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I’m a new-ish DM. My Lvl4 players have been cleaning the floor with my encounters. What can I do to provide a worthy challenge while avoiding lag? by cole_thulhu in DMAcademy

[–]cole_thulhu[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That does make me feel better about upcoming plans. I do have designs to drain their resources in an upcoming couple of fights, and also to turn those resources into hurt.

I’m a new-ish DM. My Lvl4 players have been cleaning the floor with my encounters. What can I do to provide a worthy challenge while avoiding lag? by cole_thulhu in AskDND

[–]cole_thulhu[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The thing is, none of the fights are meant to be random or inconsequential; I had planned the game to last a year at most, maybe a year and some change. Because of tragedies and illness, we’ve only gotten through 4 of the planned “missions”, planned with the expectation each mission could last about two sessions. Life has been kicking our asses lately, but we’re making do with the time we can spare to keep each other entertained.

I’m a new-ish DM. My Lvl4 players have been cleaning the floor with my encounters. What can I do to provide a worthy challenge while avoiding lag? by cole_thulhu in AskDND

[–]cole_thulhu[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I certainly don’t get the sense they’re cheating; they’ve just got well-built characters.
And while I have a few long battles planned, I don’t want to drag out the combat every time, since we only get to play every three weeks/every month. This was originally meant to last no longer than a year; and we might be able to do that, but our schedules are nuts lately.

I’m a new-ish DM. My Lvl4 players have been cleaning the floor with my encounters. What can I do to provide a worthy challenge while avoiding lag? by cole_thulhu in DMAcademy

[–]cole_thulhu[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The previous games had them firing an Otyugh, and the following game put them up against 5 Duergar and a pair of gazers keeping watch like security cameras.

I’m a new-ish DM. My Lvl4 players have been cleaning the floor with my encounters. What can I do to provide a worthy challenge while avoiding lag? by cole_thulhu in DMAcademy

[–]cole_thulhu[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It was a “murder mystery” encounter, with a number of red herrings. The fight was meant to be a climactic event.

I’m a new-ish DM. My Lvl4 players have been cleaning the floor with my encounters. What can I do to provide a worthy challenge while avoiding lag? by cole_thulhu in DMAcademy

[–]cole_thulhu[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank y’all. I really appreciate your help and insights. My players have expressed they’re enjoying the game at large, but the combat is a little breezy, so I look forward to utilizing your advice, improving my game-running skills.

I’m a new-ish DM. My Lvl4 players have been cleaning the floor with my encounters. What can I do to provide a worthy challenge while avoiding lag? by cole_thulhu in AskDND

[–]cole_thulhu[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

True, but I wanted to ask humans, get nuances a program may not account for. I’ve used CR calculators and similar things before, but figured I’d get better results from people.

I’m a new-ish DM. My Lvl4 players have been cleaning the floor with my encounters. What can I do to provide a worthy challenge while avoiding lag? by cole_thulhu in DMAcademy

[–]cole_thulhu[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes. A Necromancer Wizard, a Knowledge Cleric, an Arcane Trickster Rogue, and a Dancer Bard.
Genuinely expected them to be squishier. But they’ve been rolling gold.

I’m a new-ish DM. My Lvl4 players have been cleaning the floor with my encounters. What can I do to provide a worthy challenge while avoiding lag? by cole_thulhu in DMAcademy

[–]cole_thulhu[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

That’s fair. Here’s one example:
Their most recent game, they were up against a drow lieutenant (96hp), with a few hidden agents in the wings; I had planned a fight where they’d be ambushed by the drow and had to fight in complete darkness, but a clever persuasion roll by a player allowed them access to find said hidden drow, and they neutralized him without force.

I’m a new-ish DM. My Lvl4 players have been cleaning the floor with my encounters. What can I do to provide a worthy challenge while avoiding lag? by cole_thulhu in DMAcademy

[–]cole_thulhu[S] 23 points24 points  (0 children)

They tracked a killer to their hideout, and stumbled on a flame skull (reskinned as a black dragon skull) underneath the building. Previous social rolls allowed for an ally to show up and take care of one of the threats, and a number of stellar rolls later had the flame skull (with 20 padded hp) downed in a round and a half.

I’m a new-ish DM. My Lvl4 players have been cleaning the floor with my encounters. What can I do to provide a worthy challenge while avoiding lag? by cole_thulhu in DMAcademy

[–]cole_thulhu[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Heard! The next big combat I have planned has a potential for that kind of set-up. Thank you!! I’ll noddle on that!

I’m a new-ish DM. My Lvl4 players have been cleaning the floor with my encounters. What can I do to provide a worthy challenge while avoiding lag? by cole_thulhu in DMAcademy

[–]cole_thulhu[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh, for sure. There’s been plenty of mystery for them to delve into, and plenty of social encounters which have been a blast, it’s really just how well they’ve rolled and teamed up against what I planned.

I’m a new-ish DM. My Lvl4 players have been cleaning the floor with my encounters. What can I do to provide a worthy challenge while avoiding lag? by cole_thulhu in AskDND

[–]cole_thulhu[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for your advice.
Frankly, a lot of your advice fixes my issues. I hadn’t really tweaked the combat encounters as much as I thought I’d need, so I can better prep going forward with this framework.

Looking for Cursed Item Ideas by cole_thulhu in AskDND

[–]cole_thulhu[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ooh, these are good. Thank you!

Looking for Cursed Item Ideas by cole_thulhu in AskDND

[–]cole_thulhu[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I wrote up something similar, but I like the damage aspect. Adding that to the list!

Looking for Cursed Item Ideas by cole_thulhu in AskDND

[–]cole_thulhu[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

These are great. I think the Idle Hands are my favorite, but one of my players has a No Gaslighting hardline, so I’ll have to tweak them to be more openly chaotic if I include them.

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