I tend to like experience points. Players enjoy seeing quantitative rewards and experience points are one such quantitative reward. While handing them out might be completely arbitrary, having numbers you can add together makes your game feel a little less on the rails than simply giving out levels at certain points in the story.

At higher levels, however, creature experience rewards don’t often match the amount of effort a battle took. What if we rewarded experience points based on effort instead of the actual budget of the battle? Today we’re going to look at a very simple method to award experience points that gives DMs control over the pace of their game, rewards players for the effort of the battle, and continues to give players a quantitative measure of their characters’ progress.

That’s a pretty long setup to a simple idea so let me get into the meat of it. As you get to know the capabilities and tactics of the PCs in your group, you’ll begin to see where they have an easy time and where they have a harder time. Perhaps they have a very easy time fighting solo monsters but a more difficult time fighting multiple elites. Maybe a handfull of minions might give them a hard time or perhaps you could throw thirty or forty minions at your group and they hardly notice. Should you really give them the same experience for every one of those minions?

You might begin to have a hard time designing encounters based on traditional experience budgets. Instead, as you begin to understand your group, just start building encounters you know your players will enjoy and others that will give your players a real challenge.

Instead of determining the experience reward for a battle ahead of time, you instead would reward experience based on how the actual battle went. Did the group have a really easy time? Maybe that makes it worth their level – 2. Did they have a really rough go of it? Maybe that’s a level +3. Was it a good solid battle but not too challenging? Perhaps that is simply worth their level.

When it comes time to give them experience, you can look up any standard monster at the level you determined matches the challenge of the battle and award that creature’s experience to each member of the party.

For example your group of level 17 PCs fight in a battle against a solo, two elites, and twenty four minions in a room built to really give them a hard time. You watch how the battle goes and it does indeed give the PCs a hard time. Multiple PCs are bloodied over the course of the battle, one of them even dies. They blew a bunch of healing surges and most of their dailies. From this, you determine that the battle is probably a level 21 encounter (level + 4). Now you look up what a standard level 21 creature’s experience cost is (3,200) and reward that to each PC in your group.

This same calculation can be used for skill challenges, quests, or any other experience-based reward you might want to give your group. Determine the challenge level, look up the experience for a single standard creature of that level, and reward each PC that amount of experience points.

This method is probably best left to dungeon masters who have played quite a few games and understand their group. Like the upcoming changes to item rarities, this puts experience rewards back into the hands of the dungeon master. If you’re in one of those groups that thinks about farming experience by killing easy things, this gives you a way to ensure they receive only what they deserve (probably nothing when it comes to farming) and helps you guide them to the areas that provide the best challenge.

So if you’re beginning to feel like you reward too much experience for easy things and too little for difficult challenges, give this method a try. It lets you regain control over the pace of your game, reward what deserves to be rewarded, and still gives your players the joy of tracking the progression of their characters.

If you enjoyed this article, please consider buying Sly Flourish’s Dungeon Master Tips. You can also use these links to purchase the Dungeon Master’s Guide 2, the Monster Manual 3, and the Dungeons and Dragons Starter Set or support this site by bookmarking and using this link to Amazon. Running out of dice? Pick up some dice at Troll and Toad, an official Sly Flourish sponsor.

By design, skills in 4th Edition, aren’t very well defined. This gives us wide open avenues to explore interesting stories but it can also be a hinderance when we have no real idea what our characters might be doing. Consider the following example:

A wizard comes up to a magic door, the wizard uses perception to discover the door is magically locked and trapped. He uses “arcane” to disarm the door. Sure, we might get a player to say something like “Alfond calls upon arcane forces to remove the power from the glyph” but what the hell does that really mean?

What if we had a better list of some potential uses for the skills someone is trained in? Sure, we dont want to use these to LIMIT a skill, but these might be some well defined ways to use a skill on top of more creative uses the PCs might come up with.

Below you’ll find some specific uses for Arcane, Religious, and Nature skills for those trained in those disciplines.

Arcane

The following skill examples are actual spells an arcane character might keep in a spell book or call upon when tapping into otherworldly sources of power. As mentioned above, these are not the only uses for the Arcane skill, but give some useful tools to consider when calling upon arcane spells.

Knock: A powerful magical blow to an object. Most often used to break open a locked door.

Detect and Identify Magic: A spell used to help a wizard detect magic in an area or identify magic on a particular object.

Dispel Magic: Used to disrupt an existing magical source. Useful for removing wards, magical protections, or disrupting magical zones. Note, this is of somewhat limited power (up to the DM’s discretion)

Remove Ward (Reversible): An arcane spell used to remove a magical ward on an object, door, or area. Reversing this spell can place a magical ward on an object, door, or area.

Minor Telekinesis: A limited telekinesis spell enabling the caster to move small objects. Size, weight, speed and other criteria are up to the DM.

Light (Reversible): Create a light source in an area equivalent to a sunrod. Reversing this spell extinguishes a light source in an area.

Flame: Create a small flame.

Ghost Sound: Create a sound within a limited area determined by the DM.

Alarm (Reversible): Create a ward that alerts the caster when a certain condition is met. Reverse it to disarm an existing alarm.

Arcane Sight: Use arcane magics to see long distances.

Clairvoyance, Claraudience: Dramatically increase your ability to see and hear.

Message: Send a telepathic message some distance away. The distance is determined by the DM.

Read Magic: Call upon arcane sources to help you read arcane texts or texts in a language you do not understand.

Tongues: Call upon extraplanar entities to help you understand unknown languages.

Nature

One trained in nature is able to know much more about the natural world around them. The specific skills below represent a naturalist’s ability to talk to the earth, the trees, and the animals around them.

Find food and drink: Locate sources of food and drink in the surrounding area.

Purify Food and Drink (Reversible): Remove any poisons or impurities from food or drink. Can be reversed to poison or foul food or drink.

Track (Reversible): Locate the path of a moving creature through a natural area. Can be reversed to hide tracks.

Sanctuary: Create or find a sanctuary, a safe area where a group might be able to take a short rest or possibly an extended rest. The availability of such a place is up to the DM.

Eagle Eye: Call upon the natural elements around you to see far off into the distance.

Endure Elements: Using your understanding of nature you’re able to improve your endurance of harsh elements.

Speak with Plants or Animals: The hero uses his understanding of nature to speak and listen to plants or animals. What they know beyond the scent of ones genitals is up to the DM.

Religion

One trained in religion is much more attuned to his or her deity and the deity is also more attuned to the devout. The specific skills below represent prayers the devout is able to call upon to aid in his or her quest on behest of his or her god.

Sanctify Item or Place (Reversible): The devout is able to call upon one’s faith to remove any existing evil impurities from an object or place. Reversible to place evil impurities within an object or area (though this is not looked favorably by one’s deity).

Consecrate (Reversible): Protect an area or item from evil penetrations. Reversible to reduce the ability to protect an area from evil influence.

Detect Curse: Call upon divine insights to detect evil curses placed in an area, on a doorway, or on an object.

Remove Curse (Reversible): Remove a curse placed on an object, doorway, or an area. Reversible to place a curse on an area, doorway, or object.

Commune with the Divine: Seek the advice and council of divine elements including possibly one’s deity.

Purify food and water: Unlike the natural version of this skill, this removes magical or unnatural impurities from food or water. This is reversible, putrefying food and water by drawing all life giving effects from food or water.

Again, the above specific actions aren’t meant to limit a skill but to offer suggestions for its use. Hopefully, with more specificity, players are more likely to know what options they have available in a given situation. If you have your own ideas for these three skills, please post them in a comment below.

Note: I will be updating this list as I learn more about this idea.

If you liked this article, you can get more DMing tips in my book, Sly Flourish’s Dungeon Master Tips. You might also consider using these links to buy the Dungeon Master’s Guide 2, the Monster Manual 3, the Player’s Strategy Guide or bookmark this link to purchase anything from Amazon. You can also pick up excellent DM accessories like my favorite Gamemastery Flip Maps at Troll and Toad, an official Sly Flourish sponsor.

Today we’re going to look at three battle-changing effects to keep your players on their toes and add some new external mechanics to shake things up. Let’s dive right in.

Shifting from Fey to Shadow

This effect wraps around an encounter designed to take the players from the Feywild to the normal world to the Shadowfell. Some powerful magical artifact exists in all three worlds but in the same geographical place. This might be an altar, for example. As the battle takes place, those trained in Arcana or Religion can attempt to shift the world to either the Feywild or the Shadowfell.

Performing such a plane shift requires a minor action and one must be adjacent to the altar. The skill DC is between the medium and hard DCs on the DC per level chart. If the skill check is between the medium score and the hard score, the world shifts to “normal”. This would limit environmental effects to standard difficult terrains and cover.

If the check is equal or above the hard DC, the world shifts to the Feywild. Any bushes or foliage becomes grasping foliage that slows any unnatural creatures those who enter it. Any water heals natural creatures an extra 1d6 per tier when they spend a healing surge or allow someone else to spend a healing surge. Further, any power inflicting radiant damage adds an additional 1d6 radiant per tier.

If the check is below the normal DC, the world shifts to the Shadowfell. Any water becomes fetid, inflicting 5 points of poison / necrotic per tier to those who begin or enter. Any foliage tears into those who enter or begin, immobilizing them unless they take a move action Athletics, Acrobatics, or Endurance check to get out. Failing inflicts 5 damage per tier as the thorns tear into them. Further, any power inflicting necrotic damage adds an additional 1d6 necrotic per tier.

These are just a few possible effects. Use the mechanic to add whatever effects you think might be fun. You might also add in the effects found on the D&D Encounter twitter posts.

The psychology war

Standard skill checks are a good way to give players a chance to change the environment, but sometimes its more fun to use an actual out-of-game situation to define what is happening in-game. For example, let’s use the attitude of the players.

The characters are battling a nasty group of psionic and psychic enemies. These enemies gain advantages over parties that are generally psychologically negative and lose power when the group is psychologically positive.

Start by making a five point scale. The battle starts in the middle of the scale, with two points of positive attitudes and two points of negative attitudes. The scale can change up to once per turn. As the DM, you should watch the group. As you see negativity; arguing among each-other, complaints about another’s actions, even bitching about the choice of soft drinks; the scale goes down. As they complement one another, work well as a group, and generally have positive attitudes, the scale goes up.

You need to make the scale clear and visible to your players. They need to know it is going on and understand why. It will no doubt result in many false complements and overzealous joy, but that’s half the fun of it.

You’ll certainly not want to use this one more than once in a long while, but it’s a fun way to change up a battle and a good way to reinforce positive behavior in your group.

The battle of wits

Remember the old battle of wits game in the Secret of Monkey Island? What about adding that to your D&D game. Like the psychology war, you build a five point scale. A particularly intelligent villain chats up a storm as the battle goes on.

Like the psychology war, the five point scale will start in a neutral position and go up or down depending on how the war of wits goes. If it goes in the villains favor, the villain’s damage output goes up and it gains a resistance to damage. As the battle of wits goes poorly for the villain, it loses defenses and its damage output goes down.

While the battle rages, the players can each spend a minor action to engage in a battle of wits, coming up with a particularly nasty insult or tricking the villain with a deft lie. Every success they have, the meter goes down. The villain can likewise make a particular nasty or demoralizing insult and bolster his own defenses in doing so.

This is a fun way to get your group engaging in dialog with a villain while a battle is going on but still have a mechanical benefit for doing so. It is sure to attract roleplayers who enjoy the banter as well as strategic gamers who like the mechanical bonuses.

Keep trying new things

These are just three ways to add an overlapping layer to your battles. You won’t want to use this very often, but for a big climactic battle or when your game feels like it has hit a rut, these sort of mechanics can keep your players on their toes and having fun.

If you want more tips like this, take a look at the book Sly Flourish’s Dungeon Master Tips.

If you enjoyed this article, please consider using these links to purchase Demonomicon, the Monster Manual 3, or the Dungeon Master’s Guide 2. You can give back by bookmark this link to purchase anything from Amazon.com. Need some terrain and combat markers? Take a look at Gale Force Nine’s accessories at Troll and Toad, an official Sly Flourish sponsor.

#dnd tip: use MM3 solos as a model for older ones. What do they do differently when they’re bloodied?

I like Vor Rukoth by @gregbilsland. High production value for $11. I wish it had more read-aloud text, though. amzn.to/dwctW2

Komarck has some awesome art to inspire represent your character, or for handouts bit.ly/aC9jv5 thanks @aquelajames!

#dnd Tip: Mix a roleplay encounter with a combat encounter to make it fun for folks who prefer either.

RT @Zelgadas: @SlyFlourish I made minions with resist 10 all. The resist went away when their master was killed.

RT @warpgames: I wrote an article in response to (and expanding a bit on) @slyflourish’s take on Status Effects. tinyurl.com/23a6 …

This 3D terrain set looks awesome: bit.ly/b9uiF7 Not as expensive as Dwarven Forge either.

RT @Stitched: @slyflourish – Impressive location for a church : englishrussia.com/images/churches_on_rocks/eszt9.jpg

#dnd tip: Opposite from yesterday: Try making an armored minion that can ONLY be hit by direct attacks.

Really awesome article by @ChrisSSims on minion use in games: bit.ly/bRh3cG #dnd

RT @4E_DnD_DM: I don’t like the DM’s who treat their monsters as if they’re PC’s. They get so offended when they are killed.

Another awesome DM Round Table with @deadorcs, @DMSamuel , @SarahDarkmagic , @gamefiend , @ThadeousC, and me! bit.ly/9NrPM7 #dnd

#dnd tip: Want a minion with some survivability? Try making minion swarms immune to everything but bursts or blasts.

There’s a new Balor with updated MM3 stats in the Demonomicon. 6d10+11 on sword hit. Awesome! amzn.to/agRtVD

@rkneufeld most getups won’t get over the hate of having their gear stolen even when they get better gear

#dnd tip: Give players a status effect choice: Shake off stuns but take 20 damage? Break immobilize but take ongoing 15? Hard choices!

@b_s_lynn Look up “Immediate” in the #dnd compendium glossary: “you cant take an immediate action on your own turn.”

I got the answer: “ready the action to charge him on his turn”. He can’t do OAs on his own turn. Good for minions too. Thanks @pdunwin!

RT @pdunwin: @SlyFlourish If you can still shift as part of a readied action, shift in and grab him. Maybe? #dnd

#dnd tactics needed: how do I defeat my fighter’s Polearm Gamble + Mobile Warrior + Long Step with medium brutes? He slips away too easily.

#dnd tip: Use unhallowed ground as Fantastic Terrain that removes undead radiant vulnerability until it is blessed with religion checks.

RT @gamefiend: New blog post: Worldbreaker: Maim the Minotaur, First Visit bit.ly/dtKqAE

A burst one could result in nine strawberry Starbursts. That’s a high calorie per attack score! yfrog.com/c9uherj

#dnd tip: Have players write action types and triggers with a big marker at the top of their power cards so they don’t forget.

@JaredvonHindman there’s also a big difference playing all the way through Epic and just playing an Epic one-shot.

#dnd tip: Use statistics from equally leveled Monster Manual 3 creatures to recalculate stats for older monsters.

RT @ObsidianCrane: The hardest part of giving the players choices is fulfilling the story of the choice they make #dnd #rpg

RT @ThadeousC: #DnD tip: To get other’s at the table involved ask your group what the results of a failed skill check should be.

@ChrisSSims polearm gamble is far more dangerous to minions than magic missile. Minions can’t go anywhere near the fighter in my group.

#dnd tip: Let two of your players roll their attacks at the same time to speed things along.

The new high level solo #dnd Dark Sun preview monster has an interesting way to get rid of status effects: bit.ly/9ATHRz

New pics of my game last night in @brucecordell’s Kingdom of the Ghouls module: bit.ly/a7kxFZ – bit.ly/aOdFRA #dnd

Here’s a possible adventure seed: An ancient chaos ship is found buried under an otherwise mundane city: bit.ly/b9sis5

I had an awesome time talking about all things #dnd at the DM Round Table podcast: bit.ly/bUWSkw

RT @JaredvonHindman: Previous D&D Tip to balance other advice; I suggested murder victims of evil PC rise to haunt him until the party s …

#dnd tip: The white gargantuan dragon works well for a wraith dragon or a dracolich.http://amzn.to/az8DVW

RT @TheAngryDM: #dnd Tip: DMs: keep a paper shredder handy to make a PC death a much more emotionally moving experience.

#dnd DMs should definitely take note of what you can and can’t do with teleport: bit.ly/ccOez9

Some great #dnd tips in this Critical Hits interview with Steve Townshend on the Demonicon. Find tips further down. bit.ly/di5tNJ

RT @sparqman: @slyflourish Good inspiration for a Far Realms entity: bit.ly/d9TCvJ

@SarahDarkmagic I use pillars a lot as environmental effects. Cursed fire pillars, for example, can entrap and burn those close by.

#dnd tip: The Thunderblast Cyclone miniature can be useful for environmental effects too: bit.ly/a0dMtI

RT @mikesdndblog: Move, Minor, Standard bit.ly/9ymeNT #dnd

#dnd tip: The time to worry about how long your game is running is during the first battle, not the last battle.

@thadeousC, @deadorcs, @sarahdarkmagic I’m hoping I might join you in a #dnd round table tonight. Is it on? Know the time?

RT @Morrus: My PHB at the moment: yfrog.com/j5c51tj #dnd

Listen to @gamefiend, @squach, and I as we discuss the Monster Manual 3 on this week’s Tome Show: bit.ly/9Am1pO

@ThadeousC why not just make your own site as good as you can make it?

RT @Squach: This Tome ep has a LOT of links in it. Oh, btw, Tome 140 is out. tinyurl.com/387eoph MM3 feat. @gamefiend and @sl …

@Neldar Yeah, I’m hoping that will be soon. You can order the ePub version and add it to your books on iTunes. It looks exactly the same.

RT @WeNeedtheXP: combined with @JaredvonHindman ‘s art, the book is an excellent value. bit.ly/cczQ8s Two weneedthexp thumbs up.

RT @WeNeedtheXP: Just read @SlyFlourish ‘s new ebook and really enjoyed it. Excellent tips at a good price. His solo conditions rule sho …

#dnd tip: Resking Forsaken from the Monster Manual 3 ( amzn.to/aMMuHB ) into high-level vampires.

RT @DaveTheGame: Just posted: my quick look at the DM Tips ebook by @slyflourish bit.ly/aRYjGG

@neuroglyph just did a review of Sly Flourish’s Dungeon Master Tips: bit.ly/aBsE2x Overall A-. I can live with that!

l@pokedigimaniac Brutes use high, standard attacks for non-brutes use medium. Weaker attacks use low. Limited attacks use high / ltd high.

That chart is courtesy of Jhaelen on the Enworld forum: bit.ly/93Gk2a Anyone know if he’s on Twitter?

In case you missed it, this is the new damage chart I used to Sharpie the hell out of my original Monster Manual: bit.ly/cYxGCK #dnd

@ve4grm @gamefiend in my experiences, all solos need some sort of lock protection. Whether it’s stun resist or brutal shakeoff.

@ThadeousC I love lichs of all types, draco, demi, whatever. They’re bad-ass and frighten players.

Yay! I fixed dracolichs! yfrog.com/5mowpqj

#dnd tip: cut-up dark pillow cases work well to cover up your 3D battle maps before the battle. yfrog.com/5zba9doj

My Monster Manual 1 is looking like the potion book of the half-blood prince yfrog.com/jmtknpj

I’m taking a sharpie to my MM1 to update damage. Atropal Abominations are nasty now!

The condition removal house rule probably works best on a condition by condition basis behind the screen.

Here’s an excellent Nentir Vale map for players: bit.ly/9oMsB8 #dnd

So critique this house rule for me: All characters and creatures can shake off a status effect by taking their level in damage. Discuss.

Very useful new damage tables from Jhaelien on Enworld: bit.ly/axxmoF here’s the table: bit.ly/cYxGCK

RT @SarahDarkmagic: The only #dnd rule that I attempt to follow 100% of the time is that the game will be fun. What fun means is determi …

I hate player powers that say “no” to the DM. I end them with Orcus.

#dnd tip: If you want a status effect penalty that won’t slow the game down, give PCs -4 to defenses instead of -4 to attacks.

Really interesting ideas about death states in guild Wars 2: bit.ly/dfIW7J What if you could use daily powers at 0 – kill and surge?

Really enjoying the natural conversations of DM Round Table (bit.ly/aXOYDi) with @ThadeousC, @sarahdarkmagic, @deadorcs #dnd

#dnd tip: Copy and hand out the last two pages of the #dnd Players Strategy Guide entitled “Don’t Be A Jerk” to all of your players.

I think campaign settings work best when the players aren’t too knowledgeable about the canon of the setting. I’ve been lucky, I think.

Great article by @chrisSSims on following campaign Canon – bit.ly/9hGBaJ – I like playing in the canon free Nentir Vale so far.

RT @ObsidianCrane: DMTip: If terrain is giving monsters an advantage let PCs make checks as a minor to work out _how_ to change that. #dnd

Every time I sell a book, I play a vuvuzela and annoy my wife! Help out! bit.ly/dmtipsbook #dnd

#dnd tip: The purple worm mini can work well for the Hundred-Hands abhorrant from Plane Above ( amzn.to/b7TTdI )

A more accurate way to add brute damage is 1+ level/3.

Too lazy to add 50% damage for limited attacks? Add 5+1/2 level to damage. #dnd

Too lazy to add 25% damage for brutes? Just add 5 at paragon and 10 at epic. It’s not perfect but it’s easy. #dnd

Here’s an interesting discovery. Average damage of the new #dnd “damage per level” charts is level+8 in damage.

If it will fix some of the rough edges of 4e (long combat, paragon+ threat), I’m happy with the updates we’ll see in #dnd essentials.

WOAH! Check out the new damage per level charts in the recent #dnd update. bit.ly/dt1DR9 The 25% / 50% stuff is complicated, though.

#dnd tip: Githyanki are all about the psionics. Find lots of ways to show how this type of power is different from arcane magic.

RT @Alphastream: @SlyFlourish Goody Hair Bands: much better than soda rings for marking/conditions. bit.ly/9qov6K

Looking at these Dwarven Forge images gives me a ton of new ideas: bit.ly/cBlCLq #dnd

#dnd tip: Pipe cleaners and Alea Tools magnets don’t play nice together. Stick to bottle rings for marks and conditions.

#dnd tip: Stuck trying to make a map? Use one of the delve maps from Dungeon Delve, Planes Below, or Planes Above with different monsters.

Saw a frog slide at the water park that looked like it was vomiting children. I’m going to turn it into a solo monster that vomits ghouls.

#dnd tip: Even if monster identification skills take an action, have the players roll them off-turn while someone else is up. Saves time.

@ThadeousC practice and cheating behind the screen, though as little as possible.

RT @gamefiend: tired of forgetting what your character does exactly? This combat sheet from @theweem will help: bit.ly/cH78Fu

#dnd tip: If a player looks bored, ask them to roll a skill check to learn something interesting.

Excellent advice on running a #dnd Epic tier game bit.ly/dmZuBe – above all, have a way to deal with status effects on solos.

RT @matt_james_rpg: #DnD Tip: Be fair when DMing a game. If you bend too much, players lose the fear of consequences. Make them pay atte …

@gamefiend My campaign is going to end with Orcus. I’m just glad the mini came out in time.

RT @criticalhits: New Critical Hit: The Dungeon Master Guys, Episode 3 critical-hits.com/2010/07/01/the-dungeon-master-guys-episo …

Very much enjoying this months #dnd @wizards_dnd podcast on the MM3 bit.ly/9hNJI6

Look who followed me home! Time to start feeding him virgins. yfrog.com/bcrt2jj

.@cwgabriel describes the mechanics behind his awesome Elemental Chaos encounter design: bit.ly/9CNy9L #dnd

#dnd tip: Watch out for too many dazes and weakens – they generally just slow down a battle.

RT @gregbilsland: The DM’s Dirty Secret: wp.me/pPNTx-4D

@blindgeekuk Sorry, I meant that a level 30 party is definitely going to resist a lot of necrotic damage.

@newbiedm I think its tweaked from the E3 adventure. Still somewhat lame.

@blindgeekuk Doesn’t look much better than the original Orcus. 10 necrotic damage is like 0 necrotic to any level 30 party. 20 is maybe 5.

So with the coming of the Gargantuan Orcus mini, how would you rebuild Orcus’s monster stats using MM3 math, powers, and style?

Take a look at how @cwgabriel built his #dnd Elemental Chaos adventure: bit.ly/cTDXHI

#dnd tip: When customizing monsters, think about what makes that monster unique. Example; vampires have dominate, enervate, transformations.

RT @thekiko: The Elemental Chaos is a pretty interesting place #dnd twitpic.com/20uugb twitpic.com/20uvl0

RT @plays2much_DnD: Enjoying the MM3. Whoever said that they should go back and redo MM1 and MM2 with MM3 style and math was right. #dnd

RT @Kersimus: @slyflourish write a campaign recap as a bard recounting the party’s exploits to catch up new players #dnd

#dnd tip: Remember not to run a monster more than 4 levels higher than your PCs. They might still win but it will take hours.

If you enjoyed these tips, take a look at Sly Flourish’s Dungeon Master Tips book.

You might also consider using these links to purchase the Monster Manual 3, the Player Strategy Guide, the Player’s Handbook 3 or the Gamemastery Flip-Maps from Troll and Toad, an official Sly Flourish sponsor. You can also support Sly Floursh by bookmarking and using this link to purchase anything from Amazon.

Defense

We’ll start by defending our Ghoul King. Any single highly desirable target like Doresain is going to end up being a lightning rod for the PCs’ most potent attacks. Even with a thousand hit points, Doresain would go down like a sack of wet noodles if we didn’t give him some active defenses. We need to find a way to protect Doresain from two general effect types: action reduction and immobility.

Action reduction includes marks, dazes, stuns, dominates, and any power that prevents him from acting normally. Rather than using the Brutal Shakeoff template (which works better for brutes) or the Antihero template (which generally reduces the effectiveness of dazes and stuns but nothing else) we’re going to go with a mechanic seen in the Dark Sun preview of Lalali-Puy.

Like Lalali-Puy, Doresain can curse PCs. These curses serve a number of nasty purposes including status effect protection and increased damage output. Unlike Lalali-Puy, we’re going to give Doresain the ability to remove effects at the beginning of his turn instead of a free action so it can be done when Doresain is stunned or unconscious or under any other really nasty effect.

We’re also going to let Doresain curse all targets as the battle begins. Given that a save can end these curses, they’re not likely to stick around very long so we want to throw a lot of them out there to keep Doresain mobile.

For true mobility, Doresain can shadowwalk to avoid getting too badly pinned down. He saves this for only situations where he is truly pinned down.

For damage protection, Doresain can send a channel of psychic feedback into those who strike him. He can use this against both melee and ranged attacks, but of course he only gets it once per turn. The daze component to this can be directly converted into damage by the PC hit which gives it a nice damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t choice mechanic.

Offense

We want to give Doresain a cloak-of-mouths attack so we’ll make it an Aura 1 that inflicts 10 damage that increases to 20 when bloodied. This is mostly to carve into those thick high epic tanks that will be pounding on him (I’m looking at you, Matt James).

Doresain’s primary attack is Mind Teeth, a nice high-damage psychic / necrotic attack that resembles a ghoul chewing on the memories of its victim and forces them to flee randomly. This will dish out a lot of damage when combined with the curses. Attacking a defender with this attack still damages other targets without triggering a mark.

Against adjacent enemies, Doresain can smack them with his Toothlust rod which pushes 4 and inflicts a large amount of ongoing damage.

So let’s take a look at the final stat-block:

Environmentals

Now at the epic tier, environments are what set the stage for a really tough battle. For Doresain’s inner sanctum, we’re going to use the map from Kingdom of the Ghouls. This large area has small 2×2 platforms all round the room, a throne area in the center, and a main floor filled with a mass of ghouls. The ghouls are the primary environmental effect in this room.

Ghoul Pit

Every square containing ghouls is considered difficult terrain. If an enemy of Doresain enters or begins in any square containing ghouls, that enemy takes 10 damage from the biting and rending of the ghouls or 20 if prone. Any creature that ends a turn within the ghoul mass must roll a DC 24 acrobatics check or fall prone.

Any radiant attack upon or within the ghouls will clear that area of ghouls until the end of the caster’s next turn.

Ghoul Mass

As a Worldbreaker mechanic, when bloodied, Doresain summons a massive writhing formation of ghouls. This ghoul mass moves four squares around the ghoul pit at the end of Doresain’s turn. Anyone that begins within 3 of the ghoul mass takes 30 damage. The ghoul mass cannot be destroyed unless 100 damage is done to each of the two eyes of the statue of Orcus (see below) or until Doresain is killed.

Statue of Orcus

We also have a large statue of Orcus that dominates the further half of the room. The eyes of Orcus sustain the giant ghoul manifestation that appears when Doresain is bloodied.

The skull mace burns with a fiery darkness. This mace gives the ghouls of the pit resist 20 fire which enables them to survive the Balor’s auras (see Support Creatures below). If the mace is destroyed, the fire resistance disappears and all of the ghouls within the aura of the Balors. The mace takes 200 damage to destroy. Every DC 28 minor action athletics, arcana, or religious success does 50 damage.

Support Creatures

Orcus gave Doresain a Balor as his personal guardian. This guardian will fight only as long as it makes sense. If Doresain is killed or incapicated, it will fly out of the battle and flee back to Thanatos. You, the DM, may choose when to remove the Balor as the flow of the battle moves on. Use the updated Balor stat-block from the D&D compendium or monster builder that increases the Balor’s melee damage significantly. If you have six PCs instead of five, add another Balor to keep the battle strong.

Doresain’s sanctum is also protected by eight Lich Vestiges. These vestiges inflict 21 fire / necrotic damage per ranged attack. (See the Vestige in the Monster Manual for more detail). If you have six players in your game, add four more Vestiges.

Scaling Down

This is a huge encounter designed to really push a group of level 26 PCs to the limits. It might push a little too hard, though, so we built in some safety mechanics. First, we can cut back on the extra damage inflicted by Doresain’s cloak and mace when he becomes bloodied, keeping it at 10 damage. Second, we can lower the damage of the ghoul mass to 20. Third, we have the option to have the Balor flee.

If things look really bad for the party, Doresain might step away and escape to Orcus’s home plane of Thanatos as he lets his Balor finish the job. This would give the PCs an opportunity for revenge later.

How did it play out?

After running this battle a couple of nights before writing this, I found a few interesting things. First, I kept forgetting to slide PCs when Doresain hit them with Mind Teeth. I need to read my own stat blocks more carefully at the table. Second, the PCs indeed saved against the curses. For our game, we had only five players. Our sixth, a cleric, was away. If the cleric had been there, however, I would have had to change a lot to keep the threat of the battle high. Clerics have a variety of powerful stun, immobilize, and push effects against demons and undead, and this battle is all demon and undead.

I also forgot to use the Brian Claw trigger when Doresain was hit. I used it once or twice but I should have been using it once a round. Again, I just need to be more careful and spend enough time to run it right. That’s a failing for me at the table, I tend to rush things and run monsters much less effectively as I could.

Auras turned out to do most of the damage. It wasn’t uncommon for someone to take 10 damage from the ghouls and 20 from the balor and ongoing 15. Later on one of the PCs took 50 damage between the balor and the ghoul mass at the beginning of their turn. The auras don’t require a hit and work whether a creature is stunned or not. If you want a really effective and simple mechanic to boost your solo, give them a good aura.

In the end, one PC died (he had no surges going into the fight) and two PCs dropped to 0. They killed Doresain (who was eaten by his own ghouls during his death throes) and moved on to their final target – the Prince of Undeath himself!

Epic Battles for Epic Heroes

This is an example of a double-length encounter that’s really designed to put the screws on a high level party. This type of encounter is way too much for any group of heroes below the Epic tier but it has many examples of the sorts of things you might consider for a boss fight. Above all, build in flexibility so you can change the danger of this battle on the fly and ensure a high challenge without cutting into the fun of your group. And again, don’t be like me – read your stat cards and know how your boss is meant to be played.

If you enjoyed this article, take a look at Sly Flourish’s Dungeon Master Tips. You might also consider using these links to purchase Kingdom of the Ghouls, the Monster Manual 3, Demonomicon or bookmark this link to purchase anything from Amazon. Like the minis? Pick up the Orcus, Doresain, or Balor minis at Troll and Toad, an official Sly Flourish sponsor.

Stun-locking

The most common problem you might face running an epic tier adventure is how easily your solo monsters will get locked up with status effects like daze, stun, blind, and unconscious. I’ve written about this in the past and the best two ways I’ve found to deal with this situation is to use one of the following solo powers:

Brutal Shakeoff: as a free action, this creature can take it’s level in damage to remove any one single status effect.

Anti-hero: When stunned, this creature instead loses its next standard action and grants combat advantage. When dazed, this creature instead loses its next minor action and grants combat advantage.

The brutal shakeoff is probably the better of the two. It deals with any status effect, including marks, blindness, or unconsciousness where Anti-hero only handles dazes and stuns.

Too-little Damage

Pre Monster Manual 3, creatures above level 10 don’t do enough damage. I’ve been house-ruling this a bunch of different ways but Greg Bilsland had probably the best and easiest solution: double the static damage of monsters above level 10 or triple it if they’re a brute. This is a nice easy rule to keep in your head that requires no bookkeeping at all.

Player Resistances

Players above level 10 often resist a lot of different types of elemental damage. A group of level 15 PCs with standard necrotic resistance gear will walk through a group of Fey Lingerers, who deal only necrotic damage, with no problem whatsoever.

At the epic tier, this is even worse. Most PCs will have resist 10 to resist 15 to all types of elemental damage, especially necrotic.

Finding creative ways to deal with resistances is difficult. On the one hand, we want players to feel like those resistances are really helping them. On the other, we want them to still be threatened by creatures who inflict these types of damage.

Here are a few ways to deal with resistances, though none are ideal:

Increase elemental damage One easy way is to increase elemental damage by 5 at paragon and 10 at epic. This will break through most of the resistances but still make the player feel like he or she got to resist something. The problem comes in if you hit someone who doesn’t have that form of resistance and now they get hit too hard.

Environmental Effects that Eliminate Resistance Another way to deal with resistances is to add some form of environmental effect that eliminates resistances. For example, a cursed altar in the center of a room might radiate a necrotic presence that eliminates necrotic resistances until three successful heal, arcane, or religion checks eliminate the presence. A pool of lava or a bog of poisonous gas might eliminate fire, poison, or acid resistance when characters begin within it.

Monster powers that eliminate resistances Try giving monsters powers that eliminate resistances. Perhaps a red dragon’s bite eliminates fire resistances (save ends) instead of doing extra fire damage. A lich’s aura 5 might eliminate necrotic resistances as long as one is within the aura. The black dragon’s cloud of darkness might eliminate acid resistances. This type of attack works well when it replaces another status effect like weaken, daze, or stun – effects that simply slow down combat. Eliminating resistances, on the other hand, keeps threat high without slowing down battles.

Battles run too slow

With so many powers, so many items, and so many feats; players are going to take longer to run their turns than they did at the heroic tier. The best way to speed up this combat is to make sure they know their characters really well. This means one should generally avoid beginning campaigns at high level, instead, let the campaign reach that level on its own. If you’re going to run one-shot adventures, run them in the heroic tier or specifically generate very simple epic-tier characters without a lot of options.

The other thing to keep in mind is that dishing out damage speeds up combat. Avoid things that reduce this damage such as variable resistances, monster healing, and damage-reducing status effects like stun, daze, and weaken.

A quick way to deal with stuns, dazes, and weakens, is to give players a chance to shake these off by taking a bunch of damage instead. For example, a character might be able to shake a daze at the beginning of his or her turn by instead taking ongoing 10 psychic damage. You’ll have to play with the numbers to get them right.

In conclusion

Running an epic tier campaign is a lot of fun. We get to use our biggest miniatures. We get to run games in the most fantastic areas. We get to sic our most powerful monsters against our PCs. Running an epic tier adventure, however, takes a fair bit of understanding about what you might face. Keep this in mind as you prepare to run one.

If you liked this article and are looking for some epic-tier excitement, please consider using these links to purchase the Monster Manual 3, the Plane below, or the Demonomicon. You can also bookmark and use this link to purchase anything from Amazon. If you’re looking for some epic-level miniatures, look no further than Troll and Toad, an official Sly Flourish sponsor.

This is an interesting way to play. Most of the time our D&D games have three to five battles depending on how long our game runs. On week nights, at a higher tier of play, getting three battles in within three to four hours can be quite a challenge.

So how can you run a home game that plays more like D&D encounters? Let’s take a look.

A single battle per night

Instead of running multiple battles per night, focus your game around a single big battle. Sometimes this battle might be a double-length encounter with far more monsters than a standard encounter would allow. Be sure not to overwhelm the PCs, however. Give them a chance for a short rest in between waves or some alternate ways to heal.

By focusing on a single battle, you have a lot more freedom to make it a big and epic battle. This is a battle with real meaning, not just filler. It should have all of the effects you’d expect in a big battle: terrain powers, environmental effects, hazards and traps, fantastic terrain, and terrain your players will enjoy exploiting. The play areas should usually be large, with multiple platforms and lots of intricate details.

You’d want to avoid a single solo creature for a battle like this. Instead, give your players a wave of normal monsters and maybe a few score of minions to cut through before they face the big bad guy.

Running only a single battle a night gives you a lot of room to make it the epic battle we love to run and our players love to carve into.

Replace skirmishes with skill challenges

Instead of small skirmishes, use skill challenges to get through areas that would normally result in battles. Dealing with a roving band of ghouls doesn’t have to be a battle. Instead, PCs can use their wits to avoid, reroute, negotiate, or endure their way through.

Increase experience gain

Since the PCs will fight in fewer battles, you’ll likely want to increase level gain. Characters should level up every two to three games even if they’re only completing one battle a night. Consider doubling experience gain or basing levels on quest rewards or simply setting a specific time when characters level.

Time is tight? Roleplay and run skill challenges in email

If you’re game is really tight on time, you can even run your background stories, roleplaying scenes, and skill challenges in email instead of at your table. This can keep your players engaged throughout the week instead of only on the evening they come over. It can also help you keep your game focused on the battle when your players show up at the table.

Generate some random encounter effect

The wizards_dnd twitter account posts encounter effects throughout Wednesday. There’s no reason you can’t have a list like this yourself. Build a list of effects that make sense for your encounter into a random table. If you have ten such effects, use a 1d20 to decide whether there is an effect at all and, if so, which one is in effect. A 1-10 would be no effect. 11-20 would trigger a certain effect. If you want to get mean, sprinkle in some effects that are detrimental to the party.

There’s no reason this game format can’t work well for you. If you run an evening game or only have a couple of hours to play, this style may work perfectly. A game based on a single encounter can give you a lot of creative freedom to build a single awesome battle instead of spreading your creative energy over a bunch of different fights.

Give it a try!

For those who care, here’s my current schedule. I tend to play things by ear, knowing that the best schedule works out until the minute you show up at the conference, so I don’t know if I’ll be hitting all of these events or not.

Anyway, here’s my schedule thus far:

Wed Aug 4, 2010

4pm – 6pm US Airways Flight 3271 National to Indianapolis

8pm – 12am Drunken D&D with Dave and Philip – undisclosed location

Thu Aug 5, 2010

1pm – 2pm DM Tips – Westin Caucus

2pm – 4pm Monster Builder Workshop – Indiana Blrm G – Marriott

4pm – 6pm Design & Development Seminar – Indiana Ballroom G – Marriott

7pm – 8pm True Dungeon – True Grind – Marriott – upper floor.

8pm – 12am D&D Hooters (crashing) – Hooters

Fri Aug 6, 2010

9am – 11am Ravenloft – Sagamore Ballroom

11am – 12pm Wil Wheaton (crashing) – Weston Grand Ballroom 4

1pm – 5pm Mini 2-1 – Sagamore

6pm – 10pm Ennies – Weston Grand Ballroom 4

7pm – 11pm Spec 2-2 – Sagamore

Sat Aug 7, 2010

10am – 12pm D&D Preview – Marriott Indiana Ballroom G

10:30am – 1pm True Dungeon – Dragonward (blogger one) – Marriott Upper ballroom

1pm – 5pm Mini 2-2 – Sagamore

4pm – 6pm Gamma World – Marriott Indiana Ballroom G

7pm – 11pm Mini 2-2 – Sagamore

8pm – 10pm Media Meet and Greet – The Safehouse

Sun Aug 8, 2010

8am – 12pm Mini 2-3 – Sagamore

4pm – 6pm US Airways Flight 3088 – Indianapolis International Airport

I don’t know if I’ll end up DMing any games or not, but I put together a little DM Kit anyway. I wanted this to be as lightweight as possible, since I’m flying, so here’s what I ended up with:

• Gamemastery tan flip-map
• Assorted wet-erase markers with two extra black markers
• A handfull of loose change for monster miniatures (quarters, nickles, pennies) although I’d prefer some actual monster tokens.
• Two level 1 Chaos Scar adventures printed double-sided so they take up less space
• Six level 1 pregen characters including minis
• 18 2″ by 5″ initiative cards (cut up from 5×8 cards every 2 inches)
• Dice

I’m not going to bother bringing any books at this point. With the large number of updates, the books aren’t exactly up to date and most people I’ll play with will know the rules anyway.

If you’re heading to Gencon and want to say hi, keep an eye on my Twitter feed to see where I’m at.

Thus was born, Captain Vlax the Githyanki Psionist. She was small for a Githyanki but her psionic abilities easily made her the best one to steer a massive ship through Chaos. For her design, she had to be a strong telekenetic, throwing barrels, moving the ship around, and throwing the party about. She also had to have some trademark Githyanki elements.

Starting from the beginning, I built her out as a level 24 solo – the same level as the party. I gave her two traits; +3d6 of psychic damage when she has combat advantage, the idea being that she makes a deeper cut with her silver sword against those she is dominating over; and her Telepathic shield, a push that hits bloodied foes.

Her silver sword attack does a lot of damage; something most of my epic solo monsters do. I used the Page 42 damage but picked the limited damage instead of normal to kick the damage high. She would be the only creature the PCs would be fighting so I wanted her to hit hard. Her telekinetic cut was a fun telekinetic power that drew those she wanted close to her for a cut. Mixed with her Psionic Blast, she can push everyone away and then draw in the ones she wanted.

Using Gamefiend‘s Worldbreaker concept, I gave her two large encounter-changing effects: Hull Shift and Summon Elemental Storm. These let her move the ship around, tossing the PCs on the deck, and summon minions that can further shake things up. The summoning is only usable when bloodied so the game changes when she’s below half her hit points.

How did she turn out?

My group had a good time fighting Vlax. She didn’t get to use the hull shift as much as I wanted to. I think I just forgot about it. Her telekinetic cut kept the group on its toes. Overall she held her own and gave the party a good scar to remember. Like other villains, the PCs ended up hiring her as their own private Chaos captain so now she’s on their side. Should make for some fun ahead.

Want more info on how to build exciting encounters? Check out Sly Flourish’s Dungeon Master Tips.

If you enjoyed this article, please consider using these links to buy the Monster Manual 3, the Dungeon Master’s Guide 2, or the Plane Below books. You can also use this link to purchase anything from Amazon.com. If you need some good Githyanki miniatures, check out Troll and Toad, an official Sly Flourish sponsor.

Below you will find three new status effects designed to keep the threat on players high without reducing player actions in a round and without slowing the game down. These effects are designed to be sprinkled into your game, replacing slows, immobilizes, dazes, and stuns as you see fit in an encounter or for a custom monster of your choice. They are not designed as wholesale replacements to existing status effects.

Distracted: Grants Combat Advantage

This is a lightweight status effect that might work as an alternative to attack modifier limiters, slows, or maybe immobilizes. Granting combat advantage doesn’t just reduce someone’s defenses by two (opening up a 10% greater chance to getting hit) but also gives bonuses to creatures who have powers triggering off of CA. If you want your game to go a little faster and be a bit more dangerous as well as applying a status effect that doesn’t limit a player’s actions, this is a nice lightweight effect. Ensure you have monsters in your encounter able to capitalize off of this.

Staggered: Grants Combat Advantage, Vulnerable 5

This is a more severe version of Distracted. This time, the character’s guard is dropped. It is the equivalent of dazed without reducing the character’s turn. Instead, their defenses are opened up and they are more susceptible to damage. A player running a character inflicted by this status effect must consider the dangers of wading into battle.

Sundered: Grants CA, -2 to Defenses, Vulnerable 5 per tier

This final effect is the equivalent of a Stun. When sundered, most defenses are completely dropped. There is a 20% greater chance they will get hit and they will take a good bit of extra damage. Again, there is no limiter placed on the character. He or she can still take a full round of actions. Instead, he or she must seriously consider what damage might befall them should they stay in the thick of combat.

Hard Choices

Another way to modify existing, limiting, status effects is to give players a choice to remove it but accept some other infliction. For example, a dracolich’s stun breath might be shaken off if the character inflicted instead takes ongoing 15 damage. A character immobilized in a web might be able to break free as a free action by taking 10 damage per tier as they rip themselves out.

Giving players choices like this adds an element of strategy beyond just taking whatever status effect they might have. It also gives the DM a tool to increase threat against the PCs without slowing battles down.

None of these effects are designed to completely replace the existing status effects. These are meant to season your own game or your own custom monsters with some new effects that don’t slow the game down and don’t remove options from your players. Give them a shot and see what you think.

Need more game design tips? Check out Sly Flourish’s Dungeon Master Tips.

If you enjoyed this article, consider using these links to buy the Dungeon Master’s Guide 2, the Player Strategy Guide, or the Plane Above sourcebook. You can also use this link to purchase anything from Amazon.

Need some dice or battle maps? Pick up your gaming accessories at Troll and Toad’s, an official Sly Flourish sponsor.