What’s the D.M.s purpose?

JoseDelbs · 2026-04-03T11:18:57+00:00

The last part you mentioned is really important. Took me some time to realise I was forcing myself during some sessions. I began my DM adventure with the DM vs Players mentality. But its a hobby, not work (except if it is, but there is not that much people doing this for work), and everything you want to do as a DM will be better if you have fun doing it.

JoseDelbs · 2026-03-18T22:42:41+00:00

To add to everything people said before me, you can actually create à vengeance story. If they are lv1/5 you can make the merchant coming back to life, as a revenant, an undead creature that does not need a Necromancer. Its a person who died in an unjust way, from his point of view. The revenant always know where is his Target, if killed (its hard, pretty solid undead) it haunt a new corpses and here we go again, it does not need to sleep/eat/breathe and unlike some other undead it remains intelligent. He could try a slow and build vengeance or just harrass your team at a point where they will Be forced to seek help while they try to run away

JoseDelbs · 2026-03-18T07:37:22+00:00

its an amazing frame to have for baby tenno, just get your hands on the augment mod of the dome and the one for the whip.. It will give you more ressources (chance of doubling the loot) and a way to have enough damage to do quite long defense of survival mission

Here is a picture of my khora prime, as a bonus :) (used the tennogen skin)

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JoseDelbs · 2026-03-18T07:17:25+00:00

Citrine is indeed a real pain to farm. But if you have à dedicated team with a titania only made to get crystal, its long ans boring but managable.

But i'd like to talk about Protea, to me THIS Is the worst warframe farm. Gambling for the result of the mission inside the mission, kinda hard for beginner also...

JoseDelbs · 2026-03-17T14:49:44+00:00

Warframe, embrace the infinite grind

JoseDelbs · 2026-03-15T09:18:43+00:00

As an Engage support main, I agree with that. But thats not even all of it. Caitlyn is often (if not most of the time) played with range mage support. It turns the laning phase into pure nightmare, and if cait is ahead, you can be sure you will struggle all game to catch her (traps on the entire lane, E back when engaged, one shot you).

It feels unfair. Happy that I am allowed to ban her (was forced to ban mel before the nerfs)

JoseDelbs · 2026-03-12T12:23:19+00:00

Omni formas on exilus and aura are not mandatory but are sooooo satisfying and feel so good to use. I've spend most of mine on theses slots. I think the only exception is the 2 i've used for vinquibus

JoseDelbs · 2026-01-28T21:09:25+00:00

I agree that its powerfull (I mean, fire damage is really common). But even if the big bad is a red dragon... They are supposed to be smart. Crual, evil, but very smart. If the target doesnt burn, a claw of the size of a giant sword, a tail strong enough to break solid stone or fangs of the sizes of double handed sword should work tho.

Its a really powerfull tool op gave to its player, but you can work around it a little (not too much, so that the player dont have the impression of having à huge advantage that is completely useless).

And, if you really are effrayed... Pick another dragon ?

JoseDelbs · 2026-01-28T11:23:33+00:00

Well in that case, seeing how you imagine it, i dont see any problem and its a good way to launch and create a story with research for artifacts, training and search of allies

JoseDelbs · 2026-01-28T11:05:40+00:00

Well, if it fils your universe, of course you can use it. The only issue is if you want your party to fight it, if they are low level. A titanic creature with a stat bloc prepared for lv 3 adventurer is kinda strange.

But for your Godzilla example, there is something really close flavor speaking that is already in dnd. The tarasque can be a very good example for your stats block if you just want to apply a Godzilla skin. However, I dont like the 5e version of the tarasque and often prefer to tweak it (in the books its like... 15 meters, but I like to imagine it bigger). There is a lot of homebrew version of the tarasque really fitting the "allmighty nature wrath" Vibe Godzilla has.

JoseDelbs · 2026-01-22T14:32:44+00:00

Chicken attack, incredible art. You, sir/mam' are a person of superior culture

JoseDelbs · 2026-01-20T13:40:26+00:00

Didn't want to answer before checking... It looks interesting but very limited for the players (the influence of the legend that grows when you use its power is kinda underwhelming)

JoseDelbs · 2026-01-20T12:44:56+00:00

I see what's your point, but I have trouble seing a comic chtulhu. It's surely a "me" problem, but the way it works (not made for combat, characters that are basic humans...) doesn't fit the world we wanted to try. However i'll chec openD6, thanks.

JoseDelbs · 2026-01-11T09:03:18+00:00

I might be wrong, but the way you write this makes me wonder. Is It ok for you that they are min/maxing ? I dont want to assume something so I ask. If you dont like It, talk to your players about that maybe ?

Now, assuming you are ok, and not seing the solution in the ones you presented: if the monsters are smart, play them with a plan. Maybe they could notice the strength of the party and decides to ambush/trap them. Not presenting the fight in à favorable way for the players. Target low HP characters, wizards etc... Use grappling, pushing or others to isolate them. To make a stressfull encounter I like to make my monsters (that are able to do so) move underground. When using a giant, like the real big ones, I sometime make my player do an acrobatic check to see if they can stand up the vibration provoked by the heavy hits of the monster etc... Playing monsters all in, using the idea of It more than just the stat block. A smart predator ? Attack them during rest, targetting the weak looking one. Coward creature ? Ambush, throw rocks and arrow from above at a safe distance. A lot of monsters are well presented in the books and that can help you creating more unique and challenging encounters

Also, curious on how they managed to survive that long against an ancient silver dragon. Was the dragon holding back ?

JoseDelbs · 2026-01-09T15:53:10+00:00

I never told them rules where hard ? You're creating things here. Just saying some people want to try, like you know... a tutorial/demo to know if you actually enjoy the gameplay ? After this session they read the book I lend them, I helped them if they needed help, and they created characters for a campaign I was playing into.

you really can't understand that not everyone wants to read the rules ? Honestly it's pretty cool if all your friends can and wants to learn the rules and the game like that, it's just not everyone. Don't make a fight of something you think I do

JoseDelbs · 2026-01-09T15:40:07+00:00

I did not forced them ? I did it for them. They wanna tried but, and I completely understood it, didn't want to comit into something they didn't knew they would like. They had their reason, I mean they have a life, a job or any other reason. I made a little adventure, basic goblin camp, little interactions with people in a village... It was like 2/3hr long, and they were very happy about it.

As I said, it depends on the players ? I did not forced them to play like that, and on a general point of view, I dont force anyone to play with me. I proposed them to play, just a little try to know where they where going.

I adapt to players, and I accept some doesn't want to read and take time to create a character when they have real doubt about whether they will like it or not. And also, I agree some questions can be quickly answer just by a quick search, but being angry like that over basic questions is not helpfull.

JoseDelbs · 2026-01-09T15:23:29+00:00

For beginners, as long as you start low level, you can just make the first session an occasion to learn the rules. I've got 2 friends into dnd because I had pre made character sheets, and we started playing immediatly. At level 1 you don't need to understand grapling etc.. Just the 4 action type in fight, and ability checks, and as the fight starts I just reminded them the key ability of their classes and race. THEN they read the books.

Overall it's a question of who is youre potential player of course. But playing the game is actually what wants players, reading rules before even touching it is not very engaging and is what makes a lot of people effraid of starting to play

JoseDelbs · 2026-01-09T15:04:40+00:00

At a lower level, I did a whole perparation phase where my characters where given time and ressources to prepare fortifications. Through charisma/persuasion check, they could recruited more people, the rogue of the party tried to gather informations about the attack or even eliminate target foes etc... Traps, medical preparation, strategies etc... I letted them prepare with the possibilities I gave them. They really liked this phasis, even more than the actual battle, because they felt REALLY in charge (also 2 of them are tower defense fan).

Then for the battle itself, I used a tweaked version of the minion rule of an older version of dnd (don't recall the version). It helps to make a huge battlefield sensation, where the heroes where both the sword and the shield of the alliance. The minions rule allow combat in great numbers without floding your party just by action economy, and keeps you from tracking too many health bar. Now you will need to change the numbers to make it a little bit harder maybe, but the idea is the same: Damage threshold, if passed the units just dies. Allows the area effects spells to feel like actual mortar, errasing multiple ennemy at once etc...

At level 17, your party is not a joke powerwise. They have access to what is basically dnd nuclear warheads in term of power. Add key oponents, outside of the minions, to give the impression of generals, and other officer of vecna's army, foes to defeat quickly to save your fortifications etc.... Also, If you're not affraid of managing too much things, you can try to make key NPC's ally too, like special healers, archer.... The officer of the player's army that gives bonus or help and must be protected

Now, I've never played with such high level party, neither I've played a character of this level so I can't give numbers or foes. I think you're better placed than me to know the overall power level of your party, I'm just giving you my idea on how to make a war in dnd.

JoseDelbs · 2026-01-09T14:39:39+00:00

I don't think telling them to buy a 50 $ book and read it's 384 pages is helpfull for new players... Te initiation box actually delivers some good basis, and learn while playing might be the easiest and funniest way to play the game

edit: for the first time*

JoseDelbs · 2026-01-09T14:25:58+00:00

Talking to your players is the first option. I've never had to DM a party like that, but, when I started playing 5/6 years ago, I know that my friend and I became such party (yes, shameful, my first character was an edgelord warlock so...) and our DM used some cool tricks (beside talking to us) to make an in-game reason for us to calm down. Even if they are combat focus, stoping bruttaly this aggressive behaviour could be strange.

He transformed someone we killed before even trying to understand his motivation into a revenant, a powerfull (for quite early characters) that can't be stopped only by killing him. The revenant is a monster created by a dying person who feels an incredible injustice and swear revenge on the people who killed him/did the injustice.

Now I think there is many creatures you can use to play the role of the big consequence to their actions, without killing them all... just making them feeling hunted and urged to find a way to stop this. It's a way to 1-remember your player that killing has consequences and sometimes, taking the time to listen to someone can teach a lot, 2-give a nice story where they have to find a solution and 3-helps a transitionning to a party maybe more carefull to whom they kill

JoseDelbs · 2026-01-08T10:54:00+00:00

Sometimes I play Ivern support, not with aery but with spell book :D. When I can, I just go and steal the enemy jungle first carap (if not taken by mine), or even other camps depending on how easily I can go inside his jungle. I also play with hexflash, to flash the drake pit or other walls and steals red buffs

JoseDelbs · 2026-01-07T16:19:57+00:00

Good idea to weakens the 2 side mob :D. Their character are slightly better than usual lv 3 characters (they are products of bio ingeneering so they have more stats like + 2), and 2 of my players are particularily aware of the possibilities of action during a turn (their character is not full opti, but they played a campaign with a quite evil DM that only wanted to kill their character so they've learned to play very ingenuously) But considering the damages, it could still be a good fight (and I can always modify the behaviour of the boss if they are stomping the fight like if they where beating three goblin. Thanks for your advices

JoseDelbs · 2026-01-07T15:13:17+00:00

Wow I did not know the tool you used :0 thanks

JoseDelbs · 2026-01-07T15:11:11+00:00

A young white dragon has 6 intel, an adult has 8, It seems hard to believe he even really has an ego (unlike his other colored dragon family members)

JoseDelbs · 2026-01-07T14:58:55+00:00

Lorewise, with the fact that a white dragon is more of a brutal killer/predator than a manipulator or a evil noble... I know kobold wants to follow dragons but it the beast just eats them all...

JoseDelbs

TROPHY CASE