OP .
He plays an Aaraakockra, but we figured out a way that kinda balancing the game, he is not allowed to fly, while wearing anything heavy.Lucky for me he plays a paladin, so whenever he wants to fly, he has to strip.
If he starts abusing this, i will use some of your other tips from other videos, like making him an open target, let more monsters wear ranged weapons and so on!
Thanks again for the content you're posting I love it!!
Awesome, glad to hear you're enjoying the content! 😀
I must say that I really respect you for the fact that your thumbnail says “parental advisory”, but you bleep out crap in the video. Awesome videos dude! Keep up the awesome work!
Thanks! 😁
Yeah, much respect for covering the whole word with a unique bleep sound.
Tou can make time limit for flying that resets after short rest
Sneaky or have them roll athletics. Could also have them roll acrobatics or DEX saves to do stuff when midair
Oooh like a stamina bar.
Indoor areas and low ceilings are an effective method, I played a flying character (a fairy) and I was able to cheese combat a few times due to a mixture of flying out of reach and ranged attacks but the DM was well aware of how to deal with me if i became an issue and it was common enough that i never became a huge issue. Dark areas, low ceilings, taking advantage of the fact that I was technically a melee and short range character (mostly due to an agreement with my DM involving changing my damage dice in exchange for losing some of my other racial abilities, which i was willing to part with for the sake of my interesting build) And taking advantage of my tiny size. Flight only becomes an issue depending on the character build as long range attackers with flying is a nightmare I admit.
Cool. A fairy sounds like fun. Yeah, I haven't had too much trouble with flying PCs. Just gotta know how to handle them. 😀
I was given the second bit of advice when I told someone I'd written pages of material and spent hours preparing for my *homebrewed* campaign that is also the first one I've ever run.
Needless to say I had no choice but to completely ignore them, and complain about it later with a friend.
I actually have my own responses for each of these points:
1. If I allow wings, I simply HAVE to warn my players that enemies will shoot at their wings during combat; after all, in real combat flight is huge advantage and if the enemy has a way to remove that flight, then they will try.
Secondly, the character has a realistic wingspan. Thus, they cannot use their wings in all combat scenarios (such as in a hallway or small chamber)
2. Hahahahaha!!! Don't bother planning? Yeah... I've tried that in the past and it DOES NOT work at all.
Every session of a campaign needs a certain amount of planning.
I usually plan out each of my sessions the day before the game for roughly 15 to 45 minutes, and my players rarely do everything I have planned (somehow). And yes, I know plenty of Dungeon Masters plan for much longer than I do and that's awesome.
This isn't exactly connected to the point, but I do think it's important to suggest:
I believe that every Dungeon Master should run one or two adventures that have little to no planning and are mostly driven by improvisation. It's a very handy tool to learn; I know I use it all the time.
3. Yeah... don't kill player characters just because they're a problem. Talk to them. Send them to Matt Colville's video if necessary.
And if need be, kick them from your game.
Yeah, this is basically the same as what Luke said, but it's pretty hard to say different.
Luke, if you see this, I'd be very interested to hear what you think of my thoughts on these points.
I love this sort of discussion, sooooo.... yeah...
I'm also happy to discuss these points with people who comment on this comment for some reason... even though this video is like 2 years old.
I do little to no planning for my adventures because I find it harder to get into a world myself. I have a basic idea of what I want to do but I don't actually do much planning beyond "this puzzle room is a big focus, this boss needs to be worked on, this key encounter should be here"
DM: "Pls help me... character lv 1 can fly.... This is so OP... What do I do?"
Me: It's called DUNGEONS & Dragons... DUNGEONS have CEILING, and usually it is near 10 ft. tall.
I know I'm a bit late to the party on this but I have in fact had games with winged PC'S that I was not expecting. The best workaround I've found has been explaining how the wings or flight could break the early game, we come up with a list of suitable reasons why their character cant fly at the moment be it a recent injury or even simply having never learned or had had a need to. normally it comes down to either an Experience cap to get the wings or a certian in game event or progression and the injuries have healed to allow for use again or enough time has been spent to allow a PC to learn to fly properly. It solves most issues while also providing PC's an early game personal arc to overcome which can come with it's own rewards other than just gaining flight and can even be used to weave in some side plot.
With regards to the flying PCs, you just need to have enemies who can fight at range. A bandit can have a light crossbow. If they are flying, I would be surprised if they could be behind cover. If flying really becomes a problem, see if you can get them to go on adventures indoors (although I get a feeling they'll buck against that as much as possible). Anything the players can do to deal with flying monsters can be used against flying PCs.
Also, on a final note, I would recommend letting them occasionally take advantage of their flight. They seemed to really want it. Let them have a fight or two that lets them enjoy their advantage. DMs need to challenge players so they don't stay in a comfort zone, but that doesn't mean the players shouldn't enjoy their choices sometimes.
Yes, agreed. Those are all good ways to counter flying PCs. If the DM is running a game where all PCs can fly, I agree, too, that he should let them take advantage of that and not always invalidate it. Otherwise, as a player, I'd be pissed that the DM was always taking away my cool ability!
I have one Aarakocra pc, who has been a part of the game since 1st lvl. When the player asked, I did some serious soul searching as to whether or not to let him play a flying character. Then, I realized that he would be the only character with this ability. I also made it a part of my campaign setting that planar travel is very difficult if not impossible in most regions. Therefore, the Aarakocra are a rare race and looked upon as something to be avoided or something to be used for its magical, elemental properties. As for gaming adventures, it's amazing how often the players find themselves adventuring in buildings and caverns with low ceilings. Then, as an alternative, they occasionally get ambushed when outdoors, which allows the player to fully enjoy the benefits of having a natural flyer. Now that the game has entered 9th level, they're starting to face off against villains with extreme, ranged attacks and the ability to bring down flyers like the gunslinger class.
I've met 1 DM that could run a game without prep time. Dude was wild, his formula was reskining a plot from an obscure game or book, and pull monsters that seemed like they would fit. No clue if he was some kind of rain man and could balance it in his head or if he just adjusted stats on the fly so it felt challenging enough. But I wouldn't recommend another DM prepare less, I typically recommend them to prepare more broadly. Spend the same amount of time prepping, but cover more options/topics slightly less indepth so if they end up there you have to improv a little instead of doing a lot of improv if you missed that because you spent the entire time on another option.
You're not only helping DM's, but also the players like me! I wouldn't be handling my Ranger at all if I wouldn't watch such Videos from you or Matt Mercer or Matt Colville or watch other groups playing. Thanks for your efforts and I hope you have fun at your table/tables ;-)
Thanks! That's awesome to hear. 😂
I'm no kind of rock star; I'll plan carefully, trying to be flexible enough to be able to roll with the punches and deliver the best experience I can wherever the players decide to go. This might take a while.
Here is how I prepare for a session or prep a quest line. I make a list of bullet points the party needs to accomplish, in order if their needs to be one, and then how the players accomplish these is up to them. Don’t make them super specific, just a basic task that leaves the method and details up to the players to fill in.
My thoughts are that you gotta build the world around flight if you're gonna let EVERYONE fly. If they're common enough that an entire party happens to be that way, than I think they'd be common enough that most bad guys are going to either have access to fliers or have access to counters like heavy crossbows. However, I think what really needs to be said is that if the plot takes them underground or in a building, wings are going to be less of an issue.
Instructions unclear, ran a game using all this advice. Players decided to punch me in the throat after I TPKd them twice for disrespecting me in the first session.
But seriously these vids are awesome, keep up the good work!
Longbows exist. Logic would dictate if the flying creature can strike at range, a bandit with a bow can do the same thing from the ground
Yep. The challenge is when the entire party can fly. Then they can bypass most non-dungeon encounters.
I actually really like doing prep, but I keep things pretty general until I have an idea of what the PCs are interested in doing. Then I prep the stuff it seems like I'll need, and if any of it gets skipped (which, let's be honest, happens a lot) I'll find a way to recycle it back into relevancy later on. There's nothing better than seeing the look on my players faces when they go haring off in a direction I clearly didn't expect and then I bust out a pre-written encounter or piece of treasure. Really it was something I had planned to use earlier that they ignored or avoided, but they don't have to know that!
I always tell people to prep, but be ready to improve if nessecary. Worst case keeping a prepped list for improving in a off the road scenario
1. About the flying. I just had the greatest idea about a cloud island / celestial themed campaign (world) where flying is a REQUIREMENT for the PCs to get around.
2. Preparation. To be honest, I think what you prepare matters far more than how long you prepare. I tend to spend my prep time more on the NPCs and less on "how are the PCs going to solve this problem". I just assume they will somehow solve the problem and spend my time coming up with ways the NPCs and world will react to it.
3. Didn't have that problem yet, no rules lawyer in my games thus far.
I can absolutely asspull entire adventures and be told that the PCs had no idea and everyone had a great time but here is the thing; it burns me out, fast. After a couple of sessions I don't even want to DM anymore for a long while. On the other hand, if I DM from a book it's... like zero stress, like "I can do this all day" in fact when I do that I sorta do the opposite of preparing, yes I carry a large kit of stuff for running a game but in so far as reading ahead and whatnot? I do very little of that, makes everything a lot more fun, because in a way it's like playing with the party, as I get to experience things when they do and we are doing it together.
One of my players found a sword that is imbued with flight, he found it at level 5 but still pretty early in the campaign, hes a human wizard, and they also found a circlet of scorching as well near the end of the dungeon. So far have had no real issues with it, but I've also prepared for the flying when I saw it in the loot, but what happened to be a genius idea, is the area is heavily infested with dragons of varying types, and without revealing anything basically now whenever he goes to fly he looks for them and has stayed flying low for now due the threat of dragons sweeping in, who can be seen flying around randomly plus they've witnessed a green dragon ambush a golden dragon above the forest canopy, along with other dragon sightings up to this point. So they are all very paranoid about flying, its resolved into some hilarious roleplay and actions. The wizard uses the sword to basically hover 5 to 10 ft off the ground and wont go higher at the moment. Just prepare for the treasure in your campaign if the item allows special abilities plan for at least a few uses of whatever the the item is. That's what I've done atleast thank you for reading
Maybe allow them to fly very short term at low levels, maybe even consider having them make con con rolls vs exhaustion. Until they get more accustomed to flying (leveling up). Or maybe treat it like mounted combat and they have to make acrobatics rolls to stay in flight.
Good ideas. I like it.
I struggle a lot when I prep and adventure and then my players try to go off book. Usually instead I give them a setting with a few open ended goals and enough information that I can generate interactions and predict the results of player decisions on the fly.
For the flying one being abused by ranged fighters, I make one of my players, a gunslinging Artificer have disadvantage on his ranged attack everytime he tries to shoot in flight if he fails a DC 12 con save. It's like having his boots of flying unpredictably give out
Here's an idea for flying races: depending on the size of your group have a limited number of pcs be able to use flying races and if the pcs want more than the limit make them talk it out to see who won't be a flying race
I prep key points. The in between needs flexibility but the key points are the marble pillars upon which your game stands
Can't you not allow somehow the PC's to not attack while flying and only use the wings for retreating or reaching high places?
My DM had this issue, he simply just said the wings weren't strong enough to use and said he didn't get the power to use them until the tefling warlocks diety gave him the strength to use it.
Best way to deal with rules lawyers? Learn the freaking rules.
Another option, and how I handle it, is let the rules lawyer run the rules while I handle story and narrative.
"Grak wants to grapple the orc!"
*Look at rules lawyer*
*Rules lawyer spouts out the rules*
~Continue on our way~
And ignore the rules lawyer whenever the rules prevent you from doing the thing that makes the most narrative sense.
Lol, i have 17 years of dm experience and i don't prepare much ahead of time, like maybe 30 minutes of time. Admittedly my world is already very fleshed out, of my own creation, and is very flexible depending on what everyone wants to do. I don't have to often make new npcs or create new locations because I've already done all that. Admittedly I've put in 100s of hours overall into my world, but it lets the actual game be fairly impromptu
I know your intention was to be discusting with the taco, but now I'm hungry and it's like, 9 AM
Well, that was fun!
Gotta say, on the second point, my game before last was almost completely improvised, completely because I threw out the plan for the game an hour or so before arriving because that session in the module was a bit lame so I intended on replacing it with something else. Basically I'm running Storm Kings Thunder and the last part especially of the Nightstone arc is pretty crap so I decided to add a little from Lost Mines of Phandelver in just to give them a little more work before hitting level 5. So that meant I ended up improvising a session based around them travelling up from Nightstone to Phandelver. As it turns out, that kind of session is relatively easy to improv as you have Waterdeep right there, so giving the PC's a little escort mission is easy, and then giving them a little encounter ended up being quite nice too as looking into my box of mini's I saw I had a bunch of zombies, and looking at the map of the Swords Coast, well wouldn't you know, there's the Mere of Dead Men, right on their rout! Ended up being quite the enjoyable session!
My point is, sometimes the situation means that you'll have minimal prep time, and that's fine. There's even ways of grabbing a little extra time during a session just to think things through by calling for a quick 10 or 15 minute break. Your players won't mind the toilet break and it gives you an opportunity to make a quick plan. It also helps if you actually have an end goal for the session anyway so you can improvise your story accordingly!
As for the example of these genius DM's out there, well I'm sure there are, but as you mentioned, experience plays a lot into that! Mercer has even admitted that the group has gone so far off the rails that he has imporved significant portions of the show, if nothing else just so he can either find the rails again, or get to the end of the session so he can go back and prep the chosen story for next week. And the main reason this works so well isn't the fact that he is a very talented story teller and DM, that's a given, but the fact that he's blessed with such an amazing group of role players and improvisers that he can bounce off and develop that story. I agree that as a DM you will fall to the level of your preparation, but your players are also a massive factor in how much prep you may have to make as well. We are all story tellers, not just the DM! ;-)
If one of my players decided they wanted to do that, I’d make an effort to use confined spaces and indoor fights to lesson the advantage. If more then half my party was flying at level one I’d do that and add more flying stuff to the world at large. Not just to counter the players, but to give the sky they spend most of their time on more interesting features then clouds and the occasional bird. A whole campaign that uses flight as a central mechanic is possible and potentially really cool.
A solution for the flying characters having a natural fly speed is to have flying work like concentration. If they get hit in mid flight then they have to make the concentration check, if they fail then they immediately fall their full movement speed downwards. Assuming they don't hit the ground after getting hit then they can use their action at the start of their turn to try and catch themselves from falling. I'd give them a d100 roll where they need to roll under the amount of feet they have left to fall.
For example, our player is 40-ft in the air and gets hit. They fail the concentration check and immediately fall 30-ft. At the start of their turn they are still falling the 10 more feet unless they use their action to roll a 0 to 10 on a d100. If they succeed then they stop their movement and stay air-born, if they fail then they have to keep moving downwards their full movement speed until they hit the ground and take falling damage equal to when they started falling. So 40-ft is equal to 4d6 worth of bludgeoning damage.
The damage gets worse the higher up the players flys, but at the same time the save also gets easier with more then 100-ft being an instant success. I'd also have this work for the enemy monsters as well, and now that I've thought of it, I'm more then likely to implement it into my games because shooting enemies out of the sky sounds like fun. As for having enemies to deal with flying PCs, just use flying enemies, or enemies that have ranged attacks. You could even have the enemies hide under carts or be forced to lure the players into buildings/caves/sewers where they can only fly so high up to where the normal enemies could hit them normally anyway. Flying characters are only hard to deal with if all the enemies can only attack from melee range. And if that's the case then they should be smart enough o know they can't deal with the situation and try to retreat and get help, taking dodge actions and held actions as they do.
after finding you tpk video ive subbed and been going back through your vids.
for the games ive run ive had a general idea that i want to run. then have my players make their characters run an introductory fight to break the ice for the first session. Read their backstories and build my idea into their backstories. the only real planning i do is reading up on monsters and challenge rating but i tend to be primarily good at improvisation. also i keep a handy list of generic names generated at pick from them when we go to towns, meat npcs, things of that nature then write them down as we go.
Fun and easy way to solve Level 1's flying: incorporate it! Make a map that is just hanging in the sky, with plenty of flying enemies, traps targeted for flyers, massive holes in the dungeon they have to fly through or over to progress. Players have fun, DM doesn't get a headache, and makes use of massive, multi-leveled mazes, going up and down levels as well as forward. Worked for me.
The campaign I play in is still low level with one aarakocra PC, and we used him to scout for the first few encounters until he was shot out of the sky immediately after taking flight. His character was almost insta killed and we all decided we needed to diversify our tactics. Since then, his flight has been more of a fun RP thing than an overpowered combat trick.
I do a lot of prep. I am always watching videos on ideas and tips and researching the setting. I make NPC stats and know monster abilities. I talk with my players between sessions. I believe this is what a GM should do. I don't, however, spend a lot of time planning the adventure. I learn where the players want to go and do and I research that setting. The players drive the story and I react to it.
What you described is definitely prep. I'm sure your players love the personalized feel that creates for your game.
Completely agreed - I am a GM for over 20 years, I lead parties regularly all that time, and I do not recommend improvising sessions to anyone. Even if you are good enough to do it, your games will STILL be better if you do prepare.
Amen. Can I improv an entire session. Yep. Will it be just as good as a session I prep? No way. 😁
Came across this video and the first problem of early flying characters could be fixed with starting the campaign with a great unnatural storm to investigate.
It could work that the winds are dangerous and unpredictable to fly in needing difficultly checks to stay on course plus avoid damage while in open areas.
This would hopefully give the party a goal and use to flying sparingly until they finally complete this starting quest where by that point they have gained enough lvls for the ability to fly to be less difficult for the dm to manage/worry about.
I prep then shit goes off the rails but end up using the same scenario in a different way. There are rines where I prep but I have to improve a great deal but I always have side things that I use.
Its fine for there to be fliers. If,as a dm i cannot deal with my players having some form of advantage and find a way to deal with it, then i do not need to be the dm.
With flying PC's I would just include more bows, more crossbows, maybe a black powder rifle or 2, someone else suggested bounty hunters that would actually have a net gun, final plan magic users. Maybe a really bad wound to the wing that would knock them down for a while and then allow them to heal it at higher levels.
Admittedly, I do improvise most of a game at the table. My planning is generally in the NPCs and the world, and then having those react to the PCs actions. I put about 3-6 months into story plotting, but then I let the PCs do what they do. Of course, I also make adjustments based on what the PCs play. If they play a group of mostly wizards? Magic based NPCs and threats are more common. If they play an all flying PC group? Then there are going to be more bows and crossbows and less slings and spears, secure places are going to be more secured from aerial attack, and there will be more NPCs either able to fly or with ways of effectively engaging flying enemies, because a party of level 1 fliers means fliers are more common in the world.
I'm a noob at all this, but would 2 possible solutions be:
1. Maybe put a level on when they gain the ability to fly. Like lvl 3 or something. (Idk birb people lore so sorry if that doesn't work)
2. Put some sort of length of time/distance they can fly or x times it can be used per long rest (maybe it can increase as they lvl up). Makes them have to choose between using it to skip a battle altogether or saving it to escape a situation.
I usually come up with A way things will go, and then try to adapt to what happens. It helps me to figure out what the other characters are planning/going to do to figure out how players actions will go.
In my campaign I was planning on the PCs breaking into a base looking for a guy only to be told he was in a convoy heading to the base. They ended up steaking out the base for a while so I’m like Ok the convoy reaches the base.