DMing pathfinder turned me off of modern style. It felt more like running an mmo at the speed of paper than an adventure. Seeing under the hood of modern style monsters was disheartening and everything felt like an uphill battle to get away from "I roll to hit it" gameplay. My party played like every monster put in front of them was meant to be attacked. I'm not blaming them, I could have done a lot more, but everything about feats and combat crunch and challenge ratings feels like it narrows the imaginative range.
Well said. All the same feelings here. I always try to telegraph a monster that is way to strong for them at level one by having it one hit kill some npc or level 0 PC (we do a player funnel)
@@BanditsKeepMy players treat them the same. kill kill kill! So I throw in some manacles.. Some children versions hiding in the bushes nearby.. Or a method of forcing them to think differently like adding barriers, time limits. or the creature gets an edge. Tentacles, invisibility, innocence, poisonous touch, hunger.. My players kill most people they see too. Bloodthirsty.
Make colossal monsters (dragons, giants, etc) more like moving terrain with AoE effects. No knight is going to just trade cut & parry with a 30' giant (or even a 15' giant), let along a 100' ancient dragon. A swing of a giant's club should be an AoE arc with 10 to 15' reach--dex save, which if successful means you move out of the AoE, or prone (went flat to duck under it). Actually giants probably use something like a weed-whacker("grass whip"--google it) against smaller humanoids and such (in fact this is likely common between any larger vs smaller humanoids). Athletics and acrobatics checks should be common to roll between its legs or climb up on its back. If you get to its shoulders, you can slash at its neck for some form of critical damage. Giant can do things like slam its back against a wall to crush the annoying warrior on its back. And so on. These things should not be limited by specific feats or mechanics. Rule #0.5: if players or GM want to try something that is not covered by the rules, GM determines applicable skills and stats, odds of possible outcomes, and dice are rolled to see what happens. Players can participate in discussion of "what makes sense" prior to dice being rolled. Conversely, fighting small/tiny opponents should feel very different. "Real" Hobbits would be much quicker than humans in reflexes, and square/cube law means they have 2x the strength-to-weight ratio even while having just 1/4 the strength. Hobbit vs human matchup should be similar to human vs giant (or at least human vs ogre). Tiny creatures should especially be dodging nightmares. Fighting a pseudodragon or a 6 inch tall flying faerie? Good luck landing a single hit with a spear, axe or sword! Fight them with AoE -- hooked nets are good. And don't let them get close to your neck! D&D's attack/hit/miss sack-of-hitpoints mechanics don't really support the above well, so get creative with the homebrew and use Rule #0.5 liberally.
This is why I love Forbidden Lands. Each monster has a very easy stat block to reference and a d6 table with different cinematic attacks. I had no idea you were making a game. Definitely interested.
Right on, Daniel. The one-off or impossible to defeat /kill monster is a must for my campaign as my group and I have been playing together for 35yrs, so they can meta-game with the best of them. I’ve taken to throwing BBEGs at them that they must determine how to defeat them: Rakshasa requires very specially made Blessed Crossbow Bolts to kill and send back to Hell/ Acheron; a greater Mummy that can only be destroyed by defeating its physical form then finding its heart and brain hidden in canoptic jars and destroying them with a powerful holy or unholy weapon while a good Cleric performs a special ritual, or an evil Wizard who has been corrupted by an evil book and must be taken alive. With experienced players you’ve got to give them more cerebral or 3 dimensional challenges. Otherwise they just steam roll their opponents.
@@elgatochurroIt sounds like the things he's doing aren't a direct result of the system he's using, but a result of his creativity. I don't see why you think that creativity is a problem to be solved, cause it sounds like an awesome game
Glad to be hear early and lay a comment upon the alter to the dread bloodgod Algorythmos. Thanks for this undoubtedly useful video, I bet I'll be using it in no time
I'm also in the process of making my own game and one of the items I put emphasis on is called a bane. It something, couple be a weapon or a holy symbol or whatever, that gives a seemingly game breaking bonus or ability but only against a single specific foe. An arrow that can slay a named dragon in a single hit would be an example. No rarity or value is given to these items because the intent is that they need to be obtained through a quest of some sort like seeking out a hermit who was once a legendary blacksmith to forge the item, or traveling to a volcano on a distant, dangerous island to discover the weakness in the fire from which the dragon was born.i really like the idea of a party being able to destroy something that far outclasses them through study, preparation, and action.
I definitely agree with having a single kind of creature, like an orc with maybe tribal and / or caste differences, instead of a dozen different monstrous humanoids that are basically all the same. The other thing I've found is that I really love monsters in Dragonbane (not the basic monstrous humanoids, but the _true_ monsters like dragons). They all have a d6 table of attacks (roll randomly or use the one that best fits the situation) and those attacks _always hit_ unless the PC can dodge or parry the attack. It makes them extremely dangerous, and a bit of bad luck can lead to certain death! I do wish more of those monsters had weaknesses listed, as I agree with you there as well. Having weaknesses, and having the players learn about the weaknesses through play, makes the adventure a lot of fun!
This is one thing I love about 4e. Monsters are tactically different in interesting ways. Goblins shift around, orcs rage out and get an instant free attack when at half HP, gnolls get bonuses against enemies at half HP, etc. Rarely is one monster just another monster with bigger numbers. And then at higher levels, different simple stats for running hordes of those same monsters where you take them out in one hit.
You're onto something important here Daniel. For example: the 3.5 DR system was a good idea mechanically on how to represent a creature's immunity to normal weapons. The real issue to me is instead of taking the game as a toolkit and making decisions about what to include and not to include, most DMs assume that EVERYTHING HAS to be included. This coupled with a Monty Hall mentality and the notion of "fairness" injects WAY TOO MANY magical items into the world. Every character somehow NEEDS a magical weapon, and magical armor, and magical this and magical that. The "specialness" goes away. Many DMs also don't create lore either: they assume their players know what a dragon is, what its weaknesses are. This is compounded by the fact that DMs don't put lore in their games for their magical items. A +1 sword shouldn't JUST be a a +1 sword. It should have a history, a name, a purpose for which it was created. I saw a video that takes The Witcher as inspiration adding creature specific weaknesses to monsters that the characters have to research in order to be able to defeat them. What it boils down to is lack of inspiration, laziness, a sense that all the characters NEED to be magical christmas trees and taking the game whole cloth instead of picking and choosing from the options of what the game offers. Somehow, the game has evolved into a space of entitlement (entitlement to play whatever race/class the player wants, entitlement to every magical item or spell in the books, entitlement of expectation that there will ALWAYS be elves, dwarves, halflings, tieflings, dragonborn, goliaths, aasimar, warforged, furries, drow, orcs, goblins/hobgoblins, dragons, etc. in every setting even if they don't fit).
Custom monsters with unusual abilities and weaknesses are always more fun I think. But especially for veteran players who know what most monsters out of the book can do (if for no other reason than they also GM sometimes, and so are very familiar with the monster stat blocks).
I had a "Bag of Hit Points" monster template that I would pull out when I needed it. What made the party never catch on was each time it was described differently. Different tactics, different appearances, different motivations, etc.
Usually when the topic of low fantasy comes up with people this is something I always suggest they do, for instance instead of saying its a troll its The Troll as a type of unique foe or The Dragon rather than simply another red dragon. Or even a unique monster you make up completely works with this idea, when you over use something it becomes mundane, but some creatures you might want mundane (like orcs and goblins).
A group I was DMing had to sneak into an ancient dwarven city through their sewer tunnels. They stumbled upon what I dubbed "The refuse collector". Which was a huge metal drum with legs and a whirring center collar laiden with adamantine spikes. Of course, I telegraphed danger by having a decomposing shredded orc corpse on the floor and huge scratches on the wall. They "defeated" it by climbing up through one of the privys. 😂
One thing I do is assume monsters use tactics. The orc and the ogre might be physically similar, but their brains, habits and motivations are different. Also, their home terrain. Furthermore, within the same species, there would be differences. Goblins get tougher, smarter and meaner the closer you get to their nest. They wouldn't have their only (or any of their very few) caster out at the edge of their territory on patrol. Closer to the nest, you would have more ambush locations and traps, and ffs, don't let one of them get away to alert the nest of your presence. That will increase the difficulty by 100x. Another thing I do is give some monsters levels of classes. Back to the goblins (they're so versatile), maybe the one that alerted the nest was never seen by the party. It's a ranger or rogue and has been tailing the party since before they entered their territory, unbeknownst to the protagonists (hopefully), and reporting their whereabouts and activities to patrols, stations or hunting bands and letting them go back to the nest, instead of being annihilated by the party. There's a lot you can do to improve the monsters in D&D. You just have to do something
I'm new to ttrpg, in fact I've never played, I wanted to so I became the gm to be able to be a part of a game with some friends who also have never played. Had a game a little while back (shadowdark rpg) and my players ran into a few goblins and trounced them with ease, went searching for the source and saw two goblins near the entrance. The goblins fled, or should I say, lured them in. My party went in confidently and moved about halfway through their lair without any resistance but with a little telegraphing what was to come. It turned into the dungeon Vietnam for them real quick with fainted attacks and goblins ducking into hidden tunnels that circled behind them. They ended up surviving and blocking off some of the hidden tunnels and smoked them out with torches and rags with oil. They weren't ready for that and don't underestimate goblins anymore.
Another maxim I go by: _everything matters._ This means any detail of the setting, common sense, and lore about a creature, can and should matter tactically and mechanically--meaning it can change the odds on a die roll (or possibly grant a die roll not mentioned anywhere in the rules). Don't rely just one some rigid list of feats and stats. If goblins are small cave-dwellers--they probably have small tunnels they can squeeze through, but adult humans/elves/dwarves cannot! This alone can make a dungeon fight more interesting (and give the hobbits in your party a chance to shine!). It suddenly makes spells like passwall and rock-to-mud a lot more interesting. Get rid of "darkvision" and "blindsight" go back to special types of vision and other senses like infra- and ultra-vision, seismic sense, sonar, extreme sense of smell, each as advantage and weaknesses. Depending on environment and character actions these senses convey advantages or disadvantages. Orcs have tusks and sharp teeth. Let them bite/gore as a bonus action while grappled/grappling.
Just an interesting observation about the Perseus thing is the device of creating an impossible problem, then using a possible but daunting problem as a proposed path. Idk why I just like the suspense that mechanism creates.
I just ran a session that was kind of a mash up of the Smurfs, the keebler elves and Zelda the minish cap. Everyone was shrunk down when they entered the crater where the keebler elf tree housing enslaved friendlies were being held. It was guarded by an evil wizard who had a gem necklace that allowed him to stay full size. He was basically unkillable without destroying the gem, but I made it more of a skill challenge style to get past the cat familiar and have a shot at destroying it while he laid asleep against the tree. My players were able to destroy the gem, which left him very strong still, but beatable. If they had failed, they would have retreated. I run a west marches style game in which players can play any character they want to make from week to week, as long as it is the level the player has earned. I have given them enough very deadly encounters that they are not afraid to retreat if things are going south, especially if it's one of their favorite characters. We have a wall of character sheets near the table of dead characters, each with how they died and their last words. ( I always give them the time to describe how a character died and say some last words) Everyone seems to like it, but it was shocking at first, and they definitely choose their battles now.
Hi! I love all your videos, it gives me so much inspiration for my own campaigns. You had a series on each class and race-class, except halfling; they have always interested me, and I was thinking you could share your thoughts about them
@@BanditsKeep One of my dad’s old AD&D books gives a bunch of depth on halflings and gnomes; I believe it’s called the Complete Book of Gnomes and Halflings. It has some really cool info/inspiration for halfling settlements and society.
I've been tinkering with my own game now for a few months and haven't even gotten to the point of considering monsters LOL. These are some really good insights to keep in mind though.
Awesome video! Can you recommend some books for inspiration for monsters? What are your favorites? I’d love to read more sword and sorcery with monsters like you describe but idk where to start.
Since my campaign centers on Chaos vivimancers and their twisted ilk, many of the forces my party encounters have been bent with random mutations, some of which aren't readily apparent. Let's just say they were much more unnerved by the naked guy running into combat than the heavily armored Chaos knight.
I recently made a Progenitor of the Nosferatu who has a weakness to a special silver stake (I’m not so sure about his spawn being affected by normal silver - I haven’t bothered with making that a weakness for them). It’s imbued with magic and can either be used to take the final blow on him or to stake his heart paralyzing his indefinitely. I gave him spells (he was a wizard before he changed) and higher stats. I think I’ll know how well this villain will do in combat next session. Wish me luck
Love the topic. Boilerplate monsters can always be a downside of well balanced or crunchy systems. I've never been a fan of that. Even in those more crunchy systems I like to inject some unexpected strengths and weaknesses. Some things like orcs and goblins are classics and some people like to see those, but when introducing less common monsters, sometimes it's better to not name it as a specific monster at all, but describe it as though the players had never encountered it before. I like it when players have to refer to an encounter as "the creature that nearly got us at the bottom of the lake."
The dream magic reminds me of dream duels from Myth:Fallen Lords video game. Anyway, I recently sculpted a lovecraftian rat god avatar fetus that players had to destroy the unholy rat idol to finally defeat. The idol was in the same room, but my dwarf berserker used a potion just to smash it good.
In Merp all the orcs were different, different like different kinds of humans. If that is your starting point, standard DnD monsters seem very artificial almost video gamey. In our campaigns 80% of enemies were other humans or orcs. We did not lack for variety at all. Steppe horse archers from Rhûn, hill men barbarians that can be reasoned with, Harad desert nomads, priests of Angmar, Black Numenorean corsairs in sea battle, orc tribes of the Misty Mountains from head to toe in black Chainmail wielding battle axes, Snaga orc thiefs sniffing after your party. Oh and of course Dragons cannot be wounded if you don’t know the weak spot. Another great monster was a Gondorian King (Earnur) fused with his Armor and turned servant to the Witchking with a minor ring.
that's a good assessment of 5e, but I think the issue is bigger than monster stats. it's that combat often doesn't require thought. you're right that one way to fix this is to change to integrate mechanics and lore, but i think the bigger picture is that there should be satisfying problem-solving opportunities in every encounter, not just combat.
@@NegativeHeadspace I'm going to flesh it out and I was planning on making a free adventure out of it. I'll respond here when I have a rudimentary version I can share later in the week. I'm using Moonsnow instead of cocaine, from Dungeon Craft, which is basically Warpstone from Warhammer Fantasy.
For me the legendary monsters need to be unique or rare, something that draws a party to them rather than being simply encountered, always subject to planming or cunning, rarely brute force, and sometimes an ally or aid if dealt with thoughtfully.
Ancient Greek mythology was also where I started with my own system. Interestingly I would say that many of superhero comics also work that way. And well, I had run L5R for many years, and the Oni in that system usually worked exactly that way. I guess such approach would fit the OSR, but most modern players will not like it. Nowadays everything has become about balance and figuring out the uniqueness of a monster is not really something that can be balanced. Of the modern players probably oly people who enjoy horror games might get into that.
These weird monsters seem to be a staple Of the Runehammer stable. He’s more comic book than the D&D guy typically is as well. Unkillable monsters is stock trade for the comic book guy.
I think a big part of the problem rests on the assumption that just because it is in the Monster Manual, Bestiary, etc., then it must be in the world. I don't think the intent was ever that every single statted monster would be or should be in the campaign world; the reason for making so many monsters was always about giving you as many options as possible for flavoring your specific campaign world. The other part of that is that you need to be the one to show restraint when populating your campaign world. Whether you're adding troop/group/horde monsters or unique standalone monsters, you have to make sure they fit the carrying capacity of the local landscape, and the available energetics. In other words, would consideration for any and all differences in knowledge, skills, and aptitudes, only so much of the potentially available resources can be extracted and converted into effective resources. As conditional note, the more you accept the Gygaxian premise that humans are the dominant species, and everything else is just fading out of existence, or mere sword fodder, the less there is room for distributing other sapient species across the landscape. In my campaign worlds, whether you're dealing with orcs or goblins starts with where you are in the world. Moreover, for me, orcs are competitors for planetary dominance; goblins (along with their upscaled cousins the hobgoblins and bugbears) were specifically created to persecute humans. So, for me, orcs and goblins are entirely different categories of "monster." I vary the setup between campaign worlds, but generally both orcs and humans have to deal with predation from Giants (of which the goblinoids are relatives in my primary campaign world) and Trolls.
I usually just add to the monster. Make a dragon fly faster. Make goblins more fae like from fairy-tales. Emphasize something to make them more unique with how they fight or act.
Great video! This is largely what I do for my homebrew game as well (inspired by chainmail and index card rpg). There aren’t any humanoid enemies except other humans and trash undead like zombies / skeletons, and all true monsters are unique and extremely dangerous and no bigger than an elephant. Anything bigger or simply more powerful cannot be defeated in normal combat by normal people. If my party sees something like that it’s time to run. And also probably time to go to the library or find a terrifying ally. It took a handful of character deaths for them to adjust from the 5e style (three from one encounter), but they were fun deaths and combats are so much more fun and dramatic than they were before. :)
Reading Heroes of Adventure, and it seems it simply has "Beastmen" for all the progressive humanoids. At least at lower levels, but it only goes to level 10.
Ogres from old folklore aside from their brutish cunning had the power to shape-shifting or polymorph. Trick the ogre King to shift into a mouse and let loose a cat upon him! Sound familiar? Puss in boots and so many other folk tales.😊
Good video. What's the deal with Gnolls? I'm hesitant to try to fit them into my setting because I'm afraid all the grimdarkiest ideas I've ever had will be unleashed and my game will become an ultraviolent horror.
@@BanditsKeep I read that gnolls are not an original d&d thing. Lord Dunsany wrote a book on it that might have been inspired by hyena and werehyena lore.
Back in the day of AD&D at my first game shop, ..1997 at 20years old. " .. WE WANT A LIZARDMEN HUNT .. !" Not one of the stander six DM wanted to run that game. Even the newbie DM want a be, didn't want to touch it. Average player PC was 6th-level. " they insisted to play at. For reasons." -- cough, cough, .. player ego, being a d-ck, and PC power creep. Gate keeper, rule lawyers' whiny. a.) You can't give them PC class levels ! b.) That not's D&D that's Sword & Sorcery ! c.) Throw down TSR AD&D " Complete Humanoid handbook." .. but you can't equipment them as stander or better than the PCs ! How else are you going to get higher Xp from a 1hd monster ? Fine, lizardmen don't exist in this setting. They were all killed off a few thousand years ago. No lost tribes just aperea near a peasant hamlet/village. 2.) AD&D CHhb, lizardmen multiclass as ranger1/rogue2. They lasso rope at distance with javelins and drag a 10th-level party of a dozen PC to their deaths. Lasso/net is a touch short range attack where armor doesn't apply, dex bonus to AC only. Reduce combat to str/con ability check rolls. Hp at that moment doesn't real apply unless regarded as a Con roll. My first and second game shop had a weight bench to press/ dead lift for your PC strength score or you roll better. Into form/ plastic baseball bat fights, and tug of war. b.) .. THATS NOT ROLE PLAYING ! No point of running or watching a horror game if the players don't Role play their PC being scared. After you get '' gently " pulled drag across the floor a few times, then you can really HAM it Up. Public pranks are funny too. i.) Thats New ! ii.) Did that just happen, should I ask if I was the only person who saw this ? iii.) Great Laugh. iv.) refuse to believe or Notice that it did happen. Sit on a skateboard dress like a sea serpent dragon being pulled by a little girl dress as a pixie. 3.) Player reaction vs compares to PC reaction. Adventure is to clear the tavern cellar of giant rats. Some body surprise, Pet Rat on Table. ( in clear plastic box cage.) i.) get that Off the table. ii.) Slides rapidly from the table. iii.) Want to PET the RAT ! Rat is removed from table, 4year old daughter of the DM throws stuff opossum onto the table. Jump scare at table. Four members of your group just abandon your PC surrounded by giant rats. Irony, you are the only PC with full metal armor. Least likely to take any damage. Roll Will/wisdom save vs Rat phobia.
Once you remove all the flavor, all the tactics, all the types/species etc. Numbers are left. All the monsters are numbers, now we have a base code to build from. Health: 5, Attack: D8 Sword, Defense: 10 Shield, Movement: 30Ft, Feature: Can Fly. Who's that pokemon? Does not matter!
Unique monsters is too ambitious for me. But I dislike murder hoboing monsters in a TTRPG so I focus on giving all the monsters interesting motivations and goals for the PCs to interact with rather than the monsters just being a bag of HP for EXP
Playing Pathfinder 1e, I went a bit back to 3e and upped the damage reduction and regeneration of everything by a lot (doubling or tripling it except DR x/- which isnt overcome by anything), so you need the special weaponry to hurt them. I started with this as my players are currently all vampires, so they know how powerful this is.
It feels like you’re describing Monster of the Week in a lot of ways. The monster is unstoppable until you figure out some way to overcome whatever its strength is; basically nothing is just a bag of HP.
And using it takes a lot of the fun away from using your own imagination. Plus, its just scraping the internet for ideas and reshuffling it, so it'll never be truly unique or your own.
I've messed around a bit with that type of thing, but I find that, personally, there is a certain pleasure in creating a monster based on my table and world.
Be sure to check out Luminous Lore on Kickstarter here: www.kickstarter.com/projects/luminousages/luminous-lore-5e-guide?ref=9uedr1
DMing pathfinder turned me off of modern style. It felt more like running an mmo at the speed of paper than an adventure. Seeing under the hood of modern style monsters was disheartening and everything felt like an uphill battle to get away from "I roll to hit it" gameplay. My party played like every monster put in front of them was meant to be attacked. I'm not blaming them, I could have done a lot more, but everything about feats and combat crunch and challenge ratings feels like it narrows the imaginative range.
I can see that for sure
just play SWADE
tons of optiosn, combat or not.
Well said. All the same feelings here. I always try to telegraph a monster that is way to strong for them at level one by having it one hit kill some npc or level 0 PC (we do a player funnel)
@@BanditsKeepMy players treat them the same. kill kill kill! So I throw in some manacles.. Some children versions hiding in the bushes nearby.. Or a method of forcing them to think differently like adding barriers, time limits. or the creature gets an edge. Tentacles, invisibility, innocence, poisonous touch, hunger.. My players kill most people they see too. Bloodthirsty.
Make colossal monsters (dragons, giants, etc) more like moving terrain with AoE effects. No knight is going to just trade cut & parry with a 30' giant (or even a 15' giant), let along a 100' ancient dragon. A swing of a giant's club should be an AoE arc with 10 to 15' reach--dex save, which if successful means you move out of the AoE, or prone (went flat to duck under it). Actually giants probably use something like a weed-whacker("grass whip"--google it) against smaller humanoids and such (in fact this is likely common between any larger vs smaller humanoids). Athletics and acrobatics checks should be common to roll between its legs or climb up on its back. If you get to its shoulders, you can slash at its neck for some form of critical damage. Giant can do things like slam its back against a wall to crush the annoying warrior on its back. And so on.
These things should not be limited by specific feats or mechanics. Rule #0.5: if players or GM want to try something that is not covered by the rules, GM determines applicable skills and stats, odds of possible outcomes, and dice are rolled to see what happens. Players can participate in discussion of "what makes sense" prior to dice being rolled.
Conversely, fighting small/tiny opponents should feel very different. "Real" Hobbits would be much quicker than humans in reflexes, and square/cube law means they have 2x the strength-to-weight ratio even while having just 1/4 the strength. Hobbit vs human matchup should be similar to human vs giant (or at least human vs ogre). Tiny creatures should especially be dodging nightmares. Fighting a pseudodragon or a 6 inch tall flying faerie? Good luck landing a single hit with a spear, axe or sword! Fight them with AoE -- hooked nets are good. And don't let them get close to your neck!
D&D's attack/hit/miss sack-of-hitpoints mechanics don't really support the above well, so get creative with the homebrew and use Rule #0.5 liberally.
I enjoy all of Bandit’s Keep videos
Thank You!
This is why I love Forbidden Lands. Each monster has a very easy stat block to reference and a d6 table with different cinematic attacks.
I had no idea you were making a game. Definitely interested.
Very cool, I have Forbidden lands, just haven’t got it to the table yet
Right on, Daniel. The one-off or impossible to defeat /kill monster is a must for my campaign as my group and I have been playing together for 35yrs, so they can meta-game with the best of them. I’ve taken to throwing BBEGs at them that they must determine how to defeat them: Rakshasa requires very specially made Blessed Crossbow Bolts to kill and send back to Hell/ Acheron; a greater Mummy that can only be destroyed by defeating its physical form then finding its heart and brain hidden in canoptic jars and destroying them with a powerful holy or unholy weapon while a good Cleric performs a special ritual, or an evil Wizard who has been corrupted by an evil book and must be taken alive.
With experienced players you’ve got to give them more cerebral or 3 dimensional challenges. Otherwise they just steam roll their opponents.
just pick a better system :v
@@elgatochurroIt sounds like the things he's doing aren't a direct result of the system he's using, but a result of his creativity. I don't see why you think that creativity is a problem to be solved, cause it sounds like an awesome game
@@perryborn2777 the system is bad, bland and borin
@@elgatochurro OP didn't even mention a system...
@@JonnySaysHi413 jealous?
Glad to be hear early and lay a comment upon the alter to the dread bloodgod Algorythmos.
Thanks for this undoubtedly useful video, I bet I'll be using it in no time
Thanks!
I'm also in the process of making my own game and one of the items I put emphasis on is called a bane. It something, couple be a weapon or a holy symbol or whatever, that gives a seemingly game breaking bonus or ability but only against a single specific foe. An arrow that can slay a named dragon in a single hit would be an example. No rarity or value is given to these items because the intent is that they need to be obtained through a quest of some sort like seeking out a hermit who was once a legendary blacksmith to forge the item, or traveling to a volcano on a distant, dangerous island to discover the weakness in the fire from which the dragon was born.i really like the idea of a party being able to destroy something that far outclasses them through study, preparation, and action.
Love this idea. I’m also far too lazy to steal it. I’d love playing this though lol.
I definitely agree with having a single kind of creature, like an orc with maybe tribal and / or caste differences, instead of a dozen different monstrous humanoids that are basically all the same.
The other thing I've found is that I really love monsters in Dragonbane (not the basic monstrous humanoids, but the _true_ monsters like dragons). They all have a d6 table of attacks (roll randomly or use the one that best fits the situation) and those attacks _always hit_ unless the PC can dodge or parry the attack. It makes them extremely dangerous, and a bit of bad luck can lead to certain death! I do wish more of those monsters had weaknesses listed, as I agree with you there as well. Having weaknesses, and having the players learn about the weaknesses through play, makes the adventure a lot of fun!
This is one thing I love about 4e. Monsters are tactically different in interesting ways. Goblins shift around, orcs rage out and get an instant free attack when at half HP, gnolls get bonuses against enemies at half HP, etc. Rarely is one monster just another monster with bigger numbers. And then at higher levels, different simple stats for running hordes of those same monsters where you take them out in one hit.
You're onto something important here Daniel. For example: the 3.5 DR system was a good idea mechanically on how to represent a creature's immunity to normal weapons. The real issue to me is instead of taking the game as a toolkit and making decisions about what to include and not to include, most DMs assume that EVERYTHING HAS to be included. This coupled with a Monty Hall mentality and the notion of "fairness" injects WAY TOO MANY magical items into the world. Every character somehow NEEDS a magical weapon, and magical armor, and magical this and magical that. The "specialness" goes away. Many DMs also don't create lore either: they assume their players know what a dragon is, what its weaknesses are. This is compounded by the fact that DMs don't put lore in their games for their magical items. A +1 sword shouldn't JUST be a a +1 sword. It should have a history, a name, a purpose for which it was created. I saw a video that takes The Witcher as inspiration adding creature specific weaknesses to monsters that the characters have to research in order to be able to defeat them. What it boils down to is lack of inspiration, laziness, a sense that all the characters NEED to be magical christmas trees and taking the game whole cloth instead of picking and choosing from the options of what the game offers. Somehow, the game has evolved into a space of entitlement (entitlement to play whatever race/class the player wants, entitlement to every magical item or spell in the books, entitlement of expectation that there will ALWAYS be elves, dwarves, halflings, tieflings, dragonborn, goliaths, aasimar, warforged, furries, drow, orcs, goblins/hobgoblins, dragons, etc. in every setting even if they don't fit).
Custom monsters with unusual abilities and weaknesses are always more fun I think. But especially for veteran players who know what most monsters out of the book can do (if for no other reason than they also GM sometimes, and so are very familiar with the monster stat blocks).
I love all Bandit's Keep videos!
Thank You!
Very inspirational video! Love the idea of "Monsters as Problems", def gonna make my players study a monster through telegraphs
Thank You!
This is such fantastic advice. Thank you so much Daniel! You just keep releasing great video after great video!
Thank You!
Great ideas always man always happy to have you videos pop up every Tuesday
Thank You!
I had a "Bag of Hit Points" monster template that I would pull out when I needed it. What made the party never catch on was each time it was described differently. Different tactics, different appearances, different motivations, etc.
Also known as the "just use bears" rule. 😊
Usually when the topic of low fantasy comes up with people this is something I always suggest they do, for instance instead of saying its a troll its The Troll as a type of unique foe or The Dragon rather than simply another red dragon. Or even a unique monster you make up completely works with this idea, when you over use something it becomes mundane, but some creatures you might want mundane (like orcs and goblins).
For sure
A group I was DMing had to sneak into an ancient dwarven city through their sewer tunnels. They stumbled upon what I dubbed "The refuse collector". Which was a huge metal drum with legs and a whirring center collar laiden with adamantine spikes. Of course, I telegraphed danger by having a decomposing shredded orc corpse on the floor and huge scratches on the wall.
They "defeated" it by climbing up through one of the privys. 😂
😂 nice!
One thing I do is assume monsters use tactics. The orc and the ogre might be physically similar, but their brains, habits and motivations are different. Also, their home terrain. Furthermore, within the same species, there would be differences. Goblins get tougher, smarter and meaner the closer you get to their nest. They wouldn't have their only (or any of their very few) caster out at the edge of their territory on patrol. Closer to the nest, you would have more ambush locations and traps, and ffs, don't let one of them get away to alert the nest of your presence. That will increase the difficulty by 100x. Another thing I do is give some monsters levels of classes. Back to the goblins (they're so versatile), maybe the one that alerted the nest was never seen by the party. It's a ranger or rogue and has been tailing the party since before they entered their territory, unbeknownst to the protagonists (hopefully), and reporting their whereabouts and activities to patrols, stations or hunting bands and letting them go back to the nest, instead of being annihilated by the party. There's a lot you can do to improve the monsters in D&D. You just have to do something
I'm new to ttrpg, in fact I've never played, I wanted to so I became the gm to be able to be a part of a game with some friends who also have never played. Had a game a little while back (shadowdark rpg) and my players ran into a few goblins and trounced them with ease, went searching for the source and saw two goblins near the entrance. The goblins fled, or should I say, lured them in. My party went in confidently and moved about halfway through their lair without any resistance but with a little telegraphing what was to come. It turned into the dungeon Vietnam for them real quick with fainted attacks and goblins ducking into hidden tunnels that circled behind them. They ended up surviving and blocking off some of the hidden tunnels and smoked them out with torches and rags with oil. They weren't ready for that and don't underestimate goblins anymore.
Another maxim I go by: _everything matters._ This means any detail of the setting, common sense, and lore about a creature, can and should matter tactically and mechanically--meaning it can change the odds on a die roll (or possibly grant a die roll not mentioned anywhere in the rules). Don't rely just one some rigid list of feats and stats. If goblins are small cave-dwellers--they probably have small tunnels they can squeeze through, but adult humans/elves/dwarves cannot! This alone can make a dungeon fight more interesting (and give the hobbits in your party a chance to shine!). It suddenly makes spells like passwall and rock-to-mud a lot more interesting.
Get rid of "darkvision" and "blindsight" go back to special types of vision and other senses like infra- and ultra-vision, seismic sense, sonar, extreme sense of smell, each as advantage and weaknesses. Depending on environment and character actions these senses convey advantages or disadvantages.
Orcs have tusks and sharp teeth. Let them bite/gore as a bonus action while grappled/grappling.
Well! Great video Daniel! There is a whole lot of great inspiration in these comments! Im gonna use everything i can!
Excellent
Just an interesting observation about the Perseus thing is the device of creating an impossible problem, then using a possible but daunting problem as a proposed path. Idk why I just like the suspense that mechanism creates.
For sure
I just ran a session that was kind of a mash up of the Smurfs, the keebler elves and Zelda the minish cap. Everyone was shrunk down when they entered the crater where the keebler elf tree housing enslaved friendlies were being held. It was guarded by an evil wizard who had a gem necklace that allowed him to stay full size. He was basically unkillable without destroying the gem, but I made it more of a skill challenge style to get past the cat familiar and have a shot at destroying it while he laid asleep against the tree. My players were able to destroy the gem, which left him very strong still, but beatable. If they had failed, they would have retreated. I run a west marches style game in which players can play any character they want to make from week to week, as long as it is the level the player has earned. I have given them enough very deadly encounters that they are not afraid to retreat if things are going south, especially if it's one of their favorite characters. We have a wall of character sheets near the table of dead characters, each with how they died and their last words. ( I always give them the time to describe how a character died and say some last words) Everyone seems to like it, but it was shocking at first, and they definitely choose their battles now.
Mausritter!
One of my favorite things to do is level monsters up. Many games have mechincs for doing so yet so few GMs take the time.
Hi! I love all your videos, it gives me so much inspiration for my own campaigns. You had a series on each class and race-class, except halfling; they have always interested me, and I was thinking you could share your thoughts about them
Did I miss halflings?!? They are my 2nd favorite (after thief) I’ll have to add that to my list.
@@BanditsKeep One of my dad’s old AD&D books gives a bunch of depth on halflings and gnomes; I believe it’s called the Complete Book of Gnomes and Halflings. It has some really cool info/inspiration for halfling settlements and society.
I've been tinkering with my own game now for a few months and haven't even gotten to the point of considering monsters LOL. These are some really good insights to keep in mind though.
Dragonslayer is a good movie from about the same time. The dragon is not easily killed.
Yes! Love that movie
Great video as always
Thanks!
Awesome video! Can you recommend some books for inspiration for monsters? What are your favorites? I’d love to read more sword and sorcery with monsters like you describe but idk where to start.
Since my campaign centers on Chaos vivimancers and their twisted ilk, many of the forces my party encounters have been bent with random mutations, some of which aren't readily apparent. Let's just say they were much more unnerved by the naked guy running into combat than the heavily armored Chaos knight.
I’d say so
I recently made a Progenitor of the Nosferatu who has a weakness to a special silver stake (I’m not so sure about his spawn being affected by normal silver - I haven’t bothered with making that a weakness for them). It’s imbued with magic and can either be used to take the final blow on him or to stake his heart paralyzing his indefinitely. I gave him spells (he was a wizard before he changed) and higher stats. I think I’ll know how well this villain will do in combat next session. Wish me luck
Sounds super fun!
Love the topic. Boilerplate monsters can always be a downside of well balanced or crunchy systems. I've never been a fan of that. Even in those more crunchy systems I like to inject some unexpected strengths and weaknesses. Some things like orcs and goblins are classics and some people like to see those, but when introducing less common monsters, sometimes it's better to not name it as a specific monster at all, but describe it as though the players had never encountered it before. I like it when players have to refer to an encounter as "the creature that nearly got us at the bottom of the lake."
The dream magic reminds me of dream duels from Myth:Fallen Lords video game. Anyway, I recently sculpted a lovecraftian rat god avatar fetus that players had to destroy the unholy rat idol to finally defeat. The idol was in the same room, but my dwarf berserker used a potion just to smash it good.
Awesome
I wish there was a spiritual successor to those myth titles. What a game! The lore, everything. It was amazing. Perfect.
"casualty"
In Merp all the orcs were different, different like different kinds of humans. If that is your starting point, standard DnD monsters seem very artificial almost video gamey.
In our campaigns 80% of enemies were other humans or orcs. We did not lack for variety at all.
Steppe horse archers from Rhûn, hill men barbarians that can be reasoned with, Harad desert nomads, priests of Angmar, Black Numenorean corsairs in sea battle, orc tribes of the Misty Mountains from head to toe in black Chainmail wielding battle axes, Snaga orc thiefs sniffing after your party.
Oh and of course Dragons cannot be wounded if you don’t know the weak spot. Another great monster was a Gondorian King (Earnur) fused with his Armor and turned servant to the Witchking with a minor ring.
that's a good assessment of 5e, but I think the issue is bigger than monster stats. it's that combat often doesn't require thought. you're right that one way to fix this is to change to integrate mechanics and lore, but i think the bigger picture is that there should be satisfying problem-solving opportunities in every encounter, not just combat.
Indeed
Very inspiring. I'm basically doing a Cocaine Owlbear adventure right now and need to find ways to make the Owlbear special.
Sorry imma steal this idea for my group. If u publish anything I would be interested. Great idea
@@NegativeHeadspace I'm going to flesh it out and I was planning on making a free adventure out of it. I'll respond here when I have a rudimentary version I can share later in the week. I'm using Moonsnow instead of cocaine, from Dungeon Craft, which is basically Warpstone from Warhammer Fantasy.
😂 This is awesome! What is Dungeon Craft?
@pewprofessional3181 Dungeon Craft is another YT channel, hosted by Professor DM. If you like Daniel, you will like PDM.
Like the movie? That sounds interesting
For me the legendary monsters need to be unique or rare, something that draws a party to them rather than being simply encountered, always subject to planming or cunning, rarely brute force, and sometimes an ally or aid if dealt with thoughtfully.
Ancient Greek mythology was also where I started with my own system. Interestingly I would say that many of superhero comics also work that way. And well, I had run L5R for many years, and the Oni in that system usually worked exactly that way. I guess such approach would fit the OSR, but most modern players will not like it. Nowadays everything has become about balance and figuring out the uniqueness of a monster is not really something that can be balanced. Of the modern players probably oly people who enjoy horror games might get into that.
These weird monsters seem to be a staple Of the Runehammer stable. He’s more comic book than the D&D guy typically is as well. Unkillable monsters is stock trade for the comic book guy.
I think a big part of the problem rests on the assumption that just because it is in the Monster Manual, Bestiary, etc., then it must be in the world. I don't think the intent was ever that every single statted monster would be or should be in the campaign world; the reason for making so many monsters was always about giving you as many options as possible for flavoring your specific campaign world.
The other part of that is that you need to be the one to show restraint when populating your campaign world. Whether you're adding troop/group/horde monsters or unique standalone monsters, you have to make sure they fit the carrying capacity of the local landscape, and the available energetics. In other words, would consideration for any and all differences in knowledge, skills, and aptitudes, only so much of the potentially available resources can be extracted and converted into effective resources.
As conditional note, the more you accept the Gygaxian premise that humans are the dominant species, and everything else is just fading out of existence, or mere sword fodder, the less there is room for distributing other sapient species across the landscape. In my campaign worlds, whether you're dealing with orcs or goblins starts with where you are in the world. Moreover, for me, orcs are competitors for planetary dominance; goblins (along with their upscaled cousins the hobgoblins and bugbears) were specifically created to persecute humans. So, for me, orcs and goblins are entirely different categories of "monster." I vary the setup between campaign worlds, but generally both orcs and humans have to deal with predation from Giants (of which the goblinoids are relatives in my primary campaign world) and Trolls.
Cool
I usually just add to the monster. Make a dragon fly faster. Make goblins more fae like from fairy-tales. Emphasize something to make them more unique with how they fight or act.
Nice
Great video! This is largely what I do for my homebrew game as well (inspired by chainmail and index card rpg). There aren’t any humanoid enemies except other humans and trash undead like zombies / skeletons, and all true monsters are unique and extremely dangerous and no bigger than an elephant. Anything bigger or simply more powerful cannot be defeated in normal combat by normal people. If my party sees something like that it’s time to run. And also probably time to go to the library or find a terrifying ally. It took a handful of character deaths for them to adjust from the 5e style (three from one encounter), but they were fun deaths and combats are so much more fun and dramatic than they were before. :)
Reading Heroes of Adventure, and it seems it simply has "Beastmen" for all the progressive humanoids. At least at lower levels, but it only goes to level 10.
Interesting
Ogres from old folklore aside from their brutish cunning had the power to shape-shifting or polymorph. Trick the ogre King to shift into a mouse and let loose a cat upon him! Sound familiar? Puss in boots and so many other folk tales.😊
Yes!
Noice!
😊
Good video. What's the deal with Gnolls? I'm hesitant to try to fit them into my setting because I'm afraid all the grimdarkiest ideas I've ever had will be unleashed and my game will become an ultraviolent horror.
The Gnolls being a mix of trolls and goblins?
@@BanditsKeep I read that gnolls are not an original d&d thing. Lord Dunsany wrote a book on it that might have been inspired by hyena and werehyena lore.
@@Joshuazx they are from a story yes, and spelled gnole I believe - read it a while back
@@BanditsKeep thanks for the info!
@@Joshuazx “How Nuth Would Have Practiced His Art Upon the Gnoles”
Back in the day of AD&D at my first game shop, ..1997 at 20years old.
" .. WE WANT A LIZARDMEN HUNT .. !"
Not one of the stander six DM wanted to run that game.
Even the newbie DM want a be, didn't want to touch it.
Average player PC was 6th-level. " they insisted to play at. For reasons."
-- cough, cough, .. player ego, being a d-ck, and PC power creep.
Gate keeper, rule lawyers' whiny.
a.) You can't give them PC class levels !
b.) That not's D&D that's Sword & Sorcery !
c.) Throw down TSR AD&D " Complete Humanoid handbook." .. but you can't equipment them as stander or better than the PCs !
How else are you going to get higher Xp from a 1hd monster ?
Fine, lizardmen don't exist in this setting. They were all killed off a few thousand years ago.
No lost tribes just aperea near a peasant hamlet/village.
2.) AD&D CHhb, lizardmen multiclass as ranger1/rogue2.
They lasso rope at distance with javelins and drag a 10th-level party of a dozen PC to their deaths.
Lasso/net is a touch short range attack where armor doesn't apply, dex bonus to AC only.
Reduce combat to str/con ability check rolls. Hp at that moment doesn't real apply unless regarded as a Con roll.
My first and second game shop had a weight bench to press/ dead lift for your PC strength score or you roll better. Into form/ plastic baseball bat fights, and tug of war.
b.) .. THATS NOT ROLE PLAYING !
No point of running or watching a horror game if the players don't Role play their PC being scared.
After you get '' gently " pulled drag across the floor a few times, then you can really HAM it Up.
Public pranks are funny too.
i.) Thats New !
ii.) Did that just happen, should I ask if I was the only person who saw this ?
iii.) Great Laugh.
iv.) refuse to believe or Notice that it did happen.
Sit on a skateboard dress like a sea serpent dragon being pulled by a little girl dress as a pixie.
3.) Player reaction vs compares to PC reaction.
Adventure is to clear the tavern cellar of giant rats.
Some body surprise, Pet Rat on Table. ( in clear plastic box cage.)
i.) get that Off the table.
ii.) Slides rapidly from the table.
iii.) Want to PET the RAT !
Rat is removed from table, 4year old daughter of the DM throws stuff opossum onto the table.
Jump scare at table.
Four members of your group just abandon your PC surrounded by giant rats.
Irony, you are the only PC with full metal armor.
Least likely to take any damage.
Roll Will/wisdom save vs Rat phobia.
1000 peasant can't hit a dragon? The system I'm working on has the effectively the case, low level characters can't normally damage them.
I like that kind of thing; it reinforces the mythology-type aspects we can have in our games.
Once you remove all the flavor, all the tactics, all the types/species etc. Numbers are left. All the monsters are numbers, now we have a base code to build from.
Health: 5, Attack: D8 Sword, Defense: 10 Shield, Movement: 30Ft, Feature: Can Fly. Who's that pokemon? Does not matter!
I think it does matter, but that’s certainly an interesting question.
Unique monsters is too ambitious for me. But I dislike murder hoboing monsters in a TTRPG so I focus on giving all the monsters interesting motivations and goals for the PCs to interact with rather than the monsters just being a bag of HP for EXP
I like that!
4:50 What about Dragons?
Indeed
Playing Pathfinder 1e, I went a bit back to 3e and upped the damage reduction and regeneration of everything by a lot (doubling or tripling it except DR x/- which isnt overcome by anything), so you need the special weaponry to hurt them. I started with this as my players are currently all vampires, so they know how powerful this is.
Cool
This actually helps me big time with a foe that was well beyond my players
Awesome
It feels like you’re describing Monster of the Week in a lot of ways. The monster is unstoppable until you figure out some way to overcome whatever its strength is; basically nothing is just a bag of HP.
Indeed
Chat gpt makes great monsters.
ChatGPT is a monster
And using it takes a lot of the fun away from using your own imagination. Plus, its just scraping the internet for ideas and reshuffling it, so it'll never be truly unique or your own.
I've messed around a bit with that type of thing, but I find that, personally, there is a certain pleasure in creating a monster based on my table and world.
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