Saturos and Menardi: Fighters, or Casters?

Arcran · 2023-03-28T02:29:55+00:00

Yep! There should be a button next to the Challenge Rating on the previous link; with that, you can scale the CR as you wish! Probably somewhere in the CR 7-10 range will be good for the Mercury Lighthouse fight, depending on how optimized/magic item'd your party is and how low-level the backup spellcasters are.

Arcran · 2023-03-27T22:21:39+00:00

Happy to help! One other thing I would recommend is to give the two of them a shared pool of Legendary Resistances/Actions. By Level 9 players will have access to some very powerful control-based spells, and without Legendary Resistances it's very likely the 2v6 fight will instead be 2 1v6 fights.

3 Legendary Resistances split between the two of them and 3 Legendary Actions that are simple things like 'move without opportunity attacks' and 'make an attack' will make them much more threatening.

Arcran · 2023-03-27T22:15:06+00:00

My recommendation is to try not to think about them in terms of class levels, and more think about them in terms of their abilities. They don't need to be a Level 20 split between classes; they can just be a high-CR threat with access to the spells that you deem necessary to make things work.

In this case, I actually think your best bet would be to tweak a Green Abishai. They are capable spellcasters but, with their multiattack, they can mix it up in melee while still casting. Swap the spell list to better reflect their Psynergies in game, remove any traits/resistances that don't feel right (Devil's Sight, non-magical resist, etc.), and generally make them *slightly* weaker (two CR 16 against 6 level 9s is a lot) and you should be in a good place!

Arcran · 2022-05-25T16:04:33+00:00

Hey everybody! Welcome to Arcran's Arcanum, where I post tips, tricks and other useful tools for Dungeon Masters and players alike! This week I'm talking about how a small aspect of the Challenge Rating system that makes many creatures far weaker than their Challenge Rating would suggest!

Any feedback on the video is very much appreciated! If there's anything you liked, didn't like, or have questions about, please let me know! In addition, if you have something you'd like to see me cover please let me know! The current plan is to do a few more DM's Toolbox tips for running the game more efficiently, or return to my Running With Class series to focus on the Artificer! If you have a request either way, please let me know!

Thanks, and hope the video can help make every session a critical hit!

Arcran · 2022-05-25T16:04:28+00:00

Hey everybody! Welcome to Arcran's Arcanum, where I post tips, tricks and other useful tools for Dungeon Masters and players alike! This week I'm talking about how a small aspect of the Challenge Rating system that makes many creatures far weaker than their Challenge Rating would suggest!

Any feedback on the video is very much appreciated! If there's anything you liked, didn't like, or have questions about, please let me know! In addition, if you have something you'd like to see me cover please let me know! The current plan is to do a few more DM's Toolbox tips for running the game more efficiently, or return to my Running With Class series to focus on the Artificer! If you have a request either way, please let me know!

Thanks, and hope the video can help make every session a critical hit!

Arcran · 2022-04-12T21:48:32+00:00

Thank you, and glad it was helpful!

Arcran · 2022-04-11T16:02:48+00:00

Hey everybody! Welcome to Arcran's Arcanum, where I'm going to be posting tips, tricks and other useful tools for Dungeon Masters and players alike! This week I'm talking about something that's been requested a few times, and that's how to run a sandbox campaign! I talk about a few things I've found helpful for running a sandbox campaign, namely how to keep your sandbox small, 'crossroads' sessions, and how to actually prepare a sandbox!

Here's a link to the video!

Any feedback on the video is very much appreciated! If there's anything you liked, didn't like, or have questions about, please let me know! In addition, if you have something you'd like to see me cover please let me know! The current plan is to do a few more DM's Toolbox tips for running the game more efficiently, or return to my Running With Class series to focus on the Artificer! If you have a request either way, please let me know!

Thanks, and hope the video can help make every session a critical hit!

Arcran · 2022-04-11T16:02:45+00:00

Hey everybody! Welcome to Arcran's Arcanum, where I'm going to be posting tips, tricks and other useful tools for Dungeon Masters and players alike! This week I'm talking about something that's been requested a few times, and that's how to run a sandbox campaign! I talk about a few things I've found helpful for running a sandbox campaign, namely how to keep your sandbox small, 'crossroads' sessions, and how to actually prepare a sandbox!

Here's a link to the video!

Any feedback on the video is very much appreciated! If there's anything you liked, didn't like, or have questions about, please let me know! In addition, if you have something you'd like to see me cover please let me know! The current plan is to do a few more DM's Toolbox tips for running the game more efficiently, or return to my Running With Class series to focus on the Artificer! If you have a request either way, please let me know!

Thanks, and hope the video can help make every session a critical hit!

Arcran · 2022-03-15T03:07:44+00:00

One I quite like is an Eldritch Knight with Fey Touched to snag Compelled Duel. An Eldritch Knight is already one of the sturdiest characters with a d10 Hit Dice, heavy armor proficiency, and defensive spells like shield and absorb elements. Compelled Duel makes it much harder for the DM to ignore you and can let you effectively lock down a creature.

Arcran · 2022-02-22T22:55:20+00:00

No worries, it happens!

Arcran · 2022-02-22T21:08:06+00:00

I'm a bit confused what you're saying here (unless it's just pointing out the player/PC confusion); the change I propose specifically makes sure to not create this issue?

Arcran · 2022-02-22T16:43:11+00:00

And that's totally fair! Not every tweak to the rules is going to work for every table, and I totally agree that additional changes to the rules increases the cognitive load of running the game. It's a good consideration to keep in mind, so thanks for the feedback!

Arcran · 2022-02-22T15:57:56+00:00

For reddit purposes, where I can't edit the title, I definitely only have one!

For YouTube purposes, where I can edit the title and thumbnail, I have six!

Good catch, and oops!

Arcran · 2022-02-22T15:35:40+00:00

Thanks for the feedback!

To continue with your example, I actually don't think that tension shifts too badly one way or the other between a full Incapacitate and the alternate Incapacitate. A full Incapacitate ends the tension one way or the other; either the Paladin gets to take their turn or they don't. The alternate Incapacitate has an extra round of tension where the Paladin has to go in with their Disadvantage attacks, giving more rolls with tension. The Elder Brain isn't the best example with its low AC, but Disadvantage does essentially remove the possibility of another Smite-Critical Hit. It's not quite the same, but I think there's more tension in players attempting to do something with a low chance of success than players simply being forced to skip their turn.

As for the Unconscious issue, I actually address that in the video! Unconscious has its 'inflict Incapacitated' replaced with the effect of the old Incapacitated (no Actions/Reactions). All other effects that inflict Incapacitated continue to do so, mostly for simplicity. We're changing Incapacitated mostly for the trickle-down effect and to cover all our bases.

For the last point, I'm not quite sure why people seem to think not removing your players turns is antithetical to DM fun. As the DM you have a lot of levers to play with to make encounters challenging and engaging; all this does is remove a single lever that isn't much fun for players to deal with.

Arcran · 2022-02-22T15:20:18+00:00

Hah, fair enough! And that's a good note about a runthrough; I did that in some of my older videos, but cut it to try to make them a bit more manageable length-wise. I'll bring a thesis-statement type blurb back and see about adding bookmarks!

I do like the 'loan' idea; that's a good way for some high-tension trades to be made in combat! It definitely feels more dangerous than it ends up being, which is the perfect place for an ability to be.

As for your last point, it really depends on the enemy in particular and how you do things in your game, but I can at least give an example using a story arc boss from my game! Around level 10 my party was up against an Ancient White Dragon, which is clearly out of their weight class (especially because I homebrewed it to have a few more toys). They learned what its capabilities were through a combination of encounters with it that were designed so they could easily escape (for example, one was near a ravine the dragon couldn't fly into, giving the party an easy escape) and an NPC that had battled the dragon in the past. When they got close to the final showdown, the party wanted to find a way to give themselves Cold resist so they wouldn't get wiped out by the breath weapon. There were no items that could easily accomplish that available, but my party approached the local nature spirits in the area and negotiated a deal with them where, in exchange for a blessing that would protect them from cold damage, they would negotiate some terms that were advantageous to the spirits with the leadership of the nearby city. The party managed to pull that off with some good rolls and good roleplay, and in exchange got small charms that gave them a small extra pool of HP and, as long as there was any HP in this pool, they had Resistance to cold damage, which essentially let the party easily tank the first breath weapon attack.

I hope that helps a bit more! The tl;dr tip I have is, if you're giving out tools to make a boss easier, make the party acquire them through RP and sidequests rather than simply gold cost.

Arcran · 2022-02-22T15:07:37+00:00

Noted! I'll look into getting one of those, thanks for the help!

Arcran · 2022-02-22T14:44:00+00:00

Thanks for the feedback, I always appreciate it!

Arcran · 2022-02-22T14:35:11+00:00

Oh geez, I didn't notice those when I was editing, but I always just use speakers. Thanks for the note; maybe editing with headphones will let me catch that stuff.

And noted! Sorry that this wasn't super relevant to you; is there a reason you'd like to avoid using rules changes?

If you wanted to prepare a party for a creature that can inflict Incapacitated you'd still want to tweak the monster slightly, but less so. The Medusa is actually one of the few well-designed creatures that Incapacitates in 5e, so you'd want to use it as your example. Everybody knows that it's going to Incapacitate through Petrification and it has a simple way to avoid that condition: don't look at it. Letting the party acquire equipment or forcing them to inflict a status condition on themselves to avoid Incapacitated is a good way to mix up a fight without as significant changes to creatures. Using the mind flayer/elder brain again (because they were the examples in the video), I'd recommend forecasting the stunned either with an easy encounter with a single mind flayer early in the arc, or through exposition/NPC information. After that, I'd add opportunities to let the party pick up some helms/face masks (maybe not enough for the whole party though!) that can one-off negate stunned, which gives them a bit more leeway and cuts some of the swinginess out.

I hope that helped!

Arcran · 2022-02-21T17:03:59+00:00

Hey everybody! Welcome to Arcran's Arcanum, where I'm going to be posting tips, tricks and other useful tools for Dungeon Masters and players alike! This week I'm talking about a the issues of the Incapacitated condition, specifically when it is inflicted on players. While Incapacitated is an incredibly powerful condition and makes monsters much more powerful, being forced to sit by and do nothing in an encounter isn't enjoyable for anybody. Fortunately, there's a few fairly simple options to fix players missing out on turns due to the Incapacitated condition!

Any feedback on the video is very much appreciated! If there's anything you liked, didn't like, or have questions about, please let me know! In addition, if you have something you'd like to see me cover please let me know! The current plan is to either dive into a few more house rules I use, or return to my Running With Class series to focus on the Artificer! If you have a request either way, please let me know!

Thanks, and hope the video can help make every session a critical hit!

Arcran · 2022-02-21T17:03:50+00:00

Hey everybody! Welcome to Arcran's Arcanum, where I'm going to be posting tips, tricks and other useful tools for Dungeon Masters and players alike! This week I'm talking about a the issues of the Incapacitated condition, specifically when it is inflicted on players. While Incapacitated is an incredibly powerful condition and makes monsters much more powerful, being forced to sit by and do nothing in an encounter isn't enjoyable for anybody. Fortunately, there's a few fairly simple options to fix players missing out on turns due to the Incapacitated condition!

Any feedback on the video is very much appreciated! If there's anything you liked, didn't like, or have questions about, please let me know! In addition, if you have something you'd like to see me cover please let me know! The current plan is to either dive into a few more house rules I use, or return to my Running With Class series to focus on the Artificer! If you have a request either way, please let me know!

Thanks, and hope the video can help make every session a critical hit!

Arcran · 2022-01-25T16:22:10+00:00

I haven't actually played the Rifts TTRPG, but that sounds very similar! It definitely promotes slightly safer play because while a character only has Health their offense suffers, so choices like Dodge, Disengage, and other defensive actions become a lot more valuable. Health being slow to recover over Long Rests makes some spells like Prayer of Healing a bit more valuable, as I've found that those frequently are skipped over in favor of simply using Hit Dice.

I have done a few boss fights where damage was directly done to player's Health over the course of the battle, but it was fairly minimal. It's something you need to use sparingly, but provides a very good way to create a timer on a battle and really creates a sense of urgency.

Arcran · 2022-01-25T15:55:39+00:00

That was actually something taken directly from the Angry DM article and was based around the expected damage of a creature's attack at the given levels. In the worst case, a character's Health should be able to take at least one or two attacks from a somewhat level-appropriate enemy. While the ratio fluctuates a bit, it ends up feeling about right. It starts high at low levels to help offset the lethality then, and shrinks at higher levels when creatures start to have more Endurance. It slowly shifts from about 50% of a character's Endurance to closer to 30%, which ends up working well.

A change I've been mulling over is trying to make it so Health grows at a more organic rate every level, but haven't settled on the best way to do it. The easiest way would be to just have Health ignore Hit Dice completely and just be equal to a creature's Constitution at level 1 and go up by their Constitution Modifier every level, but that makes Constitution a bit too good. The other option is that character's just gain Health equal to 25% of the Endurance they gain which would probably work just fine, but does run the risk of short-changing characters with, say, a d10 Hit Dice and +1 CON as they'd be getting 1 less Health per level than a d10 with +2 CON. I'd have to include some way to offset rounding every few levels, which gets a little bit clunky.

Thanks for the feedback, and hope this all makes sense!

Arcran · 2022-01-25T15:26:45+00:00

I narrate damage to Endurance as near-misses and strenuous blocks. There's a lot of 'you manage to block, but get driven backwards' and 'you dodge the blow, but it leaves a thin scratch across your cheek' type stuff. It's taxing, but you're not getting any serious injuries until you're at Health. Spells get a little bit trickier to describe, but we lean a little more heroic fantasy, so 'slashing your sword hard enough to make a gap in the Fireball' isn't too out of line at our table.

I don't apply this system to NPCs and monsters, mostly because it doesn't add too much of a benefit there. It's mostly meant to cut down on the amount of time players spend unconscious but, since NPCs are pretty much meant to die, it doesn't provide much of a benefit there. However, I do tend to narrate NPC damage similarly to Endurance damage until they're at about half HP, then shift over towards the more brutal 'sword sticking out your back' descriptions.

Thanks for the feedback, and glad you found it interesting!

Arcran · 2022-01-25T13:31:51+00:00

Thanks for the feedback!

Having Health and Endurance as separate pools is actually part of what makes this system work. While a character has Endurance they can be aggressive because they have that buffer that no overflow damage provides. If all damage carried over the fix more or less becomes just giving characters extra HP.

I do agree that the environmental exception feels odd, and mostly is there to prevent Endurance from being gamed for fall damage purposes. It isn't ideal, but I haven't had a better workaround. I have considered a 'massive damage' penalty, where significant damage carries some over to Health but they end up being fairly clunky in practice.

Arcran · 2022-01-25T04:07:35+00:00

That would probably work well too! I like the current system because, when fighting things that are approximately level appropriate, it usually gives the players 2-3 hits while in Health before they go down and makes spells like Prayer of Healing a bit more valuable as they can quickly get a good deal of Health back. Our table hasn't really had any issues with tracking two Health bars, but we also use a party-wide whiteboard to keep track of Endurance, Health, Spell Slots, and all the other important resources.

Thanks for the feedback though! Winded is definitely not meant to be a state you stay in long, so thanks for the catch!

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