L14E3: Assassins 

We plan to, I'm glad you are enjoying it.

second this

Good jump on your initiative, it's flattering to hear that you think that was an accomplishment ;). I'm not sure how excited we are, but we just talked about it last night, we will probably switch to DnD2024 after level 20. With our current release schedule, we might expect that some time in fall of 2025. Who's to say what things look like at that point, but it should give us enough time to get up to speed with the edition and figure out if it's something we want to do or not.

The visual display is created on GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP), a free and open source image creation tool. Video is recorded on Open Broadcaster Software (OBS), a free and open source recording tool. Audio is recorded on Audacity, a free and open source audio recording and editing tool. Videos are edited on ShotCut, a free and open source video editing tool. We use a popular but proprietary communication tool for VoIP and screen share. I don't have a simple way to show health bars. I'd like to, but I can't figure out a way to do it that wouldn't add hours of extra work, or use some proprietary tool that compromises something else.

I agree. Following CRs in these levels is not a good idea (Not that CR system was reliable ever). After level 10 PCs get so damn powerful you just need to crank your monsters up.

The goal of the channel is to demonstrate and analyze tactics that players use to complete encounters quickly and safely so they can get back to role playing. The nature of the encounter determines the tactics that should be used: if the encounters are very easy, the players should rush through them to defeat things faster and don't need to worry about safety as much; if the encounters are very hard, they should take more time, valuing safety over speed. Accordingly, a question arises: what is the nature of the encounters that should be used? My answer to this is "We should use encounters that fit the encounter building advice from the Dungeon Master's Guide." In the DMG, there are guidelines for building encounters based on Challenge Rating (CR) and experience budget based on player levels. I simplify this down further and just use the CR budget from level appropriate monsters (which makes encounters a little harder than the advice in the book), and I don't apply the multiplier for duplicate monsters (which would have made encounters a lot easier if you have a lot of duplicates). I chose this because I believe it's the most accessible and likely-to-be-used advice that a new DM is going to follow. I expect that this will make the videos applicable to the widest audience. There are practically infinite ways to create encounters, obviously we can't demonstrate anything more than a small fraction of them. I chose the method that I think will be used by the most people, weighting new and inexperienced people more heavily in that calculation. Obviously people are going to use something that works for them, but hopefully by using the most ubiquitous method, people will be more likely to recognize elements from it in what they use and make use of the tactics we analyze. ...with all of that context out of the way, I'll answer your questions: "Do you feel as though you can, or perhaps are adequately challenging your players?" The direct answer is a nonchalant, disinterested "yes." The more insightful, relevant answer is a full-throated, deafening, "I don't care." I don't see anything in 5th ed that promises a challenging combat simulation game. What I see in 5th ed is a game that allows the players to play the roles of fantasy heroes and the DM to paint a backdrop for those heroes with monsters and dungeons. Whether the players are challenged or not by the combat system is immaterial to me. Whether the players can play the roles they want to play, with the support of, or in spite of, the combat system is the determining factor. If a player in a game wants more challenge, they have every tool they could possibly need to get it. They make almost every aspect of their character and they decide how to wield it. They can make the game as challenging as they want. "especially at these higher levels?" The players are even more empowered at higher levels to set the difficulty they desire. The DM is less responsible for player empowerment as the players level up. "To the point where when it came to the Cosmic toad episodes..." In defense of the Cosmic Toads, I used the wrong stat sheets for most of those fights. The frogs should have been much more powerful, but I didn't double check the source I used to make sure it was providing accurate information. I would like to explore that fight again with the correct stats for those monsters. As for the length of the encounters, if the encounters were so easy, why weren't they even shorter than the 10-12 minute run time? Why does it even take 10 minutes for the players to get through these? Surely they could challenge themselves to finish it even faster if they wanted a more difficult challenge. The secondary goal of this channel was to document games that I played. I've talked to a number of DMs that say things like, "Well, in my experience..." and then say something that is totally divorced from the experience that I've had. By playing out, recording, and publishing my games, a public record emerges and show what my experience is like. I can now point to a record of a specific monster and say "Look, this is how this monster worked. It's good for this and bad for that." In that light, if the conclusion to be drawn is that monsters are not challenging after level 10 in the way the players and DM expect, then I have 20 levels of videos to back up my assertion. No critique taken, I appreciate the questions. I don't think I'm cut out for the video essay format, but I like the opportunity to share my thoughts on topic.

In addition to what Sarison says here, there are some clear constraints to our format which add qualifications to how "easy" or "hard" any given fight or dungeon may be. The first huge one is that there IS no "out of combat" for us to burn any of our considerable resources on. We spend zero spells overcoming traps or obstacles, we spend no gold or items on non-combat objectives. In addition to this, our leveling process is ludicrously efficient - six encounters per level, single dungeon, no fluff. Hero's Feast is a tremendous amount of value in this exact context (if we haven't had that post-game discussion on the channel yet, it'll come up soon). With the very rare exception of this exact encounter, we come into each fight with a lot of foreknowledge about our enemies. We specifically discuss (or "discuss" in some cases) tactics before the fight. We have four (mostly) consistent players who have now played with each other, in these roles and characters, for fourteen levels and we do an after-action on every single fight. In sum, we're bringing a lot of soft power, and some hard power, to the table that isn't necessarily accounted for in a vacuum. And, as Sarison also mentions, a normal table without our constraints COULD make things harder if they wanted; in my experience, they don't tend to want to. Since playing in this series I find myself planning my spells and resources very carefully, anticipating longer dungeon slogs with fewer rests, but the players I'm with tend to ask for long rests after three or four fights. (Admittedly, it's not a group focused on tactical combat). As a DM, when players ask for more challenge, my answer is sort of like Sarison's: "make your own." If a group is burning through all their spells and long-rest resources in three fights, my first solution to add difficulty is to expect more fights out of them. Players can do that (but unlike adding bigger monsters it requires them to communicate, collaborate, and agree. Good luck and godspeed with THAT.) But "we beat seven CR 9 encounters without a long rest as a level 9 party" doesn't have the same feel as "we beat a CR14 encounter as a level 9 party, we're so strong" even though, objectively, one of those options required enormously more damage and resources. Honestly, adding more encounters per dungeon and letting us choose our short rests would be cool and challenging (and completely nonviable due to our format; we generally record all six fights and the after-action in one sitting) but it's not what we're doing here.

I see what you're both saying! Sorry if by any means it came as entitled or something like that, wasn't my intention! I see that it makes sense to take into consideration more inexperienced people too. I did not think of that when writing my comment! Also thanks for taking the time to write such chunky replies lol. Anyway, keep'em coming!

@fratystuff6737 No worries, no unintended meaning assumed. It gave me the opportunity to express thoughts that don't really come up organically in the videos, so I'm glad to get them out there.