Hear me out for a moment: Goblins VS Kobolds in a deadly game of capture-the-flag. Have a sizable map with two forts on either side, and reinforcements arrive for both sides every 5 rounds. Whoever takes the enemy flag back to their home base wins.
this is literally just what i want to watch when i have a dnd itch, no overbearing 4-hour long campaign to keep context, or hour long vid with a breakdown of the enemies/characters.. this is like those Ai battles, which i just love. bravo my guy! epic channel!
Not covardice, but hit-and-run. What is really teaches you that covardice is the most effective combat strategy (or more precisely, survivial strategy) is Fear&Hunger.
i mean the winner in one for alls are generally the one who does the least fighting so fire winning isnt a shock. the water being gang banged for the entire fight and still almost killing stone with 3 times his hp is nuts tho
Thats only because he made rock go berserk and Attack water elemental on water. Either way this fight was Always Just impossible to make without giving someone a disadvantage, if they fought on Land rock probably wins by using the 3/4 cover on rocks and because he also has the best stats overall, if they fought on a terrain without covers or anything fire would do insane damage due to burning, in water as we saw, water elemental has a great advantage over the other elementals thanks to the disadvantage the other elementals have under water, and the air elementals has only his air superiority to his advantage. So yeah, everybody had a Fair chance to win except air elemental.
@@pollitopajaro just make them fight in a open plain and have everyone gang bang the fire to get the biggest threat out of the way. It's practically what happened to water. He was below half hp before he ever even reached water. Honestly my only complaint was fire just perma running away and sitting back and watching a fight happen.
That part was confusing. Imagine a Water Elemental walking into a big volcano and beating a Fire Elemental and Earth Elemental. I don't see it happening. The rules are weak here. Water should've been invisible. But it was still a good video. I guess Esper is a mortal after all. 😢
Lich would win, because it can : - Power Word Kill the Mummy Lord Turn 1 - It is immune to charm, so vampire can't use its charm on it. - It is immune to nonmagical damage from slashing, piercing and bludgeoning so vampire cannot meele it. - It is resistant to necrotic, so biting the lich is not gonna do much either. - Even if you make Vampire Mage - Lich has counterspell. Vampire Spellcaster doesn't. - Vampire Warrior doesn't help either as it gains nothing that would help against a lich. - Lich can cast a cantrip as Legendary Action then Power word Stun the Vampire on its next turn. Then after the vampire is stunned, the Lich has free reign to do whatever he wants, unless the Vampire somehow succeds on its con save for Power Word Stun (DC 20)
I love the fact that theses battles are still role played as well in character with the creatures, makes it feel a bit like we are spectators to an arena. I loved this fight >:) I intend to try and figure out another future matchup scenario for each one of theses videos so here is my tribute: Flameskull VS Banshee
It's CHAOS! Enjoying these very much. At 25:14, could Earth have attacked Fire, and then sunk into the ground, logically extinguishing the burning? I feel like Earth could have done the same hit-and-run tactics that Air did, except going into the ground, which it never seemed to realize it could do.
I feel like letting water just chill in the water and making things come to it is a pretty unfair advantage, especially since earth and wind could also basically do the same thing but werent really allowed to.
@@obi-wan-jacobi840 That's the winning strategy in any FFA in general. The one that plays the underdog and does the least fighting typically wins unless the others decide to gang up on them, or if there's a big power discrepancy between the two remaining.
I have some ideas Young blue dragon vs adult purple worm Vampire vs mummy Lord Three ogres vs one hill giant Six dragonnel riders vs 15 wormling green dragons Frost giant vs fire giant Giant spider vs giant scorpion 2 bulettes vs 9 angkegs Etten vs T-Rex Green Hag vs night hag
Water Elemental doesn't have fire resistance, so it should not get half damage. Reason is simple - water can get evaporated. HOWEVER - water elemental can use WHELM and WHELM instantly kills the fire elemental, because Water Elemental is LARGE so it fills a cube of 10 ft x 10 ft x 10 ft of water. It means it deals 75 cold damage - because 10 cubic feet is 75 gallons of water. But in addition, on its turn the fire elemental is still submerged in this water, so it gets damaged again - dying since it only has 102 hp. Hence you don't need to give water elemental any additional advantage there. EDIT actually it is 1000 cubic feet of water, not 10. So 7500 damage to the water elemental, my bad. So insta-kill.
Water elemental doesn't have fire resistance on its own, but being fully submerged in water gives fire resistance. You are correct with the whelm though. Each gallon of water is one damage to fire elemental so it would be an insta-kill.
If moving through a 5 foot cube of water only deals 1 damage, your logic of using a gallons doesn't add up, it also doesn't add up in the rule book since 1 gallon of water isn't anywhere near the same amount as a 5 foot cube. That's the problem with the RAW there. I would have argued that the fire elemental wouldn't willingly go into the water and there's no reason for it to have to enter it for a win.
Water "whelm" over an enemy should take away all oxygen to the opponent that it encloses over. In the case of fire, fire needs oxygen to become fire. Probably doesn't work to a magical fire creature though.
2 місяці тому+1
@@ComicalHealing 10 ft cube is 7200 gallons. Remember about the cube law - Everthing is exponential. 10 ft cube = 8 x 5 ft cubes 5 ft cube of water therefore is 900 gallons. This is why shape water can instantly kill a water elemental (if you have a 5 ft cube of water in range).
2 місяці тому+1
@@Jimmy-p9n Does not matter, because water deals cold damage to fire elemental. Whelm deals 7200 cold damage.
This Free-For-All was an Amazing Spectacle!! You should do Vampire Spellcaster + Vampire Spawn Vs Mummy Lord + Mummies next. Feel like that'd be awesome!!
Glad you went with this one. If you fancy another free-for-all, how about: Mephit Melee! One of each mephit, in an elemental showdown? There may be a lot of cackling required...
I think the winner would be whoever camps harder. Simply put, If the earth elemental gets to enjoy that three-quarters cover, it will win If the water elemental gets to fight from inside the water, it will do great The fire elemental is probably best in a featureless room, since it deals a damage type that is not resisted And finally, the air elemental can weave through any fighting taking place, getting second if nothing is happening
A lot of this felt like that one scene from Golden Wind where the boys are just beating the shit out of this random guy, except it's a water elemental.
I really wanna see a fight between four factions: -Undead (so like a few skeletons and zombies maybe) -Fey (so a bunch of pixies with like a few dryads) -Fiends (so just a bunch of low-CR demons or devils, like Lemure or Manes) -Monstrosities (stuff like Cockatrice, Darkmantle or Piercer)
This made me think of some homebrew stuff I wrote up years ago for a Savage Worlds setting I was trying to write. They already had the concept of "border elementals" in the base game, but I expanded it to feature combinations between all elemental pairings you could make. Lava elementals combine the domains of earth and fire, mud elementals are of earth and water, earth and air makes sand, fire and air combine to create smoke, water and fire produce steam, and storm is formed from air and water. I've also thought about expanding into "greater elements" which would be variations of the classic elements in some way or another, such as an ice elemental instead of just water. I thought it was a pretty cool concept and would like to see what you could come up with for D&D.
Water had one hell of a comeback. From being weakened at the start to taking the leader down to 3 hp, while forcing the fire elemental into the water and dealing decent damage.
Need to see Orcs vs Hobgoblins Monster Melee in the future man. The sons of Gruumsh vs the sons of Maglubiyet, a battle to prove who's warriors truly has the stronger mettle. I was thinking maybe a skirmish type battle with 10 warriors on each side with Orcs side consisting of five Orcs, three Orogs, an Orc Eye of Gruumsh, and an Orc War chief and for the Hobgoblins side maybe have seven Hobgoblins, two Hobgoblin Captains, and an Hobgoblin Warlord. I got no idea how balanced this is since Hobgoblins do have a higher cr cap then Orcs, so I gave them less elite troupes but if Esper sees this comment, then he will definitely come up with a way more balanced battle then my suggestion lol.
My suggestion would be the following: Hyenas vs Lion Liondrake vs Yuan ti Abomination And perhaps if you would want to add specific scenarios in which these fights happen then: A red dragon attacking a military convoy (knights, archers a wizard, and they could be slightly prepared) carrying a person it wants to hold hostage.
Great idea!!! I've always wanted to see a party vs party version of these battles. People have often said four paladins would always win vs any party. Could you do some kind of tournament to see what party combo is best in combat.
Id like to see the classic party: fighter cleric rogue wizard... battle Master, life, assassin, envoker? Would probably still lose but it would be fun.
It depends on the battlefield layout. Paladins with all their spell slots would definitely dominate in melee (high AC, high to-hit, Smite, Aura of Protection, Lay on Hands). That said, they typically have abysmal Dex and Int Saves as they already have to choose 3 stats (Strength, Constitution, Charisma) for their build so Dex and Int are their dump stats (as is Wisdom, but they do have proficiency in Wisdom saves so it would still be between at least +2 and +6, depending on the character level). There isn't that many Int Save spells available to player characters (it's mostly creatures like Mindflayers that target those). Dex Saves, however: Fireball, Chain Lightning, Disintegrate, to name a few classics, but there's a ton of Dex Save spells and the vast majority of them are damage spells. Those would make short work of a paladin party at a safe distance as paladins' ranged options are also quite bad: either good hit chance with low range on thrown weapons or good range with bad hit chance - that dumped Dex again - on projectile weapons.
In 5E a basic Werewolf stands no chance agains a Vampire or even a Vampire Spawn for that matter. That said, a homebrew Werewolf with some class levels could make it exciting.
@@Mordring 5E does have the Loup Garou that was brought back in Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft which is much stronger then the Werewolf in the core rule book. It has a cr of 13 which is equal to that of the Vampire, so a Loup Garou vs a Vampire should be a more or less even fight at least on paper. That being said the Vampire does edge the Loup Garou out due it having damage resistances and better regen while the Garou has worse regen and no damage resistances, its bite and claw attacks aren't specified to be magical either so it will be resisted to. Though the Garou is Immune to being charmed, has advantage against creatures that don't have full hp and can knock creatures prone with its claw attacks. So the Garou can definitely lay down the hurt on the Vamp but its still gonna be at a disadvantage due the vamps damage resistances, better regen, mist form, and spider climb, its also pretty vulnerable to the Vampire's bite ability to since it has no resistance to necrotic. Tbh If I did a Vampire vs Loup Garou battle, I would just give it a barbarian rage like ability so it can at least resist the Vamps physical attacks and deal a little extra damage.
Definitely would like to see more free for alls. Golems, Giants, Genies could all work. Dragons would also be sweet, but that might need to be more of a tournament!
Here's an idea for a battle A pair of displacer beasts being hunted by a pack of blink dogs ( I don't know how many dogs would be needed to make it a fair fight ) I've always been curious ever since learning about these two on how that fight would actually go, I would assume the dogs would probably win due to pack tactics and turn economy however they're CR1/4 meanwhile the cat they supposedly commonly hunt is CR3... I know CR basically means nothing when looking at a creature's stats however that is a mighty big leap for a creature to in canon be throwing hands err.. paws
I know, I know, I know it's not real, but fire being my favorite element I was rooting for it, but I thought it would have been the first to lose. I'm glad it won😅😅😅. VIVE DND for making me and you Esper.
I'd like to see this again with maybe a plain environment, feels like the water should've been dq'd for hiding in the water, which would've made earth maybe the winner if it didn't have to fight under water or be dq'd.
I think the reason why the fire and water elementals interact with each other RAW is that fire damage is essentially heat, and though water doesn't burn, heat causes water to vaporize. In turn, the water does not have an extra effect on the fire because water only serves to cut fire off from oxygen, but it is possible when there is an alternate fuel source and oxidizer that fire can burn despite there being water put on it. In the case of a water elemental, it has its own innate fuel and oxidizer otherwise it would be easy to kill one by smothering it and it would be a relatively poor enemy.
Great vid, I'd love to see another free-for-all where you make like, generic level 1 versions of each class and see what happens, give them like point buy stats, I would then say do a level 20 version but then shit would get too nutty, maybe if you had a buddy or two to help with that.
Solid showing. If the Fire Elemental was a little smarter, it might have realized that readying an attack was pointless due to the Air Elemental provoking an opportunity attack every turn anyway. Instead, it could have used its action to Dodge, thus giving the Air Elemental disadvantage on its multi-attack.
Next could be a classic aasimar paladin, in the minotaur labyrinth: will he manage to vanquish the beast and return victorious, or perish as many before him? Or perhaps a Titan fighting for dominance against a dragon, over a disputed land.
My only gripe is the earth elemental used a reaction to hit the water one after the whirl pool, then somehow had another reaction to opportunity attack the wind one right after, other than that, masterfully done!
I was so rooting for that water elemental. I was disappointed when I realised that no matter what the burn damage from attacking the fire elemental would kill it anyway so there's no chance it could win, but definitely put up a fight. Earth elemental deserved to lose for the coward it was during the first turns, and the fire elemental winning the battle in the water is just great
You should do player character battles. Like for example, if patreon members submit their characters they can do a 1v1 or maybe a team battle, OR you can make max level characters yourself and do suggestion 1v1 like max level wizard vs max level paladin
I would love to see a thematic fight in the realms of Ravenloft. Alpha team is Abbot and his two creations Vasilka and other nameless flesh golem. Delta team is Strahd and his 3 wives Ludmilla Vilisevic, Anastrasya Karelova, and Volenta Popofsky. 😊
Why was the fire elemental holding an attack (which uses his action and reaction to make a single attack) instead of taking the dodge action and getting a free attack of opportunity when the air elemental fled?
The Water and Earth Elementals both have an Int of 5, whereas the Fire and Air have an Int of 6. That one point should stand for something, I should think. A single tactical notion vs none at all… I’m writing this only 2 mins in, so I’m excited to see if this comes in at all…
Hey Esper, I'm fairly new to your channel so I've been meaning to ask - What tool / website do you use to simulate encounters in D&D? Been meaning to find a way to play D&D online but I haven't found a suitable tool to use as a newbie DM.
Would love to see any dragon vs dragon fights be it main 5 of each of the 3 families, other less known 5 and misc dragons. Tournament style even 1: White vs Crystal vs Brass 2: Black vs Topaz vs Copper 3: Green vs Emerald vs Bronze 4: Blue vs Sapphire vs Silver 5: Red vs Amethyst vs Gold Etc 🫶🤘
I think we stick with 1 side vs 1 side in future. This was fun to watch, but it heavily promotes defensive play, and with the fire elemental spending a lot of time running away from water, it naturally found itself being the farthest from the fight, and got targeted by less attacks because of it.
Hear me out for a moment: Goblins VS Kobolds in a deadly game of capture-the-flag.
Have a sizable map with two forts on either side, and reinforcements arrive for both sides every 5 rounds. Whoever takes the enemy flag back to their home base wins.
I second this sounds super fun
Amazing Idea would probably need some cool NPC-Ideas as well. Maybe different personalities on the Goblins/Kobolds.
Pleasepleasepleaseplease
Everything changed when the Fire Elemental attacked
I just ran a dnd game and a player was watching avatar in the background during a break lol
this is literally just what i want to watch when i have a dnd itch, no overbearing 4-hour long campaign to keep context, or hour long vid with a breakdown of the enemies/characters.. this is like those Ai battles, which i just love. bravo my guy! epic channel!
Thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying the videos!
Oh hey! This was my idea. Sweet!
Great minds think alike, I also suggested this in his balor vs pit fiend video.
Woo!
Great Idea !
So did 1'000s of others bud
Good idea.
What this battle taught me was that cowardice is the most effective combat strategy
In a ffa definitely
Not covardice, but hit-and-run. What is really teaches you that covardice is the most effective combat strategy (or more precisely, survivial strategy) is Fear&Hunger.
@@LoarvicLoarvic fear and hunger are not strategies, they're motivators...
@@squirrelknight9768its a game
@@squirrelknight9768 he is talking about a video game called Fear&Hunger
i mean the winner in one for alls are generally the one who does the least fighting so fire winning isnt a shock. the water being gang banged for the entire fight and still almost killing stone with 3 times his hp is nuts tho
Thats only because he made rock go berserk and Attack water elemental on water. Either way this fight was Always Just impossible to make without giving someone a disadvantage, if they fought on Land rock probably wins by using the 3/4 cover on rocks and because he also has the best stats overall, if they fought on a terrain without covers or anything fire would do insane damage due to burning, in water as we saw, water elemental has a great advantage over the other elementals thanks to the disadvantage the other elementals have under water, and the air elementals has only his air superiority to his advantage. So yeah, everybody had a Fair chance to win except air elemental.
fire just ran away for most of the fight tbh
@@pollitopajaro just make them fight in a open plain and have everyone gang bang the fire to get the biggest threat out of the way. It's practically what happened to water. He was below half hp before he ever even reached water. Honestly my only complaint was fire just perma running away and sitting back and watching a fight happen.
That part was confusing.
Imagine a Water Elemental walking into a big volcano and beating a Fire Elemental and Earth Elemental. I don't see it happening. The rules are weak here. Water should've been invisible. But it was still a good video. I guess Esper is a mortal after all. 😢
@@zbeater4656 .... and then moving in to finish the weak guy. 😅
I want to see a three-way Free-for-all between a Lich, Vampire and Mummy Lord
I'd add a death knight
Lich would win, because it can :
- Power Word Kill the Mummy Lord Turn 1
- It is immune to charm, so vampire can't use its charm on it.
- It is immune to nonmagical damage from slashing, piercing and bludgeoning so vampire cannot meele it.
- It is resistant to necrotic, so biting the lich is not gonna do much either.
- Even if you make Vampire Mage - Lich has counterspell. Vampire Spellcaster doesn't.
- Vampire Warrior doesn't help either as it gains nothing that would help against a lich.
- Lich can cast a cantrip as Legendary Action then Power word Stun the Vampire on its next turn.
Then after the vampire is stunned, the Lich has free reign to do whatever he wants, unless the Vampire somehow succeds on its con save for Power Word Stun (DC 20)
What About lich with skeletons vs mummy lord with mummies
@@LordDany
PWK on mummy Lord, fireball on Mummies, combat ends in two turns.
wouldnt that depend on the amount of mummies ?
and yes mummy lord has the less than 100 points problem for sure
I love the fact that theses battles are still role played as well in character with the creatures, makes it feel a bit like we are spectators to an arena.
I loved this fight >:)
I intend to try and figure out another future matchup scenario for each one of theses videos so here is my tribute:
Flameskull VS Banshee
It's CHAOS! Enjoying these very much.
At 25:14, could Earth have attacked Fire, and then sunk into the ground, logically extinguishing the burning? I feel like Earth could have done the same hit-and-run tactics that Air did, except going into the ground, which it never seemed to realize it could do.
I feel like letting water just chill in the water and making things come to it is a pretty unfair advantage, especially since earth and wind could also basically do the same thing but werent really allowed to.
Fire also ran away for most of the fight and got to win by basically allowing the others to beat each other up until it could finish them off.
@@obi-wan-jacobi840 That's the winning strategy in any FFA in general. The one that plays the underdog and does the least fighting typically wins unless the others decide to gang up on them, or if there's a big power discrepancy between the two remaining.
I have some ideas
Young blue dragon vs adult purple worm
Vampire vs mummy Lord
Three ogres vs one hill giant
Six dragonnel riders vs 15 wormling green dragons
Frost giant vs fire giant
Giant spider vs giant scorpion
2 bulettes vs 9 angkegs
Etten vs T-Rex
Green Hag vs night hag
I have imagined something like this but with a Dao, an Efreeti, a Marid and a Djinn
Would be a great follow up to this
Water Elemental doesn't have fire resistance, so it should not get half damage. Reason is simple - water can get evaporated. HOWEVER - water elemental can use WHELM and WHELM instantly kills the fire elemental, because Water Elemental is LARGE so it fills a cube of 10 ft x 10 ft x 10 ft of water. It means it deals 75 cold damage - because 10 cubic feet is 75 gallons of water. But in addition, on its turn the fire elemental is still submerged in this water, so it gets damaged again - dying since it only has 102 hp.
Hence you don't need to give water elemental any additional advantage there.
EDIT actually it is 1000 cubic feet of water, not 10. So 7500 damage to the water elemental, my bad. So insta-kill.
Water elemental doesn't have fire resistance on its own, but being fully submerged in water gives fire resistance. You are correct with the whelm though. Each gallon of water is one damage to fire elemental so it would be an insta-kill.
If moving through a 5 foot cube of water only deals 1 damage, your logic of using a gallons doesn't add up, it also doesn't add up in the rule book since 1 gallon of water isn't anywhere near the same amount as a 5 foot cube. That's the problem with the RAW there. I would have argued that the fire elemental wouldn't willingly go into the water and there's no reason for it to have to enter it for a win.
Water "whelm" over an enemy should take away all oxygen to the opponent that it encloses over.
In the case of fire, fire needs oxygen to become fire.
Probably doesn't work to a magical fire creature though.
@@ComicalHealing
10 ft cube is 7200 gallons. Remember about the cube law - Everthing is exponential.
10 ft cube = 8 x 5 ft cubes
5 ft cube of water therefore is 900 gallons.
This is why shape water can instantly kill a water elemental (if you have a 5 ft cube of water in range).
@@Jimmy-p9n
Does not matter, because water deals cold damage to fire elemental.
Whelm deals 7200 cold damage.
This Free-For-All was an Amazing Spectacle!! You should do Vampire Spellcaster + Vampire Spawn Vs Mummy Lord + Mummies next. Feel like that'd be awesome!!
Glad you went with this one. If you fancy another free-for-all, how about:
Mephit Melee! One of each mephit, in an elemental showdown? There may be a lot of cackling required...
27:30 That makes sense. It's density is that of air. That is like if a human tried to dive into mercury. They would simply not sink.
Esper, I gotta say, these are a much watch for me!
Abolith vs 2 mind flayer vs a beholder. Ultimate aberration face off!
Hell yeah , my boi won , in an environment where his element was the only one not present.
I think the winner would be whoever camps harder.
Simply put,
If the earth elemental gets to enjoy that three-quarters cover, it will win
If the water elemental gets to fight from inside the water, it will do great
The fire elemental is probably best in a featureless room, since it deals a damage type that is not resisted
And finally, the air elemental can weave through any fighting taking place, getting second if nothing is happening
A lot of this felt like that one scene from Golden Wind where the boys are just beating the shit out of this random guy, except it's a water elemental.
I really wanna see a fight between four factions:
-Undead (so like a few skeletons and zombies maybe)
-Fey (so a bunch of pixies with like a few dryads)
-Fiends (so just a bunch of low-CR demons or devils, like Lemure or Manes)
-Monstrosities (stuff like Cockatrice, Darkmantle or Piercer)
Love the monster melee series would be cool to include links to the lore videos you have the monsters
What a great tournament!
It was hilarious to watch this fight!
Thank you for your work Esper the Bard !
This made me think of some homebrew stuff I wrote up years ago for a Savage Worlds setting I was trying to write. They already had the concept of "border elementals" in the base game, but I expanded it to feature combinations between all elemental pairings you could make. Lava elementals combine the domains of earth and fire, mud elementals are of earth and water, earth and air makes sand, fire and air combine to create smoke, water and fire produce steam, and storm is formed from air and water. I've also thought about expanding into "greater elements" which would be variations of the classic elements in some way or another, such as an ice elemental instead of just water. I thought it was a pretty cool concept and would like to see what you could come up with for D&D.
I like this series! Please keep doing them.
I’m sure you have a list but I would love to see mid level giant or dragon or demon combat!
Water had one hell of a comeback. From being weakened at the start to taking the leader down to 3 hp, while forcing the fire elemental into the water and dealing decent damage.
FYI readied attacks don’t restrict you to one attack like opportunity attacks do
This series is huge, Esper! You are creating a whole new fan base. I'm now a Patreon member because of it.
Need to see Orcs vs Hobgoblins Monster Melee in the future man. The sons of Gruumsh vs the sons of Maglubiyet, a battle to prove who's warriors truly has the stronger mettle. I was thinking maybe a skirmish type battle with 10 warriors on each side with Orcs side consisting of five Orcs, three Orogs, an Orc Eye of Gruumsh, and an Orc War chief and for the Hobgoblins side maybe have seven Hobgoblins, two Hobgoblin Captains, and an Hobgoblin Warlord. I got no idea how balanced this is since Hobgoblins do have a higher cr cap then Orcs, so I gave them less elite troupes but if Esper sees this comment, then he will definitely come up with a way more balanced battle then my suggestion lol.
I'm loving these episodes dude
I call for a rematch. the Earth Elemental only lost to sheer bad luck! XD
My suggestion would be the following:
Hyenas vs Lion
Liondrake vs Yuan ti Abomination
And perhaps if you would want to add specific scenarios in which these fights happen then:
A red dragon attacking a military convoy (knights, archers a wizard, and they could be slightly prepared) carrying a person it wants to hold hostage.
Great idea!!! I've always wanted to see a party vs party version of these battles. People have often said four paladins would always win vs any party. Could you do some kind of tournament to see what party combo is best in combat.
Id like to see the classic party: fighter cleric rogue wizard... battle Master, life, assassin, envoker? Would probably still lose but it would be fun.
Add a bard for the five man band, lore?
It depends on the battlefield layout. Paladins with all their spell slots would definitely dominate in melee (high AC, high to-hit, Smite, Aura of Protection, Lay on Hands). That said, they typically have abysmal Dex and Int Saves as they already have to choose 3 stats (Strength, Constitution, Charisma) for their build so Dex and Int are their dump stats (as is Wisdom, but they do have proficiency in Wisdom saves so it would still be between at least +2 and +6, depending on the character level).
There isn't that many Int Save spells available to player characters (it's mostly creatures like Mindflayers that target those). Dex Saves, however: Fireball, Chain Lightning, Disintegrate, to name a few classics, but there's a ton of Dex Save spells and the vast majority of them are damage spells. Those would make short work of a paladin party at a safe distance as paladins' ranged options are also quite bad: either good hit chance with low range on thrown weapons or good range with bad hit chance - that dumped Dex again - on projectile weapons.
Really enjoying these!
Lets get a classic battle in here a Werewolf vs a Vampire
Or a coven vs a pack
ooooooo! Yes, that!
In 5E a basic Werewolf stands no chance agains a Vampire or even a Vampire Spawn for that matter. That said, a homebrew Werewolf with some class levels could make it exciting.
@@Mordring Werewolf barbarians or Werewolf monks with 4 levels is that balanced enough?
@@Mordring 5E does have the Loup Garou that was brought back in Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft which is much stronger then the Werewolf in the core rule book. It has a cr of 13 which is equal to that of the Vampire, so a Loup Garou vs a Vampire should be a more or less even fight at least on paper. That being said the Vampire does edge the Loup Garou out due it having damage resistances and better regen while the Garou has worse regen and no damage resistances, its bite and claw attacks aren't specified to be magical either so it will be resisted to.
Though the Garou is Immune to being charmed, has advantage against creatures that don't have full hp and can knock creatures prone with its claw attacks. So the Garou can definitely lay down the hurt on the Vamp but its still gonna be at a disadvantage due the vamps damage resistances, better regen, mist form, and spider climb, its also pretty vulnerable to the Vampire's bite ability to since it has no resistance to necrotic. Tbh If I did a Vampire vs Loup Garou battle, I would just give it a barbarian rage like ability so it can at least resist the Vamps physical attacks and deal a little extra damage.
At the start I'll give it to the Earth Elemental.
I feel bad for Water. Everyone is picking on it.
This new Max Steel tabletop rpg seems epic!
Definitely would like to see more free for alls. Golems, Giants, Genies could all work.
Dragons would also be sweet, but that might need to be more of a tournament!
Here's an idea for a battle
A pair of displacer beasts being hunted by a pack of blink dogs ( I don't know how many dogs would be needed to make it a fair fight )
I've always been curious ever since learning about these two on how that fight would actually go, I would assume the dogs would probably win due to pack tactics and turn economy however they're CR1/4 meanwhile the cat they supposedly commonly hunt is CR3...
I know CR basically means nothing when looking at a creature's stats however that is a mighty big leap for a creature to in canon be throwing hands err.. paws
Because blink dogs hunt not merely by themselves, they have fey aid. So with, say, one eladrin following that pack...
I know, I know, I know it's not real, but fire being my favorite element I was rooting for it, but I thought it would have been the first to lose. I'm glad it won😅😅😅. VIVE DND for making me and you Esper.
i did enjoy it very much
how about battel of the level 1 monstors goblin vs kobold
That was awesome! Thank you!
There's no way to fire a mental would go into the water he would wait for the enemies to come to him
Or outrigth forgo the combat
I'd like to see this again with maybe a plain environment, feels like the water should've been dq'd for hiding in the water, which would've made earth maybe the winner if it didn't have to fight under water or be dq'd.
awesome series btw
Excellent idear, this FFA ! It will be so cool to see another FFA with the previous champions ! The best of the best ! lol
I think the reason why the fire and water elementals interact with each other RAW is that fire damage is essentially heat, and though water doesn't burn, heat causes water to vaporize. In turn, the water does not have an extra effect on the fire because water only serves to cut fire off from oxygen, but it is possible when there is an alternate fuel source and oxidizer that fire can burn despite there being water put on it. In the case of a water elemental, it has its own innate fuel and oxidizer otherwise it would be easy to kill one by smothering it and it would be a relatively poor enemy.
Great vid, I'd love to see another free-for-all where you make like, generic level 1 versions of each class and see what happens, give them like point buy stats, I would then say do a level 20 version but then shit would get too nutty, maybe if you had a buddy or two to help with that.
27:30 Air elemental is flying or not moving. It flies just above the water. It's not going swimming down, but it can be in the water spaces just fine.
Wow, showed off both the greatest strength and the greatest weakness of the Earth Elemental.
Solid showing. If the Fire Elemental was a little smarter, it might have realized that readying an attack was pointless due to the Air Elemental provoking an opportunity attack every turn anyway. Instead, it could have used its action to Dodge, thus giving the Air Elemental disadvantage on its multi-attack.
Could water have taken a similar strategy to earth in the pond.
Loved it! Would like to see a dragons free-for-all sometime!
Wonder what the next battle will be, and if we join patreon, can we get a reward we're we get to choose a match-up of monsters
Ooh, ooh,
Deva vs Erinyes
A battle between angels of darkness and light
This feels like it would work perfectly in a gladiatorial ring.
Next could be a classic aasimar paladin, in the minotaur labyrinth: will he manage to vanquish the beast and return victorious, or perish as many before him?
Or perhaps a Titan fighting for dominance against a dragon, over a disputed land.
Minotaur Skeleton vs Zombie Ogre sounds like it would make a really fun undead battle.
Awesome battle.
I thought for sure earth elemental was taking it.
This one was so awesome. I thought earth was going to win but was going for fire.
That was great! How about a monster clearing out a dungron to take over? Could be young vampire clearing out some wizards and golems etc
For this fight I think a better map would be an ancient metropol ruins map. So the Earth Elemental doesnt abuse the wall walking that much.
Lets get the matchup we have all been waiting for...3 mephits in a trenchcoat vs a goblin boss!
😂
My only gripe is the earth elemental used a reaction to hit the water one after the whirl pool, then somehow had another reaction to opportunity attack the wind one right after, other than that, masterfully done!
3 Cloud giants vs. an adult silver dragon? Seems fun!
I'd like to see a group of Chewinga with their goldfish mounts versus some halflings. Battle of the smol
I was so rooting for that water elemental. I was disappointed when I realised that no matter what the burn damage from attacking the fire elemental would kill it anyway so there's no chance it could win, but definitely put up a fight. Earth elemental deserved to lose for the coward it was during the first turns, and the fire elemental winning the battle in the water is just great
Archlich vs ancient silver dragon please! Love the series :)
Displacer Beast vs 4-8 Blink Dogs
Ettercap and 2-4 Giant Wolf Spiders vs Green Hag
Giant Ape vs T-Rex
Owlbear vs 6-12 Wolves
This was pretty cool, but I’m still going to advocate for minatuor vs gnolls
Rough time for the water elemental with everyone teaming up on it. I think it wet itself.
I think a Planetar vs Titivilus fight would be interesting, a classic Angel vs Devil shodown!
Keep these going.
what an epic slog!
Dnd rules noob here.
How does the "Ready a dash" work?
Elemental moves a little and readies a dash.
The trap chest monster vs the trap door monster is a unique idea, IMO.
Should do every element Ancient dragon free-for -all
Fire, lightning, ice, poison, acid
THIS IS TRIGGERING MY AUTISM I LOVE IT
Gang of goblins vs gang of kobolds, battle over new cave or some other territory
Battle idea: A priest and their acolytes vs a Cult Fanatic and some of their cultist followers.
Group of Kobalds vs. group of goblins.
Excellent video. ❤ I think the Water Elemental should be invisible in natural water, better AC, better attack and healing 1d6 every round.
That poor Water Elemental got bullied. 😟
mentioned this comment last video but a 5v5 of Orcs vs Gnolls would be dope
Yeenoghu vs Gruumsh
Great series
You should do player character battles. Like for example, if patreon members submit their characters they can do a 1v1 or maybe a team battle, OR you can make max level characters yourself and do suggestion 1v1 like max level wizard vs max level paladin
Those elementals should really have had Magical Weapons trait. Fire elemental had a huge advantage here.
I wanna see the demon lords have a free for all.
Everything changed when the fire elemental attacked
I would love to see a thematic fight in the realms of Ravenloft. Alpha team is Abbot and his two creations Vasilka and other nameless flesh golem. Delta team is Strahd and his 3 wives Ludmilla Vilisevic, Anastrasya Karelova, and Volenta Popofsky. 😊
Why was the fire elemental holding an attack (which uses his action and reaction to make a single attack) instead of taking the dodge action and getting a free attack of opportunity when the air elemental fled?
Next battle idea: Giant Ape vs Tyrannosaurus Rex. King Kong!
The Water and Earth Elementals both have an Int of 5, whereas the Fire and Air have an Int of 6. That one point should stand for something, I should think. A single tactical notion vs none at all… I’m writing this only 2 mins in, so I’m excited to see if this comes in at all…
Hey Esper, I'm fairly new to your channel so I've been meaning to ask - What tool / website do you use to simulate encounters in D&D? Been meaning to find a way to play D&D online but I haven't found a suitable tool to use as a newbie DM.
The VTT I'm using is Foundry
vampires vs. werewolves would be cool or perhaps giants vs dragons could be fun.
Would love to see any dragon vs dragon fights be it main 5 of each of the 3 families, other less known 5 and misc dragons. Tournament style even
1: White vs Crystal vs Brass
2: Black vs Topaz vs Copper
3: Green vs Emerald vs Bronze
4: Blue vs Sapphire vs Silver
5: Red vs Amethyst vs Gold
Etc 🫶🤘
RETH RETH RETH! (Burn Burn Burn in warcraft and possibly other games) Putting my money on the fire!
I think we stick with 1 side vs 1 side in future. This was fun to watch, but it heavily promotes defensive play, and with the fire elemental spending a lot of time running away from water, it naturally found itself being the farthest from the fight, and got targeted by less attacks because of it.
Imagine being a water elemental. in water. and losing to a fire elemental.