These environmental powers are an important addition to the tools available to dungeons masters. It is more than a small feature to throw in from time to time – environmental powers can keep your battles fresh and keep your players excited.

There is unfortunately very few samples of environmental powers in the DMG2. Fortunately, it is easy enough for us to make new ones. Pages 65 and 66 of the DMG2 have all the tools we need to design environmental powers of our own. Need a ballista to fire flaming bolts at the white dragon? Give it an attack of level+5 vs AC and pick out the damage from the damage-by-level chart.

Even better, these tools give you the ability to add in on-the-spot environmental powers when your players come up with something interesting you weren’t prepared for. Just make the attack score level+5 vs AC or level+3 vs any other defense and use the damage-per-level chart as your baseline for damage.

There is one major change you should make, however, that isn’t covered in the DMG2. Make these environmental powers a minor action to activate, rather than a standard action.

Shrewd players understand the economy of actions and are unlikely to seek out environmental powers unless they can do so easily. Most players will stick to what they know, their own character powers, unless you entice them by making it easy for them to experiment. Making environmental powers activate with a minor lets them try it out without wasting a standard action. You can limit it to a single activation per turn or make it a one-shot effect if its particularly powerful.

Like terrain effects, environmental powers are a wonderful way to keep your battles fresh and exciting. They give some fun new options to your players and they add a whole new variable in your design. Each time you design an encounter, consider whether and how an environmental power might add some excitement.

Like this article? Consider using these links to purchase the Dungeon Master’s Guide 2, the Players Handbook 3, the Monster Manual 2, or use this link to purchase anything from Amazon.com.

There is a certain class of creatures we hold to a higher standard than the others. While kobolds, orcs, and zombies are built to fall to the blades of our player characters, other monsters are built for a different purpose: to terrify. Beholders, liches, elder dragons, demon princes; these creatures shouldn’t drop fast and they should scare the heck out of your players. When they’re done battling one, they should be bloody and they should be scared of ever facing one again.

(note, awesome Pimpflayer artwork reproduced with permission from@Anachr0nista.)

There are few monsters of this variety more terrifying than the mind flayer. When your party sees one, they should grip their swords tighter and their hapless banter should cease. When they’re battling them, they should wonder how they ever fell into such a situation. When they’re done, they should have nightmares of ever facing one again.

At least that’s the goal.

At level 14 and with 107 hit points, a standard Mind Flayer Infiltrator isn’t likely to scare your party very much. This mind flayer will die pretty fast if you’re not careful. Today we’re going to make sure that doesn’t happen. Today we’re going to pimp that mind flayer into a beast worth of the fear of your party.

Before we begin, it’s important to understand how best to use the stock mind flayer. While its defenses are relatively low, it has one power, “Stalk the Senseless”, that requires study. This power makes the mind flayer invisible to any dazed target. This means +5 defenses. This means no opportunity attacks. While the mind flayer can still be marked by your tanks, those tanks will hit a lot less often with that +5 defense assuming the marking tank is dazed.

Keeping PCs dazed is the key, so rule 1 for pimping your mind flayer is to group him with other dazing monsters. The easiest way to do this is to group him with other mind flayers. This serves two purposes. First, one mind flayer gains the advantages of the other. If one dazes folks with a Mind Blast, the other gains the “Stalk the Senseless” ability against those dazed targets. Second, this spreads your party’s attacks across multiple Mind Flayers. If you have only one of these tentacled creatures out on the battlefield, he’s going to be a lightning rod for attacks and die very quickly. Two, three, or even four mind flayers makes it a lot harder to control or kill them all.

You can also group a mind flayer up with an Umber Hulk, something I discussed in my Monster Optimization: Mind Flayers + Umber Hulks article.

In general, keep an eye out for dazing creatures that stack well with mind flayers.

If you’re planning to use a mind flayer as a boss creature, a great idea for a high-heroic boss fight, you’re going to need a bit more. Let’s pimp this mind flayer.

We start by bumping up a mind flayer infiltrator to an elite, upping hit points, adding +2 to saving throws, and giving him an action point. As we learned in the DMG2, we don’t bump defenses anymore.

We’re going to turn this mind flayer into a mind flayer assassin, giving him a +2d6 sneak attack bonus. This fits in well with the daze effects he’s likely to inflict upon the PCs. We’re also going to add a feedback aura. When the mind flayer assassin becomes bloodied, he will gain an an aura 5 that inflicts 5 psychic damage when a creature begins or enters the aura. This represents the mind flayer’s loss of psychic control as he begins to fall. We’re going to up the recharge of his Mind Blast to 4,5,6 so he can use it more often. Lastly, we’ll give him a nice double attack that lets him perform two tentacle attacks upon a single target as a standard action. Finally, to help him escape from a tight spot, we’ll give him a shift 5 move action he can use to break away from pesky marking fighters.

Let’s take a look at how this turns out:

In your powerhouse encounter, you’ll want to group our new mind flayer assassin with a couple of regular mind flayer infiltrators to stack up those Mind Blasts. You might also want to throw in some Drow Spiderguard thralls that capitalize off of daze attacks with combat advantage bonuses of +2d6.

This is going to be a very tough battle, so be careful. You’ll want to be careful with all of the mind blasts by avoiding dazing the same player over and over. They’ll get bored and frustrated quickly.

In the end, you’ll have the goal we set out to meet – a mind flayer that will be well remembered by your party and well feared should they ever face another one again.

Below is an archive of all of the Sly Flourish DM Tip Twitter posts for February 2010. Get daily DM tips at http://twitter.com/slyflourish!

#dnd tip: Have a spymaster NPC on your PC’s side that delivers them dossiers on key villains. Helps your players keep track.

#dnd tip: Be careful of monsters with stun effects. Players hate to miss an entire round of combat. Consider bonus damage, weaken, or daze.

Had a great level 23 Dracolich fight tonight using my powerhouse dragon rules. http://bit.ly/4zY1Bv His breath spawned minions! #dnd

@IllusiveDreams The Container Store has plastic shoeboxes good for storing minis if you don’t mind them getting a little banged up. #dnd

#dnd tip: Make it easy for players to flank opponents when not using a battle map so they don’t feel cheated and want the grid back.

RT @Wizards_DnD: Official page to the Robot Chicken Writers Play D&D is live. http://bit.ly/aDMWN4 Glad you Twitter followers enjoyed ys …

#dnd tip: Take time to customize encounters from published adventures around your players and their strengths.

Excellent article on campaign and adventure preparation by the @chattyDM: http://bit.ly/cPlupl #dnd

@samggreenberg probably don’t need both but I like bottle rings more than pipe cleaners for marks. I like pipe cleaners for area effects.

@newbiedm I think death gaze on Bodaks is meant to be encounter. I’d make it reliable though. At will is just too nasty.

#dnd tip: Hitchcock movies make great seeds for adventures. Check out The Birds, Notorious, Man Who Knew Too Much, and Rear Window.

#dnd tip: Encourage the use of ad-hoc terrain powers by using DMG p. 42 high-limited damage and only requiring a minor action to use.

#dnd tip: When running in a set gameworld, make sure that world’s key differentiators are often seen.

Learn #dnd DMing from the master. Watch and study Perkins behind the screen: http://bit.ly/aDMWN4

My #dnd props are looking more an more like some kind of home grown IED. http://yfrog.com/33hsvfj

@chattydm http://bit.ly/bEkR8L <- Good ship mat I've used for airships, spelljammers, chaos ships, etc.

@chattydm Evernote vs. Onenote: Evernote has Mac, PC, iPhone and web-based clients. Onenote only has PCs.

#dnd tip: In RPGs, Rule of Cool trumps all rules. If a player wants to do something awesome, make the rules work (via @chattydm)

#dnd tip: Let your players build out their own fortress of solitude. Change it or upgrade it each tier.

#dnd tip: The battle at Balin's Tomb in Lord of the Rings makes a great two-battle encounter: dozens of minions and then a solo cave troll.

BREAKING: New 4e Character Name Generator is live. http://bit.ly/cSq6H3 #dnd (via @Wizards_DnD)

#dnd tip: Use the Nycademon's grab and fly power to drag tasty soft-armored wizards and strikers high up into the air - and them drop them!

Chris Perkins has done a set of commentaries for the Robot Chicken videos - http://bit.ly/aQH3D9 (via @FedoraPirate)

#dnd tip: For a great campaign idea ask yourself, "What if Galadriel had taken the ring of power?"

#dnd tip: Check out @newbieDM's awesome video for building 3d terrain with dungeon tiles: http://bit.ly/dCV2nh

I'm a fan of mixing genres for music. Classical D&D soundtrack mixed with 80s one-hit wonders, Zeppelin, and the Heavy Metal soundtrack.

The official Dungeons and Dragons game soundtrack by Midnight Syndicate is pretty good! http://bit.ly/cntHuJ

@vectorman14 The best advice I've heard for beginners in sandbox games is @davethegame's 5x5 campaign system: http://bit.ly/dBzLu4

Need suggestions for good D&D music. I'm a fan of Corvus Corax if that helps.

#dnd tip: The perception of choice is often as fun as a real choice itself. Just don't tip your hand.

Great article from the @newbiedm on the ease of reskinning #dnd 4e monsters: http://bit.ly/bZ0KCD

#dnd tip: Give players plenty of opportunities to use the character features they like the best. Don't eliminate them very often.

#dnd tip: The soundtracks to Battlestar Galactica make for some great heart-racing D&D music. Check it out on iTunes.

#dnd tip: Be specific when roleplaying. Write down key notes for any NPC you're going to step into. Goals and attitudes are key.

Great #dnd tips from @davethegame on the 5x5 method. I started using this for my campaign and I love it: http://bit.ly/c2Ekgm

#dnd tip: Give surprise rounds as rewards for successful skill challenges. Give them to monsters on failures.

#dnd question to ponder. Where do YOU spend your limited creative energy? Is it in the right place? Will it have the highest impact?

Great #dnd tip from Chris Perkins: Spend your campaign building time in the right places. http://bit.ly/aTj213

Every time I look through the Underdark sourcebook, I find something else I like: http://bit.ly/cEwVDB #dnd

#dnd tip: Ask yourself if you're being biased at all towards one of your players or another. Try to remain even headed at all times.

Like these tips? Consider using these links to purchase the Harrowing Halls Dungeon Tiles, the Hammerfast Adventure Site, the Goodman Games’s Death Dealer 4e Adventure, or use this link to purchase anything from Amazon.com.