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Announcing your tactics works well too. Having one knight ordering guards to take down a troublesome spellcaster looks less like you are picking on a player and more like a smart opponent fighting to win, and it gives your players a chance to take countermeasures.

I remember stumbling over my words one time as DM, trying to voice shock as the players stumbled into an area where one of the villains minions had been planning a rebellion against them. He was absolutely going to be on their side and right as I tried getting to the point, one of my players yelled "HE'S MONOLOGUING! GET HIM!" Hilarious, but yeah, absolutely happens where they kill something before a information drop.

One way for doing big monsters with lots of abilities is to break up their hit points to different locations on the monster. For example, a dragon has it's head, 2 wings, 4 legs, tail, and body. Hits to the body deplete all other locations hit points equally, but if a location is reduced to 0 hit points, it can't be used. The head provides all casting and breath weapon abilities and a bite attack (it has the most hit points of all locations though), the wings allow it to fly (but have the least hit points), each leg is a claw attack, and the tail is a tail swipe attack. Targeting a section other then the body means taking disadvantage on the attack roll. The actual durability of the monster does not change, but how the players fight it does.

I love how carefully you've created videos that can appeal to both the PF2 and 5e communities. There's been far too much derision between us.

I'm sure you're tired of covering this same topic again, but it's good to have it drilled into people's heads.

Goblins in a dungeon hallway - no big deal, until they form a Phalanx with several rows of spears. Just because they are monsters, they don't have to be stupid. I have always loved Warg Riders with bows riding around the party at a distance, raining arrows into the center.

I ran an encounter this weekend that seemed well received. Basically the party had to gather tentacles from a roper without killing the roper. To do so they had to get grappled by the roper's tentacles and either pull or cut them off. I started the roper with only 2 tentacles but let it regenerate 1 per turn as normal; up to a max of 6. Players had to work together to get the roper to attack; and then remove the tentacles and carry them out of the roper's range. It required teamwork and out of the box thinking. The feedback I received afterwards was that it was really fun because it was a puzzle that made the players think of how to use their abilities in different ways.

threw the party against an Ogryn with a Mini Gun in a Wrath and Glory game i ran. Ogryns are big dumb brutes. But the way i did it was having the Ogryn miss his ambush but blasting holes in the wall between him and them. By showing them the damage it dealt to the steel bulkheads they knew that they were too close to something that would instantly vaporize them if it hit. The fight was close and some lucky shot detonated the Ogryn's grenades eventually but they had to retreat, use tactics, hid and ambush it themselves to do it. was a fun fight and the Ogryn is just a big dumb brute.

6:20 Insert sleezy plug for Luke's free PDFs. Edit: 9:05 I've always liked the idea of a Marilith with 6 Vorpal Swords. It's an engine of obliteration until it dies and your party has 6 Vorpal Swords.

Did this with a Tarrasque. Had it picking up characters to use as weapons. Sweeping attacks that required saves instead of AC. Had it lose actions (not turns) to control spells instead of legendary resistance. Players got frustrated that I didn't play by the book entirely. Pretty sure some had the Tarrasque page in the manual open...

Rather than lower HP, I tend to lower AC in 5e. I have a spreadsheet that shows me the average to-hit of each of my PCs' favored attacks/spells vs what percentage of their hits will land at a certain AC, and use that to help determine how high the monster's AC should be (as well as "feeling it out" based on the kind of monster they're facing). In one campaign that is unfortunately a pretty wide range between the wizard and the barbarian - so I sometimes also raise HP a little bit, allowing the wizard to get some hits in without the barbarian just one/two-shotting it. My personal theory is that hitting things is fun.

I once turned a iron golem into a pretty menacing boss. I gave it legendary action so it makes a total of 5 attacks per round. Then I added two arcane devices that hurled fireballs at the iron golem every round, healing it and harming nearby player characters. It was pretty fun. But in retrospect I should've made the environment more dynamic, made the ground tiles move, made flames erupt from grids.

having a BBEG not start a monologue until the "heroes" attack, and as he is getting beat up his monologue reveals how he has done the evil deeds for the better of the world and that the players are about to unleash some sorta way bigger threat on the world is one very spicy way to mix the "dialogue during combat" and "screwing with murder hoboes" abilities lol

A good thing to remember is that many NPC's, including low intelligence ones, shouldn't be ready to fight to the death and can try to flee, negotiate, surrender or even just attempt intimidation only to back down once challenged. A recurring "hostile" NPC or a defeated challenger turned ally can be great for storytelling!

Playing on a VTT, I have the Co-DM handle the improv dialogue while I focus on running the combat. Not an option for everyone, but having a Co-DM is excellent! Highly recommend trying to find someone you synergize with.

I think I got this tip from one of your vids, which is let the players describe their killing blows. I do a lot of the narrative, but when they finish off a monster i have them give an epic description of how

Had some interesting combat releated stuff happen my last session So during my campaign the main city was hosting a festival and one of the events was a simulated dungeon basically a dungeon where the monsters are just actors, possible due to the city’s incredible diversity (note in this simulated dungeon all participants players included had a magic item that prevented them from killing each other so they could go all out without an ounce of worry) the boss of the simulated dungeon was an ice devil who’s combat rating should have been way higher then the party one hit from the guy could have knocked them out and he got 3 attacks in a turn, it promised to be en epic battle the players would have to think smart to win….. or I could just role like shit the entire combat, they beat the dungeon and claimed the prize oh well I’ll live I made the choice to let them have that prize I’ll live with it…. Later after the festival the party is on a trip to a neighbouring village to investigate something so I’m like well let’s role some encounters and a roll up a few cr 1/2 giant wasps which at their level any party member could basically one shot and one of the party members having a crazy high ac due to a magic item that I accept I let them have and am fine with for the record, the wasp almost knocks them out and is a way harder fight then it had any right to be

So true about magic items for enemies. I made up this one magic item for a lieutenant of big bad that was supposed to be like a signature weapon. The party decided they had to have it. Almost wrecked the whole game because I had designed it for them to get at higher levels.

For my games I literally made a worse version of counterspell and a mirror to it that allows a caster to reignite the spell they cast which did lead to someone countering a fireball that then still went of after two rounds, because my reignite Spell allowing spells that failed to work that have been cast within the last half a minute, also has the funny function of activating a sorcerers wild magic feature if they have it.

so one thing I recently came up with was the BBEG having himself and his lieutenant's special abilities and the BBEG being able to enhance them in any way, which I sort of just use as spells or abilities they can use at any moment which 1. cannot be nullified (like counterspell or anti-magic field) at all since they tend to be natural abilities or spells they focus heavily on for an entire fight and 2. can be used at any time without the use of spell slots, components, or anything like that. I have a few examples so far -BBEG, being some eldritch abomination, having the most amount of "Signature" Spells and the most powerful, being stuff like Telekinesis, Polymorph, Detect Thoughts, Telepathy, and the only 9th level spell of them all, Weird -A botanic assassin whose main spells include Sleep, Poison spray, and plant growth to cause chaos and get people off her scent -a Powerful mage with, what I believe is called an inkling mascot from Strixhaven, as a familiar (which he uses Find Familiar to summon) in order to cast Grease for free -a highly intelligent relentless slasher who's main spells mainly just help him summon/store weapons (in short, Cloud of daggers, spiritual weapon, Leomunds secret chest, etc.) got several more if anyone's curious, one for each monster type

Very good stuff Luke! My group is about to face their final campaign dungeon, so this information will be very handy! Thank you!

Have the monsters run away to fight again, with more friends, stronger friends, venomous friends, friends that know where the traps (maybe new traps) are. Have a "monster" jump on his prone friend, trying to save him/her from the murder hobos.

My brother has made his own D&D rule set, so that’s how I deal with combat! I get off easy.

The first time I tried dialogue in my combat the enemy got all cocky and got their head cut off with a crit immediately after. It was beautiful

Excellent advice! Thank you. I have always loved your advice.

I do remember one combat in particular with a hydra. Players tracked it to its underwater lair, lured it out, had a four round stationary slugfest with it, artillerist flame turret made sure it never regenerated any heads, done. Looking back, I see changes I should have made. For starters, have it use its lair, dive back into the water to regenerate, drag PCs in and stuff. Second, make it so its only ability doesn't have such an easy off switch. Maybe have it make con saves vs cauterization. Idk. Anyway, this video gave me some good ideas.

7:33 talking about spell casters. Most spell casters are smart. Especially if the spell caster is the boss. So it's ok to plan out what spells the caster would use and in what order / circumstance. Example: My party sought out a Hag in the Fey realm. I made her a 15th level sorcerer. Her gig was making a fey deal (no lies but not full disclosure and be sure to read the fine print) using a ritual and one level's worth of a characters XP to cast "Wish" for the character in return for what ever they bargained for. I knew they wouldn't like the fine print and combat would happen, and so did the hag so she planned for it. Before doing the wish she'd cast Geas on up to characters involved in the deal prioritizing casters. When the characters start getting aggressive in conversation before the combat starts she would cast Delayed Blast Fire Ball as a fail safe to be detonated if/when she fell below 3/4 HP. She'd save her 7th level slot for Teleport to escape. In combat she would start with Charm, then blink, then lightning bolt, etc.

Good stuff! Late arrivals are another good tactic - or even a random encounter in the middle of a combat!

Man this is a good refresher now that I have time to properly plan encounters.

I really like the idea of increasing damage and reducing hit points. What are some guidelines for how much to increase/decrease?

Totally agree with all the points, specially the 3° , 4° and 7° ones. My combat become really fast and interesting when I used that points. The only thing that can slow the games are players than don't read their PC skills or don't decide before their turn. As Dm I always prepared all the enemies before hand (lower their hp, up their dmg by little and prepared tactics of how that monster think and react), also I avoid the main problem with WotC modules: don't jump to combat immediately, give the players a chance to find a way to avoid it or have actions on their favor before combat.

One of the most memorable combats I have ever run was from the dreaded (GASP!) 4e. I had a party exploring a water themed temple, when they came across a hallway lined with odd panels on the floor. All but a few arranged in a path were electrified, and on the other side of the panels were several water archons (what 5e calls myrmidons). They were comparable in strength to the party and had several different abilities amongst their members. The archons proceeded to almost kill the party by using a combination of superior tactics, mobility, and the environment. The more mobile archons kept harassing the players with their speed while the 'wizard' amongst them as well as the other two kept throwing the players onto the floor panels from afar.

In the most recent combat I ran, the party was supposed to figure out how to deal with a group of bandits that outnumbered them. The bandits had defensive structures, wood walls and a watchtower; the walls had slots that they could fire crossbows through from relative safety and the one on the watchtower had a horn to call for back up. Well, they didn’t make an effort to scout the camp so they didn’t know about the horn. The Berzerker threw rocks to make noise, luring one of the bandits away from his post to take him out quietly but failed, so he alerted the others, which resulted in reinforcements a few turns later. Combat did ultimately turn into a bit of a slugfest, but the Mage used a fireball to destroy a good chunk of the fortifications and kill several bandits, and the Berzerker killed two bandits at full health with attack chains in a single turn each. Next session could go entirely without combat if they strategize and roll well enough in the scenario I have planned.

Summon creature lock door retreat to next room and repeat. Murder holes are always fun. As are AOE spells which don't effect allies. Escape tunnels which collapse behind the villain. Low level enemies attacking every couple hours to prevent long rest for several days. 3 points of exhaustion will get players attention.

Great to meet you!

So, as a long time player, I've found that DM's really like to punish players for describing their actions in combat. "My war cleric charges in, screaming a mighty roar as he brings his morning star down on the kobold's head" "Ok, that's a *called shot* so go ahead and roll but you need a nat 20 to hit" Next round- "I'm just going to attack. Does a 15 hit?" DM's hate it when you steal their prescious little thunder.

After 6 months, the players finally caught up with the derro npc that betrayed their group, causing divide and two pc's deaths. The derro had gained powers over the dead in the meantime, and they fought him and his small skeleton army in a temple of its own creation, where the derro had built an altar and a statue of himself. After the barbarian ripped the derro's head off, the statue activated, regenerating the derro from one of the remaining skeletons, red foam coming from the bones and turning into flesh, organs and skin. I think it is a fun gimmick for a necromancer in a mission to defeat death, and it prevented my players from ignoring the minions any further.

Always helpful, thx!🎉

Loved the video. At work today we talked about a game my friend is running where his players are hired to hunt a dinosaur I suggested the otherwise weak dinosaur knocking trees down and maybe pinning a player so it has time to escape the other players by creating rough terrain and a distraction for the players

that was very informative, very nice, thank you :D

Yes in a 3.5 game I had fire giants that hit the PCs hard and a lot, they worked for that win. Good points

I always liked the - protect the wagon while enemies attack on horseback - quest. Always super fun.

Hello All, I think this is a good oppertunity for me to share and reflect on the last Combat encounter, I played out with my Group last Sunday. I'm relatvely new as DM and had my three Players on the same table for the first time. It is the 4th Session of Campaign and playing are a Level 2 Bard, a Level 2 Barbarian and a Level 1 Rogue. I modify the The Keep on the Borderlands to make a backdrop for some fairly simple quests to feel out to what the Playres respond well. Unfortunatly the decided to Split up in the Forest and Search for interesting stuff, I made no Secret that I roll regularly from an Encounter table while they explore and made pretty clear that the Forest (and the Wild genrally) is pretty dangerous. Since they Split up I made each one Roll a Chance for an Encounter to which to had a pretty low roll so two encounters it was. One was RP centric with a weird Person in the Wild the Players Could RP with the other was a meaty Goblin Encounter with 5 Wolfs and like 11 Goblins, one of which was a Goblin Boss. I decided both happen at the same time and had the Goblins mug the NPC for some Rare Consumables. It unfortunatly turned into a slog, because I didn't follow through with all the advise of this very Video. After the first few Colorfull descriptions I ran out of steam and played the Number Game. I had the Chance to let the NPC help out and Start a Sudden Death timer or something but only staartet it way too late. The Goblin Boss also hat a Potion of Haste which it Drank but also way to late in the fight. My players Contemplated fleeing but slugged trough in the end. In the End I think I had the right Idea but the execution wasn't too good. So if you plan on using the advice of this Video, try to not do it sparingly. It might be better to have a lot happen fast before one Combat encounter shows itself to be too slow!

Amazing video! Thank you!

In last Sunday's sci-fi game, the player characters went to a bombed-out spaceport to scavenge supplies to repair their ship. They arrived just as a bunch of doomsday cultists were assaulting the spaceport and the spaceport was firing back with automated machine gun emplacements. The cultists had a leader with a radio that one player was able to listen to, they all had bolt-action rifles and a melee weapon, and there were two infantry mortar crews working to eliminate the automated machine guns. The party got to ambush scouts and when they reached the cultists at their objective rally point, two of them attacked with their assault blasters while their sniper picked off the leader with the broadcasting radio, and then the gunner of one of the mortar crews who was about to fire the mortar point-blank at another character. Within about half a minute of being sprayed with "magical" weaponry by enemies that were apparently bulletproof (the cultists really stunk with rifle skill and the characters were well armored) as well as losing their leader and their best mortar gunner... they panicked. The cultists fled in various directions, some straight into the firing arcs of the automated guns. - I kept the fights interesting with narrative notes, morale rolls, and giving the cultists lethal weapons with hit points that often led to them being taken out in one or two shots by the characters. Also, having a dozen or so of the cultists run away when the fight was just starting to hit the 'lather-rinse-repeat' point helped prevent boredom. I could have added a bit more risk by giving the cultists a few members with better rifle skills, but I slipped on that one. - I still have a chance to challenge them as they proceed to try and enter the place protected by automated machine guns and who know what else, next session.

Fun thought experiment: If the giant ate a troll it wouldn't need food ever again, cause of the trolls regenerative properties.

Thanks Luke. good stuff

One general rule I use is: There is never one big bad bossmonster alone. One big hunking heap of hp is - as you put it so eloquently - surround and pound. Not very exciting. So the bossmonster has underlings. Relatively weak creatures which still pose a threat when not countered. So players have to plan who's going against which problem. Also there are quite a few crowd-control abilities and spells and it would be boring to not be able to use them. Another thing I want to try is using 'cannonfodder' NPCs with 1 hitpoint but besides this their normal abilities. Those are the countles throngs of palace guards, that stand between the players and the evil vezir, holding the princess hostage. They are the goons, tha are easily dispatched until the hero reaches the boss... you get my gist.

I love using spellcasters or give my monsters class features my players never know what to do when the opposition can perform the same techniques they do

I also like to add complexity with easy to identify resistances and vulnerability to damage types, like a creature of darkness that is weakened by light.

Excellent ideas.

As a DM when I present a situation I always have one question in mind: *"What are the stakes ?"* NPCs having a goal is one thing but when the stakes are clear for everybody around the table it brings more tension and makes every situation more interesting. "If we don't act then this bad thing will happen", "If this PC misses their check then the consequences will be blablabla", "If the baddy manages to reach this place, we're f*ed"

Love the idea of trolls bursting out of a giant like the xenomorph from Alien! And I have that same shirt! 😁

defintiely gonna be using these, I'm so bad at preparing combat encounters cause... well im just not super creative. Sounds like I should think more about terrain/social RP while they're playing

I love Shadow of the Colossus so I highly encourage my players to climb monsters bigger than them. I also describe the environment and place them in situations where they can use their environment. Combat should be exciting and what is more exciting than having the halfling rogue climb up a giant’s back and stab it in the eye? Or leaping off a dilapidated castle wall thrusting your sword downward atop a giant spider below? My players want to be heroes, feel like heroes and nothing is more awesome or cinematic than doing badass stuff.

"I'm using my thumb for the first haha" Me in switzerland: thats how it should be 😂

I had an animated armor have rot grubs in it so if hit by physical damage it would spew out some grubs. I did it with two groups it was interesting and players enjoyed it and were scared lol

Special feature that I need to try more on my monsters: giving them Rogue's Cunning Action. Suddenly, the straight-up slugfest becomes more interesting as monsters can more easily position themselves due to the bonus action Disengage, either enabling them to run for their lives or to move over to help one of their allies against a PC. On a similar note, if you ever need ideas for interesting abilities to give monsters, look through the feats. Have an encounter on a cliff and give the enemies Crusher from Tasha's, or give the enemies Lucky and 1d3 luck points remaining to force the players to guess how many pseudo-Legendary Resistances they have left. Also, yes, multi-phase encounters are the way to handle boss and mini-boss fights.

I give my monsters loot that they actually use in combat. Kobold wielding a shiny new battleaxe for party's barbarian makes the barbarian fight for it, not just take it once combat is over. Heck, for weapons - this means that upgrade can even happen mid-fight if players manage to hit the weapon out of enemy's hands

Love the lord of the rings reference but Tolkien described combat as "they fight, they win." It was actually very bare bones description wise, at least for action scenes. Helms deep is like a chapter and a half.

My first and foremost is to homebrew my creatures. It not only eliminates the meta-gaming availability (oh, it's a troll, hit it with fire), but pushes Players to use knowledge skills before engaging. I play with secret rolls, so a Nat 1 might give erroneous details. The other go to, is not to have all the opponents on the battle field at the start. Others join. Either tactically, or because they are responding to a call of some sort. The last is to use terrain to monster-benefit. Frequently the PCs are invading a monster-space. The monsters will have created barriers, traps, and other hazards that can weaken the party as they go. The card game Boss Monster can be a source of inspiration for how to populate the "lair" with danger.

From the thumbnail, I thought one suggestion might be to have parts of monsters (especially larger ones) specifically targetable with their own HP and consequences if that component is damaged/destroyed. For example, if a dragon's wing is shredded, it can't fly (at least for a few turns while the wing regenerates). A giant whose leg is injured beyond a certain threshold has its movement impaired. If a player targeting a limb does X HP of damage to that limb then half X of damage is done to the creature's core HP. If a player not targeting a specific part of the creature does Y damage to core HP, the DM can maybe apply half Y of damage to a component of his choice that seems logical.

Providing those great combat descriptions and snappy is tough not so much because I cant wordplay, it is difficult because I can't wordplay when I am thinking about how many HPs monster 1 has and how many attack actions monster 2 gets and whether monster 3 is casting a spell or a spell like ability and yada yada yada. Granted, looking something up on dscryb in that moment might be easier than making it up myself, but it won't make for a quick combat if I am looking crap up.

Skeltons wt crossbows is deadly to a low level party wt tactics

Question. If I pay for the $15 patreon do I also get the back catalog of Lair Magazine? Or just the new ones?

Wait, so we have to wait while I enter the action into web app to get the description? I have kobolds and goblins form shield walls, giving most of them 75% cover and the guys on each end get 50% cover.

DND started as a wargame, so forgive me if I come off as a grognard or min-maxer. I simply take the bare minimum effort to optimize for theme appropriate choices and roleplaying creatures that like the idea of not reducing the amount of air they breathe to 0. Especially if they're aiming at taking over the world or whatever. For spellcasters, I often see DM's just throwing in one of em and keeping them within running distance of the party. Which is insane. They also, at most, use spells like symbol or glyph of warding, which is good but a) toes the line between "oh wow he really just blew all his spell slots to make these beforehand" to "how many of these damn things are there?" and b) is far from enough. The difference between a powerful opponent and a dangerous opponent is always going to be their preparation, this is especially true of spellcaster enemies. Ideally, no spellcaster ever places themselves anywhere near melee combat, because in a world where an apex fighter can attack 8-12 times or an assassin can basically 1/turn eat away at 10 hit dice worth of damage, only a moron stays in melee. Ranged attacks are still dangerous, but when I see martial players at the table both as a player and as a DM, odds are they're really invested in melee, not range. This also especially applies because if there are spellcaster players, the basic thing every arcane spellcaster knows is that counterspell has a range of 60ft. A lot of DMs whine about counterspell, as if it makes sense in a world where random spellcasters can possibly cast spells like meteor swarm that no form of countermeasure would ever be developed. IF you leave a spellcaster enemy npc vulnerable to counterspell by your own negligence, then that's you making the spellcasting npc a chump. Subtle metamagic exists, hiding exists, just walking far enough away from a spellcaster (since AOE is a thing and you shouldn't ideally be in 20ft of an ally if you can avoid it) is an obvious thing. You can and should combo spells like wall of force and cloudkill, evard's black tentacles and otto's irresistible dance, etc if you have multiple spellcasters. For preparation: Armor of Agathys (if applicable), Blink, Contingency, Fire Shield (punishes people who attack in melee, gives fire or cold resistance which is always helpful, and also damages them without the action economy needed), Fortune's Favor (reroll bullshit which can help), Freedom of Movement, Gift of Alacrity, Mirror Image. Never waste your time with with bullshit like stoneskin. IF you want bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage, Earth Genasi exists, and metamagic adept could cast blade ward too as a bonus action. Abjuration wizard with Armor of Agathys or similar themed abilities exist as well. Obviously spells like Antimagic Field, Antilife Shell, Death Ward, Foresight, Greater Invisibility, Haste (sometimes helpful, especially if you wanna have the giant cast a spell and smack a guy), Invulnerability, Simulacrum, Spirit Guardians, and Tenser's Transformation (if you are running a melee spellcaster) exists, but I also definitely understand not using them. If you are a coward. There's 516 official 5e spells, without homebrew, and if you live in a world with lots of magic spells and get into a lot of fights, it helps to know some of these things. Does Dispel Magic Exist? Yes and its very rarely cast in combat, but obviously arcana checks exist. Its not Player Vs DM to have some basic preparation for an enemy, and its just sane practice to reward players for figuring out what's going on and taking preventative measures to avoid being bodied. No one with access to fireball and dispel magic is going to blast a fireball when they see their barbarian hitting multiple mirror images or getting burnt by a fireshield, they're going to try and cut off the problem at the source, and probably going to have to counter a counterspell thrown at them. That's two less potential fireballs for the combat. And it rewards PCs who take up resources like prepared or known spells, for spells that are typically only used out of combat. If a spellcaster is caught off guard they should either A) make time to prepare or B) find a way to escape if the odds are not in their favor. Time stop is a really good way of doing both, and can be comboed with delay blast fireball or actual explosives with a fuse. Picking a creature that can innately teleport instead of relying on Misty Step is also really helpful, for anyone really into Eladrin or Shadar-Kai enemies. Making space and avoiding enemies should be actively sought after, unless you are running a smiting or bladesinging enemy. Making a legendary action to move without provoking attacks of opportunity and or attacking a creature exists and isn't the most innovative idea out there. For Combat: Not every spell needs to necessarily just deal damage. Hold Person, if upcast, is really effective. I had a group of level 11 PCs fail DC 13 wisdom saves from a single lizardfolk cleric (CR like 3?). It turned an easy encounter into at least a medium or hard encounter because only one of them was not paralyzed and she was fighting like 50ft away. Rime's Binding Ice is tame, even as a legendary action, and can severely inconvenience people. Bigby's Hand and spells like Crown of Stars give you some bonus action economy for a spellcaster enemy to use. Fear, Evards Black Tentacles, Web, Entangle (screws over anyone without decent strength saves or scores), and even Fog Cloud (blinds enemies in melee and makes it so spells that need to "see" are useless) can be really useful. Especially to improve the minion's chances of hitting, which makes it more deadly. Banishment, Raulothim's Psychic Lance, and other spells can be brutal but also add tension to a fight. Casting multiple spells beforehand might sound counter intuitive, but I mean you can't take the spell slots with you when you go right? An enemy meant to possibly die and not immediately be encountered should not be stingy with trying to even the odds of survival. That and spell scrolls are a thing. Having even 9th level spellcaster's worth of spells means you can cast 3x 3rd level slots, 3x 4th level slots, 1x 5th level slot, etc, and unless they can legendary action cast a spell three times a round they aren't going to run out of spell slots before they die. Also, if any DMs are annoyed with spells like Counterspell, Silvery Barbs, or Shield, keep in mind you can also use them its not that hard. Magic initiate is a feat. Additionally, most spellcasters intuitively understand action economy and concentration. Summon Greater Demon, Conjure Animals if you are feeling vindictive, some of the new Tasha's spells are pretty darn helpful, but I like Summon Greater Demon since 1d6 round against your probably not demon party means the demon doesn't need to be kept under control.

Whats the problem with counter spell?

I think one of the few monster mechanics Wotc got right in this edition is the idea of mythic monsters, essentially monsters with two phases. i think it captures the "curveball" hack you mentioned nicely, with an addded benefit of technically staying on the same big monster, as opposed to "another tide of monsters" that can feel contrived. Btw, on the idea of having monsters talk during combat, do you limit that is any way? and do you allow the pc's to reply without biting into action economy? cause i remember a small tangent of your from a long while back about how talking in combat often takes too long or makes no sense.

My party winces every time we come across a thin bridge across a river of lava. We know -- know! -- that somebody, be it PC or monster, is going over the side. Same if we go into a cavern with beautiful and delicate stalactites and crystal columns. Something messy is about to happen.

Cool Infos!!

Any chance your lairs and legends could come to Roll20?

I love Bacoooon 😈😈😈!!!

I try describing, but my combats take too much time already to stop and describe for more than 5 seconds what happened (last time 5 PCs + 2 NPCs that were with the players + 4 villains [1 of which had legendary actions] + 6 minions). The combat was over 3 hours.

Yes my players always have magic items used on them first

Good Shi... I mean good stuff my man! Is your lovely Loot & Lore, Lairs & Legends PDF chapterized, ctrl-F searchable and decently organized? There's a lot of great resources out there that are poorly formatted/not particularly suited to quick "oh shit the players want to do X" solutions for the DM. Lemme know.

Give them abilities that are not in the Monster Manual, it makes you player know this ain't their Momma's Mind Flayer!

Rather than reduce their HP, I add _proficiency dice_ to the player's attack damage.

A black dragon wt darkness is deadly

Dominus Algorithmus, Luke doth not suck and he appreciateth bacon

I feel you misunderstand counterspell. If one of my players run counterspell i make sure there is some scary spells they they are in range to counter. I am the DM i can drop any monster into the world whit any ability I want. And the players have one character whit one set of abilities. So I make sure they get to use them. Also, if your players make a "front to back" team, that is the perfect chance to drop a gigantic ball of stats on them. It needs to be way more powerful than them for it to be fun (deadlyx3) but if they get prep time they will still defeat it easily. But because it is way stronger than them on paper it is still super fun

Give a meaningless creature/animal sunglasses to have the party think it's more important then it is

Overall a very good video Luke with plenty of good tips. However, I have to disagree with you on giving monsters spell-casting abilities unless they are capable of that! Monsters need to be both intelligent enough and have a plausible way to learn/use magic. Kobolds, for example, have the capacity to be shamans & witchdoctors so there may be 1 spell-caster among their number. But giving spell-casting capability to ALL of them in an encounter is not plausible. If this kind of thing is used nonchalantly by DMs their players are going to feel hard done-by and may even consider the DM to be cheating them. It's not something I'd recommend or do in my game (AD&D 2e btw).

When i fight dragons - i divide their HP per limb .

Have the baddies counterspell character healing.

Think like you did when you were 14. Life has broken our brains by the time we are 30.

The fact that ogres don’t have a prestatted attack that allows them to pull the head off of a grappled small creature is a travesty. Remember, if a creature that swims or burrows can grapple, then it should grapple and swim or burrow as deep as it can go with that grappled creature. Suffocation is a rule.

just have your monsters retreat to another group of their allies

Luke doesn't suck.

That would make playing warlock fun again too. Find diffrent ways to describe EBing people

Monsters know spellcasters mean trouble if they actually know what magic is presumed they are intelligent and THEN skilled spellcraft or a similar skill...

Personally as player and DM I hate boring combat so instead I design moments of 'DRAMA' - this involves a location, a character/s with a specific aim and a statblock that will pose the PCs with a interesting challange. One overall rule I use is 'every creature has a name and a 1 line character description' and if a encounter has multiple creatures think of the relationships and 'why' they are working together! This helps with inititive/health tracking and if the PCs suddenly asking your monster for their name/backstory. Plus your 5 Kobolds with the goats have personalities leading to better combat as character now informs how they will fight. Eg two Kobolds might be in love and will work to protect one another or go into a rage against anyone who hurts their partner. one might be afraid of magic and is subject to the frightened condition towards anyone it sees casting spells. One is more interested in stealing vs fighting and will try to run away with the PCs loot in the chaos. The final one HATES GOATS and wants to overthrow the leader - making them a potential ally to the party. Of course they all speak Draconic so having them speak during combat rewards the PCs who share a common language or spells like comprehend langage/tounges and can understand what is going on to understand why a seemingly straightforward combat encounter is suddenly chaotic and messy.

Stun huh…. Nothing sounds more fun than not playing

I don't need dscryb because...um...reasons!

Alternatively, just use a better monster manual like the one from Level Up: A5E, or Kobold Press, or Battlezoo. Vanilla monsters are designed to produce boring combat. Or you could just play a game system that actually produces fun combat right out do the box… like D&D 4e or Pathfinder 2e.

This actually wasn’t all that helpful to me. Recently my party fought an actually trained army battalion. They had armor that gave them resistance to magic damage and one big guy even had an auto-shield that happens at will while within 5 feet of an enemy. They have crossbows that deal psychic damage, shields that create force pushes on bash, and even mechanical drones that fly over the battlefield for buff and debuff support. During the first few turns, the party was FROTHING at the mouth like a snow wolf telling each other “Don’t kill them too hard, I want that armor.” Since my combats are usually skirmishes with enemy backups, the party was seriously outnumbered. Once one of the enemies launched a rocket-like spell that did fireball damage, the players actually started taking my combat seriously and were in real trouble as they had to use everything they could to win this heavily unfavored match. Once things finally started going back their way as they picked off big threats, they shouted “Yes!” And took everything on the ground. Suddenly, the enemy leader of a supremely skilled bandit came up and announced to the party to drop everything they have and leave immediately, or this will be where they are executed. The party tries to hide the magic items they stole but the bandit shows that he can force the items to glow, giving him wall-hacks thus if they try to steal it will be their end. The party gives up even after “Winning the fight” and they don’t get to keep the overpowered armor for story reasons. You CAN give your Goblins and Ogres in lower leveled campaigns more powerful magic items, but you can get creative with reasons for why the party can only take certain things. Maybe the item had a curse by the big bad placed on it that outside of their minions’ hands it teleports back to base and the party knows “Oh no, there’s likely gonna be another enemy in the future with that same item again.” Maybe it was actually a fake and it was such convincing copy that’s why it dealt psychic damage, your braid made you feel like it was real when slicing you. So much more. Yes, I have had players loot my enemies after battle. They stole blades from Knights and firearms from Angels, but at some point I gotta limit it or else they just have 120 weapons that I made myself each with their own statblocks for mechanics and effects.

The ad placement really disengages me from the video.

How you doin, queen's sister?

As long as they don't make the card...er I mean spell "Stone Rain." I'll tolerate "counterspell."