Round 2 of this match-up: ua-cam.com/video/NQCSVGpdQkM/v-deo.html Somehow I overlooked that the death knight deals an additional 4d8 necrotic damage with its longsword attacks (probably because it's at the very end of the wordy bit about the longsword damage changing depending on if it's held in two hands or one). A number of people have commented about heat metal. Spells do not require that the caster continuously sees the target in order to maintain the spell. A few spells do require that the caster stay within a certain distance of the target (such as witch bolt). I just discovered that the new version of heat metal version that just came out in the 2024 PHB has that requirement, though I'm not using that version.
Respectfully, Esper I love your fights but the sheer amount of mistakes you make... this isn't to put you down but it is to ask you to TAKE A BREATH, read through the first time you choose a never-before-taken action of each monster and even say it out loud. I do this as a DM not only to my players but to myself and it helps me remember.
It's alright Esper! As a fellow DM, keeping track of all of the monster's stats can be a handful. This was still very entertaining and I'm looking forward to a rematch.
A lot of the Death Knights Spells and abilities were missed in this battle. Firstly, Death Knights get an extra 4d8 necrotic damage on all their melee attacks. Next, the spell compelled duel would have been quite useful for keeping the Babau from running away, a lot cheaper then banishment and only a bonus action. Even if they get away, the Death Knight knows dispel magic, and can end the heat metal on itself easily. All this would have lead to the death knight both being able to deal a lot more damage and mitigate a lot more damage.
Rematch! There's no earthly reason why the death knight wouldn't have conjured an inky black winged Pegasus (find greater steed) and had flight and free disengage for this battle
I agree that this matchup deserves a rematch. Remember the 4d8 necrotic damage and give the death knight a steed. If Esper wants to give the demons more buffs to compensate the buffs to the death knight, then he can give the demons and extra Barlgura, or even a vrock on its side. I think remembering the extra damage shred, and the added mobility from a Pegasus or nightmare would really showcase how powerful the death knight really is.
The death knight has dispel magic, that might've been worth using at some point to get rid of the heat metal. Even if the babau can cast it at will (which the death knight probably doesn't know), at least it stops him from being able to run across the whole map with it up.
Yeah, the Death Knight's sword is actually a type of phylactery (as per Lich) and can bring him back from Death. At least that's the way it used to work in 2E. I'm old school.
"I really think the Death Knight could have won this if he could've managed to pull off that banishment" He also could've pulled it off if you included his compelled duel, find greater steed, and most critically, dispel magic, as well as his just.. free extra necrotic damage.
Shouldn't the Death Knight's attacks have been dealing an additional 4d8 necrotic damage every turn? Their longsword attack says 1d8+5 plus 4d8 necrotic.
I’m always impressed by the theming , balancing and map choices it’s always very impressive. Also your voice acting and storytelling in both monster melee and in the short story you read is fantastic. Great video as always 😄
I don’t think the DK could parry the bite since the attacker was invisible. He could parry the fist attack so everything kinda evens out in the end. Also the parry’s from darkness…Just commenting as I go. 20:14 you caught it! Good on you. GMing is tough! Good job!
I know this says "Death Knight" but, for what ever reason, I was picturing Lord Soth, the original Death Knight, fighting these three demons. This was OK too, Esper. Keep on telling your tales of Monsters in Melee.
I bet you get just as much kick from doing these monster melee's as we get from watching them 😂, your videos are always a pleasure to watch, I can clearly see the passion you have for D&D and this sheer energy of yours just inspires me and motivates me
@@FraternityOfShadows not really. I mean, he lost but he carried himself well against three opponents. Plus Esper forgot his sword did more necrotic damage which taking that into account, probably would have given the DK the victory. I’m sure we’ll see a rematch.
Yup, this is definitely a new intern death knight. Running into the tight corridor is for sure a good strategy but it wouldn't just keep chasing that stupid babau. It could dispel the heat metal, it wouldn't have wasted even a single turn running away from the Barlgura. As soon as the Barlgura is squeezing into the tight corridor, a death knight should have immediately turned around and killed it knowing it's been weakened by his orb. Also the death knight didn't use enough spells, such as destructive wave. And when it comes down to smiting for extra damage, the answer is always smiting for extra damage. The extra smites might have finished the Glabrezu. But either way, love these battles. Please keep the series coming
I just thought it was another monster 5E destroyed. Typical. I hate seeing a Death Knight with no dead warrior minions and a Nightmare. How Esper keeps up with all the details is amazing. Impossible but amazing.
Fiends are my favorite monsters in dnd. This fight is badass. Death knight getting pretty unlucky early on with the heat metal. I’m gonna see how the rest goes now! This might be my favorite series on UA-cam
Another spooky one scarecrows and a hag, vs some fey, each trying to be on spooky fighting in a bog or sacred grove. Another idea would be imps and quasit each vying for an item as they fight for their respective masters they must also try to avoid detection of the wizard who found it.
I don't know... I would have ruled that the heat metal would have disappeared one the demon left the 60 ft range. And wasn't a weakness of the death knight walking speed only?
Concentration spells persist, even without the target remaining in LOS. I'm not going to say that's a bad 5e rule, but it is a little weird in execution.
@@esperthebardIt is updated in the new rules to catch this: "...you can take a bonus action on each of your later turns to deal this damage again if the object is within range."
@minkinomics3002 - It is definitely a bad rule. A rust monster could eat that armor and you wouldn't know it. A person could teleport after they cast it, be 2,000 miles away and still cause damage even if the armor was under water or not? If you can't see what you are concentrating on.... it makes little sense to me. Especially thru potentially miles of rock.
Even though some of the Death Knight's abilities weren't used, I think that this shows how much of a threat the glabrezu is for its CR. One of them almost TPK'd my players. They let it run away at low health after it killed one and downed another of their party leaving the other two characters to hurry and save their lives. This of course created an EPIC revenge arc culminating in the glabrezu's defeat IN THE ABYSS for a permanent death when they were higher level. I loved how a seemingly one-off, throw-away combat became so much more, a highlight/sidequest in the full campaign. All from cool spells, abilities, and interactions on a monster stat block. There are too few of those moments that happen because of quality stat blocks in modern 5e, but I cherish them when they happen.
Those moments are part of the magic of the game! I love seeing how things unfold and the surprises that pop up as the players go through the various scenes.
A fight you could do is take a few humanoid stat blocks and put them up against a cyclops in a reenactment of Odysseus and his men fighting the Cyclops. A new iteration but higher level of guards maybe with a mixed team of guards, veterans and gladiator. Maybe even a bandit or bandit captain.
better yet: Szass Tam (the official CR30 stat-block) vs Vecna AND Acererak. Who am I kidding, Szass's new stat-block would've wiped the floor with them.
What can I say? These can be really complex to run, so many details. Plus that necrotic damage bit is sort of hidden at the end of the overly wordy longsword damage line. I'll probably run a rematch though ;)
3 місяці тому+10
eh it was a fun battle but the idea that a spell that can't be resisted, that can't miss, that just does damage like heat metal sort of takes the epic out of the battle a little. Don't get me wrong it was cool, the heat metal thing just made me roll my eyes a little. Great job keeping everything you need to keep in mind together though! It must be awesome to play a game with you as DM! You put so much into the storytelling! Great work Sir!
I thought Death Knights had magic resistance of some kind anyway.
3 місяці тому+1
@@redfaux74 I guess the way of looking at it would be the death knight does have magic resistance, but his armor doesn't? just playing devil's advocate here, I thought that was a little off too.
It should affect everything he has including his sword, boots, etc. But Esper has a lot to remember when having a battle between 3 to 8 monsters, with many powers, stats, weaknesses, etc. I still have enjoyed every Monster Melee so far. No one is perfect. But Esper is perfect in my eyes. His unique perspective brings me back to these videos after years of quitting the game. I'm just too old now.
3 місяці тому+1
@@redfaux74 yeah every time I watch one of his videos I miss playing a lot, I remember how much fun it was back in the day and what a great time my friends and I used to have playing but without a time machine those days are gone and over. to be clear I was not judging the job Esper did in any way, I know all the stuff there is to remember, it was more a judgment on the spell and the way the rules for it are written for me. anyway, I hear you about too old to go back.
I was a player in a couple campaigns and a DM in a couple campaigns. It was several years of fun. 1985 to 2001.... I have to admit our games were nothing like what I see today in 5E. We were 2E and we played hyper powerful games. And it was always balanced. Always challenging. I don't think most people could handle what we played. We designed our own spells. Fireball was nothing. Our 4th level spells left Fireball in the dust. And so on.... Our Tarrasque was over 1,000 feet tall. It was terrifying. But life happens. I guess we just have to move on and leave behind. But it's fun to get in the nostalgia. Esper does a marvelous job. ❤️ Memories. Two of my best friends, players and DMs, passed away at the age of 36. I miss them.
Storywise: After Orcus defeated Demogorgon his only rival left was the conniving Grazzt, he sent a Death Kngiht to the Demons temple to gather information and if the oppurtunity lent itself steal any arcane artifact it could find, but while skulking about it was discovered by a patrol of Demons.
Here’s a battle idea, 8 elementals (two for fire, water, air and earth each) vs one of each genie type, so a Djinni, Efreeti, Dai, and a Maris. If you want to shrink the scope of the fight, you could make it only four elementals vs only the Djinni and Efreeti.
Excellent video Esper. ❤ This truly was hell for the Death Knight. He had no magic sword, no steed (a Nightmare would've made a big diff in combat here) and no squad of undead warriors. I'm forever confused as to why 5E calls them Spellcasters. They should have actual spells and not just bonus spell like abilities in addition to their spells. Dark, negative energy magic missiles, fear spells, knock for barriers, fog cloud..... The Death Knight is truly underestimated. Their collective warrior combat skills, especially mounted (which no one ever sees?) should scare the skeleton right out of anyone. Imagine 5 lesser undead knights with archery skills riding on undead horses, dire wolves, or hippogryphs. Horrifying.
With theese rolls the Babau alone would have killed him. However the heat metall spell might have actually come close to loosing its effect. That fight might have taken a minute.
Paladin spells to consider that the DK would have access to: daylight to counter darkness. Dispell evil and good, banishing smite, holy weapon might counter darkness, shining smite would counter darkness and invisibility, find steed, or even summon celestial
@@energyscholar - Magic resistance is not saving throws. Everyone gets saving throws for certain things. Not everyone has magic resistance. Unless 5E has dramatically changed that as well. It's possible I guess.
In my opinion, it would've been more tactically advantageous for the Death Knight to have fired off its Destructive Waves to kill the Barlgura and break the Glabrezu's concentration instead of dashing after the other demon.
I legitimately never knew you could cast dispel magic on a magic weapon and it's blowing my mind Esper. Can you do that on all magic items not just enemy weapons?
I have no idea if you had thought of this, especially since the death knight didn't get to go after the babau unchased, but would the death knight consider taking off the armor in a ploy to convince the babau that they must be dead?
Doffing a plate armor takes 5 minutes. It's typically ignored when your RP out of combat, but in combat that's 50 rounds. And that's even if he'd want to lose his entire AC in the first place.
Heat metal requires the object heated being seen, and has a range of 60'. For much of the battle one or other condition was not met, if I recall correctly.
I'd have imagined an epic CR being such as a Death Knight easily being as intelligent as an experienced player character, so they probably would've handled this encounter like one, using whatever means they have at their disposal, including the environment. Heck, they might've even considered throwing off their armor if they had to avoid taking damage from heat metal.
I definitely would have made different decisions in this combat. Also I don't think I would have allowed the Glabrezu to get an opportunity attack from around the corner. I get that the death knight was in the threatened area but kinda hard to punch someone around a wall
Yeah heat metal and run strategy is silly. It should be that the caster needs to see the target to maintain concentration. Or maintain a certain distance distance to the target. Otherwise, it is a no save assassination on most targets wearing plate (Or creatures that can't remove their armor)
@@gratuitouslurking8610 That's a good change imo. But it doesn't go far enough, the caster cant inflict the fire damage, but the spell stays. So the target still gets permanent disadvantage on attacks. They should stay within a certain distance to keep the spell going. Thinking more about it, visibility would make it too easy to shake off, all a creature needs to do is turn the corner and the spell is gone.
@@gratuitouslurking8610 I read it differently. The spell literally says 'sight' IS a factor. "Choose a manufactured metal object, such as a metal weapon or a suit of heavy or medium metal armor, that you can see within range."
What is the name of the application you're using for these battles? It looks extremely slick and would be awesome to use in my own campaigns!! Do let me know, please and thank you, epic content anyhow
I wish it was 2nd Ed death knight (Lord Soth) they were going up against… he had power word blind, power word kill, wall of ice and that hellfire orb at will. If I remember correctly.
Heat metal has a range of 60 feet. In the later rounds it might not work when the demon is far away. It also has a time limit of 1 minute. And this last point is debatable, it requires the caster to see the item that they’re casting on (if they’re in different rooms/obscured by magical darkness, they can’t see the target). Plus it’s preposterous that a death knight this high level doesn’t have a +1 weapon when as players you get them free at 3rd level in AL…
AM I missing something? Heat metal states you must see the object within range (60ft). I don't think that requirement goes away once the spell is active.
Also DK could have used an up caste command... With the extra missing damage it could have really affected concentration checks. Plus not using destructive wave was a huge mistake.
The Death Knight should have definitely won this one. Could have finished off the low hp Balgura straight away instead of constantly taking attacks of opportunity from it, even if it couldn't see it it could have used destructive wave, or just attacked with disadvantage as it had that anyway from heat metal. - Could have also cast dispel magic on itself to remove the heat metal - Find Steed could have helped it close the gap against the babau - Banishment on the glabrezu would have probably been the better play I know hindsight is 20/20, and it's a lot to keep track of in these fights (I suffer from this as a DM, always forgetting to use abilities my bosses have), but it does feel like the Death Knight was not living up to its potential at all this fight. Love your videos though, but just like with the Storm Giant vs Red Dragon, I think a rematch is in order ;)
I have a question about heat metal. How does the concentration work? When you cast the spell it says you have to have vision of the metal. Do you need to maintain vision for the bonus action to reheat when concentrating?
As written. No you just take automatic damage once its on you. It's a mean tactic but if he can outrun you you're taking 6 lots of damage. That death Knight was doomed when the smaller demon got out of sight
It had already cast it, so this was it using a bonus action to repeat the damage. "Any creature in physical contact with the object takes 2d8 fire damage when you cast the spell. Until the spell ends, you can use a bonus action on each of your subsequent turns to cause this damage again."
It's a weird nitpick, but I feel like the babau should have been more aggressive and sadistic somehow. Keeping the heat metal up while running was the tactically appropriate choice, it just didn't feel in character for an actual demon. I would have liked to see it throw some spears, and taking more risks.
I plan a soon to be death knight npc of mine to fight demons in the avernus in the future of a campaing I'm DMing! Lets see how he could fare agaisnt them!! 🔥💀🔥
I like to use rocks (pretty rocks) for the miniatures for foes & put a mini in front of me so they (the players) have the gist & they can envision weapons changes etc on their own.
Round 2 of this match-up: ua-cam.com/video/NQCSVGpdQkM/v-deo.html
Somehow I overlooked that the death knight deals an additional 4d8 necrotic damage with its longsword attacks (probably because it's at the very end of the wordy bit about the longsword damage changing depending on if it's held in two hands or one).
A number of people have commented about heat metal. Spells do not require that the caster continuously sees the target in order to maintain the spell. A few spells do require that the caster stay within a certain distance of the target (such as witch bolt). I just discovered that the new version of heat metal version that just came out in the 2024 PHB has that requirement, though I'm not using that version.
Yeeeeah you hard nerfed the death knight, he would have killed the demons many many turns faster.
Dont forget to give the death knight a steed. This one absolutely needs a rematch
Dew it! (darth sidious voice)
Respectfully, Esper I love your fights but the sheer amount of mistakes you make... this isn't to put you down but it is to ask you to TAKE A BREATH, read through the first time you choose a never-before-taken action of each monster and even say it out loud. I do this as a DM not only to my players but to myself and it helps me remember.
It's alright Esper! As a fellow DM, keeping track of all of the monster's stats can be a handful. This was still very entertaining and I'm looking forward to a rematch.
A lot of the Death Knights Spells and abilities were missed in this battle. Firstly, Death Knights get an extra 4d8 necrotic damage on all their melee attacks. Next, the spell compelled duel would have been quite useful for keeping the Babau from running away, a lot cheaper then banishment and only a bonus action. Even if they get away, the Death Knight knows dispel magic, and can end the heat metal on itself easily.
All this would have lead to the death knight both being able to deal a lot more damage and mitigate a lot more damage.
The deathknight could've also used destructive wave (twice) to potentially kill the babau.
It is a New Death Night, he is Stiller learning his potencial.
Man! I think this calls for a rematch!
Agreed. The DK had many better strategies it could have used.
All the heat metal spells would have been half damage tho, right?
Rematch! There's no earthly reason why the death knight wouldn't have conjured an inky black winged Pegasus (find greater steed) and had flight and free disengage for this battle
Balgura was down to 11 hps, kill it then banish the glabrazu and mop up the other one.
I agree that this matchup deserves a rematch. Remember the 4d8 necrotic damage and give the death knight a steed. If Esper wants to give the demons more buffs to compensate the buffs to the death knight, then he can give the demons and extra Barlgura, or even a vrock on its side. I think remembering the extra damage shred, and the added mobility from a Pegasus or nightmare would really showcase how powerful the death knight really is.
The death knight has dispel magic, that might've been worth using at some point to get rid of the heat metal. Even if the babau can cast it at will (which the death knight probably doesn't know), at least it stops him from being able to run across the whole map with it up.
Man, this Death Knight got done dirtier than the Storm Giant.
The death knight doesn't have even a +1 sword? Objection, your honor!
Yeah, the Death Knight's sword is actually a type of phylactery (as per Lich) and can bring him back from Death. At least that's the way it used to work in 2E. I'm old school.
Doesn't the Death Knights longsword do an additional 4d8 necrotic damage per hit? He would have taken down the Glabrezu pretty fast
Well, this is definitely a "please do a rematch posthaste" episode, innit?
yeah lol
"I really think the Death Knight could have won this if he could've managed to pull off that banishment"
He also could've pulled it off if you included his compelled duel, find greater steed, and most critically, dispel magic, as well as his just.. free extra necrotic damage.
Shouldn't the Death Knight's attacks have been dealing an additional 4d8 necrotic damage every turn? Their longsword attack says 1d8+5 plus 4d8 necrotic.
see the pinned comment
I’m always impressed by the theming , balancing and map choices it’s always very impressive. Also your voice acting and storytelling in both monster melee and in the short story you read is fantastic. Great video as always 😄
These are amazing. You’re doing a great job juggling all these monsters stats and abilities. We all miss things. We appreciate you ❤
Death knights deal an additional 4d8 necrotic damage on their longsword attacks
Whoa how did I overlook that?!
Thank you for these, they help me endure bad chemo days.
Stay strong! You’ve got this and I know you’ll be able to get through this👍💪
Gnomes VS Halflings
Let the little folk live their happy pacifist life please. :')
wouldn't kobolds vs gnomes be more flavorful
@@akaikolr4297 war
Halflings win because gnomes shouldn't exist.
@@GregStraub42 WRONG! Gnomes would win because gnomes are the BEST race in DnD & have magic & live longe.
Death Knight? More like Death Squire. Lord Soth hears of this and prepares to show these Demons they got Lucky.
I don’t think the DK could parry the bite since the attacker was invisible. He could parry the fist attack so everything kinda evens out in the end. Also the parry’s from darkness…Just commenting as I go. 20:14 you caught it! Good on you. GMing is tough! Good job!
You said it, there is so much to keep track of!
Love these videos they are just the most addicting dnd content!
I know this says "Death Knight" but, for what ever reason, I was picturing Lord Soth, the original Death Knight, fighting these three demons.
This was OK too, Esper. Keep on telling your tales of Monsters in Melee.
I bet you get just as much kick from doing these monster melee's as we get from watching them 😂, your videos are always a pleasure to watch, I can clearly see the passion you have for D&D and this sheer energy of yours just inspires me and motivates me
Yes! A Death Knight! Been dying to see one of these in action!
Then you'll be dying some more time, because that was dissapointing
@@FraternityOfShadows not really. I mean, he lost but he carried himself well against three opponents. Plus Esper forgot his sword did more necrotic damage which taking that into account, probably would have given the DK the victory.
I’m sure we’ll see a rematch.
I think I requested this a while ago, but a pack of different slaadi versus some modrons of different castes would be fabulous!
I feel like a Death Knights sword should be magical by default. It does hold their soul after all. 😂
Biggest point so far. ❤
didn't the death knight have 4d8 necrotic damage on his longsword attacks ?
see the pinned comment
This was great but definitely worth a rematch
Yup, this is definitely a new intern death knight. Running into the tight corridor is for sure a good strategy but it wouldn't just keep chasing that stupid babau. It could dispel the heat metal, it wouldn't have wasted even a single turn running away from the Barlgura. As soon as the Barlgura is squeezing into the tight corridor, a death knight should have immediately turned around and killed it knowing it's been weakened by his orb. Also the death knight didn't use enough spells, such as destructive wave. And when it comes down to smiting for extra damage, the answer is always smiting for extra damage. The extra smites might have finished the Glabrezu.
But either way, love these battles. Please keep the series coming
I just thought it was another monster 5E destroyed. Typical.
I hate seeing a Death Knight with no dead warrior minions and a Nightmare.
How Esper keeps up with all the details is amazing. Impossible but amazing.
Crossing my fingers for "The Tavern Murder Hobos."
Rematch! Give the Death Knight another try!
Edit: Death Knight has Immortal Until Redeemed,so he definitely lives on for a rematch!
Fiends are my favorite monsters in dnd. This fight is badass. Death knight getting pretty unlucky early on with the heat metal. I’m gonna see how the rest goes now! This might be my favorite series on UA-cam
Another spooky one scarecrows and a hag, vs some fey, each trying to be on spooky fighting in a bog or sacred grove.
Another idea would be imps and quasit each vying for an item as they fight for their respective masters they must also try to avoid detection of the wizard who found it.
I don't know... I would have ruled that the heat metal would have disappeared one the demon left the 60 ft range. And wasn't a weakness of the death knight walking speed only?
There are very few spells that end if the caster gets too far away from the target (ex. witch bolt).
Concentration spells persist, even without the target remaining in LOS. I'm not going to say that's a bad 5e rule, but it is a little weird in execution.
Definitely felt odd for the Babau to be a hundred + feet away with no line of sight and be maintaining concentration 😂 but thems the rules
@@esperthebardIt is updated in the new rules to catch this: "...you can take a bonus action on each of your later turns to deal this damage again if the object is within range."
@minkinomics3002 - It is definitely a bad rule.
A rust monster could eat that armor and you wouldn't know it. A person could teleport after they cast it, be 2,000 miles away and still cause damage even if the armor was under water or not? If you can't see what you are concentrating on.... it makes little sense to me. Especially thru potentially miles of rock.
Even though some of the Death Knight's abilities weren't used, I think that this shows how much of a threat the glabrezu is for its CR.
One of them almost TPK'd my players. They let it run away at low health after it killed one and downed another of their party leaving the other two characters to hurry and save their lives. This of course created an EPIC revenge arc culminating in the glabrezu's defeat IN THE ABYSS for a permanent death when they were higher level.
I loved how a seemingly one-off, throw-away combat became so much more, a highlight/sidequest in the full campaign. All from cool spells, abilities, and interactions on a monster stat block. There are too few of those moments that happen because of quality stat blocks in modern 5e, but I cherish them when they happen.
Those moments are part of the magic of the game! I love seeing how things unfold and the surprises that pop up as the players go through the various scenes.
A fight you could do is take a few humanoid stat blocks and put them up against a cyclops in a reenactment of Odysseus and his men fighting the Cyclops. A new iteration but higher level of guards maybe with a mixed team of guards, veterans and gladiator. Maybe even a bandit or bandit captain.
An underwater battle could be cool. Aboleth + minions vs. Ancient Sea Serpent?
A fight between Gripplis and Duodrones would be cool.
Giant kin vs true giants.
Looking at the stat block of the Death Knight rn, and isn’t it supposed to deal 4d8 necrotic damage on every longsword attack?
see the pinned comment
@@esperthebard Admitting an honest mistake 👍. Love your videos and can’t wait for the next one.
My new favorite UA-cam notification
I think it would be more fair, the death knight should have some random undead troops
And a Nightmare! ❤
If I recall death knights come back eventually if their sword isn’t broken but I’m not 100% sure
Seeing from the pinned comment this DK is going to return and this time remember his abilities and weapon damage.
Seems like a Dearh Knight would have many magical weapons including missle....
Acererak vs Vecna or a Sibriex vs Elder Brain would be fun!
better yet: Szass Tam (the official CR30 stat-block) vs Vecna AND Acererak.
Who am I kidding, Szass's new stat-block would've wiped the floor with them.
Where can Szass Tam's stat block be found? Never heard of an official one for 5e.
That babau couldn't wait to celebrate with a nice blood bath!
I add my voice to the cries for Rematch for the reasons already listed above. Many missed abilities. Death Knight was robbed.
What can I say? These can be really complex to run, so many details. Plus that necrotic damage bit is sort of hidden at the end of the overly wordy longsword damage line. I'll probably run a rematch though ;)
eh it was a fun battle but the idea that a spell that can't be resisted, that can't miss, that just does damage like heat metal sort of takes the epic out of the battle a little. Don't get me wrong it was cool, the heat metal thing just made me roll my eyes a little. Great job keeping everything you need to keep in mind together though! It must be awesome to play a game with you as DM! You put so much into the storytelling! Great work Sir!
I thought Death Knights had magic resistance of some kind anyway.
@@redfaux74 I guess the way of looking at it would be the death knight does have magic resistance, but his armor doesn't? just playing devil's advocate here, I thought that was a little off too.
It should affect everything he has including his sword, boots, etc.
But Esper has a lot to remember when having a battle between 3 to 8 monsters, with many powers, stats, weaknesses, etc. I still have enjoyed every Monster Melee so far. No one is perfect. But Esper is perfect in my eyes. His unique perspective brings me back to these videos after years of quitting the game. I'm just too old now.
@@redfaux74 yeah every time I watch one of his videos I miss playing a lot, I remember how much fun it was back in the day and what a great time my friends and I used to have playing but without a time machine those days are gone and over. to be clear I was not judging the job Esper did in any way, I know all the stuff there is to remember, it was more a judgment on the spell and the way the rules for it are written for me. anyway, I hear you about too old to go back.
I was a player in a couple campaigns and a DM in a couple campaigns. It was several years of fun. 1985 to 2001....
I have to admit our games were nothing like what I see today in 5E. We were 2E and we played hyper powerful games. And it was always balanced. Always challenging. I don't think most people could handle what we played. We designed our own spells. Fireball was nothing. Our 4th level spells left Fireball in the dust. And so on.... Our Tarrasque was over 1,000 feet tall. It was terrifying.
But life happens. I guess we just have to move on and leave behind. But it's fun to get in the nostalgia. Esper does a marvelous job. ❤️ Memories. Two of my best friends, players and DMs, passed away at the age of 36. I miss them.
Love these Halloween themed ones -- Can we do were-bears vs druids in wildshape?
Dope fight !
Storywise:
After Orcus defeated Demogorgon his only rival left was the conniving Grazzt, he sent a Death Kngiht to the Demons temple to gather information and if the oppurtunity lent itself steal any arcane artifact it could find, but while skulking about it was discovered by a patrol of Demons.
Here’s a battle idea, 8 elementals (two for fire, water, air and earth each) vs one of each genie type, so a Djinni, Efreeti, Dai, and a Maris.
If you want to shrink the scope of the fight, you could make it only four elementals vs only the Djinni and Efreeti.
You really set the Death Knight up for failure.
Excellent video Esper. ❤
This truly was hell for the Death Knight. He had no magic sword, no steed (a Nightmare would've made a big diff in combat here) and no squad of undead warriors.
I'm forever confused as to why 5E calls them Spellcasters. They should have actual spells and not just bonus spell like abilities in addition to their spells. Dark, negative energy magic missiles, fear spells, knock for barriers, fog cloud..... The Death Knight is truly underestimated. Their collective warrior combat skills, especially mounted (which no one ever sees?) should scare the skeleton right out of anyone.
Imagine 5 lesser undead knights with archery skills riding on undead horses, dire wolves, or hippogryphs. Horrifying.
With theese rolls the Babau alone would have killed him. However the heat metall spell might have actually come close to loosing its effect. That fight might have taken a minute.
Forgetting the Death Knight’s 4d8 necrotic damage on hit felt a bit bad :(
That's like 2/3 of his damage too...
I know, I'll probably rematch this one, as I mentioned in the pinned comment.
A bunch of Quicklings vs. a Deepspawn? That could get interesting.
Could you do a pack of lycanthropes vs one vampire for the next monster melee?
That is a Halloween must.
Eh, he'll just come back tomorrow and finish the job. :D
Hopefully with his squad and a Nightmare. 🎈🥳🎈
Tough day for the DK. MVP goes to babau and that heat metal. Nicely done.
Paladin spells to consider that the DK would have access to: daylight to counter darkness. Dispell evil and good, banishing smite, holy weapon might counter darkness, shining smite would counter darkness and invisibility, find steed, or even summon celestial
magical resistance would've help to defend against the heat metal damage too.
I was thinking that also. But 5E has changed so much and ruined a lot of good old stuff.
Nope. There's no saving throw involved in Heat Metal on armor. That's the point.
@@energyscholar - Magic resistance is not saving throws. Everyone gets saving throws for certain things. Not everyone has magic resistance. Unless 5E has dramatically changed that as well. It's possible I guess.
At 25:51, shouldn't the Glabrezu have taken a couple of concentration checks for the darkness spell?
In my opinion, it would've been more tactically advantageous for the Death Knight to have fired off its Destructive Waves to kill the Barlgura and break the Glabrezu's concentration instead of dashing after the other demon.
Rematch! He's got this
I legitimately never knew you could cast dispel magic on a magic weapon and it's blowing my mind Esper. Can you do that on all magic items not just enemy weapons?
@@davidthebarbarian6851 It was against the spell magic weapon, which is a confusing name for a spell.
What about some Giant / Dragon matchups please and THANK YOU! 👑🙏
He's done one already storm giant vs Young red dragon
@@christopherhegarty1565hoping to see some more, Giants & Dragons have historic beef, one round was a great start though!
I have no idea if you had thought of this, especially since the death knight didn't get to go after the babau unchased, but would the death knight consider taking off the armor in a ploy to convince the babau that they must be dead?
Doffing a plate armor takes 5 minutes. It's typically ignored when your RP out of combat, but in combat that's 50 rounds. And that's even if he'd want to lose his entire AC in the first place.
October Gothic Horror Round Robin:
Vampire, Werewolf, Mummy, Flesh Golum.
Love these halloween themed ones
Can we see Druids Wild-shaped vs Were bears
Heat metal requires the object heated being seen, and has a range of 60'. For much of the battle one or other condition was not met, if I recall correctly.
The caster only needs to see the target to cast the spell. After that, line of sight is not required.
19:11 Um, yeah no worries, it is definitely getting through there.
I'd have imagined an epic CR being such as a Death Knight easily being as intelligent as an experienced player character, so they probably would've handled this encounter like one, using whatever means they have at their disposal, including the environment. Heck, they might've even considered throwing off their armor if they had to avoid taking damage from heat metal.
Has gnomes vs knights happened yet?
Glow for darkness is a great idea
I definitely would have made different decisions in this combat. Also I don't think I would have allowed the Glabrezu to get an opportunity attack from around the corner. I get that the death knight was in the threatened area but kinda hard to punch someone around a wall
Yeah heat metal and run strategy is silly. It should be that the caster needs to see the target to maintain concentration. Or maintain a certain distance distance to the target. Otherwise, it is a no save assassination on most targets wearing plate (Or creatures that can't remove their armor)
As of PHB 2024, visible sight isn't a factor, but staying in spell range is. A few of those dashes possibly pushed the 60ft range, so...
I agree. That seemed a little cheap
@@gratuitouslurking8610 That's a good change imo. But it doesn't go far enough, the caster cant inflict the fire damage, but the spell stays. So the target still gets permanent disadvantage on attacks. They should stay within a certain distance to keep the spell going. Thinking more about it, visibility would make it too easy to shake off, all a creature needs to do is turn the corner and the spell is gone.
@@gratuitouslurking8610 I read it differently. The spell literally says 'sight' IS a factor.
"Choose a manufactured metal object, such as a metal weapon or a suit of heavy or medium metal armor, that you can see within range."
What is the name of the application you're using for these battles?
It looks extremely slick and would be awesome to use in my own campaigns!! Do let me know, please and thank you, epic content anyhow
Foundry VTT, thank you so much!
I wish it was 2nd Ed death knight (Lord Soth) they were going up against… he had power word blind, power word kill, wall of ice and that hellfire orb at will. If I remember correctly.
Dispel magic?
Heat metal has a range of 60 feet. In the later rounds it might not work when the demon is far away. It also has a time limit of 1 minute. And this last point is debatable, it requires the caster to see the item that they’re casting on (if they’re in different rooms/obscured by magical darkness, they can’t see the target). Plus it’s preposterous that a death knight this high level doesn’t have a +1 weapon when as players you get them free at 3rd level in AL…
AM I missing something? Heat metal states you must see the object within range (60ft). I don't think that requirement goes away once the spell is active.
@@renatovitic8055 A caster doesn't have to keep seeing a target to maintain a spell.
can't believe death knight has been stripped of Power Word, Kill.
I feel like the AD&D era DK would have had a much better time
guy doesn't even has leg resistance or actions, hes toast just from action economy
I'm pretty sure you need to see your target for heat metal... as soon as he turned the corner his concentration should have broken.
That's what I would say. How do you concentrate on something you can't see?
If it was stunned, does it autocrit?
Also DK could have used an up caste command... With the extra missing damage it could have really affected concentration checks. Plus not using destructive wave was a huge mistake.
Oof Lord Soth might come after you for this one
The Death Knight should have definitely won this one. Could have finished off the low hp Balgura straight away instead of constantly taking attacks of opportunity from it, even if it couldn't see it it could have used destructive wave, or just attacked with disadvantage as it had that anyway from heat metal.
- Could have also cast dispel magic on itself to remove the heat metal
- Find Steed could have helped it close the gap against the babau
- Banishment on the glabrezu would have probably been the better play
I know hindsight is 20/20, and it's a lot to keep track of in these fights (I suffer from this as a DM, always forgetting to use abilities my bosses have), but it does feel like the Death Knight was not living up to its potential at all this fight.
Love your videos though, but just like with the Storm Giant vs Red Dragon, I think a rematch is in order ;)
I would like to see mummy lord vs something similar
I guess the heat metal was out of range
Dwarf expedition vs Drow raid party
Can we get an Elder Brain w/ Mndflayers Vs Krakken w/ Water-themed CR equivelent minions?
I have a question about heat metal. How does the concentration work? When you cast the spell it says you have to have vision of the metal. Do you need to maintain vision for the bonus action to reheat when concentrating?
As written. No you just take automatic damage once its on you. It's a mean tactic but if he can outrun you you're taking 6 lots of damage. That death Knight was doomed when the smaller demon got out of sight
If the Death Knight had been used correctly he would’ve smoked this challenge
Elephants vs hobgoblins
Don't you have to have line of sight to cast heat metal? The Babau was in a different room when it cast it at 22:31.
It had already cast it, so this was it using a bonus action to repeat the damage.
"Any creature in physical contact with the object takes 2d8 fire damage when you cast the spell. Until the spell ends, you can use a bonus action on each of your subsequent turns to cause this damage again."
It's a weird nitpick, but I feel like the babau should have been more aggressive and sadistic somehow. Keeping the heat metal up while running was the tactically appropriate choice, it just didn't feel in character for an actual demon. I would have liked to see it throw some spears, and taking more risks.
I plan a soon to be death knight npc of mine to fight demons in the avernus in the future of a campaing I'm DMing! Lets see how he could fare agaisnt them!! 🔥💀🔥
Man, how you overlooked the 4d8 necrotic damage, its literally on its Multiattack section
See the pinned comment.
I like to use rocks (pretty rocks) for the miniatures for foes & put a mini in front of me so they (the players) have the gist & they can envision weapons changes etc on their own.
Halflings vs gnomes
Heat metal only lasts 1 minute. How many turns is that
A round is considered equivalent to six seconds. 1 min = 10 rounds