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How to Adjust a D&D Game for Any Number of Players

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As a dungeon master, how do you adjust your game when you have eight or more players for your Dungeons & Dragons game? What about when only two players are in your D&D group? This is a common occurrence for many D&D groups--especially having lots of players. In this video, I discuss how a dungeon master can adjust their D&D game to account for having just a few players or having lots of players. And besides just punching numbers, there is also a difference in how a DM runs the game for various sized groups, too.
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27 авг 2024

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Комментарии : 168

@theDMLair 4 года назад

What's your top tip for adjusting the game for more/fewer players? The DM Lair on Twitch ▶▶ www.twitch.tv/thedmlair Become a Patron ▶▶ www.patreon.com/thedmlair Become a Channel Member ▶▶ ru-vid.comjoin

@PizzaMineKing 4 года назад

At big groups: divide and conquer. Let them go on different quests with different DMs, which interact with each other, for example "first one to finish his section faces the BBEG, second one faces a mini boss, last one synchronises"

@theDMLair 4 года назад

So split thw big group into 2 groups. 😀

@bellamaxwell9696 4 года назад

Hey, Luke I’m trying to avoid what you referred to as the Spiral of Death but it’s me my brothers and people from one other family. It’s only a town of 400 and I takes a while to play. What should I do?

@cadbane7780 2 года назад

My two daughters love dnd. They are 10 and 11 and are a little mature for their age. Since they play 3-5 times a week, they get 2 characters. One out going (their main they mainly play as) and one more quiet (their off hand).

@tamasszalanics7507 4 года назад

Players:Did I forget about something? DM:If you forgot it, it propably isn't that important. Players:You are right. Gary the intern:*crying in the background

@katherineminor3402 4 года назад

Players forget everything

@Stopcontactgamesenvlogs 4 года назад

Usually a boss in my games has 2 or 3 guards all equipped with a horn(instrument). If the party does not kill them quickly (Usually giving the boss a turn or two for free) they recognize the danger the party presents and blow the horn to summon reinforcements. 2-3 turns later, the cavalry shows up and start breaking down the dear to the boss room to help out their leader.

@youcantbeatk7006 4 года назад

That old man mask could easily make a good slasher villain.

@theDMLair 4 года назад

So true! 😂

@Elmo-qz4ub 4 года назад

Mmm I see

@MandrakeMoorglade 3 года назад

Looks like one of Peter Gabriel's Genesis masks.

@Cybermaul 4 года назад

Luke: "Feel free to say no to people who want to join your game." Me, who can't get three players to RSVP to a gaming session invite : T_T

@theDMLair 4 года назад

Yeah that sucks.

@Elmo-qz4ub 4 года назад

Mmm

@baltsosser 3 года назад

It can be hard to find good players willing to give their time. I've been lucky before with a regular group that had 6-8 depending on the week. It took good prep, but it was great fun. Don't give up.

@blackhound2645 4 года назад

New DM here. I had a player ghost me and now I’m scrambling to rebalance things for the rest of the party This video is a god send! Thank you!

@theDMLair 4 года назад

You are very welcome! (I can help travel that player down and bring them to justice, too. 😁

@peterwhitcomb8315 4 года назад

Gary the Intern, "Your just a temp!" 🤣

@theDMLair 4 года назад

Gary does have a point... 😁

@yakirchernin6015 4 года назад

I would want a novel with Gary as the protaganist. Btw, is he dragonborn or a kobold?

@theDMLair 4 года назад

Gary is a kobold. 😁

@yakirchernin6015 4 года назад

@@theDMLair I am sorry for even doubting it. His dreamy muscoline voice should have told me everything I need to know. XD I really love the small races,haflings, goblins, everything that can run at you and squeak "reeeee' Kobolds are also mini dragon thingys, so from among those races they take it for me

@PizzaMineKing 4 года назад

When you come to really big groups, split the party on further DMs, I once was at an event where we had a connected story between 5 DMs who each had 5 players, connected over codewords and walkie-talkies. Had a lot of fun.

@JKONGnDNME 2 года назад

That’s sounds awesome!

@PizzaMineKing 2 года назад

@@JKONGnDNME yeah, sadly that is so much organisation that it's only feasible for linear one-shots. That specific game wasn't dnd but shadowrun, and the organisers had planned all the location each group would visit (and the event triggers) beforehand. We played as secret agents from different government organisations, and after each of three "chapters" a briefing about the information we gained was held, bringing everyone on the same page, leaving out clues every group missed. We then had an "agent exchange program" move one player from each table to a different table. In the last chapter, all tables needed to press a button (conveniently 5 buttons spread around the globe) at the same IRL time (the first group to reach the button would be attacked by the bbeg, the others would get less difficult goons in order of arrival). It was indeed a lot of fun. I think I've still got the fake MI6 badge around here somewhere.

@lazartoncev1614 4 года назад

When it comes to a game of large number of players I try to make players actions sound intresting by adding some flavor or funny outcomes so other players find it intresting to listen, its really nice to see players listen to eachothers stories and laugh instead of using their phone until it's their turn

@grimnekropolis8500 4 года назад

I use a one minute timer for combat rounds for both small and large groups. If the player doesn’t make a declaration in that minute they do nothing that round.

@theDMLair 4 года назад

True. I try to make things interesting on all turns regardless of how many players are there.

@katherineminor3402 4 года назад

@@grimnekropolis8500 they should take the dodge action at minimum

@CL30 4 года назад

The first rule of Kobold Fight Club: Yip yip! But yeah I appreciate you making this video because balancing encounters can be quite tricky

@pwbi3988 4 года назад

Wow, you really kicked p the editing within this video, really impressed by a lot of the improvements you made! Very good stuff

@theDMLair 4 года назад

Thanks! I have a paid editor now to help me out. He's awesome. 😀

@charlesgraff2655 4 года назад

With the group I run people often are unable to attend sessions and often times I would either pull my punches like crazy, try and eyeball the challenge rating, or simply throwing a side quest at them if I planned something like a dragon fight for the session where somebody can’t come. These were alright options but generally weren’t perfect ones and this video is a big help for the future. Thanks

@finicalake2entertainment712 4 года назад

I actually had to run DnD for a group of ten people (I was using Lost Mines of Phandelver) I tried selecting a Co-DM and splitting the module, it didn't work to well. Combat wasn't to hard for them for obvious reasons, but it took way to long, we powered through and split the group into two separate campaigns. I personally recommend not going over 6 players, maybe 7.

@Kuroganeichigo 4 года назад

I needed this. I've apparently lost my sanity and have a party of 11. I've also started favoring AOE attacks a lot, no clerics.

@theDMLair 4 года назад

Dang that's nuts. How do you pull that off? I'd definitely lose my mind. 😂

@Kuroganeichigo 4 года назад

@@theDMLair Started a new dnd game just as quarantine began so I offered to do online games. 4 more people decided they wanted to join, and I was like "Yeah sure why not, we're all friends." Now once a week I say "NewDM.exe has crashed" It's as slow as you'd expect it to go with that many people attempting to make one decision, but very much worth it when they spend 2 hours figuring out "How do I cross the bridge safely" when you've made them all paranoid and there are secretly no traps.

@Ghorda9 4 года назад

@@Kuroganeichigo egg timers are good.

@emiledlund9559 4 года назад

If you have the time for two games then figure out which players are attached to each other and split the game up into two groups that makes as many people as possible happy. Hell. You can have both the groups in the same game world but at different parts of the world.

@piece1309 4 года назад

I’ve been using that calculator for years. It’s awesome.

@agsilverradio2225 4 года назад

My 1st game I played had about adozzen players, and a verry overwhelmed DM, and I left because the DM and I didn't get allong. There was alot of fun roleplay there thoguh, and combat flow was allright considering the group size. ... My next game had 2 players, and fell apart due to sceduling conflicts, after 1 session. ... My current game, has 3 players, and one hireling.

@mikewickham1767 4 года назад

I agree with everything you say, all of the time🥴, well until now. I DM a game with 9 players. We are now into our 3rd year of a campaign and my players haven’t got bored or left, we’ll I don’t think so🤔. And they want more sessions each week. We’re up to two a week. My biggest problem out of all the challenges as a DM is writing enough content. Love your channel.

@theDMLair 4 года назад

Dude, that's because you're running and awesome game. If that many players come back week after week, you're doing something very right. (Most DMs struggle with that many players.)

@ericpeirce5598 4 года назад

I find with larger groups, it's important to go out of your way to purposely create situations where the PCs can use Reactions. Split the enemies into at least 2 groups for initiative and give at least one PC a Reaction opportunity during each enemy groups turn. It's not always possible, but it helps the players feel more involved while they are waiting for their turn, especially if you have multiple PCs in the group that have feats, spells or class abilities that allow the to use their reaction for more than just an Opportunity Attack.

@duckens2001 3 года назад

Before Covid-19, I ran a modified, kid-friendly, no-death, learn-the-game version of D&D for Tweens at our local library every month. Because it was a library program, we never knew who/how many would attend. Sometimes we had 3 characters; once we had 17. Usually somewhere in between. I have made my fair share of mistakes, but I have learned, too. Disclaimers: --ANYONE is welcome at my table as long as they are supportive and helpful to others. --Because of the nature of our system/library program, I ran one-shots. Small groups: --I had one small group of 4-5 boys who were nearly wiped out when they had no Cleric. After this situation, at creation of a new character, everyone received a Healing Potion with 3-4 doses. I hoped that if the Cleric was ever unavailable or knocked out, the remaining players would have a resource to survive the encounter. Large groups: --Everyone rolls initiative. Whoever rolls the highest goes first; then go clockwise around the table. --I use card-holding racks, and each player (including my monsters) has a character card in a plastic top-loader sleeve. In this way, the kids can see how soon their turn will be, and they will be ready. --Rearrange the players so that all players of the same type are sitting together. Spellcasters together, rogues together, etc. Their job is to plan what they are going to do and be ready when it was their turn. Each group does ONE action. So, for example, on the Spellcaster's turn, they would share the same initiative and attack. They would decide to all send Fireballs, and the damage would be counted accordingly. --As the host says: split the group into two. I was on the verge of running two games, one right after the other, when the library finally assigned me an intern for those Saturday afternoons. She had never played, but I wrote her up a script, sent it the week before, and created double of everything we used in the game. She was fantastic! And anything she didn't know, she either winged or the kids helped her.

@WitherLord888 4 года назад

Thank you for making this video! Especially during quarantine, I need to adjust my games!

@supersmily5811 4 года назад

One Legendary Action I sometimes add which can help make a boss more independently able to handle a group is called Legendary Initiative: Spend all 3 LAs to take an extra turn. During this turn the boss doesn't provoke opportunity attacks, doesn't regain their reaction if they've lost it, and still gets their next turn at their normal Initiative roll. While not necessary, I've found I always limit this LA to being used 3 times before having to take a long rest to use it again.

@theDMLair 4 года назад

Oh that's cool! Might steal that

@joem1480 4 года назад

Group of eight to 10 players a tower 6 of the game. People were taking naps between their turns in combat

@theDMLair 4 года назад

No kidding

@jacoblucas1416 4 года назад

I love your content! Keep up the good work!!,

@theDMLair 4 года назад

Thanks dude! 😁

@jameswalsh4113 4 года назад

I run a game with 9 players. We do lots to keep game moving. Roll initiative once at beginning of session, then keep for every encounter that session (even sat in order when we were in person) I give everyone a roll to help me go fast One does initiative One keeps track of damage creatures take One moves everyone’s minis, etc... We roll atk and dmg simultaneously I finally figured out balancing encounters.... All that said. Even though I think we have a good time and everyone seems to enjoy... the games I play with 4-5 are just better!! Listen to Luke. Split the Party!!!

@jameslove4965 4 года назад

this man knows his stuff about bosses. I will never forgive myself for when I ran Dresden files and my group of two players kill my powerful serial killer who uses necromancy in one round.

@theDMLair 4 года назад

That's because I screwed up boss battles (and still sometimes do) enough times to learn better. 😂

@dorianrobinette9712 4 года назад

One day when I achieve my dream of becoming a dragon, I'll make sure to remember this advice, so that I may send appropriate amounts of minions to fight any pesky heroes that wish to slay me. then when they reach me I'll merely crush them myself.

@ShugoAWay 4 года назад

Ty this is a lot better than having to have enemies run away when they are winning or reinforcements coming from pretty much nowhere

@pwbi3988 4 года назад

The new fire text transitions are nice, I like them

@Lcirex 4 года назад

And just like that I fell in love old man commoner.

@theDMLair 4 года назад

But did he survive the video? 😂

@Lcirex 4 года назад

@@theDMLair The life of the hireling is one of far worse risk than the life of the intern.

@theDMLair 4 года назад

So true... 😀

@haveswordwilltravel 4 года назад

It is rare that I have a well balanced party of 4-6 players. This video was just what I needed.

@theDMLair 4 года назад

Yeah, happy to help! 😁

@quonomonna8126 3 года назад

The music on your videos sounds like my phone ringtone and it really throws me off lol

@prophetisaiah08 4 года назад

I generally run games for 6-7 players, and trust me, the CR system doesn't work if you're trying to throw a single beasty boss monster at them. My players were in a place inspired by Greek mythology, so I wanted them to face a single giant monster, so I re-skinned the Demogorgon (CR 26). They were only level 12, so I decided not to add lair actions - I thought that would be too much. When the battle came, I had to add *200* hit points on they fly behind the screen so that the battle would last more than 2 rounds, and (thanks to some bad rolls) only one of all of my attacks actually hit. New plan for my next boss encounter: A group of baddies that basically an evil adventuring party. They are trying to wear down the player party, so the plan is a series of skirmishes where each side tries to pick off the other team one at a time. Every time one of either team goes down, the evil adventurers will bug out and regroup. (And their boss has a secret plan that works to his advantage if the evil adventurers end up on the loosing end of those skirmishes. Mwahahahahaha!)

@theDMLair 4 года назад

Yeah, great case in point for how crummy the CR system is. With some minions though a single baddie works much better and is a more interesting fight too.

@prophetisaiah08 4 года назад

@@theDMLair Yeah, the designers have come out and said that it doesn't properly account for action economy or how strong tier 3 and 4 characters actually are.

@theDMLair 4 года назад

Yeah totally tier 3 and 4 PCs are crazy strong.

@vikingguy5027 4 года назад

Geez this is a freaking giant comment, # world record?

@prophetisaiah08 4 года назад

@@vikingguy5027 I usually don't comment unless I have a small essay's worth of things to say. ;)

@Dazyhead 4 года назад

Ive been using your homebrew initiative system, and its actually been working out really well for my players

@theDMLair 4 года назад

Cool glad to hear it!

@Haydenbacon306 4 года назад

Finally ! My group fluctuates from 4 to 8 players depending if the party split up in game (some stay at the inn , the others went on a short side quest. Let’s people take a weekend off if they want without feeling guilty lol). I use either more enemies for the larger group or the enemies are a bit stronger than average

@theDMLair 4 года назад

Yep, beefing up the baddies is great!

@Rolfe89 2 года назад

Thankyou. This video is just what I needed

@maxdaviid Год назад

12 tips for running a D&D module sent me here, and this one is sending to Faster combat in D&D 😂

@xSunsterx 4 года назад

I am up at an ungodly hour... but this video is a little ray of sun :) Love this video♡ Super helpful 😁

@charlesgraff2655 4 года назад

Dude same, I told myself I was gonna go to sleep 2 hours ago

@theDMLair 4 года назад

Thanks! 😁 Now go get some sleep. 😁

@dandyo.8233 4 года назад

Very neato video! I've been using Kobold Fight Club to balance encounters for a while, it's also quite a handy tool!

@theDMLair 4 года назад

Thank you!:-)

@BlackJar72 3 года назад

I just change the monster numbers (or hit points in some cases) and treasure proportionally to the number of players if too far off -- alternately encourage hiring retainers -- using judgment.

@yannick9374 4 года назад

I'm going to run a group for the first time. I am super nervous, but these videos will help a lot.

@theDMLair 4 года назад

Best of luck! Sometimes just telling your players "hey, I'm new to DMimg, am pretty nervious, and this may not be the best game you'll ever play, but I'll do my best." Works wonders for calming nerves.

@jozzuph 4 года назад

Thanks for the video, and listening/doing something about what your viewers ask/need help with :).

@theDMLair 4 года назад

You are very welcome! 😁

@No-mm8fg Год назад

6:38 My groups has 5 players (not including DM) and it took about 30 minutes to get through a basic fight scene against 4 goblins and a Hobgoblin. Each of us got 1 turn, in exception to the player who got to attack first who got 2 turns. I can't imagine how long it would take for larger groups to do so. 😟

@Anzy.99 2 года назад

This going to be a great video for me, cuz I'm planning a solo rogue campaign for my sister and CR is pretty hard to figure out, and I'm also a new DM. I'll be running in the Wildemount setting, so at least I know the world and it helps. Letting a website or app do it for me is actually better too

@isazainal778 4 года назад

I've run a game with 3 players and all of them are charismatic casters bard, sorcerer and warlock. Overall they did pretty good no front liners and no healers, one of the manage to convince them to turn against their boss and combo with hold person+hexblade curse+bardic inspiration and kiting methods

@ataberkdedemen9802 4 года назад

Hexblade warlock may act as a front line. Especially with spells like Armor of Agathys.

@finicalake2entertainment712 4 года назад

My current party is a bard, two sorcerers, and a rouge, we have a warlock occasionally (one of my players dms for me when I need a break)

@fishyfishyfishy500akabs8 4 года назад

My players current party is an artillerist gnome, gunslinger warforged, and swashbuckler rogue, it’s very hard to kill them

@servantrider7044 4 года назад

So in my group of friends, I DM and my friend DMs (which lets us both be players in each other's games!). However, we have easily over 20 people who want to play with us at any given time, and it makes it really hard to run games even with us capping our individual groups to arbitrary maximums. My friend caps at 7 players and I cap to 6, and I feel like even with just these numbers it's rough to keep things moving quickly. What we've come up with are a few decent tools however that I think has worked well for us, so I'd like to add one in particular to the discussion even though this video is a few days old already: Narrative Initiative Each player rolls initiative upon entering a bar, a town, or some other major non-plot role play location. The players then take turns describing what they're doing, instead of fighting over time. We just use our regular initiatives for this in our group, but you could easily replace dex with cha, or possibly just roll a flat d20 without mods. Either way, this really makes sure everyone has their time to shine. An IMPORTANT note to go with this: This doesn't mean other players can't do anything, but they can't *interrupt*. If it's someone's turn, they can bring someone else into their turn if what they want to do involves that player, but it can't go the other way around with someone jumping in (unless it's something significant and actually involves that other player, such as someone attacking the bartender randomly or something which might change the situation for everyone at the table).

@theDMLair 4 года назад

Cool. Are those really arbitrary maximums? Or are they limits you've determined because more than X players is undesirable for certain reasons?

@servantrider7044 4 года назад

@@theDMLair Well no arbitrary probably wasn't the right word haha. I just find that trying to get a word in is really hard for some of the quieter players if we have too many, so six was the number I 'chose' to limit it to. If that makes sense.

@servantrider7044 4 года назад

@@theDMLair Another reason for the limitation, is that trying to set up combat encounters for 8+ players is just not fun. As you said in this video, you can't throw a single boss at your players if there's more than four of them. The sheer number of minions needed to keep the fight interesting diminishes how cool the boss can be and slows down combat. I find 6 players to be a decent enough sweet spot that I can add 3-4 weaker 'minions' to a boss that has legendary actions and the fight isn't too bad.

@markgnepper5636 2 года назад

Great stuff friend 👏 👍

@originalShorai 4 года назад

I feel like characters with AoE moves that effectively or literally give extra attacks like Fireball(effectively) or Cleave(Literally) kind of break this and make that calculation difficult. Class based extra attacks are a little easier since a fighter's extra attacks could easily be countered by an enemy fighter's extra attacks.

@nnnik3595 4 года назад

It becomes difficult with stuff like Great Weapon Master too (or sentinel or similar) The same thing applies here though. If you want to balance the encounter just add an enemy mage with fireball. Its also a quick way to get rid of some pesky players from your table.

@originalShorai 4 года назад

@@nnnik3595 Personally I was hoping for a more versatile answer as I have always favored 3.0/3.5/Pathfinder and some of those have 3rd party books that while generally unbalanced occasionally can be pretty well balanced mechanically, but break action economy systems. My favorite being a dervish feat that requires the character's build be specifically geared towards getting it as an advancement of both Cleave, Evasion, and Reflex(Attack of opportunity) feat trees among other things. It allows the PC to act like a Diablo 3 Monk and bounce between all enemies in 30 feet, dealing 1 attack then returning to the starting position without drawing attacks of opportunity. It's the melee fireball that in effect equalizes action economy with the enemy depending on classes, but is only powerful against groups and doesn't scale up if that group of enemies is made of Fighters, Monks, or has significant AoE. So basically I'm trying to balance abilities like that which just like fireball technically increase the number of attacks scaled to the number of enemies in the area of effect.

@nnnik3595 4 года назад

@@originalShorai There is stuff like Tashas Hideos Laughter and Hypnotic Pattern if you want to mess with the action economy

@00brick93 4 года назад

old man temp.. new recurring character??

@aliceofspades 4 года назад

I hope so!

@theDMLair 4 года назад

Perhaps... 😁

@RottenRogerDM 4 года назад

For small parties average damage from spells and weapons. Large 3/4 or more damage. Adventure League modules generally have guidelines for adjustments but they start to fail if you have strong group with 6+ players. In Mad Mage I occasionally let the group steam roll a level.

@theDMLair 4 года назад

So you sometimes have attack/spells just do maximum dmg for large/strong groups?

@RottenRogerDM 4 года назад

No I roll now. I forget which level I did max damage and after two combats, the players were unhappy. But If you are not playing AL, I suggest you do max. occasionally.

@bradz.7015 4 года назад

Hey Luke, I liked the video but something to consider... a larger group already struggles with slower pace, right? So adding more baddies to encounters (which translates to more dice rolls in combat, more HPs to track, etc) runs the risk of slowing down the combat even more. As an alternative I’d recommend keeping the number of baddies the same, but giving them a stat boost in their HP and AB/damage. It would make the encounter more challenging, allow more PCs to get their licks in, but also eliminate the risk of slower pace that occurs with more dice rolls. What do you think?

@theDMLair 4 года назад

Good point. Boosting HP just drags the battle out longer too so insteaf of more time due to more dice rolls we'd have more time due to large hp pools. However if we boost monster DAMAGE output then the fight is tougher but doesn't take longer.

@bradz.7015 4 года назад

the DM Lair fair enough!

@craigjones7343 4 года назад

Gary the Intern always makes me laugh. Keep up the good work Gary.

@jeffbenefiel2676 4 года назад

Thankyou. I've run into SOOOOOOOO many DMs who think they've "balanced" for APL or whatever only to TPK after TPK and have the gall to blame the players. A D20 system is already a mathematical accident waiting to happen with every pip being 5% delta. Maybe I'm just a bit sensitive to math being a bookkeeper for the company I worked for, including arcane mathematics like payroll, but this isn't calculus, it's freakin' freshman year statistics. Add a semi intelligent enemy who focuses on the Cleric and Mage and very quickly fight reaches a tipping point annnnndddd TPK.

@theDMLair 4 года назад

yeah totally. Adjusting the game four different numbers of players and even different types of players is more of an art form that one gets better at overtime. Punching the numbers usually only get two in a rough ballpark. But you still need to dungeon master with a brain and some experience preferably who can think things through and tweak as needed

@LuckoDaStars Год назад

what about when we already have 7 members of the players ready but 2 people are missing. i asked the dm we can start without them since this is session 1 and is still early enough for the other two to be able to join at another session. DM wanted everyone in the game for session 1 and cancelled the session even though me and the other 5 guys are ready to play therefore ruined the time we could have spent doing the campaign... what would you guys to in this situation?

@WolfmanXD 4 года назад

I run for a group of 7 people, and ya, trying to balance an encounter sucks. On the bright side it means I can run some much higher level stuff. Like tonight they're level 4 and they're gonna be fighting a drow elite warrior, drider, and 4 drow archers for a boss fight. Getting ready to plop them against a priestess of lolth in a week or two.

@joem1480 4 года назад

The shade being thrown in these videos is hilarious

@theDMLair 4 года назад

Lol, thanks. 😂

@swamuel7219 4 года назад

I want to run dungeon of the mad mage for a party of 5-6, this should be helpful

@RIVERSRPGChannel 4 года назад

Any thoughts on running a game for 10 PCs? Oh it’s 3.5 by the way. Trying to get through combat takes awhile. Everyone still seems to have fun but the waiting would be distracting. Good video

@theDMLair 4 года назад

Same thoughts I had in the video for large groups

@RIVERSRPGChannel 4 года назад

the DM Lair ya I wouldn’t mind splitting them up but everyone likes it so....

@Ghorda9 4 года назад

@@RIVERSRPGChannel use an egg timer for each player round

@tonyc1017 4 года назад

I use a old 3.5 varient rule, called gestalts.

@Artemisthemp 4 года назад

Luke next adventure for his party will be to find the Dragon of the the Mad Mage :p

@amelrick7603 4 года назад

Tried the encounter calculator wondering why did my 3 PCs found it difficult to complete Mission 3 of Harried in Hillsfar. Turns out that 2 Jackalweres and 1 Jackal was a deadly encounter to them. Now I know.

@jctxcboy36 2 года назад

Have left a few comments on other topics and hope to hear back from you. Do you have a video out there on different methods for using initiative in combat. The one I use tends to be a little laggy.

@valanshard2105 4 месяца назад

I'm running a module and have the right NUMBER of players but am starting them at level 3 rather than level 1 (so they have their subclasses) so I need buff the baddies in kind, what's the best way to balance that?

@wretchedegg5170 4 года назад

Im not a big fan of the statement you need the critical roles like Rogue and Cleric to be a viable party. 5e already ha a huge problem with uniqueness in character concepts and forcing Players to pick 2 save roles before they even build their characters seems to me pretty annoying. I run 2 groups at the moment none of them have a cleric and they are doing just fine, yeah they have to think outside of the box but it makes for a more interesting style of combat, not just I run in the Cleric will do the rest. Now to my Point on Challange rating: short its useless. Having a CR 21 Lich with 131HP is not nearly a challange for a lvl 20 party this is how it will go: Wizard I cast dimension door and take the pala with me, the pala I cast a smite spell make 2 attacks and pump all my Spellslots in smites: Lich dead. finding the phylactery is not a problem with wish and all that stuff end of campaign. On the other hand you have an invisible 1d4+4 + 2d6 necrotic dmg CR 1/2 mob witch oneshots every lvl1 character (exept barbarian) with one attack. The easiest solution to those problems (at least at higher lvls) is bumping up the HP buy a huge amount, DnD 5e puts so much faith in their resistances, with is realy funny to me considering, that a +1 Sword ignors 99% of al resistances and immunities in the game. Also just dumping trash mob minions is like have a huge party it solws the game down. You can totaly make an challanging encounter with 1 Boss if you use tactics like flying, environment, cool layer actions etc.

@theDMLair 4 года назад

You don't need them but they sure help. My groups rarely have clerics either.

@princesskanuta3495 4 года назад

Great video!! Thanks Luke😈😈

@theDMLair 4 года назад

You're welcome! 😀

@thecloverartist 3 года назад

i don't see i link to the combat calculator mentioned

@matthewparker9276 4 года назад

Well, now I want to write the Waterdeep: Dragon of the Mad Mage adventure.

@bonbondurjdr6553 4 года назад

7:57 this is logical!

@Alresu 4 года назад

I think you know, why we would pit 7 PCs against 7 Ancient Red Dragons, Luke. Because dragons.

@HowtoRPG 4 года назад

Good on you. Leave those slips of the tongue in the video.

@Matt-md5yt 4 года назад

Great video today.

@theDMLair 4 года назад

Thanks! 😁

@friendlybobbles8363 4 года назад

I'm scared to ramp up the difficulty of encounters for my small group of players for fear that one will die. I know that death is a part of the game, but when someone spends a long time on a character that they really enjoy, it doesn't feel right for them to die, especially when they're in the early levels. Advice?

@carpedm9846 4 года назад

If you dont want them to die, the enemy can simply "miss" an attack. Or manage to "roll" 3 damage on their 3d6 attack. Since your players dont see your dice, if you up the difficulty and realize "wait this is too much" you can just fudge the dice rolls. Sometimes the ability you think is gonna be triggered once gets activated multiple times because you rolled too well or the players rolled too low "a dc10 con save cant come up twice if i just target the fighter- wait no oh god why did you roll a nat1 and a nat2" or "ok so the breath weapok recharges on a roll of 5-6. Thats a recharge. Thats a recharge too. Its been 4 turns and every single one had a breath attack.... uh oh." Simply go "welp, the enemy misses. The enemy deals not enough damage" keep player ACs in mind and occasionally ask "does a 17 hit?" To the 18 ac character to keep them on the edge. "If it wasnt for that shield of faith that was gonna be a hit, good job." Lastly, run mock combats to test difficulty. They are not 100% accurate due to dice entropy (a lvl1 monk can theoretically kill an adult dragon) but they are a good guideline.

@cthulhufhtagn2483 4 года назад

THAT COMMONER MASK WILL HAUNT MY DREAMS

@theDMLair 4 года назад

Glad you enjoy it. More to come. 😁

@cthulhufhtagn2483 4 года назад

@@theDMLair Aaaaaa!

@aliceofspades 4 года назад

Someone give the Commoner a pet Owlbear to sic on the players! :O Also, "chackle" is my new favorite word. ;)

@theDMLair 4 года назад

Chackle is the name if the owlbear now. 😁

@aliceofspades 4 года назад

@@theDMLair YES! Get 'um, Chackle! :D

@thetreeboy. 2 года назад

I have 5 players, but there are 9-10 player controlled characters.

@vikingguy5027 4 года назад

Holy Crap, this is probably the most calculative video I’ve ever watched

@theDMLair 4 года назад

Is that a good thing?

@vikingguy5027 4 года назад

the DM Lair don’t know, kind of shows how simple my games actually are p.s. your videos are really helpful and I enjoy watching them, hope you stay safe!