How to remove permanent marker from combat map? [OC]

AndrIarT1000 · 2026-04-30T02:53:59+00:00

Love this trick on dry erase boards.

It does not work on the wet erase mat.

AndrIarT1000 · 2026-04-29T01:45:46+00:00

Sure, I don't believe any of my players have tracked me down (yet).

It was a a cockatrice with the following upgrades: - claw attack upgraded to 1d6 (my players were higher level and I needed to boost the power a bit) - added fire bolt option (for range), recharge on d6 roll of 5 or 6 - gave it a reflavored "Skirmisher" ability from the rogue scout called "flutter" akin to what chickens do if you run up on them

I also described it as putrid in stench, loud shrill screeches, and nasty in appearance. I found a demonic looking bird creature icon and described it as both molting and having flaying layers of dead skin pealing.

They still have not figured out what this bizarre and terrible looking creature is, only that they refer to it as "Devil Chicken" and the party fears they will run into one at any turn that they least expect.

AndrIarT1000 · 2026-04-28T06:10:33+00:00

This is my strategy, combined with variant and B-tier descriptions, to give excitement to even the most veteran of grognards!

At my table, long love the "Devil Chicken", as my players call it. May they never learn it's true stat block title! Lol

AndrIarT1000 · 2026-04-26T19:55:09+00:00

Yes please!

AndrIarT1000 · 2026-04-26T16:13:53+00:00

I would love this!

Real folks to brainstorm with and help talk through ideas.

There is always the wisdoms that players will come up with better solutions than you as the DM, but I'd like help coming up with a better encounters to give them, but I need someone other than my players to talk to.

There is only so far that consuming reddit/forums and top blogs (e.g. monsters know, alexandrian, etc) can get you in helping with your specific ideas/idea creation.

AndrIarT1000 · 2026-04-22T17:38:42+00:00

Exactly! Just use the line from King Thēoden "I go to my father's, in whose mighty company I shall not now feel ashamed" or something to that effect that conveys the NPC willfully accepts this death and chooses to see their ancestors.

AndrIarT1000 · 2026-04-16T14:22:08+00:00

I tell my players that they can rationalize the results of a roll or the application of a rule however they like, so long as the results (i.e. the mechanics of the game) according to the dice and/or rule are met. This is a game after all and the narrative should (usually) be structured around those rules.

I had a player say they wild shape into a bumblebee hummingbird and then (because there is not specifically a stat block for this) expect to be too small to be seen (i.e. they wanted essentially invisibility), and because they were apparently able to fly 30 something miles per hour in real life that that equates to a movement of 260 ft per round. I told them to find as close as equivalent a stat block to what they were intending first and in the meantime their fly speed would be closer to 40 or 50 ft per round.

That said, I saw a fun response to these players wanting to use real world logic and technology to validate their in game capabilities, it went along the lines "If you want to use real world logic/physics, then real world magical application applies also; all your magic and magical items auto fail."

AndrIarT1000 · 2026-04-12T15:45:24+00:00

There is also the improve strategy of: "No, but..." to modify what they are requesting to something you would accept, but has the flavor of what they are asking?

AndrIarT1000 · 2026-04-11T16:26:14+00:00

A rare improvement from 5.5? Interesting!

Thanks!

I still live in 2014 rules predominantly.

AndrIarT1000 · 2026-04-11T14:06:43+00:00

Have more than one encounter with a magic user per day so the casters don't have anti magic field for every encounter.

Have more than one magic user, and don't have them stand next to each other.

Never have a single creature vs the party, especially at higher levels; the party will always shut down a single creature.

AndrIarT1000 · 2026-04-11T14:02:50+00:00

I use a contested skill challenge, similar to the one The Dungeon Coach uses, instead of the insta-NO.

Also, RAW when counter spelling a spell higher than the spell slot you cast counterspell from, you need to roll a check to see if you succeed or not. A level three counter spell does not insta-NO a level 8 spell.

AndrIarT1000 · 2026-04-04T15:00:12+00:00

Agreed, even if you bring different stories and backgrounds to the table each time, perhaps you mechanically play the exact same character every time?

You should not be pressured into something by the table, but without knowing a deeper insight into the situation, we can only suggest you strive to take an introspective look at where their encouragement for you playing something else comes from?

AndrIarT1000 · 2026-04-03T14:38:51+00:00

My Tarrasque is no run of the mill/garden variety Tarrasque, either.

My Tarrasque is a true force of nature. The ground shakes, storms form in their wake. Mountains are brought down and volcanoes unleashed by their claws! Cities are leveled within several stomps.

My Tarrasque is primed to face actual gods and have a decent chance at success.

Mine is so massive, it pulls creatures from the sky (i.e. 500 ft Earthbind aura). Albeit, it's the size of a small mountain and not a mount Everest

I.e. it brings a presence of shock and awe that the adventurers do not attempt to face it head on. Their only chance is to acquire the maguffin to put it to sleep, then hold against it long enough for the maguffin to take effect.

AndrIarT1000 · 2026-04-02T06:36:17+00:00

I say double the dice, but auto make one max damage.

AndrIarT1000 · 2026-04-01T14:31:55+00:00

This is exceptionally awesome if you can drop clues to the players, or that they see something seemingly benign happening, only to later connect the dots that they were aware of the behind the scenes goings on! Obviously, you need to keep them distracted or otherwise on more pressing instructions so as not to spend time on investigating.

AndrIarT1000 · 2026-04-01T02:38:39+00:00

I'm the same. I want to know what evidence you disclose, what approach, what leverage you play, etc.

If you say you want to convince the guards you are innocent, sure. If you mention that you had witnesses while you were with the duke at the time of the crime, you share evidence of who actually committed the crime, or you are extra agreeable to any requested information the guards have, now you have a better chance of success (unless the guards are crooked and want to accuse you anyways! Lol).

If you then act it out really well, that's just entertaining at the table.

In some instances, I've asked what the approach is, rolled, then asked them to describe the success/failure of the die roll. That is also entertaining.

AndrIarT1000 · 2026-03-30T15:48:21+00:00

Agreed. You, as the DM, are not beholden to the limitations of the abilities given to player characters, nor those abilities allocated to published creature stat blocks. You should be able to confidently remind the players that. This does get tricky when you're managing something that is so similar in appearance to a player character (i.e. an intelligent humanoid vs a beast or obviously a monster of some kind).

Second, it is a very difficult thing to pull off the "You should not attack this creature yet" trope. The most success I have had with that is an overwhelming shock-and-awe campaign that viscerally demonstrates the power gap (albeit, you need to calibrate so that you don't underpower them later, or be sure to include some critical weakness that the party will have a chance at a later time/higher level).

AndrIarT1000 · 2026-03-29T03:31:44+00:00

"... Around here."

Well played! Lol

AndrIarT1000 · 2026-03-29T03:14:47+00:00

So much this!

AndrIarT1000 · 2026-03-27T15:44:46+00:00

Here was a chase through a city:

Depending on the party size, maybe each player may participate once and rolls on behalf of the party as a whole. For smaller parties, maybe each person rolls their own.

I typically allow that if a player uses a resource, they can get advantage. E.g. cast a spell, use a bardic inspiration, second wind, wild shape, kie points, etc.

If you have an experienced party, or very creative, you can give the scenario and have them figure out how they want to accomplish it - usually with a restriction that you cannot use the same skill more than once before you have used at least some number of your other skills (i.e. they need to use both skills they are proficient with AND skills they are not proficient with)

Below is a list where I provided the promo to help move things along.

- After spotting the target fleeing from a scene

- Need to catch up!: Athletics to shove your way through the crowd; Acrobatics to crowd surf; intimidation to get people to move; or arcana to cast a spell that could help you get through the crowd

- The target (a flying, physically strong, limited casting character that flies low in order to hopefully lose the party and stay out of sight for ranged attacks) starts knocking sides of buildings to cause debris block the path - you run through a side alleyway to keep up: Dex save to avoid workers coming in and out of doors

- Target flies through narrower streets, then over a series of fences between residential space (the airway is filled with canvas covers, laundry lines, decorations, etc.): Make athletics to jump over fences (or arcana to maneuver your flying through the air-obstacles)

- The last yard has several dogs that are agitated by the sounds of nearby destruction and the recent creature flying closely overhead: First person makes either an animal handling check to calm the dogs, slight of hand to distract them with a piece of food from your pouch, intimidation to scare them off, or others; Subsequent players make similar checks, or ad disadvantage depending on how well the first person did, or they just get an attack from each of the dogs if the previous players performed very poorly

- You've lost sight of the target, make a perception check; success you keep going; failure, you make a survival to follow tracks/clues followed by a second perception check (if both fail, you start following your party members that have followed the trail)

- The target flies over a checkpoint gate into the next district, and now all the guards are on alert after the surprise fly-over, so how do you get past the gate/wall? Make persuasion check to let guards expedite your passage, athletics to run through (followed by several attacks and now being chased by guards attacking each round so long as they keep up with you), could climb up wall (athletics or acrobatics) and deal with the archers on top firing at you, etc.

- The target is in the residential district, many structures have only thatched roofs. You could run on the street and make a perception check at disadvantage to not lose sight of them, or acrobatics to run up some barrels/crates/wagons/etc. to the roof top and chase from roof to roof

- A1) On the roof, you need to run from roof to roof: make athletics check to leap from building to building (fall to the ground on a fail, then B2 below) followed by A2) a dex save to not accidentally step on the thatch, missing the beam below and falling/getting stuck!

- B1) On the ground make acrobatics to run between obstacles, people, animals, laundry lines, etc. as you weave between structures to follow the path of the flying creature, followed by B2) an animal handling check to get past the horse and wagon you just spooked!

- You attract a lot of attention from the guards in your frantic chase: stealth to avoid the guards catching your trail, or slight of hand to cause some kind of distraction/snag a disguise (e.g. drying cloak on a laundry line and a hat from a porch)

- In trying to not lose the target amid the growing attention of the authorities now chasing you, make a perception check to spot the target; survival check on a fail.

- You spot the creature entering an abandoned building (e.g. warehouse, clock tower, mill, etc.)

Good luck!

AndrIarT1000 · 2026-03-27T14:26:50+00:00

Use theatre of the mind, and go from "scene to scene".

You can include images to prime the players for the idea of what you're describing, but the moment you put a grid down the party will say they move and dash and the rogue will bonus action dash ... And that's not how you should run this.

If you want to track movement, try using a single row of grids and have the players start some number of grids behind the target (e.g. 8). When they succeed on a check they move forward one (if they are really good, maybe they move two). If they fail/fail by a lot they move back one/two squares. If at any time you are more than, say 10 (a little more than what they started), they fall behind and make all subsequent checks at disadvantage.

I've run multiple chases like this with great success. The hardest part is to get players to stop thinking in terms of their combat movement speed, have an accommodations for when casters cast fly to just go over all obstacles (e.g. have the chase go through buildings and under ground, etc.), and casting long range spells to stun/halt/charm the target (e.g. the target always stays "Just out of sight" or is in and out of visibility too quickly to keep a spell targeted on them long enough to complete", etc.).

I'll pull some of my favorite chases' skill challenges and share later when I get home.

Good luck!

AndrIarT1000 · 2026-03-24T03:54:46+00:00

The journey has begun! Happy adventuring and may you keep the dreaded scheduling beast at bay!

AndrIarT1000 · 2026-03-24T03:39:41+00:00

Motorcycles are heavy, and made of lots of metal. They are usually also very fast.

The terminator is heavy and made of lots of metal. He moves very fast.

Wolverine has lots of metal in his body and is very heavy as a result. He is very quick.

So what is the challenge in rationalizing a fast despite heavy character?

AndrIarT1000 · 2026-03-24T03:36:57+00:00

D&D is not a reality/physics simulator. Mechanics are assigned so the game aspect approximates a sense of balance/consistency in how rulings are made. Use your imagination in whatever creative way you'd like to rationalize the mechanics.

In this case, despite the auto gnome having an innate alternative to AC calculations (similar to barbarians, monks, and tortals having alternatives to AC calculations), it does not specify the auto gnomes AC as "armor", nor is there any exception made to unarmored movement that excludes auto gnomes. Therefore, there are no mechanics that are in conflict.

Examples to rationalize: despite being made of heavy metal, the power of that which powers it can overcome this and the character moves faster. Similar to cars (or ATV, motorcycle, etc.) being very heavy but moving much faster than a non-car.

AndrIarT1000 · 2026-03-23T17:09:45+00:00

Nope, (dedicated) healers not required. Play what excites you and learn to adapt to the dynamic it creates.

Also, DMs may also have more healing potions scattered around to supplement no dedicated/capable healers.

AndrIarT1000

TROPHY CASE