I tend to use a modified system for Initiative. When one player announces that they're attacking in the middle of a non-combat situation, I announce roll Initiative and give the one who made the announcement a +5 to their normal Initiative for that first round only. This gives the players a brief but substantial bonus for acting first but if the enemy is REALLY fast they might still go first.
Initiative is the most mechanical part of the game for me so any way that I can simplify it and still keep it fun yet fair works for me! Keep up the good work!
I like this concept. I might try out something similar, though changing initiative after the first round is more than I want to track. I may just give that one person advantage on their initiative and call it good.
As a brand-spanking-new DM about to start her first campaign in less than a day, I appreciate this video! Those tips are great, and I'll definitely be trying some soon!
Likewise, about to run my first one-shot. (Set on a boat heading into port, transporting a haunted sarcophagus in the hold, about to be attacked by pirates.) If it takes off, I'll take them to the tomb of Annihilation because I want to run a campaign using the yaun-ti.
New DM here, run 8 sessions now. Did my own first module, basic fetch quest for a Chaos amulet, in an old underground bank vault (keep). 2 puzzles and an athletic situation. 3 actual encounters. Players came out with gold and jewels and a magic item. How did your first go? Currently running a delve into a mine + caverns toward a mountain-held tower with a sorcerer that is raising an army to take over the starting land. All Homebrew. Players about to enter mine, just received a map of the mine from the deceased Foreman. Players at Lvl 2 so boss of module is Lvl 4 sorcerer. Tips? Have a mimic encou get and several kobold mobs, plus a Kobold war camp for in a caverns near the exterior tower.
Well, I run mostly online, but pretty much I use what I got from Mercer's DM tips is to keep tables for improvising off damage, like falling rubble or stepping into acid. Also, using those plastic rings from soda bottles to mark conditions, concentration and conditions, and it also reminds you to make concentration saves. Another thing I do to keep combat interesting is to stop saying "Player X, that's your turn now." or "Player Y you're next" and actually describing the transition from one to another, telling what he's seeing from his point of view. It helps give the feeling that everything's happening at once and inspires against metagaming in favor of roleplay inspired actions, more descriptions from the players, etc.
Make it clear to your players that they are responsible for their own special rules and if they don't use it, you won't prompt them. This ups player engagement, minimises player laziness and takes a responsibility off your plate.
Yeah! When introducing new players to the game, some DMs tend to do too much hand-holding (myself included). There are always players that will need help as they learn the rules, but trusting your players to be responsible for it themselves really eases the workload.
A Pathfinder DM gave my party a +1 on attack rolls for something we did at the start of the game...me being the bard, I'm always reminding the other players about that +1 and my bardic inspiration. xD
This works for experienced players, but for more novice or less intense players we usually use a buddy system. I ask a more experienced player to look over the shoulder of newbies or certain folks who will never be deep in the rules (but are awesome role-players!) to help with ability tracking, bonuses, etc. There's a lot of people who want to play out there who are not rules-oriented. This lets them get into it without the high barrier to play.
@@kylecoyle1675 I agree. I've played with a few newbies recently and while I'd love for them to know all their own abilities, they just need me to remind them of everything they have.
I'm a newbie DM but I have a player who has the books practically memorized, I usually have her help the new players while I focus on running things, after awhile it's less needed, but letting the party shout at each other is better than me keeping track
As a new and overwhelmed DM with a team of total newbies, your whole videos really saved our play. We are currently playing a pre-written campaign, but thanks to your videos my DM Actions really have improved a lot. Keep up that amazing work!
Villains are usually mortal, too. So they will want to, you know, *NOT* die. Self interest is actually kind of logical. Especially when the party are slaying their minions in their throne room, and setting fire to anything in the room, and shit's going down.
Indeed. A good villain needs an escape plan, and in general most intelligent creatures need a compelling reason NOT to run away once they are wounded or their allies are killed.
I can see how a DM would get tired of that after a certain point. At least you're not solving most problems with liberal applications of fire? Also not sure if the Barbarian's go-to of "Apply axe to face, repeat as needed" is much better, though. Less flashy, for certain.
Dice Tip: For my new players I've put together a custom set of dice. each size is a separate color, and two colors of d20's. Then instead of, "Roll 2d4," I say, "Roll 2d4, that's the orange ones." Especially helpful with the d12/d20 confusion that tends to happen with new folks and the d100/d10 (even though it shouldn't matter).
We were all hiding, listening to goblins' conversation.. and our bard decided to move closer, failed at stealth check...planted his face on the ground dramatically. We all rolled initiatives .. at least one goblin was surprised..
I use roll20 like a scum bag so the turn order is automatically filled when they roll for initiative and all rolls and math are done for us. I do like the idea of adding damage up rather than subtracting it a lot!
I don't limit initiative to just combat, my rule of thumb is whenever the party engage in a time-sensitive situation where the actions of each party member/NPC/enemy is critical the the resolution of that situation, a room filling with water and the party needs to figure out how to either escape or stop the trap, doing this also helps with keeping a pace with how quickly the room is filling (i.e. room water fills 1ft per turn and has the first turn in imitative order).
Hundred Years Boar did we forget to mention the mind reading chip we put in the book we sent you? It’s basically how we choose what episodes to release and when. 😏. Happy to help! - Kelly
The DM tip I find most helpful, especially if you can't get your players to look at the map during other peoples turns, is to tell the next player in line that they are "on deck" when telling the current player it is their turn. Gives them a chance to get their brain into turn mode
Great tips! One that i have is: Never roll initiative for minions, I always put they after one player turn, this make combat much dynamic and the players (almost) never go and faceroll one enemy at time. But I like to make the big boss last in turn. Is funny to see players trying to make a alot of things before the boss come haha. Btw thanks for the tips, your guys are the best
Hey guys, Thanks for the tips. I ran my first combat Saturday and found out how difficult and unprepared I was. The next day I took your advice about spacing out and writing in. Way better system. I combined it with premade player and enemy cards to track hp. The flow was so much better. Keep up the awesome work and keep the videos coming.
One of my favorite techniques is to start a timer when combat starts. I typically do this for big combats encounters; small one off encounters like bar fights or ambushes i usually skip this. Once the combats start approaching 20+ minutes, I start speeding things up depending on how the battle is going. If my players are doing well, enemies start falling faster. If after 20 minutes they have only killed 2 creatures in a 10 creature mob, the the remaining creatures start hitting alot harder. This helps me keep up the pace of the game and get past the inevitable battle of attrition. Its not for everyone but it helps avoid those hour + combats.
This is a great point. One hour is appropriate for a setpiece battle at the climax of an adventure, or a battle interspersed with lots of puzzle-solving or roleplaying. However, a straight up fight is best kept fast and furious. Keeping an eye on how long the combat has gone really keeps players engaged and excited. It's also important to make sure players are being fast with their own turns too. If you have 5 players and the DM running 2-4 monsters, each player can take 1 minute for their turn (with the DM taking 2-3 mins for all the monsters) to get 2-3 rounds done in about 25 minutes.
I really like your guys channel and your way of explaining, it's so casual and easily approached. No complicated graphs or graphics and no flamboyant costumes and props. D&D is complicated enough as it eh! Great work guys, keep it up!
Enemies trying to run away is a HUGE tip. I designed my first encounters kind of like mmorpg dungeons, with packs you had to pull and such. That gets old pretty fast. Having an encounter with 3 chumps is suddenly so much more exciting when they book it to the heavily armed guards as soon as you eviscerate one of them. Or that epic chase scene as the bandit big bad is that close to getting away before getting that javeline through the chest
I am making my first adventure and try DMing for a first time. I haven't realized how much things I must have in mind until I saw this video. Thank you guys you are awesome.
Taking 20 described a useful way to track initiative. Draw the table and mark down initiative results for each player where they sit at the table. You don't have to make a vertical list and try to squeeze numbers in between.
In addition, take time to make some folded index cards with numbers 1-10 written on them. Fold down the center so they stand up A-frame style with numbers facing out both directions. Hand them out to players, and put some up on your screen. Everyone at the table now knows order.
@@BobFrichtel Or just put their names on both sides, set them and the monster's tented cards on the table in fighting order, from your (DM) right to left. Does the same thing but you can add additional monsters mid battle without switching the card people have; just scootch a couple cards apart and slide another one in between.
Hi there, I am very new to being a DM and LOVE It. I am currently in my first month of running an evil campaign. I just wanted to thank you for your tips and help in this video. I immediately became a subscriber. Please keep up the great work.
For tracking *any* hit points, the system I use is write their home total at the top and subtract the damage and write it directly below that, and then repeat. If there are multiple, label the hp columns
I just ran my first DM and and D&D game yesterday and it went very well. After weeks of research this is one video i wished i saw prior to. Thank you i hope your tips help my next session.
All new players too so i simplified everything for their sake and mines. Everyone had 20HP including monsters and everyone did 1d6 damage with modifiers depending on class and other things I tried to keep balanced. Kept it simple for fiest session giving them access to only one "power" or spell depending on class. Next one I plan to introduce everything per class then third session go over armor and other stats.
When it comes to status effects - use the ring that comes off of the bottle from below the cap. That little ring can be removed and can almost always be put around on hang on the minis. Its my favorite so far and you can get a ton of different colors and it costs nothing. Plus when you get multiple hanging on a larger creature it becomes really cool because you see more viscerally what effects you are using.
New(ish) DM here and i just wanna let y'all's know that your are alwaus so thought-provoking and helpful. Like, I always walk away with something when I put them on, even the videos I'm just watching for fun. Thank you so much.
I do like the "tip over mini" for prone. The way I differentiate dead and prone. prone=knocked over, dead="X" written on the board and mini removed. Also dead bodies=difficult terrain
I was justing thinking during my last session that I need to start pre-rolling the initiative for the enemies, and here I'm watching a video one week later that recommends doing this! I'm glad I wasn't alone in this thinking.
The toughest thing for me to keep track of is when effects are expiring, especially when you have a lot of them going on across the spectrum of combatants. Remember, there are effects that arent even conditions, such as "you get disadvantage on your next attack action" ...
Try assigning the effect a symbol, like a * or ?, the track duration with hash marks at the top of your initiative page. Each player under effect gets the * next to their name on the sheet. When the effect ends just cross it out. I track disadvantage in the same way. I write DIS ACT and cross it out when they roll it.
This is seriously the most useful DM tutorial I have seen so far. I'm relatively new to D&D, but I'm wanting to DM at some point soon. Thanks for this!!
I use cards over my DM screen. I add character art and their name in a handwriting or fancy font that fits the character. It's mostly flare and let's my players know who is up as ya stated. On the flap that faces me, I put their AC, PP, and class/race. It lets me more effectively run the enemy/monster since I don't have to keep asking for AC and such. It is slower, but it works for me.
For initiative I use a magnetic dry erase board. I have magnetic strips with players names and a couple labeled for the dm. I then rearrange the strips on the board and have it displayed for all to see.
Can I just say that it's very comforting to hear you guys talk about little handy-dandy tips for running combat that I, a DM that literally started DM'ing this week, have already been using.
Great video, I wanted to point out some of the tips that I found easy to use during my games as a DM * Starting Combat : Get Transparent Card Sleeves from your online or your local game shop (guaranteed they have them if they host card game tourneys like mtg), at most they cost 2$. - Paper : I Recommend a strong plain white paper, can be bought from any hobby store for cheap. - Markers: Wet or Dry Erase do well. put a paper you have cut in the dimensions that the sleeve fits and voila, If you trust the players enough (I use a big dice tray to oversee the results) have them write their PCs Name and initiative result in their card, now you only have to bother with monsters. * Tracking Monster Hitpoints : It's much easier to add the damage received towards the monster's or PCs hit points than subtracting from the hit points, this way you have to put less focus on HP tracking and continue the battle. (Example, The monster receives 10 damage and has 30 hitpoints, write the 10, and know that when 30 damage has been accumulated, it's dead).
I use those same stones to mark status ailments too :) On that note, I like to consider "concentrating" as a status effect with representation on the board, so players don't forget to drop one spell in order to take on another.
I've been using a spreadsheet with tabs for each possible encounter pre-populated with monster initiative, AC, & HP as well as the names of the characters. Then when the players get to an encounter, I have them roll initiative and then sort by the initiative column. This has been working pretty well.
When I expect to have a mass combat during a session, I make a tracking/score sheet with each creature's hit points and modifiers arranged in columns. I also use small sticky notes to keep track of creatures when I have many similar creatures on the battlefield.
There's a Because Science episode about quickdraw gunfights, that presents evidence that the person who draws in response to being drawn on actually moves faster, thus meaning that getting surprise is tougher than just pulling your weapon first.
I love your videos guys, super helpful for an aspiring DM. You do a great job of making it seem like I'm at the table chatting with you about these topics and it's fun and engaging to watch. Keep it up!
These videos are so awesome, I just started DMing my first campaign (and also my first time ever playing any tabletop role playing game... I know) and I've been getting such great feedback from the players thanks to all these guides!
For initiative- I use the back of a small clipboard where I list down all the players on the top left. I write down their initiative rolls, and then I write down in bigger letters their Initiative order and then clip it in front of my DM screen. That way, everyone can see the initiative order and they can also plan ahead their turn. For markers- I use small multicolored rubber bands to designate various status effects. I also tend to use a lot of Lego minifigs and I raise their arms up when they're stunned. For combat in general- I try to gauge if I should continue or end combat depending on how the party is doing. For example, during an AL game they killed the boss right away in the first turn during the final encounter, so I thought I'd let his minions continue fighting. (with no one controlling them they'd just attack mindlessly) Two banshees and two wails later everyone except the wizard and fighter were on the floor with 0 hp. I was panicking because of the almost unintended TPK, but thankfully they revived the cleric and he successfully cast turn undead. (I was prepared to fudge their roll in case he failed) I could still remember the sudden silence and blank stares when I looked up from my screen after that 2nd banshee wail.
I typically use a prepared excel sheet where I wrote down the monsters HP and have a formula, where I can simply add the damage and it calculates what HP they have left and the box turns red when the creature is bloodied. I simply add a column for initiative, so I can keep track of it. It is a nice touch to add a column for each round to keep track who has acted on that round.
A bit difficult to explain, but you'll thank me so much for it. For initiative, take few small pieces of paper, like 1x3 inches and fold them in half, write name of players and monsters, and just as players tell you their rolls put them immediately on top of your DM screen accordingly to their order. You don't need to write anything down, and both you, from one side, and players, from the other side, can see who's next. You can also color code them, like orange for druid, purple for warlock etc. so it's more clear and eye catching.
. My group recently tried a way to track initiative that we loved. We would roll initiative but the players and DM had to remember who was coming up before them and who went after once we established it. So to end their turn rather than all the are you done. Or the DM saying “ok next person”. The players would be able to say “it’s so and so’s turn now” worked amazing and we also cut down on the moments of “wait who did he just attack” moments too
I've never DMed before, but I'm about to start a campaign. I like a lot of these tips but don't know which ones I'll end up using. I do know the "add up the damage until it reaches the creature's hit points total" is an amazing tip I'll definitely use.
Combat is the only thing I don’t really just don’t understand and I’m starting my first real campaign as a dm in with 2 weeks and I really needed this!
I run the occasional D&D one-shot and I always pre-roll the enemies' initiative - makes it so much easier. If enemies are setting an ambush, I also pre-roll their Stealth checks to see if they beat the party scout's passive Perception. Finally, Keith Ammann's blog "The Monsters Know What They're Doing" is a godsend, as it tells you not just which monsters will cut and run when injured (most of them, as it happens), but at what point in the combat and whether they will dash, disengage or dodge to do so.
I completely missed the improv guide box in the back of the manual so thankyou for bringing that up Love the idea of rolling how many rounds until you change something to keep combat interesting Great tips, really appreciate them dudes! Thankyou!
This is REALLY useful. Helps ALOT with so much. Few problems I ran into recently and this has helped immensely, especially the reference in the DM guide book
When I do initiative tracking, 8 have a piece of paper with numbers 20-1 in a single row on the side, you can easily print a bunch of these, and I can quickly jot down names next to their initiative number and it helps me keep it in order so I won't accidently skip turns
As for the initiative sheet, I think I use a better method than yours. I printed a sheet with squares with numbers from one to twenty-five vertically and from one onwards horizontally. During the battle, I put x's in the appropriate box every time someone is done. This way I can easily mark both the initiative and score when various effects end, useful if they last a certain amount of turns.
If you are a newer DM, like me, I would HIGHLY recommend purchasing the iOS app Game Master 5 by lions den. They have update files on Dropbox that fill in spells and the bestiary from almost all the Dnd 5e books and have an encounter tracker that you run that auto rolls all your monsters initiative, attacks, and spells very easily.. whenever I’m board waiting somewhere I just build a new encounter by surfing through the monsters and finding something cool that fits the narrative.
Really great video. I'm pretty new (and late) to DM'ing, but recently I ran a game in which players had to infiltrate a town full of various varieties of thugs and thug-support, which I expected them to encounter in random small groups. I printed out sheets of paper that each had 3-5 color-coded copies of the stat block for each particular enemy type, and cut the pages up into slips. I gave each one an actual name to help me track, wrote initiative in one corner and which miniature they'd be, and tracked their hit points and spells right on the stat block slip. When combat started I drew a few slips out and arranged them in front of me in initiative order. (I still had to write them on scrap paper to track the players' initiative, of course, but it still helped.) And the great side effect was that each time the players killed someone, they had the satisfaction of seeing and hearing me tear that monster's slip of paper in half.
This is really helpful! As a young newbie (to dnd as a whole not just dming) who got dumped into dming a large party with barely any help this has really helped! :)
I want to play a session where you have to literally dodge the d20, as the monster is attacking you, because it's so huge. It was built by a carpenter who knew the geometry of the icosahedron. The other Platonic solids (giant sized as well) are used for other purposes, such as elevated positioning, cover, etc. Re-rolling is a group effort.) ) Happy quarantine everyone!
For initiative, I bought wet/dry erase cards. They are blank playing card sized cards that I can write on and then erase. I write character/monster names and their initiative score on the card. I can have the cards ready to go with names from the beginning of the game, then just write in initiative scores when it comes up.
This is a great method and I've used it at my table as well. I just used Magic card sleeves with a bit of cardstock inside them, but this also works nicely with index cards. It's quite efficient!
Hi Dungeon Dudes! Thank so much for your videos! I was new to the game a month ago. And wanted to be a DM since the beginning, so I've being studing since then to be a DM. Had my first session this week as a DM and ended up with a lot of questions. But your videos gave me a cristal clear guidance to solve all the flaws I had during the game. Happy New Year! a 2d20 Year! :D
A modification of doing average damage for attack rolls if you still want some variety but not to have to do so many rolls is a house rule I use I call severity dice. When I roll for a monsters attack I use two different D20 one will be the normal attack dice while the other determines how well the attack land below 10 being below average, and above being the opposite. I’ll usually make the call of how much the number modified the damage on feel, but when I first started using the rule I would pre write values for 3,6,8,12,15,18 too practice so that I wasn’t unfair. If you do this keep in mind the kind of dice used for the attack 8D4 has a much more consistent damage spread then 2D20 despite having the same maximum value. P.s a slightly more dangerous modification you can make is too use the amount the attack dice rolled above the target AC as bonus for the severity roll, if you do this divide the overflow past AC in half rounded down (i.e an attack roll of 15 against an AC of 10 would result in a bonus of +2 too the severity roll). A reason to do this is that it will mean higher AC characters will on average receive less damage giving a sense that their armor actually helps mitigate damage instead of an all or nothing game. If you do this and treat 10 as the average damage you will be making monsters stronger (which might be what you want) so if you use this overflow mechanic you may want to treat 8 as the point where the average damage lies. Pss it the bonus buts the roll past 20 just do max possible damage not more it just means their armor did nothing to stop the attack leave max + for if they landed a natural crit.
Your videos are the best on the web! I have need playing long and am also learning to DM and its a bit daunting... Your passion and concise explanations have really helped. 🤩 Thanks again!
For tracking initiative, I use a 20 sided dice. Each npc or monster and character gets a dice and what is rolled is placed next to the model on the battle grid. As their initiative comes up, they take their 20d and use it to roll their attack.
I saw something about the "square method." Basically, you draw a three sided square |__| as a representation of the table. Then, go around the table and just label each corner or edge as a player value (no names) and the open space under the square as your enemies in initiative order. Super quick, super easy.
Easy way track initiative. Piece of paper with 20-1 written on. Slip it inside one of those see through sleeves and use wipeable pens. Super easy and quick and you can have a round counter and give enough space to have a notes section just incase stuff needs to happen during certain rounds of the combat etc. Can even write down a few witty lines for your BBEG to mock your PCs with 😄
When taking initiative, I go left to right at the table, marking each player’s initiative, putting monsters underneath, then go back and put letters on the opposite side. That way, it goes characters A-F instead of 25 counting down to 1.
Good video guys, I've been watching a couple of your videos to help me with some small details since I'll be a DM for the first time a week from now and I was preparing to finalize everything I need to know and keep in mind. You always get right to the point and explain in a way that anyone can understand, so thank you for that!
Thank YOU, and good luck on your first time "behind the screen"! Are you running a module or running your own adventure? We'd love to know if there are any topics we could cover that would be particularly useful for a first-time DM.
Dungeon Dudes The game I'm running next week is a one-off for our university's D&D club, my friends that introduced me to the game and helped me make the club thought it would be a nice experience since I'll be starting a long, multi-part campaign sometime soon when I finish setting it all up and getting my extra dice sets (my Amazon order got lost and I got a refund but still need to purchase extra dice sets). As to more topics for first-time DM's, I'll try and think of some if I ever find myself questioning how something works.
If you print out an iniciative number list and put it in a plastic cover, you can use markers that wash off to track things and you don't waste a lot of paper.
I miss playing face to face with my players but this video made me realize how many quality of life changes Roll 20 (and other digital TTRPG tools too) brings to the table. Rolling for initiative? Sure, let everyone roll, then adjust the initiative tracker to descending, takes 30 seconds. It takes time to add up the monster's damage? Nope, it's added up automatically. Worried about keeping track of player's health? They do that themselves, but you can always see the health of their token. Got a condition? Token markers, bby. I do like the advice in the beginning, sometimes it's hard to tell if the person instigating the action should get a 'free' hit.
For the "improvised actions", I have a house rule borrowed from Lamentations of the Flame Princess called the Gambit system. Basically whenever a PC wants to do something crazy, I have them roll two D20s. If both are a success, then their plan worked exactly as they wanted it to. If one is a success and the other is a fail, then their plan kind of worked but something went wrong. And if both are fails, then their plan exploded in their face. I've found this adds a lot of fun and creativity to my combats.
About to get back into dming after about a 10 year hiatus. Just getting my feet wet with 5ed as well. I'll be head first into your videos for the next bit! Great combat tips!
