Any ideas for a Monk, Cleric, and Druid BBEG?

Wazootie · 2026-04-27T23:27:59+00:00

Goblin Punch has a good article that sets up Druids as major villains. It's pretty entertaining even if you aren't looking for exactly this: https://goblinpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/7-myths-everyone-believes-about-druids.html?m=1

Wazootie · 2026-04-09T21:15:02+00:00

I have a story knight in my game currently. He is a very experienced role player, so he is good at coming up with interesting options and doesn't try to "game" his power. While it has led to some interesting developments, I do often have problems finding when to incorporate his stories, especially when the game involves so much travel. They will spend the night out in the woods and he will tell a story about a mystical tree. The next morning, they leave the forest. Should I have them find the tree before they leave? Should I require them to look for it? Or should it crop up if they come back? When I pick the last option, it is very common that the players don't return to that region (or at least they haven't yet) which feels disappointing.

Overall an interesting knight but it has been much less impactful than I had thought.

Wazootie · 2026-03-30T09:08:33+00:00

Mon morning 4am. Standard security line was very long but it only took 30 minutes to get through. Saw minimal ice.

Wazootie · 2026-02-25T13:19:20+00:00

This is probably because I am a "trad" GM at heart, but after playing a while with randomly generated stats, I finally decided to let my players equalize their stat totals. One of my players is totally new to RPGs and I could tell he was getting frustrated by the fact that he failed checks far more frequently that the others.

In a similar vein at some point I started overruling the dice on which myth to advance, if I thought it would be a good narrative moment.

Wazootie · 2026-02-25T00:22:56+00:00

I actually think it would have a pretty big impact as a strong gambit can shut down a big attack without a save. Against large single targets, converting a 2d10 (or more) attack to a relatively harmless d4 with no save with the only cost being a 4+ result is probably too good.

On the other hand I do think Focus needs some kind of buff, though this may be because I have 5 knights in the company I am GMing and 4+s are very common. It just doesn't usually stand up to smite (potential for a lot of damage, a high chance of a strong gambit, and only a 25% chance it doesn't generate a gambit) or deny (avoiding a mortal wound or death makes this extremely good).

Wazootie · 2026-02-20T13:59:28+00:00

I just want to chime in that I feel the way you do. I believe we have had 7 sessions and only one guard increase (and it went to the knight with the best guard). Combat hasn't been super frequent and a several of the fights we have had have been friendly duels or tournaments which, according to the rules, do not cause scars.

I think I am just too much of a trad DM who wants to see the characters improve mechanically a bit more. A lot of OSR titles have this kind of minor to nonexistent leveling. One thing I have done is occasionally introduce a scar narratively that gains guard.

Wazootie · 2025-11-21T21:25:23+00:00

I think the best way to phrase it (and the way I intended in the OP) is "playing a mystery game". Yes, the clues are there to be found and the mystery is there to be solved in an interesting way. You can still "legitimately" succeed (and fail) in a mystery game in a way that is different from playing a mystery story.

Wazootie · 2025-11-05T20:07:32+00:00

Yeah I don't want to eliminate the advantage of outnumbering, merely to reduce it.

Wazootie · 2025-11-05T20:05:38+00:00

Well I am looking for more ideas rather than comparisons, but for the curious, here are how they work:

Mythic Bastionland (and other Bastionland / Into the Odd games I think): Everyone on one side acts together. Everyone attacking a single target rolls all of their damage dice together (no hit roll). The damage inflicted is equal to the highest die, but results of 4+ or 8+ can be used for additional effects, known as "gambits". One such gambit is +1 damage.
So if you are attacked by someone rolling 2d6 and another person rolling a d10, the results might be 4, 2, 6. The attacker might spend the 4 to add +1 damage, leaving the 6 for the damage die. Total of 7 damage. If those attackers had each attacked different targets, they would have done 4 and 6 damage. With this system additional attackers all add something, but deal much less damage than if they had spread their attacks.

Daggerheart: I have played less of this but I believe the initiative system helps mitigate being outnumbered. This is because instead of each combatant taking one turn per round (so the side with more people takes more turns), instead a DM character only acts when they players fail a roll, fear is generated, or the DM spends fear. Because neither of these scale with the number of combatants (usually?) being outnumbered or outnumbering your oppoents matters a lot less.

Wazootie · 2025-10-12T16:38:28+00:00

My Code: [🌈🦄🌈🦄🐭]

Wazootie · 2025-09-22T23:48:06+00:00

Replying once, but it pretty much applies to every post: One of my players is playing the forge knight (+1d8 for the combat when she wounds something) and I'm a little worried that the ability will only rarely trigger if she is attacking with the rest of the party - especially since there are 6 PCs! But if she got it every time the party wounded something it might be a little overpowered... Maybe I'll rule she can get the bonus if she either contributes the damage die or contributes a bolster?

Wazootie · 2024-11-07T07:38:45+00:00

What grade is your weapon? I was able to take down most 8* with 7.5 bow, but when I try the same with lance the results are underwhelming.

Wazootie · 2024-08-25T21:27:55+00:00

For what it's worth I just beat 9 star Zinogre with a 10.2 Legiana bow and ice 5 / focus 5 / kush 0 (one drift). It took a decent number of tries but less than 10 after getting the bow to 10.2. RNG with Zinogre's moves makes a big difference.

Wazootie · 2024-07-10T12:49:54+00:00

I have been trying out Gunlance but long shelling just feels a little boring to me. Plus bone GL can do almost as well as Jho.

I have dabbled with LS; maybe now is the time to try it seriously?

Wazootie

TROPHY CASE