Yeah, this is why I have my “morale” meter. Like when a group lost half of their group or leader, they will make a Wisdom check to see if they retreat or not.
My players are always looking for a fight to the death. In my Tomb of Annihilation campaign, they will NEVER let the dinosaurs get away once they start running. And it’s not like they want to harvest them, because they just leave the carcasses.
@@Zedrinbot Campaign idea, you're a bunch of academia graduates who need to pay your student loans at all costs. You also funnily enough meet those who suffer the similar fate and either stay on the path of good or stray off to the temptation of evil to just pay the interest. Three guesses on the bbeg's identity.
So, there's a book you should read called "The Monsters Know What They're Doing" by Keith Ammann that does something very similar to these videos, but for every monster in the Monster Manual. It breaks down behavior patterns of the monsters, along with explaining how each enemy works in a mechanical sense so you can craft your own encounters.
I have this book! I haven't read much of it so far, but I really want to. Does anyone know if Ammann plans to do a sequel for the creatures included in the expansions?
I love it when bandits are an actual threat instead of generic punching bags for newbie adventures. If the danger isn’t real, then the accomplishments don’t mean anything.
Better yet, have a clear distinction between the 'stupid farm boy lured by crime money' bandits and the hardened criminals. My personal layout for a bandit group that's supposed to be reasonably successful is 8-12 miscellaneous nobodies, 3-5 committed criminals who probably have a 'thing' they do (lockpick, hedge mage, whatever) and a leader.
I enjoy having them fight bandits at low level, and it being an actual threat, then throw some bandits at them when theyre higher level and have it be a steam roll
@@darkmantlestudios there's no greater catharsis then getting your teeth kicked in at level 4 and then coming back with the fury of a thousand mongoose at level 5 with 3rd level spells and extra attack
The initial patrol would use as many movement limiting items are possible to keep the murderhobos at bay while another guard warns the rest of the force. If the players get stuck in combat for long enough for the rest of the force to arrive, then the guards will close off the party's routes and start a siege. If the players aren't in a fully enclosed area, heavy crossbow teams will be sent to try and shoot unsuspecting players; if the players have hostages, then a hostage negotiator will attempt to negotiate; and if the players are in a fully enclosed area without hostages, the players will gain cool history facts about ancient and medieval chemical weapons as the party chokes under a dense cloud of sulfur dioxide. If the party still persists during the siege, SWAT (in this case, another high level adventuring party) will arrive on scene to take down the party.
You know this is what I really think monster bestiaries needs. A subsection about tactics. Just maybe a blurb under each monster about how they behave in combat under most circumstances. Like some monsters are written that way. know grey oozes stick to ceilings and Will O Wisps try to lead to traps, what is that Roc going to do? Probably pic someone up and drop them because they are in the mountains that's how many other raptors hunt.
@@Freekymoho kinda her fault that Mario said "screw the bitch, I'll run the kingdom myself" what with the "kidnappings" by Bowser that often destroyed large swaths of her kingdom.
I had my party take a different road than I had planned, allowing them to see the bandits from behind their normal location. The druid cast invisibility on the monk (repeatedly) so from their point of view a half-orc appears and absolutely decks their friend before disappearing again, this went on and on until the bandits were killed
@@LupineShadowOmega I think it would be fair to let your bandits hold an action, but still impose severe penalties, like provoking an opportunity attack on a miss, a flat minus to hit, or disadvantage
As you lay out this amazingly thought out heist, I can’t help but recall the time my DM said a bunch of bandits were standing around a bridge we needed to cross, and when one of them told us we had to pay them a toll to cross, I just fireballed the whole group. No more bandits.
Well if there is nobody on the wagon.... and nobody is paying attention to it, their plan B could be steel the wagon and ride off in a SHTF scenario... Or they could just try to surrender once they realize they are outmatched and have no chance of escape...
@@erikschaal4124 Yeah, pretend to give up on collecting money and when they are halfway the guys on the otherside come out and threaten to cut the bridge, light the bridge on fire or blow it up with support from either side with tons of hidden crossbowmen. A familiar, mage hand or plucky boy they can miss or kidknapped will be send to collect the coins.
Honestly, I think most DMs get too complacent with their battlemap ideas. Long corridors leading to square rooms constantly can make for some pretty static encounters, and even just having some ambushes can easily crank up the CR of things like bandits or hobgobs.
At my campaign's session zero, I explained to my players that I will occasionally throw encounters their way where the best solution is to simply avoid the danger (discretion is the better part of valor kind of thing). But my party, despite having a mix of classes, may as well all be barbarians the way they constantly, full-force throw themselves at every encounter. My party of 4 players has rolled 8 new characters since we've started; only one player hasn't had to roll a new character at all. It's a nightmare for me, but the players are having fun so I guess it's fine.
Another fun thing you can add to this situation: what if the bandits were able to steal a spell scroll or two from a previous low-level wizard? I'd probably give one of them Tiny Hut as a way for some of them to hide away if anything goes bad, and maybe a powerful AOE or crowd control spell like Hypnotic Pattern or Sleet Storm. one other thing you can give them is Smoke Bombs! heavily obscures an area for a minute and blinds anyone who fails a DC 13/14 Con save.
Rope Trick - either the spell itself or a custom magic item would be another way to hide until it's safe. If they're already in the trees, it's entirely possible that no one notices them using very short ropes into portals (Rope Trick says "a rope *up to* 60 ft, so a 1ft rope would let you jump in and pull the rope in after you fairly quickly) and unlikely that a party would hang around for an hour after the bandits vanish. I'm now imagining a bunch of expelled students from a wizarding academy turning to banditry. They're only level 3, and have no spells known that cause damage - because the academy knows better than to give young students access to spells that cause damage. Or perhaps the teaching of such things is forbidden by law, but utility is fair game. Dancing Lights + Minor Illusion would be a good way to make a party think they're surrounded, and Grease would be a way for them to slow down victims who might have turned out to be a bit more than they could take. Spider Climb to get around the trees faster and Message to communicate with each other.
Tiny hut and Hypnotic Pattern are not at all low level and it would require them being spellcasters with the spell on their spell list and making successful arcana checks in order to cast them. If they fail the check the spell fails and the scroll is consumed.
@@masterfreeman117 I've always had it in my games that if you have a scroll, you can use it regardless. I honestly hate the RAW spell rules and kind of forgot that they worked like that.
Tiny hut seems like a bad idea if there is someone with dispel magic in the party. The bandits think they got away, see the party approach and poke at the dome for a few second, before one of them waves their hands around and they all descend upon the completely defenseless bandits.
My favorite ambush involves a shovel, some wood planks, and a bunch of crossbow men. Simply dig a deep ravine (atleast 3ft in depth) in the road and lay the planks on it, the planks should be strong enough to let people and light carts over, but if a heavy carriage goes over them they'll snap, trapping the carriage, then in the confusion turn anyone on and around the carriage into pincushions with crossbow bolts.
@@PlushLordOfTheSeas if explosives technology has reached the point where it can easily replicate fireball, it’s basically modern day technology. Fireball is pretty big and really strong. Some small gunpowder bombs shouldn’t come close to its power.
Awesome Idea for an ambush on the road! Definitely will use this but for my party, It will need a little bit of tweaking since it's 3 level 9's and a level 7 druid npc.
While I'm not a DM and I probably wouldn't use this for one of those kinds of scenarios for a while, I am playing a Barbarian that was a former bandit, so I would probably use this to get an idea of better ways to roleplay my character when travelling.
I think a bandit group that is this well put together, with a captain that is clever enough could do two things to counter this: 1) If the bandits have any knowledge of the existence of magic they would target the caster first. + The restrictions of armor on magic mean that the one only only wearing cloth is likely the one you should be primarily targeting your crossbow fire (heck you should just be doing that in general even in a world without magic.) + Magic is complex, but it's got some common exploitable and noticeable quirks to it - If they have a book shred it, if they have a stick snap it, if they have an instrument break it. - Can't hit what you cant see. - Can't say the magic word if you're choking on smoke or sneezing powder, or you're so stunned that you can speak only faltering. - Magic hands require working unrestricted hands, would be a shame if something were to happen to them. 2) If the bandit is particularly savvy, they count mentally/keep track through command signals how many times the caster casts a likely well known or obviously powerful spell like fireball. They know casters can't go on forever, nothing lasts forever after all, and if they can hold out against a few big attacks, then great that means they're winning the battle of attrition. If there is more than 4-ish fireballs then the captain makes the judgement call to hightail it. I imagine it like an old Wild West outlaw counting the bullets in the six shooter of his opponent. He knows how to handle a man with a gun, that's not the hard part. The hard part is figuring out in the middle of combat how well *this* man he's fighting knows how to use *his* gun, (aka "do you feel lucky punk?...etc")
Ok, so for that they would have to give all their focus to the caster (Considering that this is the most unluky caster on the world that fails in every check), leaving other characters free. The barbarian can destroy trees and a Rougue with a bow can easily kill a bandit that got outside their vision for only a second. And you have some other classes/races that can deal with this kind of problem very easily.
Wait a minute, these "comically simple gunpowder bombs" actually cost 150 GP per bomb according to the DMG. If the bandits can afford several of them, then why in the name of Ao are they even bandits?
@@VimyGlide some merchant caravans are massive cowards. The reason why piracy on ye high sea's ended up going with massive red flags on their ship for pure intimidation factor was because well armed merchant ships had 2 choices. 1: Fight back, anger the pirates, and fucking die to death if they failed with prejudice from the angry pirates, or 2: Give up, shake hands, talk the weather, sell the captain for gold, and go back to port. The same can be had for road travel. Sorry boss, we got robbed, they outnumbered us, we lost 2000 gold and the caravan.
I love this video, and Keith Ammann has some to say for just the bandits with no real previous setup: The BANDIT stat block isn't the ideal template for your typical back-alley burglar or pickpocket - oddly, the fifth-edition Monster Manual emits that archetype altogether. Rather, the Monster Manual bandit is more like a highwayman (on land), or a pirate (at sea), and their primary motivation is loot. The bandit's physical abilities are all modestly above average, with Dexterity and Constitution in the lead: Bandits are scrappy fighters who rely on numbers. They wield "scimitars," for reasons I can only guess at - maybe this is the closest thing D&D has to a cutlass? Maybe because it treats shortswords as primarily stabbing weapons and thinks bandits ought to carry slashing weapons instead? I don't know. The weapon properties are the same, and the damage is the same except for the type, and if there's any kind of armor or enchantment that resists slashing damage but not piercing damage or vice versa, I haven't found it yet. In any event, you can let the flavor of the setting determine whether your bandits are carrying scimitars, cutlasses, arming swords, baselards, dirks, gladii, or whatever - they all deal 1d6+1 damage. Bandits initiate combat by surrounding their targets in numbers large enough to encourage prompt surrender - three to one, at a bare minimum - and they count on their targets' surrendering readily. Thus, any encounters with a group of bandits *must* be at least a Medium-difficulty encounter and should really be at least Hard (see "Creating a Combat Encounter" in Chapter 3 of the Dungeon Master's Guide); otherwise the bandits would have moved on in search of easier prey already. They surround their targets at a range of 40 to 80 feet, light crossbows at the ready, and issue their demands. (They have neither Intimidation nor Persuasion skill - they rely on their weapons and their numbers to do the convincing for them.) If the PCs refuse, they hold their positions, attacking at range, until the PCs come to them, at which point they switch to their blades. A bandit who takes any wound at all will Dodge (not Disengage) and relocate to the side of the nearest fellow bandit, in the hope that two might be able to beat an enemy whom one alone can't. It takes only a moderate wound (reducing a bandit to 7 hp or fewer) to give a bandit the idea that these folks aren't the pushovers they're supposed to be; if half or more of a group of bandits are moderately wounded, they'll Disengage and retreat. Any single bandit who's seriously wounded (reduced to 4 hp or fewer) runs away using the Dash action, potentially incurring one or more opportunity attacks. On the flip side, if combat goes poorly for the PCs and they surrender, the bandits will happily rob them of all their valuables and bid them adieu...although if there's a PC of Noble background in the party, they may take that PC captive and hold them for ransom! The BANDIT CAPTAIN is distinguished from an ordinary bandit by higher physical abilities (this time, Dexterity and Strength take the lead over Constitution), high Intelligence and Charisma, proficiency in Athletics and Deception, a Multiattack action, and a Parry reaction. A bandit captain will go beyond a simple "stand and deliver" demand - they'll engage in actual negotiation. For instance, if it looks like it would be a challenge to make the PCs give up *all* their valuables, the bandit captain may suggest that for the modest price of 10 gold pieces per PC, neither side has to go to the trouble of seeing who really is tougher. Of course, bandit captains also have no compunction about lying through their teeth. The bandit captain lacks proficiency in Insight and thus has no particular talent for reading PCs' motivations, but they can make some educated guesses based on appearances and fabricate a story accordingly. If the PCs are predominantly folk heroes or outlanders, the bandit captain may claim that their band of brigands are righteous rebels resisting a tyrannical aristocracy. If the PCs are softhearted acolytes or gullible nobles, the bandit captain may say that poverty has driven them to banditry out of necessity. If the PCs are mostly charlatans, criminals, or urchins, the bandit captain may drop all pretense and say it's all in the game, yo - or even recruit the PCs to join their outlaw band! These stories may be true, false, or some of both, but it doesn't matter one way or the other: All the bandit captain is interested in is getting loot out of the PCs by the easiest means possible. And if the PCs balk? "Well, then, I guess we're going to have to do this the hard way." The bandit captain as described in the Monster Manual carries no ranged weapon except for throwable daggers. Since they can dual-wield a dagger alongside a scimitar (cutlass, arming sword, baselard, dirk, gladius, etc.) they'll generally prefer to do this rather than stand back and throw them, especially when surrounded by bandits with light crossbows that deal more damage. Plus, the bandit captain's leading abilities are Dexterity and Strength, so they're going to go for swift strikes and big damage, which means the Multiattack action with two Scimitar attacks and one Dagger attack. As for the Parry reaction, the bandit captain uses it against whichever of their melee opponents (if it has more than one) dies the greatest average damage per hit. The bandit captain is familiar enough with a variety of enemies to be able to judge this accurately. For instance, if the bandit captain is being attacked by a paladin with Strength 16 and a longsword (1d6 + 3, average 8 damage per hit) and a barbarian with Strength 18 and a greataxe (1d12 + 4, average 10 damage per hit), they know to let the paladin's blows land and parry the barbarian's. This is a function of experience, not Intelligence. The bandit captain has a generous number of hit points (ten hit dice, compared with an ordinary bandit's two) and doesn't mind being the focus of more than one PC's attacks: If double- or triple-teamed, they'll Dodge (action) and Parry (reaction) and let their bandit crossbowmen take potshots at the PCs from afar. The bandit captain isn't particularly afraid of magic, either, having proficiency bonuses on Dexterity and Wisdom saving throws - two of the "big three." However, if given an opportunity to attack with advantage, the bandit captain will seize it, even if they'd otherwise be Dodging. For instance, if the bandit captain is being attacked by both a fighter and a barbarian and the barbarian uses Reckless attack, the bandit captain will take the opening and attack the barbarian. Like bandits, bandit captains value their lives highly. If moderately wounded (reduced to 45 hp or fewer), they'll keep fighting but also reopen negotiations *during combat*: "Surely *stab* we can come to some *stab* mutually satisfactory arrangement?" If seriously wounded (reduced to 26 hp or fewer), they'll drop their weapons, surrender on the spot, and agree to whatever terms keep them breathing. All in all, you now have two very well-done guides to bandits with preparation (the video) and bandits without! Good job Runesmith!
I'm desperately trying to think of any way for my party to see a bandit ambush and not immediately take the mere concept as an insult and derail the whole campain
The other day I had a group of 18 level 1 goblins ambush my level 7 party as a "You guys have come so far" -encounter, the rat cast fireball and one-shot 14 of the goblins. Then with back to back natural twenties they convinced them that the party was Gods and that the goblins should become lumberjacks.
In my ideal ambush location, I would find a decent gully or other landmass where the road descends downwards and there is solid ground on either side. Anything 10-15 feet or more higher than the road would do. At one end of the gully I place a deadfall trap to seal off one direction. On the other, a swinging log trap that can be activated by one of my minions to sweep down the road itself, knocking prone anything in the way, and crippling any horse drawn wagon so if they try to run they cant take their stuff with them. Captain is on the road, giving them the money or life demand, standing just out of range of the swinging trap, it will go right over his head before it gets low enough to nail anyone when he pulls the release. This allows him to escape if the mugging turns into an actual fight and his minions will be up on the high ground raining crossbow bolts on everything that moves. If the party gives chase a bandit or two will scale the deadfall and start looting the wagon if one is there, while the bandits on the high ground trade crossbow shots at targets with little to no cover. The casters in the group will likely die first as they are both squishy and more dangerous in a long range fight. The melee types have a long way to go to get in range of the bandits and there are likely traps and obstacles to deal with the whole way. Not too mention the bandit captain who is out there waiting for an opening to strike.
Small point, you can't ready an action before the initiative is rolled. That's what surprise rounds are for. As soon as you say "the readied trunk falls from the bandits in the tree" the players are going to ready actions to charge next combat.
Bard: "I cast Meteor Swarm!" Poor Dungeon Master: "H-How?! That's a level 9 spell, you're level 7! AND A BARD!" B: "Remember that Wizard we looted a while ago?" PDM: "Oh, yeah, he had a bunch of high level scrolls... And you're wasting Meteor Swarm on a bunch of bandits? Not to mention you'll all get killed as well!" B: "Yeah, about that... We talked and want to try an all-cleric party called the A-Men." PDM: "Dammit, JoCat!"
That first part of talking about twisted taverns has pretty home. As I am making my own homebrew world, each time I am on track to finishing something, I think of something else to add onto the pile. But I am glad you managed to reach one of those big goals and hope everything is up to your liking.
I love everything about this, finally I can theoretically destroy my level 10 party of 6 with a bunch of smart bandits and excessive quantities of explosives.
3:33 The VERY FIRST THING my party did when they saw her in the distance was check her wound, look for a blood trail and try to heal her. One of their first questions was that if the blood on her dress was actually hers.
This makes me wonder if anybody played a D&D character who was once a bandit leader and knows a bit too much about staging an ambush. What do you think, mastermind rogue/battlemaster fighter?
Ah yes, bandits. You love to hunt down their bounty at low level until you get high enough level to realise they are just a mild nuisance at best and hunting them down just feels like repetitive monotonous work. The very thing I'm adventuring to get away from. I always tell the townfolk that dealing with bandits is for the guards, I've got a dragon to go kill
I was about to find it weird how you'd negotiate; but you're absolutely right. "We've got 100 gold. We'll give you 25." "Why would we do that?" "Because if you don't we'll fight. And we'll take a few of your men with us before we go down. So they'll all know exactly how much you think their lives are worth." Then if you're a Monk, throw his ass around when you hand the coin over. Great work man, love to see more of your cryptids (or D&D stats for stuff not already in D&D), monster tactics, and generally more.
5:35 the grapples and log trap would be extremely visible and ruin the ambush before it starts, plus the tree that you are in really doesn't change the damage of a fireball 5:45 the damsel is almost certainly dead from attacks of opportunities 6:50 that range check really doesn't work. Plenty of offensive spells can cross the gap including most cantrips, and scaled up cantrips may be enough to kill a bandit on average damage
I'm curious as to how the grappling hooks and log traps would ruin the ambush by being too visible. I could see how the log trap would be visible if you were looking for it, but seeing the grapple hook and not the bandit that has the grapple hook is kinda odd to me. As for fireball, my only argument would be that they have cover, so higher bonus to dex saves as per cover rules. Fireball also doesn't go through total cover, so a dm could rule that the fireball radius is reduced or that the bandits are considered to benefit from the effects of evasion while in the trees.
@@cameronlancefrii7356 I'm not sure if the grapple would have ruined the trap depending on how the grapple actually works, but the falling log trap would absolutely be visible and if it had an anchor point allowing it to reach the road then it would probably need a passive perception of 10 to spot. And as for the fireball, they can have their half cover if they'd like. Half the average damage of a fireball is 14 and a regular bandit has 11 hp. Fireball also sets any flammable object on fire, so those leaves are unlikely to be a positive and as soon as the middle tree goes up in flames then suddenly the bandits are stuck where they are.
@@lordoblivion812 you can camouflage the anchor point too. I suppose it also depends on position and alertness of the party. It's a proven fact that people don't typically look up beyond a 45 degree angel- I might be wrong on the exact degree, but it's something like that. Of course, a person CAN... but WHY would they? Point is, if it's in the air around the bend, they might just NOT look up and see it, because it's above their field of vision. This just reminds me of if I played Goblins like Goblins on their home grounds the party would just get obliterated. Goblins can hide and disengage as a bonus action... so a dark maze-like room where they can hit and run while players can't even find them would be ridiculous. My players personally probably wouldn't be able to handle it. I'm fixing to run them up against minotaurs in a maze that just bull rush, knock you down, and run deeper into the maze before you get up.
Keep in mind that if the damsel has played her role well at all she'll just look like some innocent woman running away from people shooting and waving around weapons- no party I know would waste their reactions on attacking an unarmed, unarmored "innocent" person who's actively fleeing combat. As for the log trap, it's almost certainly both a. camouflaged and b. in a treetop, behind leaves, and is, you know, a log, which is in fact what trees are made of. I do agree with your point about spells, though. Maybe they're relying on the relative rarity of high-level spellcasters and their knowledge of hiding spots to save them?
@@cameronlancefrii7356Maybe offer interesting ways to make it difficult for the goblins, like prying down the walls (for some reason, the implications of the wall of stone spell {that being that there’s a chance that one panel being destroyed collapses the other panels}) Or flood the entire area with a decanter of endless water (idk if that’s too high level, didn’t check) Maybe have them be taught some basic formation fighting (first guy acts as immediate threat, second guy readies attack for the goblin disengaging, third guy uses stealth to ambush them on the way out, or partners up with fourth guy to do the same as guys 1 and 2 but on a different side.) (Granted, they may not be built well for these kinds of tactics, so encourage creative and effective tactics as much as you can.)
This video came out just in time! I've been planning this adventure for months & I'm finally starting to run it today! The idea of adding decoy rustling bushes to the roadside trap in the first encounter will be a great touch! ... can't wait til my group derails so hard it's irrelevant, lol! 😅
Aaaand yep. Completely bypassed the encounter! 😅 Ah well. This way they have to sneak around town instead of being there openly, so it'll be harder for them in the long run...
Using proper tactics can easily double the threat of an encounter, turning a handful of cr 1/2 creatures into a deadly encounter for at least one of the party
I’m so excited for Twisted Taverns! I just ran a family game for my sister and grandma in the Wizards Watering Hole and they had a blast there (they ‘won’ the shot glass from the Tender) but they also accidentally made some healing potion gas in the brewing room before setting off for their quest proper so they were really happy with that ^^
I've never heard of a Sandbox tree fruit before, and neither had my DM. I sent him the video, and he immediately added them to our campaign! Thanks Runesmith!
I like this setup. Makes the bandits a lot smarter so there's no mass rush into death, psyches out the party because they might think that there's a lot more, and it also gives the bandits some personality, allowing the party to interact with them in a more meaningful way.
I'm running a similar scenario to this. This is a 4 man level 4 party that has been traveling for a day or so and saw what looked to be a man in an old carriage up ahead carrying some supplies. I told them they can overtake it since they're driving faster. Eventually the carriage hits a pebble on the road and jostles from the bump causing what looks to be a rolled rug to fall, but the man didn't seem to notice. So the sorcerer gets up from the cart to pick it up and shouts towards the driver he dropped something. Driver looks back, blows his whistle and the Rug of Smothering manages to envelop the sorcerer. That's where we left the session but the plan isnt for there to be a fight to the death, much more like a highway robbery since the party is halfway between towns.
4:35 wait, buddy, you said the same thing about goblins: "Their plan will fail if they discover the scout goblin and slightly touch him with a needle, because they are cowards"
This inspired me to run some smart bandits as well. Lots of hiding in treetops smoke bombs, flash bombs, bomb bombs, The encounter used the Bandit Lord from Tome of Beasts to give orders and be a bit beefier. The encounter was tough for my lvl 5 party but I think it was cool having underpowered enemies give them a run for their money, literally.
One fun thing that you could add is the damsel themselves could be armed as well. Especially since they could use disguise self to hide their real appearance.
Great vid. I love how the simple tactics could make a group of one shots a viable threat for a party of 7th level. Go after the stuff the players value more than their lives, their crap. Great video.
This bandit ambush is very much like my current character's backstory. He was a low-ranked highwayman on a crew that got a few successful hits, got cocky, and were tricked into ambushing a wagon full of well-trained guards. The survivors of the gang were captured or scattered, and my character didn't stop running until he got to a city in another kingdom. - Recently, a noble in the new city got information about my character's possible involvement in the banditry and we are locked in a "we each know dirt about the other" standoff.
One of my encounters went like this: Bandit (in disguise): “Hey, there’s a tax for crossing this road. You’ll have to pay 20 gold pieces per person for save travel.” Bandit: looks at the adventurers’ pockets, stuffed with gold from the dungeon Bandit: “Actually, it’s 40-“ They were rolling initiative before the bandits actually showed up.
I actually used a similar tactic in my game, group of trained mercenaries used the trees and a whistle from their leader to coordinate. My party had just fought fought a dragon and nearly got their asses handed to them by regular mfs
I really appreciate the, "you are surrounded, please give me just your coins, we don't want any trouble." I think that's something that *real* humans would do and it's also a real decision for the party to make, "is this worth the gold? or can we just take these guys? do we need to get somewhere fast? are we going to be fighting by the end of this journey and is it more prudent to save our strength at the cost of a small lump sum of gold?" Chances are most groups will just fight this and take *catastrophic* losses. Then the next time, and pretty much every encounter after that, I'm sure they'll be more thoughtful. Very great tactic, I like this very much.
I love the art style in your books, the whimsical and cartoony vibe of your stuff is fresh and awesome. Also, good vid, these tactics videos are my favorite.
I had a DM who put us in an encounter with a bunch of wood elves who were using the trees like in this combat, but then my druid cast conjure animals summoning 8 giant owls which the entire party hopped on giving us the high ground allowing us to completely decimate the wood elves as we proceeded to fly over to there home and torch the place like savages.
Please dont ever quit your just too funny too not be a content creator the closest I ever got too playing dnd was monopoly but you're videos are so much fun that I got super in too it and you always nail your jokes making learning more about it so much more enjoyable
I damn-near party-wiped a level 3 party with 4 bandits rated for a CR 1 or less party. High ground, thrown weapons and grenades, ample cover. The party was down to their last 1-2 HP each, one player was at 0, 3 of the 4 bandits still had full HP (6), one had died to a sorcerer, but that was enough to 'force a morale checks' and the bandits fled to cut their losses.
@asdrubale bisanzio if your party doesn't understand that the monsters are actually going to act like real things and not just rush at them recklessly they stupid
If they want to play murderhobos easy mode, that's okay. Doesn't mean you have to DM it for them. Dinner is what you cooked up, not what they force you to provide. There's an argument for communication to be had, sure. But if your DM style and their playstyle don't fit, that's okay.
@@kylestanley7843 The party decided to smoke nutmeg they stole from a baker and flirt with the guildmaster who was letting them sleep in their guestroom. They never made it out of the city...
I was a little confused how much rope was used in this scenario and how disposable it was treated as. Then I looked up its cost and converted the cost to a the equivalent and more realistic amount in my head. Boy, rope is really cheap in D&D, right? What a waste of a good bit of rope! Lindybeige: ua-cam.com/video/lZfpQzV2GnM/v-deo.html
I'd say any bandits the party encounters in a D&D game should have at least two of the following: a) overwhelming numbers or combat power b) some sort of trap or secret weapon as an "equaliser" c) a contingency plan to cover their escape if things go wrong. If your bandits don't have at least 2 of those, they're bluffing or incompetent and should be role-played as such.
And then the party has a wizard with Fireball that simply obliterates the tree were the boss is. The barbarian with AC 22 and 16 in his strengh check (To hold the first trap on his bare hands) get a 20 with rage activated so he berserk his way through a tree and the Rougue plays Matrix with the arrows.
I remember an encounter I once made where I had a bandit ambush of 8 all hiding in the treeline on either side of the road that my 2nd level party was traveling on, all aiming crossbows at them. It should have made for a pretty tense fight. Unfortunately, I don’t think I rolled higher than a ten for any of the bandits the entire fight, and the party curb-stomped the battle. And killed everyone.
Gunpowder totally is in D&D in adventuring gear. Powder horns deal 3d8 damage in a 10 foot radius, and kegs deal 7d8 (also 10 feet, which is kinda dumb but whatever). I'm sure other people have said this in the comments already though. Anyway, great video as always!
Counter point. And this is what I did when cornered by some bandits. Slaughter the captain in such brutal fashion that you convince the others that you’re not worth this life and they retire forever.
@@minhkhangtran6948 I should clarify. They had isolated me from my companions and were trying to steal my horse which is one of the only things my character had from before the game seeing as his master was killed. Cliche. But it worked. So he went crazy and slaughtered the captain after asking them nicely to leave before they got hurt. I am not a murderhobo normally
This ironically makes me want to DM a party filled with bandits like this Their first encounter/heist probably being a highway robbery of high-level adventurers
You covered most of the gripes I have with bandits. Good job. Bandits should aim for a flawless victory and nothing else. They only situation they should want is gold at no loss.
You know their plan sounds great until you remember that fire ball has a distance of 150ft and my 7th level sorcerer with twin spell has never watched and forest fire safety guides. And launches 2 fireballs into 2 trees when the captian says "you are surrounded". Its funny how even the most complex early game encounters can be devedtated with a simple fireball.
At which point a good DM shifts focus from the threat being the bandits to the fact that you are downwind from the massive forest fire they started with their careless use of fireball... The remaining bandits immediately flee by any means possible, maybe even trying to steel the players wagon out of desperation to escape the flames.....
@@minnion2871 that just makes the encounter even more fun and chaotic than it was before. We were just on our way to the next city over and were suddenly in a life threatening chase for our lives as the remaining bandits probably just the princess and captian attempt to fight us off the caravan. As bits of forest crash everywhere
Maaan, great vid, everyone forgets most people ain't suicidal
Nah, the thugs at my high school aren’t suicidal, they just really like to oversell how many hit points they have
Yeah, this is why I have my “morale” meter.
Like when a group lost half of their group or leader, they will make a Wisdom check to see if they retreat or not.
But cultists are
*Evil laugh*
My players are always looking for a fight to the death. In my Tomb of Annihilation campaign, they will NEVER let the dinosaurs get away once they start running. And it’s not like they want to harvest them, because they just leave the carcasses.
The thing is bandits usually don't get the chance to run. They tend to die before they reach their second turn.
Bandits employ the most deadly weapon of all: PSYCHOLOGY
Hello super buff cat man!
These bandits all were college students who got psychology degrees and couldn't get any money from it, so they turned to ambush crime.
@@Ed-1749 The real BBEG is the student loan system
@@Zedrinbot Campaign idea, you're a bunch of academia graduates who need to pay your student loans at all costs. You also funnily enough meet those who suffer the similar fate and either stay on the path of good or stray off to the temptation of evil to just pay the interest. Three guesses on the bbeg's identity.
@@l.l1969 Salacia Mayhwen, the EVIL FINANCIER!
(Well, the *more* evil financier, they mostly are LE, I'd say, with a couple surprisingly CG.)
So, there's a book you should read called "The Monsters Know What They're Doing" by Keith Ammann that does something very similar to these videos, but for every monster in the Monster Manual.
It breaks down behavior patterns of the monsters, along with explaining how each enemy works in a mechanical sense so you can craft your own encounters.
Can also find his blog online
I have this book! I haven't read much of it so far, but I really want to.
Does anyone know if Ammann plans to do a sequel for the creatures included in the expansions?
@@illogicalparadox yep, it comes out this fall. As seen on his blog
@@RedBandito Awesome.
Love that book!
I love it when bandits are an actual threat instead of generic punching bags for newbie adventures. If the danger isn’t real, then the accomplishments don’t mean anything.
Better yet, have a clear distinction between the 'stupid farm boy lured by crime money' bandits and the hardened criminals. My personal layout for a bandit group that's supposed to be reasonably successful is 8-12 miscellaneous nobodies, 3-5 committed criminals who probably have a 'thing' they do (lockpick, hedge mage, whatever) and a leader.
I enjoy having them fight bandits at low level, and it being an actual threat, then throw some bandits at them when theyre higher level and have it be a steam roll
@@darkmantlestudios there's no greater catharsis then getting your teeth kicked in at level 4 and then coming back with the fury of a thousand mongoose at level 5 with 3rd level spells and extra attack
Fair but counterpoint. Haha funny poison man
I was so worried he burned himself out on the tavern book when he started. Keep it up man.
It definitely gave off a "I immediately regret my decision" vibe at first XD
You should make one of those for town guards. Would be great to put murderhobos at bay with an actual competent police force
^ love this idea
^ I agree with this statement
+
^
The initial patrol would use as many movement limiting items are possible to keep the murderhobos at bay while another guard warns the rest of the force. If the players get stuck in combat for long enough for the rest of the force to arrive, then the guards will close off the party's routes and start a siege. If the players aren't in a fully enclosed area, heavy crossbow teams will be sent to try and shoot unsuspecting players; if the players have hostages, then a hostage negotiator will attempt to negotiate; and if the players are in a fully enclosed area without hostages, the players will gain cool history facts about ancient and medieval chemical weapons as the party chokes under a dense cloud of sulfur dioxide. If the party still persists during the siege, SWAT (in this case, another high level adventuring party) will arrive on scene to take down the party.
You know this is what I really think monster bestiaries needs. A subsection about tactics. Just maybe a blurb under each monster about how they behave in combat under most circumstances.
Like some monsters are written that way. know grey oozes stick to ceilings and Will O Wisps try to lead to traps, what is that Roc going to do? Probably pic someone up and drop them because they are in the mountains that's how many other raptors hunt.
Roc gonna monch
Like exactly what 3.5e had...
Ah yes, my favorite highwayman, *P E A C H*
She's been having a hard time since the revolution
@@Freekymoho kinda her fault that Mario said "screw the bitch, I'll run the kingdom myself" what with the "kidnappings" by Bowser that often destroyed large swaths of her kingdom.
I had my party take a different road than I had planned, allowing them to see the bandits from behind their normal location. The druid cast invisibility on the monk (repeatedly) so from their point of view a half-orc appears and absolutely decks their friend before disappearing again, this went on and on until the bandits were killed
Hold actions would have fixed that really quick
Sneak 100
@@madmanwithaplan1826 I'm actually glad it went this way, it lead to an interesting plot point
@@madmanwithaplan1826 He's using a limited resource to do something sort of cool, I don't see how in needs fixing.
@@LupineShadowOmega I think it would be fair to let your bandits hold an action, but still impose severe penalties, like provoking an opportunity attack on a miss, a flat minus to hit, or disadvantage
As you lay out this amazingly thought out heist, I can’t help but recall the time my DM said a bunch of bandits were standing around a bridge we needed to cross, and when one of them told us we had to pay them a toll to cross, I just fireballed the whole group. No more bandits.
Well if there is nobody on the wagon.... and nobody is paying attention to it, their plan B could be steel the wagon and ride off in a SHTF scenario...
Or they could just try to surrender once they realize they are outmatched and have no chance of escape...
And this is why you don't stand in a small area when wizards are around.
What the bandits should have done is trap the players on the bridge, and threaten to collapse the bridge with them on it if they don't comply.
@@erikschaal4124 Yeah, pretend to give up on collecting money and when they are halfway the guys on the otherside come out and threaten to cut the bridge, light the bridge on fire or blow it up with support from either side with tons of hidden crossbowmen. A familiar, mage hand or plucky boy they can miss or kidknapped will be send to collect the coins.
Honestly, I think most DMs get too complacent with their battlemap ideas. Long corridors leading to square rooms constantly can make for some pretty static encounters, and even just having some ambushes can easily crank up the CR of things like bandits or hobgobs.
At my campaign's session zero, I explained to my players that I will occasionally throw encounters their way where the best solution is to simply avoid the danger (discretion is the better part of valor kind of thing). But my party, despite having a mix of classes, may as well all be barbarians the way they constantly, full-force throw themselves at every encounter. My party of 4 players has rolled 8 new characters since we've started; only one player hasn't had to roll a new character at all. It's a nightmare for me, but the players are having fun so I guess it's fine.
Another fun thing you can add to this situation: what if the bandits were able to steal a spell scroll or two from a previous low-level wizard? I'd probably give one of them Tiny Hut as a way for some of them to hide away if anything goes bad, and maybe a powerful AOE or crowd control spell like Hypnotic Pattern or Sleet Storm. one other thing you can give them is Smoke Bombs! heavily obscures an area for a minute and blinds anyone who fails a DC 13/14 Con save.
Great tips.
Rope Trick - either the spell itself or a custom magic item would be another way to hide until it's safe. If they're already in the trees, it's entirely possible that no one notices them using very short ropes into portals (Rope Trick says "a rope *up to* 60 ft, so a 1ft rope would let you jump in and pull the rope in after you fairly quickly) and unlikely that a party would hang around for an hour after the bandits vanish.
I'm now imagining a bunch of expelled students from a wizarding academy turning to banditry. They're only level 3, and have no spells known that cause damage - because the academy knows better than to give young students access to spells that cause damage. Or perhaps the teaching of such things is forbidden by law, but utility is fair game. Dancing Lights + Minor Illusion would be a good way to make a party think they're surrounded, and Grease would be a way for them to slow down victims who might have turned out to be a bit more than they could take. Spider Climb to get around the trees faster and Message to communicate with each other.
Tiny hut and Hypnotic Pattern are not at all low level and it would require them being spellcasters with the spell on their spell list and making successful arcana checks in order to cast them. If they fail the check the spell fails and the scroll is consumed.
@@masterfreeman117 I've always had it in my games that if you have a scroll, you can use it regardless. I honestly hate the RAW spell rules and kind of forgot that they worked like that.
Tiny hut seems like a bad idea if there is someone with dispel magic in the party. The bandits think they got away, see the party approach and poke at the dome for a few second, before one of them waves their hands around and they all descend upon the completely defenseless bandits.
"Stinky toe Joe"
I take this name in note for my campaign
I think I'll go with "Gangrene Gene", but undoubtedly quality stuff 👍
*Sees anti personnel ODM gear*
Bandit leader: Write that down! Write that down!
My favorite ambush involves a shovel, some wood planks, and a bunch of crossbow men. Simply dig a deep ravine (atleast 3ft in depth) in the road and lay the planks on it, the planks should be strong enough to let people and light carts over, but if a heavy carriage goes over them they'll snap, trapping the carriage, then in the confusion turn anyone on and around the carriage into pincushions with crossbow bolts.
Speaking from experience?...
"Not a lot of spells can reach them"
*laughs in fireball*
*Laughs in Ice Knife and Moonbeam*
laughs in bandit gunpowder bomb just being calculated as a fireball spell times however many bandits there are
@@PlushLordOfTheSeas if explosives technology has reached the point where it can easily replicate fireball, it’s basically modern day technology. Fireball is pretty big and really strong. Some small gunpowder bombs shouldn’t come close to its power.
@@PlushLordOfTheSeas So what you're saying is that every bandit I fireball has the potential to start a chain reaction.
*steeples hands*
@@Msoulwing and that's why we can't have nice forests
YEEEESSS, your "_____ battle tactic" videos are THE BEST
Bandits, Footpads, Marauders, Brigands and Highwaymen always feel like enemies I always appreciate having effort put into their implementation.
1:01 Love that Robin Hood the Fox is your sample Ranger. And I love all these battle tactics videos too! Very inspiring.
Awesome Idea for an ambush on the road! Definitely will use this but for my party, It will need a little bit of tweaking since it's 3 level 9's and a level 7 druid npc.
While I'm not a DM and I probably wouldn't use this for one of those kinds of scenarios for a while, I am playing a Barbarian that was a former bandit, so I would probably use this to get an idea of better ways to roleplay my character when travelling.
"70-80 ft away"
*Only a fool remains within fireball distance*
Only a fool is going to use Fireball in a forested area
@@melonboi927 Fun fact about a party I DM'd...
I think a bandit group that is this well put together, with a captain that is clever enough could do two things to counter this:
1) If the bandits have any knowledge of the existence of magic they would target the caster first.
+ The restrictions of armor on magic mean that the one only only wearing cloth is likely the one you should be primarily targeting your crossbow fire (heck you should just be doing that in general even in a world without magic.)
+ Magic is complex, but it's got some common exploitable and noticeable quirks to it
- If they have a book shred it, if they have a stick snap it, if they have an instrument break it.
- Can't hit what you cant see.
- Can't say the magic word if you're choking on smoke or sneezing powder, or you're so stunned that you can speak only faltering.
- Magic hands require working unrestricted hands, would be a shame if something were to happen to them.
2)
If the bandit is particularly savvy, they count mentally/keep track through command signals how many times the caster casts a likely well known or obviously powerful spell like fireball. They know casters can't go on forever, nothing lasts forever after all, and if they can hold out against a few big attacks, then great that means they're winning the battle of attrition. If there is more than 4-ish fireballs then the captain makes the judgement call to hightail it. I imagine it like an old Wild West outlaw counting the bullets in the six shooter of his opponent. He knows how to handle a man with a gun, that's not the hard part. The hard part is figuring out in the middle of combat how well *this* man he's fighting knows how to use *his* gun, (aka "do you feel lucky punk?...etc")
@@craniifer good god did somebody actually do that
Ok, so for that they would have to give all their focus to the caster (Considering that this is the most unluky caster on the world that fails in every check), leaving other characters free. The barbarian can destroy trees and a Rougue with a bow can easily kill a bandit that got outside their vision for only a second. And you have some other classes/races that can deal with this kind of problem very easily.
Wait a minute, these "comically simple gunpowder bombs" actually cost 150 GP per bomb according to the DMG. If the bandits can afford several of them, then why in the name of Ao are they even bandits?
and if the answer is "they stole them", well why the hell are they still highwaymen and not bank robbers if they can manage to steal them?
@@VimyGlide some merchant caravans are massive cowards. The reason why piracy on ye high sea's ended up going with massive red flags on their ship for pure intimidation factor was because well armed merchant ships had 2 choices. 1: Fight back, anger the pirates, and fucking die to death if they failed with prejudice from the angry pirates, or 2: Give up, shake hands, talk the weather, sell the captain for gold, and go back to port. The same can be had for road travel. Sorry boss, we got robbed, they outnumbered us, we lost 2000 gold and the caravan.
@@VimyGlide you act as if both are exclusive
@@turkeygod6665 i mean, have you ever heard of a bank robber that was also a highwayman?
@@VimyGlide yeah thats my dad
I love this video, and Keith Ammann has some to say for just the bandits with no real previous setup:
The BANDIT stat block isn't the ideal template for your typical back-alley burglar or pickpocket - oddly, the fifth-edition Monster Manual emits that archetype altogether. Rather, the Monster Manual bandit is more like a highwayman (on land), or a pirate (at sea), and their primary motivation is loot.
The bandit's physical abilities are all modestly above average, with Dexterity and Constitution in the lead: Bandits are scrappy fighters who rely on numbers. They wield "scimitars," for reasons I can only guess at - maybe this is the closest thing D&D has to a cutlass? Maybe because it treats shortswords as primarily stabbing weapons and thinks bandits ought to carry slashing weapons instead? I don't know. The weapon properties are the same, and the damage is the same except for the type, and if there's any kind of armor or enchantment that resists slashing damage but not piercing damage or vice versa, I haven't found it yet. In any event, you can let the flavor of the setting determine whether your bandits are carrying scimitars, cutlasses, arming swords, baselards, dirks, gladii, or whatever - they all deal 1d6+1 damage.
Bandits initiate combat by surrounding their targets in numbers large enough to encourage prompt surrender - three to one, at a bare minimum - and they count on their targets' surrendering readily. Thus, any encounters with a group of bandits *must* be at least a Medium-difficulty encounter and should really be at least Hard (see "Creating a Combat Encounter" in Chapter 3 of the Dungeon Master's Guide); otherwise the bandits would have moved on in search of easier prey already. They surround their targets at a range of 40 to 80 feet, light crossbows at the ready, and issue their demands. (They have neither Intimidation nor Persuasion skill - they rely on their weapons and their numbers to do the convincing for them.) If the PCs refuse, they hold their positions, attacking at range, until the PCs come to them, at which point they switch to their blades.
A bandit who takes any wound at all will Dodge (not Disengage) and relocate to the side of the nearest fellow bandit, in the hope that two might be able to beat an enemy whom one alone can't. It takes only a moderate wound (reducing a bandit to 7 hp or fewer) to give a bandit the idea that these folks aren't the pushovers they're supposed to be; if half or more of a group of bandits are moderately wounded, they'll Disengage and retreat. Any single bandit who's seriously wounded (reduced to 4 hp or fewer) runs away using the Dash action, potentially incurring one or more opportunity attacks. On the flip side, if combat goes poorly for the PCs and they surrender, the bandits will happily rob them of all their valuables and bid them adieu...although if there's a PC of Noble background in the party, they may take that PC captive and hold them for ransom!
The BANDIT CAPTAIN is distinguished from an ordinary bandit by higher physical abilities (this time, Dexterity and Strength take the lead over Constitution), high Intelligence and Charisma, proficiency in Athletics and Deception, a Multiattack action, and a Parry reaction. A bandit captain will go beyond a simple "stand and deliver" demand - they'll engage in actual negotiation. For instance, if it looks like it would be a challenge to make the PCs give up *all* their valuables, the bandit captain may suggest that for the modest price of 10 gold pieces per PC, neither side has to go to the trouble of seeing who really is tougher. Of course, bandit captains also have no compunction about lying through their teeth.
The bandit captain lacks proficiency in Insight and thus has no particular talent for reading PCs' motivations, but they can make some educated guesses based on appearances and fabricate a story accordingly. If the PCs are predominantly folk heroes or outlanders, the bandit captain may claim that their band of brigands are righteous rebels resisting a tyrannical aristocracy. If the PCs are softhearted acolytes or gullible nobles, the bandit captain may say that poverty has driven them to banditry out of necessity. If the PCs are mostly charlatans, criminals, or urchins, the bandit captain may drop all pretense and say it's all in the game, yo - or even recruit the PCs to join their outlaw band! These stories may be true, false, or some of both, but it doesn't matter one way or the other: All the bandit captain is interested in is getting loot out of the PCs by the easiest means possible. And if the PCs balk? "Well, then, I guess we're going to have to do this the hard way."
The bandit captain as described in the Monster Manual carries no ranged weapon except for throwable daggers. Since they can dual-wield a dagger alongside a scimitar (cutlass, arming sword, baselard, dirk, gladius, etc.) they'll generally prefer to do this rather than stand back and throw them, especially when surrounded by bandits with light crossbows that deal more damage. Plus, the bandit captain's leading abilities are Dexterity and Strength, so they're going to go for swift strikes and big damage, which means the Multiattack action with two Scimitar attacks and one Dagger attack.
As for the Parry reaction, the bandit captain uses it against whichever of their melee opponents (if it has more than one) dies the greatest average damage per hit. The bandit captain is familiar enough with a variety of enemies to be able to judge this accurately. For instance, if the bandit captain is being attacked by a paladin with Strength 16 and a longsword (1d6 + 3, average 8 damage per hit) and a barbarian with Strength 18 and a greataxe (1d12 + 4, average 10 damage per hit), they know to let the paladin's blows land and parry the barbarian's. This is a function of experience, not Intelligence.
The bandit captain has a generous number of hit points (ten hit dice, compared with an ordinary bandit's two) and doesn't mind being the focus of more than one PC's attacks: If double- or triple-teamed, they'll Dodge (action) and Parry (reaction) and let their bandit crossbowmen take potshots at the PCs from afar. The bandit captain isn't particularly afraid of magic, either, having proficiency bonuses on Dexterity and Wisdom saving throws - two of the "big three." However, if given an opportunity to attack with advantage, the bandit captain will seize it, even if they'd otherwise be Dodging. For instance, if the bandit captain is being attacked by both a fighter and a barbarian and the barbarian uses Reckless attack, the bandit captain will take the opening and attack the barbarian.
Like bandits, bandit captains value their lives highly. If moderately wounded (reduced to 45 hp or fewer), they'll keep fighting but also reopen negotiations *during combat*: "Surely *stab* we can come to some *stab* mutually satisfactory arrangement?" If seriously wounded (reduced to 26 hp or fewer), they'll drop their weapons, surrender on the spot, and agree to whatever terms keep them breathing.
All in all, you now have two very well-done guides to bandits with preparation (the video) and bandits without! Good job Runesmith!
Thanks^^
Good lord what a book lmao
I'm desperately trying to think of any way for my party to see a bandit ambush and not immediately take the mere concept as an insult and derail the whole campain
The other day I had a group of 18 level 1 goblins ambush my level 7 party as a "You guys have come so far" -encounter, the rat cast fireball and one-shot 14 of the goblins.
Then with back to back natural twenties they convinced them that the party was Gods and that the goblins should become lumberjacks.
In my ideal ambush location, I would find a decent gully or other landmass where the road descends downwards and there is solid ground on either side. Anything 10-15 feet or more higher than the road would do. At one end of the gully I place a deadfall trap to seal off one direction. On the other, a swinging log trap that can be activated by one of my minions to sweep down the road itself, knocking prone anything in the way, and crippling any horse drawn wagon so if they try to run they cant take their stuff with them. Captain is on the road, giving them the money or life demand, standing just out of range of the swinging trap, it will go right over his head before it gets low enough to nail anyone when he pulls the release. This allows him to escape if the mugging turns into an actual fight and his minions will be up on the high ground raining crossbow bolts on everything that moves.
If the party gives chase a bandit or two will scale the deadfall and start looting the wagon if one is there, while the bandits on the high ground trade crossbow shots at targets with little to no cover. The casters in the group will likely die first as they are both squishy and more dangerous in a long range fight. The melee types have a long way to go to get in range of the bandits and there are likely traps and obstacles to deal with the whole way. Not too mention the bandit captain who is out there waiting for an opening to strike.
With each of these videos, Runesmith creates the deadliest opponents most dnd parties will ever face: *People with two brain cells to rub together* XD
Small point, you can't ready an action before the initiative is rolled. That's what surprise rounds are for. As soon as you say "the readied trunk falls from the bandits in the tree" the players are going to ready actions to charge next combat.
I'd rule that they used their surprise round to ready the attack, but even though it varies from table to table, this felt more realistic
Bard: "I cast Meteor Swarm!"
Poor Dungeon Master: "H-How?! That's a level 9 spell, you're level 7! AND A BARD!"
B: "Remember that Wizard we looted a while ago?"
PDM: "Oh, yeah, he had a bunch of high level scrolls... And you're wasting Meteor Swarm on a bunch of bandits? Not to mention you'll all get killed as well!"
B: "Yeah, about that... We talked and want to try an all-cleric party called the A-Men."
PDM: "Dammit, JoCat!"
Amen indeed
I haven't played dnd since 2004 and still watch all of his videos.
That first part of talking about twisted taverns has pretty home. As I am making my own homebrew world, each time I am on track to finishing something, I think of something else to add onto the pile. But I am glad you managed to reach one of those big goals and hope everything is up to your liking.
I love everything about this, finally I can theoretically destroy my level 10 party of 6 with a bunch of smart bandits and excessive quantities of explosives.
3:33
The VERY FIRST THING my party did when they saw her in the distance was check her wound, look for a blood trail and try to heal her.
One of their first questions was that if the blood on her dress was actually hers.
This makes me wonder if anybody played a D&D character who was once a bandit leader and knows a bit too much about staging an ambush. What do you think, mastermind rogue/battlemaster fighter?
Ah yes, bandits. You love to hunt down their bounty at low level until you get high enough level to realise they are just a mild nuisance at best and hunting them down just feels like repetitive monotonous work. The very thing I'm adventuring to get away from.
I always tell the townfolk that dealing with bandits is for the guards, I've got a dragon to go kill
tfw the bandits storm down and pillage and burn the entire village.
Thank you for continuing this series. Do ooblexs next
I was about to find it weird how you'd negotiate; but you're absolutely right.
"We've got 100 gold. We'll give you 25."
"Why would we do that?"
"Because if you don't we'll fight. And we'll take a few of your men with us before we go down. So they'll all know exactly how much you think their lives are worth."
Then if you're a Monk, throw his ass around when you hand the coin over.
Great work man, love to see more of your cryptids (or D&D stats for stuff not already in D&D), monster tactics, and generally more.
Damnit ! Last Friday, the 7th level party I DM for DESTROYED my bandit encounter. That would have been useful information
F for forcefully retired highway men
@@hugofontes5708 what?
5:35 the grapples and log trap would be extremely visible and ruin the ambush before it starts, plus the tree that you are in really doesn't change the damage of a fireball
5:45 the damsel is almost certainly dead from attacks of opportunities
6:50 that range check really doesn't work. Plenty of offensive spells can cross the gap including most cantrips, and scaled up cantrips may be enough to kill a bandit on average damage
I'm curious as to how the grappling hooks and log traps would ruin the ambush by being too visible.
I could see how the log trap would be visible if you were looking for it, but seeing the grapple hook and not the bandit that has the grapple hook is kinda odd to me.
As for fireball, my only argument would be that they have cover, so higher bonus to dex saves as per cover rules. Fireball also doesn't go through total cover, so a dm could rule that the fireball radius is reduced or that the bandits are considered to benefit from the effects of evasion while in the trees.
@@cameronlancefrii7356 I'm not sure if the grapple would have ruined the trap depending on how the grapple actually works, but the falling log trap would absolutely be visible and if it had an anchor point allowing it to reach the road then it would probably need a passive perception of 10 to spot. And as for the fireball, they can have their half cover if they'd like. Half the average damage of a fireball is 14 and a regular bandit has 11 hp. Fireball also sets any flammable object on fire, so those leaves are unlikely to be a positive and as soon as the middle tree goes up in flames then suddenly the bandits are stuck where they are.
@@lordoblivion812 you can camouflage the anchor point too. I suppose it also depends on position and alertness of the party. It's a proven fact that people don't typically look up beyond a 45 degree angel- I might be wrong on the exact degree, but it's something like that. Of course, a person CAN... but WHY would they? Point is, if it's in the air around the bend, they might just NOT look up and see it, because it's above their field of vision. This just reminds me of if I played Goblins like Goblins on their home grounds the party would just get obliterated. Goblins can hide and disengage as a bonus action... so a dark maze-like room where they can hit and run while players can't even find them would be ridiculous. My players personally probably wouldn't be able to handle it. I'm fixing to run them up against minotaurs in a maze that just bull rush, knock you down, and run deeper into the maze before you get up.
Keep in mind that if the damsel has played her role well at all she'll just look like some innocent woman running away from people shooting and waving around weapons- no party I know would waste their reactions on attacking an unarmed, unarmored "innocent" person who's actively fleeing combat.
As for the log trap, it's almost certainly both a. camouflaged and b. in a treetop, behind leaves, and is, you know, a log, which is in fact what trees are made of.
I do agree with your point about spells, though. Maybe they're relying on the relative rarity of high-level spellcasters and their knowledge of hiding spots to save them?
@@cameronlancefrii7356Maybe offer interesting ways to make it difficult for the goblins, like prying down the walls (for some reason, the implications of the wall of stone spell {that being that there’s a chance that one panel being destroyed collapses the other panels})
Or flood the entire area with a decanter of endless water (idk if that’s too high level, didn’t check)
Maybe have them be taught some basic formation fighting (first guy acts as immediate threat, second guy readies attack for the goblin disengaging, third guy uses stealth to ambush them on the way out, or partners up with fourth guy to do the same as guys 1 and 2 but on a different side.)
(Granted, they may not be built well for these kinds of tactics, so encourage creative and effective tactics as much as you can.)
Logan showed a depiction of Greek Fire aka Bronze Age Napalm to represent Alchemist's Fire LOL!
This video came out just in time! I've been planning this adventure for months & I'm finally starting to run it today! The idea of adding decoy rustling bushes to the roadside trap in the first encounter will be a great touch!
... can't wait til my group derails so hard it's irrelevant, lol! 😅
Aaaand yep. Completely bypassed the encounter! 😅
Ah well. This way they have to sneak around town instead of being there openly, so it'll be harder for them in the long run...
Using proper tactics can easily double the threat of an encounter, turning a handful of cr 1/2 creatures into a deadly encounter for at least one of the party
If its like my table, they immediately hear the words "My lover and I were attacked by Bandits" and insist on rolling insight checks.
I’m so excited for Twisted Taverns! I just ran a family game for my sister and grandma in the Wizards Watering Hole and they had a blast there (they ‘won’ the shot glass from the Tender) but they also accidentally made some healing potion gas in the brewing room before setting off for their quest proper so they were really happy with that ^^
I like the idea of 'environmental actions' that enemies can prepare before hand to make things more interesting.
7:01 - I love a good Time Bandits reference. :D
I've never heard of a Sandbox tree fruit before, and neither had my DM.
I sent him the video, and he immediately added them to our campaign! Thanks Runesmith!
I like this setup. Makes the bandits a lot smarter so there's no mass rush into death, psyches out the party because they might think that there's a lot more, and it also gives the bandits some personality, allowing the party to interact with them in a more meaningful way.
I'm running a similar scenario to this. This is a 4 man level 4 party that has been traveling for a day or so and saw what looked to be a man in an old carriage up ahead carrying some supplies. I told them they can overtake it since they're driving faster. Eventually the carriage hits a pebble on the road and jostles from the bump causing what looks to be a rolled rug to fall, but the man didn't seem to notice.
So the sorcerer gets up from the cart to pick it up and shouts towards the driver he dropped something.
Driver looks back, blows his whistle and the Rug of Smothering manages to envelop the sorcerer.
That's where we left the session but the plan isnt for there to be a fight to the death, much more like a highway robbery since the party is halfway between towns.
Yes!!! I LOVED your other two tactics videos. Glad to see more. Hoping we could get tactics for Lizardfolk, or town guards sometime.
4:35 wait, buddy, you said the same thing about goblins: "Their plan will fail if they discover the scout goblin and slightly touch him with a needle, because they are cowards"
This inspired me to run some smart bandits as well. Lots of hiding in treetops smoke bombs, flash bombs, bomb bombs, The encounter used the Bandit Lord from Tome of Beasts to give orders and be a bit beefier. The encounter was tough for my lvl 5 party but I think it was cool having underpowered enemies give them a run for their money, literally.
One fun thing that you could add is the damsel themselves could be armed as well. Especially since they could use disguise self to hide their real appearance.
The princess has ONE mean of escape, and she'll use it to set you on fire. savage
Ah feature creep, the ender of projects.
For those of you who don't know why gunpowder isn't in D&D, it's because the Harpers are luddites.
Great vid. I love how the simple tactics could make a group of one shots a viable threat for a party of 7th level. Go after the stuff the players value more than their lives, their crap.
Great video.
The eldermancy glass at 0:09 gave me the best and worst kind of flashbacks. Nice touch.
This bandit ambush is very much like my current character's backstory. He was a low-ranked highwayman on a crew that got a few successful hits, got cocky, and were tricked into ambushing a wagon full of well-trained guards.
The survivors of the gang were captured or scattered, and my character didn't stop running until he got to a city in another kingdom.
-
Recently, a noble in the new city got information about my character's possible involvement in the banditry and we are locked in a "we each know dirt about the other" standoff.
I would love more of these. They're well thought out and very helpful
If you are making a tavern then you need food recipes, like sandwiches, soups, salads, snacks and others, not only drinks.
Good video by the way
One of my encounters went like this:
Bandit (in disguise): “Hey, there’s a tax for crossing this road. You’ll have to pay 20 gold pieces per person for save travel.”
Bandit: looks at the adventurers’ pockets, stuffed with gold from the dungeon
Bandit: “Actually, it’s 40-“
They were rolling initiative before the bandits actually showed up.
I actually used a similar tactic in my game, group of trained mercenaries used the trees and a whistle from their leader to coordinate. My party had just fought fought a dragon and nearly got their asses handed to them by regular mfs
These tactics videos are my favorite! I hope you make more!!!
I really appreciate the, "you are surrounded, please give me just your coins, we don't want any trouble." I think that's something that *real* humans would do and it's also a real decision for the party to make, "is this worth the gold? or can we just take these guys? do we need to get somewhere fast? are we going to be fighting by the end of this journey and is it more prudent to save our strength at the cost of a small lump sum of gold?" Chances are most groups will just fight this and take *catastrophic* losses. Then the next time, and pretty much every encounter after that, I'm sure they'll be more thoughtful. Very great tactic, I like this very much.
Remember that time the party got robbed by Princess Peach...?
All I can hear is Walter Sobchak shouting about how “she kidnapped herself”.
Battle tactics for crazed cultists would be a cool idea. Maybe. Possibly. What do I know, I'm just a crustacean.
I love the art style in your books, the whimsical and cartoony vibe of your stuff is fresh and awesome. Also, good vid, these tactics videos are my favorite.
I had a DM who put us in an encounter with a bunch of wood elves who were using the trees like in this combat, but then my druid cast conjure animals summoning 8 giant owls which the entire party hopped on giving us the high ground allowing us to completely decimate the wood elves as we proceeded to fly over to there home and torch the place like savages.
Again... The runescape Easter eggs are what keep bringing me back
Ok, kudos! That was a well build and well explained encounter.
Can we get more of these?
Another encounter idea to make my players hate me, Good GOOD MU HAHAHA!
Please dont ever quit your just too funny too not be a content creator the closest I ever got too playing dnd was monopoly but you're videos are so much fun that I got super in too it and you always nail your jokes making learning more about it so much more enjoyable
I damn-near party-wiped a level 3 party with 4 bandits rated for a CR 1 or less party. High ground, thrown weapons and grenades, ample cover.
The party was down to their last 1-2 HP each, one player was at 0, 3 of the 4 bandits still had full HP (6), one had died to a sorcerer, but that was enough to 'force a morale checks' and the bandits fled to cut their losses.
I used real tactics with kobolds on my party and they hated it so much the campaign died
RIP
@asdrubale bisanzio if your party doesn't understand that the monsters are actually going to act like real things and not just rush at them recklessly they stupid
@asdrubale bisanzio i did :(
Most people don't want an autistic tactics simulator, they want to be cool heroes
If they want to play murderhobos easy mode, that's okay. Doesn't mean you have to DM it for them. Dinner is what you cooked up, not what they force you to provide. There's an argument for communication to be had, sure. But if your DM style and their playstyle don't fit, that's okay.
Its videos like this that really make me believe nearly anything can be a threat to anyone if played right. This was really cool
Wow I was literally planning a highway bandit encounter for tomorrow! Great timing.
How'd it go?
@@kylestanley7843 The party decided to smoke nutmeg they stole from a baker and flirt with the guildmaster who was letting them sleep in their guestroom. They never made it out of the city...
@@PowerUA-camrViewer 10/10 DM experience
1:41 I swear everytime I go into L.A I'm afraid I'll get mugged, and I don't even think it has that high of a crime rate
Piece by piece we will get it all done. I am so proud of the successes you’ve made.
Party said they wanted to go out and clear the surrounding area of any bandits that may impede future trade......you drop this......I give my thanks
I just finished watching the goblin video, so this is a fun surprise
I was a little confused how much rope was used in this scenario and how disposable it was treated as. Then I looked up its cost and converted the cost to a the equivalent and more realistic amount in my head.
Boy, rope is really cheap in D&D, right? What a waste of a good bit of rope! Lindybeige: ua-cam.com/video/lZfpQzV2GnM/v-deo.html
God the rabbithole you just sent me on, I will blame you if i fuck up my exams you know
"70 - 80 ft is the safest diatance for a bandit to be"
Warlock: hey, do you have time to talk about our lord and saviour ELDRITCH BLAST!?
I'd say any bandits the party encounters in a D&D game should have at least two of the following:
a) overwhelming numbers or combat power
b) some sort of trap or secret weapon as an "equaliser"
c) a contingency plan to cover their escape if things go wrong.
If your bandits don't have at least 2 of those, they're bluffing or incompetent and should be role-played as such.
And then the party has a wizard with Fireball that simply obliterates the tree were the boss is. The barbarian with AC 22 and 16 in his strengh check (To hold the first trap on his bare hands) get a 20 with rage activated so he berserk his way through a tree and the Rougue plays Matrix with the arrows.
I remember an encounter I once made where I had a bandit ambush of 8 all hiding in the treeline on either side of the road that my 2nd level party was traveling on, all aiming crossbows at them. It should have made for a pretty tense fight. Unfortunately, I don’t think I rolled higher than a ten for any of the bandits the entire fight, and the party curb-stomped the battle. And killed everyone.
both bombs and dynamite are items in the core rules, and MAN can they get crazy quick lmao
Lol this would not have worked with my Wildfire Druid. Frankly I would have just started burning down the trees at the start
I would like to see a Book of Battletactics in your next Kickstarter ^^
Gunpowder totally is in D&D in adventuring gear. Powder horns deal 3d8 damage in a 10 foot radius, and kegs deal 7d8 (also 10 feet, which is kinda dumb but whatever). I'm sure other people have said this in the comments already though. Anyway, great video as always!
Once again, runesmith reveals his excellent tactical leadership. Tip of the hat, my evil captain
Counter point. And this is what I did when cornered by some bandits. Slaughter the captain in such brutal fashion that you convince the others that you’re not worth this life and they retire forever.
That just smell like the murderhobo option made by psychopaths...which is par for the course for DnD anyway.
@@minhkhangtran6948 I should clarify. They had isolated me from my companions and were trying to steal my horse which is one of the only things my character had from before the game seeing as his master was killed. Cliche. But it worked. So he went crazy and slaughtered the captain after asking them nicely to leave before they got hurt. I am not a murderhobo normally
@@bcfb21 ahh
This ironically makes me want to DM a party filled with bandits like this
Their first encounter/heist probably being a highway robbery of high-level adventurers
love the NY and LA addition
You covered most of the gripes I have with bandits. Good job. Bandits should aim for a flawless victory and nothing else. They only situation they should want is gold at no loss.
this is why the rouge with a plan is the most dangerous person is the party. it's also why most of my bad guys fit drity and go for the rouge frist.
You know their plan sounds great until you remember that fire ball has a distance of 150ft and my 7th level sorcerer with twin spell has never watched and forest fire safety guides. And launches 2 fireballs into 2 trees when the captian says "you are surrounded".
Its funny how even the most complex early game encounters can be devedtated with a simple fireball.
At which point a good DM shifts focus from the threat being the bandits to the fact that you are downwind from the massive forest fire they started with their careless use of fireball... The remaining bandits immediately flee by any means possible, maybe even trying to steel the players wagon out of desperation to escape the flames.....
@@minnion2871 that just makes the encounter even more fun and chaotic than it was before. We were just on our way to the next city over and were suddenly in a life threatening chase for our lives as the remaining bandits probably just the princess and captian attempt to fight us off the caravan. As bits of forest crash everywhere
@@Shaymin0 And that's why it seems like something a good DM would do.
This came right out of Captain Usopp's play book
I love it
These are my favorite type of vids from you. Keep up the good work, and take care of yourself!