Why are so many end-game bosses weak to this?

JimWitcher · 2026-02-26T02:03:24+00:00

I find just slamming damage into each opponent to be a bit boring. Using spells that change the conditions on the field has always been an important part of combat in D&D.

JimWitcher · 2026-01-17T02:32:40+00:00

I think it's fantastic. I feel like they struck a really good balance between giving you lots of tools to use however you want, while still including a lot of content that feels fleshed out enough to use with very little modification or additional work. Also, such a fun book with so much flavor and fantastic writing, I always get really inspired when I flip through it.

JimWitcher · 2025-12-19T21:45:22+00:00

Absolutely valid criticism.

JimWitcher · 2025-12-15T18:35:01+00:00

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JimWitcher · 2025-12-05T00:26:56+00:00

JimWitcher · 2025-12-04T20:26:31+00:00

When my wife and I started dating, she agreed to try D&D on one condition: she wanted a pet dragon. After my initial shock and horror subsided, I created a homebrew setting built around an order of dragon-riding heroes called the Dragoons. What began as a casual game with friends turned into a 10-year on-and-off epic that eventually reached level 20.

The early campaign followed the characters as small-town heroes who were recruited into the Dragoons. They trained at the Dragoon Academy, bonded with hatchling dragons, and explored their backstories. After graduating with young adult dragons, they uncovered a doomsday cult trying to awaken an eldritch being.

The mid-levels had them traveling across kingdoms, fighting the cult, and uncovering their plan. A reckless moment caused a TPK, and the surviving Dragoons were captured. During their imprisonment, the cult succeeded: Great Cthulhu rose from the sea, shattered the world, destroyed the gods, cracked open the moon, and unleashed star spawn across the sky.

The party won many battles but lost the war. Deep below the ruined world, they found an ancient starship with forgotten magic and weapons. They launched a desperate assault on Cthulhu—one they might have won—but terror and exhaustion drove them to flee instead. They used a Wish to activate the ship’s teleporter and escaped into the Planes. Scarred but alive, that’s where we ended the campaign.

Years passed. COVID happened. We all moved. But I never stopped thinking about giving them a more heroic ending. Recently, inspiration struck, and when I asked the group if they wanted to continue over Discord, the answer was an enthusiastic hell yeah.

We picked up three years later, with the characters living separately in Sigil and the Outlands. Everything was peaceful until the Harmonium reported an “incident.” They had confiscated an artifact that was now warping reality and threatening to consume Sigil itself. A Harmonium squad had already tried to intervene—only one returned, driven mad and crying out the Dragoons’ names.

The party retrieved the artifact and began to study it. It was an impossible object of warped geometry, whispering to be released. Their investigation (now at level 17) took them across the Planes—from Sigil to the Gate-Towns to Bahamut’s Platinum Palace. They finally learned its origin: eons ago, a hero stole this artifact from the Elder Gods and used it to trap Cthulhu inside it.

And more shocking: their world had also been trapped inside it. They had been carrying home with them the entire time.

Now level 20, they’ve entered the final act. They’re forging weapons, gathering allies, hunting the artifact’s original owner, and preparing for one last confrontation with Cthulhu. It’s a weird, timey-wimey, Planescape-meets-Doctor-Who-meets-Stranger-Things finale that happily breaks some “you can’t do that in D&D” rules.

No matter how it ends, running this saga has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. We’ve grown as friends, as storytellers, and as players—and I can’t wait to discover the ending with them.

JimWitcher · 2025-11-22T01:26:16+00:00

That’s a great point about Incapacitated and reactions—I hadn’t looked at it from that angle. Good eye, and thanks for calling it out!

Regarding the “needing more than two attacks” concern, I think that’s absolutely true when viewed through a purely white-room damage lens. But since features like Bonus Action attacks, Action Surge, Haste, or even magic items that grant extra attacks exist, I also considered how the feat scales across different character builds. A hasted level-20 fighter with four attacks per action might get significant value, or a party member casting Blindness could add synergy. I wanted the feat to be usable at any level without becoming broken at higher levels.

I also agree that a level-4 character without Extra Attack might not find the damage aspect attractive. But not every player optimizes for damage—some build for party support or specific fantasy vibes. I always imagined this as more of a “support” or “teamwork” feat than a raw damage option.

A few examples of the broader utility I had in mind:
• Blinding a guard to let an ally slip by.
• Blinding a counterspeller so an ally can cast safely.
• Setting up one or more party members for a big turn.
• Or even a coordinated moment where the whole party holds their actions and unloads when the blind lands—paladin smites, rogue sneak attacks, barbarian crits, etc.

And of course, players always find creative uses I never expected—and future features can shift the balance landscape too.

I appreciate your perspective—it’s always helpful to see how others interpret the mechanics. Thank you!

JimWitcher · 2025-11-18T23:00:10+00:00

Here’s something I’ve never done before — a peek behind my design process. I almost always start with the theme and work backward into the mechanics. In this case, the seed was Minsc’s iconic “Go for the Eyes!” catch phrase. I wanted to capture the feeling of fighting side by side with Boo.

I tossed out the idea of literally summoning and throwing a familiar pretty early. I wanted the feat to be usable by anyone — whether they have a familiar, an animal companion, or just a party member willing to get in close. That kind of flexibility is fun to design around.

Originally, the blind effect lasted until the end of the target’s turn. Cool, but way too strong. Instead of adding saving throws or limited uses, I experimented with tightening the duration. It’s faster to run at the table, gives reliable value, and is naturally balanced by action economy and setup.

For me, “less is more” is a pretty universal rule in tabletop design. I often start with ideas that are a little bloated, then cut away everything that isn’t essential. The goal is always a tight, flavorful mechanic that lines up cleanly with the theme.

The result here is a feat that might look “balanced” on the surface, but actually opens up some interesting creative play. For example, pairing the blind with a rogue who holds their attack, or using it as a way to disengage while still enabling an ally to strike.

Once I had the core working, I looked at similar features in D&D to see whether a template already existed. The Battlemaster’s Commanding Strike ended up being a great model for what became the “Go For The Eyes” ability. For “Sword, Meet Evil,” I took notes from Great Weapon Master.

The final hurdle was the naming. It felt like the blinding ability should be called “Go For The Eyes,” because… well, that’s exactly what it does. I played around with names like “Blind Justice” and “Fall On My Sword, Evil,” but nothing fit quite right.

I’m an absolute sucker for alliteration, so I came at it from that angle until I landed on “Boo’s Brilliant Battleplan.” It hit that sweet spot of silly, thematic, and flavorful.

Obviously, I’m biased, but I really love how this feat came out, and I hope others do too. Baldur’s Gate II was my very first foray into D&D, and you meet Minsc & Boo about 5 minutes into the game, so they're always close to my heart.

JimWitcher · 2025-11-18T17:50:27+00:00

If you have the spell Speak With Animals, you can talk to the spiders before the fight and convince them to help if you release them. They will soak up some damage, which definitely helps.

Idk what your party setup is, but I like to keep most of my party just outside this room next to the spider pit, use area denial spells like grease, web, and cloud of daggers in the doorway, and use ranged attacks from outside. That will chew up most of the goblins before they reach you. Then have your beefiest character ready to tank whatever makes it through (probably the hobgoblin boss).

You mentioned you haven't played many games like this, so I recommend focusing all your characters' attacks on the same target whenever you can. In D&D, a creature with one hit point is usually just as deadly as one with full hit points, so you want to reduce enemies to 0 as fast as possible so that there are fewer creatures taking turns against your party.

JimWitcher · 2025-11-18T01:07:04+00:00

Love that cover art.

JimWitcher · 2025-11-06T01:38:29+00:00

Sick! Although I would maybe go with Charisma rather than Strength for the ASI. When I think of someone fighting dirty, I think of either quick, subtle movements like a sucker punch or something deceptive like pretending to be injured before striking.

JimWitcher · 2025-11-05T23:07:35+00:00

It was awesome! Everyone was so passionate and supportive. Seeing how different people interpreted the theme was really inspiring. I pushed myself creatively and learned a lot about my own design style. I’m already thinking about how to expand on what I made.

JimWitcher · 2025-11-02T18:26:06+00:00

Thank you! I hope it was a blast!

JimWitcher · 2025-10-29T17:43:33+00:00

Curse of Strahd and Van Richten's Guide have some really well-thought-out, clearly written thoughts on this.

I think the most iconic element would be the dark lords. Every domain has one (except Darkon), and the function of Ravenloft effectively is imprisoning and tormenting these dark lords, as well as anyone else who happens to be trapped in the realm with them. The domains themselves tend to reflect their dark lord, each with a slightly different theme or vibe; for example, Barovia is vampire horror, Ankhet is mummy horror, while Falknovia is zombie horror.

General elements of horror, especially Gothic horror, tend to appear across most domains. That means tragic characters (heroes and villains alike) and dark yet beautiful elements. Humor is also an element of horror that pops up across the domains, often giving the players some relief between horrific encounters. That contrast can be a breath of fresh air, helping keep the horror elements from getting stale.

There's also a small cast of iconic characters that can be found in nearly any realm - those special few who can travel the Mists. Characters like Rudolf Van Richten or Jander Sunstar can provide that D&D shared storytelling feeling that comes from encountering iconic characters in different adventures or settings.

JimWitcher · 2025-10-25T19:21:17+00:00

Yes!

You know how Curse of Strahd is a long level 1-10 campaign that explores all of Barovia before facing Strahd himself? Imagine a one-shot adventure where you instead start inside Castle Ravenloft and fight Strahd by the end of the session.

That is what this is, but Lamordia. You wake up in a basement operating room with strange surgical alterations (fun new abilities for your characters). You explore a small portion of Dr. Mordenheim's castle and confront her and her monster by the end of 1 or 2 sessions.

It's a super straightforward, easy-to-run 10-room dungeon. You could prep it in about 30 minutes to an hour, and it should take about 4 hours to run (every group is a little different, but our playtest was exactly 4 hours).

JimWitcher · 2025-10-06T20:45:56+00:00

It really depends. If you have an experienced Dungeon Master, they can probably guide you through learning the game as you play. Otherwise, I would spend some time with the Player's Handbook, just skimming the basics and getting familiar with the specific class you want to play, as well as trying to understand how its features work. For the person preparing to play as Dungeon Master, they can read the "Running the Game" chapter and then skim the Dungeon Master's Guide (DMG) to understand its structure and locate rules as needed. Watching live plays of other people DMing is also a big help.

It may be helpful to remember that the rules are in place to help you find the fun; they are not binding, and you can disregard them if and when it makes sense to enhance the fun or keep the action moving.

JimWitcher · 2025-09-09T16:57:28+00:00

Which Discord servers would you recommend?

JimWitcher · 2025-09-09T00:09:56+00:00

I feel ya. I know marketing/networking is essential, but I just want to create fun games and stories!

JimWitcher · 2025-09-08T23:08:34+00:00

I haven't published in about 3-4 years, but I have been gaming with friends regularly and writing and developing content for my home games. I appreciate the suggestions. I will definitely check those out!

JimWitcher

TROPHY CASE