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Today we're discussing combat encounters we've planned and conducted that we remain proud of to this day. Will we learn anything? Maybe!
#D&D #TTRPG
Find my friends on their channels:
Teni @Dicely DnD
Fred @How to D&D
Wally @Wally DM
⏰Time Stamps:
00:00 Did Wally DM sponsor this video?
02:12 Flutes' bad example Arcane Golem
03:34 Hungry Hungry Hippos
05:27 Tower Defense
08:14 Horizon: Zero Dawn
09:16 Dragon bedlam
11:09 Dragon heart titan
13:29 Silencer Omega
14:40 BWAAAAH
15:00 Agree with Fred and me
16:32 What makes combat memorable?
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0:00
What was a combat encounter you invented and ran as a DM that you will always be proud of
0:05
I am going to cheat just a little bit because if you'd like to see what I have to say
0:09
I wrote about it in my book. Molly DM's Journal of Puzzle Encounters
0:14
There is an entry in there called Bone Bash. Now this is a combat puzzle
0:18
My players were playing Waterdeep Dragon Heist. They were in first level of Undermountain and they were in search for an NPC
0:26
and this room that I wanted to slide in there with this combat they go into this room of course
0:32
it's going to be a anti-magic cone there's going to be a 15 foot cone of light that's coming down
0:39
kind of highlighting the middle of this area the doors are going to shut and they're not going to
0:43
be able to use any magic in addition to that their weapons are also gone but that's okay because I
0:48
provided plenty of weapons for them there was a rack of 12 daggers 10 spears 8 maces 6 axes
0:55
and four bows. If you got all that, that's great. If not, don't worry about it because you don't
1:00
even need that. But after they get assimilated to the room for a few seconds, I introduce a skeleton
1:07
for each of them to fight. And they can grab one of the weapons off the rack and they can kill the
1:13
skeleton. Depending on what weapon they use, depends if two more skeletons come in or if that
1:21
ends the chain right there so i had one of my players that's always into the puzzles eight
1:27
layers deeper than i ever go my puzzles are usually easy he goes to extra difficult and hard right
1:34
away he's like 12 daggers 10 spears eight muses he's like going through points he's like oh each
1:39
of them are a die there's a 12 sided die it's inside a die eight sided die and he's doing like
1:44
all these maths and calculations when the when the solution to the puzzle was that skeletons are
1:51
vulnerable to bludgeoning damage so if you kill them with a dagger a spear an axe or a bow it's
1:58
they're going to be destroyed and two are going to take its place but if you just smack them in
2:02
the head with a mace it's going to be destroyed you kill four of them and you're on your way out
2:06
and that was my puzzle combat encounter that you can find excellent and the the plug is appreciated
2:12
as well. I'm actually going to start with one I wasn't proud of because it just came to my mind
2:15
because I kind of like to introduce these, not necessarily puzzles, but you know, like something
2:20
to switch up combat. And this was one I based off of something called an arcane golem that I came
2:26
across in Baldur's Gate 2, the expansion. It was a creature that was immune to magic anything. So I
2:32
was sitting there just wailing on this thing. Like, it's not very tough. It's not hurting me. It's not killing my characters in the video game, but it just wasn't dying. I was like, why
2:39
why won't it die and i realized i looked it up online because i got so frustrated and it's like
2:44
the arcane golem is immune to magical attacks you have to use mundane items to kill it and i was
2:48
like you gotta be kidding me so they're like 30 they're like 30th level characters at that point
2:53
so all their weapons are magical so i had to like go to like some dead salamander over there and be
2:58
like give me that give me that polearm real quick and go like kill this arcane golem but i thought
3:03
it was an interesting concept when i tried to do that in actual dnd um i had it be an encounter
3:09
where the players would fight this tough guy. And if they used anything magic on him
3:13
when it was over, time would repeat itself, but they would have used their resources and hit points
3:17
Like they didn't get those back. And they got really frustrated. It was not a good idea
3:22
I was not proud of that one. They didn't walk away being like, oh, that was fun. It was just like, what are we supposed to do
3:28
You know, I didn't really drop hints enough. Along the way I did because like they eventually got the answer
3:33
but I think I pretty much just had to say it. And that was not a good example. But a good one I did was a large cavern
3:39
When they went in, they saw three or four big gateways of darkness
3:45
And you think, oh, there's probably something in there. That's where the dog sleeps
3:49
That's dangerous. And there was just boulders everywhere and some light coming in from the ceiling because it was like an ancient temple
3:55
And they're like, what's going on here? They start going through because they have to get through this area. And all of a sudden, out of the side of those holes, these chain chomps from Mario come out
4:04
You know, the kind that are like rock like big cannonballs with but they got teeth and whether on a chain
4:09
So they would zoom out and try to grab at someone and pull them back in And these things were tough So everyone was just trying to fight them you know one of them he was just a like a fighter who was all about great weapon master and so
4:23
everything he just tries to do that that character and so they were trying to defeat these things and
4:29
they were realizing this isn't going well but then they started looking around all the boulders and
4:33
stuff and they realized this is hungry hungry hippos and they they saw all the boulders and
4:38
because all the chain chomps they'd launch out and they would break boulders along the way or
4:41
grab onto one and bring it back with them. And they figured out that if they could get the chain chomps
4:45
to destroy all of the boulders, then the encounter would end. So they started
4:51
using this mechanic that is built into the game that no one ever uses, which is
4:55
the ready action for movement. So you can ready your action, but instead of readying an action, you can choose to
5:01
save your movement. So when something jumps at you, you jump out of the way
5:06
And it, you know, so these things, they just launch out. And so it was a great way to use
5:09
that mechanic that like no one ever used and remind them that it existed and it was also a
5:15
big laugh when they realized it was all hungry hungry hippos you can't top hungry hungry hippos
5:19
man that's awesome that's really good yeah good times well uh one that immediately comes to mind
5:29
is one that also incorporates one from wally dm's book of puzzles but i'm not gonna share that i'm
5:35
not going to share that one this time i have i've used this one in the past it's a great book um
5:41
but uh there was another time where this was a very complex series of events so my players had
5:49
gone to a um a monk monastery high up in the mountains this uh this monetary is built on like
5:55
a mesa with like a couple of bridges connecting it to the rest of the mountain range so there's like
6:00
Only a couple of ways in. It's very controlled. But the place was about to be under attack by forces of evil druids and giants
6:08
I gave my players a chance to prepare this monastery for the oncoming attack
6:14
They had a chance to set traps, position troops, set up both mundane and magical defenses, and a chance to scout for intel
6:22
With their intel, the party learned that the enemy forces would be coming in waves and that the druids could fly
6:28
But they quickly forgot that fact, which worked out for me. Part of what made this memorable for me was I created a big table map
6:39
and then I built the monastery out of Legos. And just having the physical piece there was just so satisfying for them
6:46
And I was very happy with it. And building things, it's fun. This tower defense series of events began playing out
6:53
They got to defend against these waves of enemies. and eventually when the last one came in, I introduced those flying druids who came in as
7:00
giant vultures delivering troops to like the main monastery and the party had to run off and pursue
7:05
them. And this kind of led into a boss fight. One of the druids was in the form of a giant gorilla
7:09
and he was there to kill the head of the monastery. And so when the party finally caught up with him
7:14
they began fighting in this main dojo and a druid that was not a druid, but a monk panicked and
7:19
flipped a lever activating the training room. And so this dojo had like a checkerboard floor
7:26
And what this lever had done is every like all the black tiles, let's say, rose 10 feet up in the
7:32
air, creating elevated spaces, but also creating pit traps between them. And so there was this
7:36
element of like making sure you're on the right thing. And then at initiative 20, these would
7:40
alternate. And then also on initiative 20, each column of tiles, regardless of color
7:46
a series of pulls would explode out of them. So you also had to make sure you weren't on a specific column of tiles at Initiative 20
7:54
Otherwise, you'd just get attacked from beneath. And so this combat of constantly recognizing where you ended your turn
8:01
what the consequences of that might be, and trying to get each other to position enemies into certain disadvantaged spots
8:07
it was very fun for my players to think more strategically in the combat
8:13
That's awesome. and the fact that you built out a lot of things and put that much thought into it that signals
8:17
the players like oh i can i'm engaging with this like i can tell the dm put extra effort into this
8:22
and that's beautiful also the way you were telling that the the mesa part and like the the flying
8:28
uh druids coming in and stuff and doing a drop and a boss fight ensuing that sounds a lot like part of horizon zero dawn if you ever played that but I find that no one has whenever I bring it up But just know that you seem to have tapped into something
8:42
that they also did, and it was a lot of fun. So well done in that sense
8:48
I played it, but years after I'd done this encounter. You did
8:53
Denny, finally, someone knows what I'm talking about when I bring up this game. I'm so happy
8:57
Denny's story reminds me of the movie Once Upon a Time in China
9:03
with Jet Li in the ladder scene where they're kicking ladders around
9:08
and running around all over the place just completely nuts but that's not the story that I have for today
9:14
I have two stories I was running Horde of the Dragon Queen
9:18
and then I went into Rise of Tiamat and a part of Rise of Tiamat is a scene
9:23
which isn't spelled out in the adventure where the two armies, the Cult of the Dragon and the Allied forces, face off
9:31
But there was no actual stuff around that, so I built some battle scenes for that
9:36
One of them was them having to fly in on dragons and take out catapults
9:43
And then another one was probably the craziest thing I'd ever done
9:47
I decided that I was going to have a flying dragon scene
9:52
Since there was dragons on both sides, evil dragons, good dragons, so I stuck seven players on a dragon of their own
10:00
that they could fly over the battlefield into no man's land and attack the enemy forces
10:05
I gave them the stat block and I said, at half hit points, that dragon's going home
10:10
So you keep a track of what's going on with that dragon. That dragon drops below that, no matter what, it's going home
10:16
And I'm like, okay, all right, we got it. And then I had eight dragons, red dragons, sitting ready to face off against them
10:25
And I had eight wizards of Thay sitting on there, casting fireballs at them
10:32
And I ran that and the dragons, and they ran their dragons and their characters
10:39
And it was the craziest shit I have ever done. Would I ever do it again
10:47
I've done it once and I've always said always do everything twice. This is one
10:51
time where I'm just not sure that it's such a great idea. There's no way that
10:57
my players will ever forget riding into battle on dragons, facing off against
11:03
wizards on dragons. It's just never going to happen. It was utter bedlam
11:09
The second one is the characters were now level 18 or 19 and
11:16
for some, I can't remember specifically the reason, but there was a dragon heart
11:22
that was out of the dragon's body that was beating in this location
11:26
and it needed to be destroyed to successfully achieve whatever goal. Now, I didn't actually tell players
11:33
that information specifically. They had to figure that out themselves. But I gave it a guardian
11:39
Scratch built a titan that would stand on them, shoot ice beams at them
11:45
and pummel them and those level 18 characters it's very hard to challenge high level characters
11:52
but it was like they had gone back to being level one again like they absolutely got smashed because
11:58
this thing scratch built solo monster i gave it 800 points i didn't expect them to be able to kill
12:05
it i gave it an attack at the end of every player's turn and it could do on average just over 100
12:11
points of hit points worth of damage every time it attacked if it hit and it was pretty good at
12:17
hitting too but then the characters you know like the fighter had like 256 hit points so it made an
12:22
attack on its turn but it also had all these other legendary attacks and actions which i just however
12:28
many characters that there are that's how many legendary actions there are three rounds that's
12:33
how long the fight was they got in they got pummeled they just went oh my gosh what do you
12:40
mean 105 hit points? I said, yes, you've just been hit by a beam of ice. He did 105
12:46
hit points. How you doing? Yeah, I've lost about just under half my hit points This is the fighter At the end of it one of them cottoned on There a heart Got there because there lots of abilities allowed to move around very fast
13:01
Got there, stabbed it. They had to use cover. There was just no way they couldn't survive otherwise
13:06
Two of the characters went down, and the spellcasters who really had to make sure they were never visible
13:11
so they always had to find total cover, otherwise they were just crushed or obliterated
13:15
they managed to rush at the very last minute to the downed um allies they had and they
13:21
teleported and dimension doored out of there and they never went back
13:24
but they took out the dragon some heart that's cool epic stories that reminded me of one of my
13:34
first campaigns where there was a city that outlawed magic very original and um they had a
13:42
secret police force called the silencers and they were all about like casting silent spells and
13:47
counter spell and that kind of stuff very anti-fun for spell casters at the end of the campaign
13:52
they were attending like this feast where they were like we're gonna turn this place upside down
13:58
it's time to take down the silencers from the inside out and when they did that upon them was
14:02
unleashed uh silencer omega and like this guy comes down and if you've seen hellboy you know
14:10
the the guy who worked for the nazis who's like ancient and he doesn't have blood anymore and like
14:14
sand instead and he has like those blades that guy he was like that but like a clockwork um
14:22
engineered person which is basically what that guy was and this guy could if someone attacked him he
14:28
would open up a portal even though he wasn't looking at them and the attack would go through
14:31
and hit someone else which is basically what the rune knight does now so you're welcome wizard of
14:37
the coast for the idea obviously you stole that from me and no one has ever had that idea before
14:41
and he would just be like counter spelling freely just like stabbing and then like blasting people
14:46
with lasers and stuff sometimes it's so fun to just make your players go like oh you know they
14:51
especially when they're at such high level that they're ready for it and they're just like let's
14:56
go and it's a good time so i i agree with what you said fred in your video about um oh maybe you
15:04
that um but um i agree with myself well done well done wait i really liked what you said in your
15:15
video oh wait never mind that was my video that was i well fred had a video about high level play
15:23
and i'm not sure he said this but i think i said it but some but maybe you did fred let me know
15:27
So basically at high level play, just have fun. And if you are someone who likes to like balance fights and stuff like that
15:35
which I am not, but if you are, let it go when they're high level
15:40
because that's playtime. And so people often say they're scared of high level play
15:45
But to me, that should be like the best time, because that's when you can just let loose, I think
15:51
Did you say that in your video, Fred, about the high level play? I don't recall. You probably did
15:55
oh yeah i've said it in many videos it's not the only one there's been quite a few
16:02
yeah yeah you just you just can't make balanced encounters at high level it's just a waste of time
16:08
so you might as well just over talk it and if you break a few eggs well good lord you know
16:13
they can probably bring themselves back uh it's not it's not a big deal or they've probably got
16:19
a brother that they can find and you know find their body and sort the problem out not a problem
16:23
overclocking your D&D Beyond account. Yeah, just overclock that thing until it breaks
16:30
It sounds like the most memorable fights are not just a vanilla monster
16:33
from the monster manual in an open field. It's always something else going on
16:38
that makes things epic. And it had nothing to do with the challenge rating system
16:44
So tell us about your favorite combat encounters. Which ones have you been most successful with DMs
16:48
Which ones do you remember most players? This is your creative license given to you
16:53
to tell us about it in the comments if you are just dying to tell people about your D&D, but no one will listen
16:57
I will listen to you today. Thanks for joining this question of DM Roundtable. We'll see you in the next one. Bye
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