Category Archives: DMing

Phased bosses aren’t an everyday food. If every bandit leader and his brother has multiple forms, the whole concept loses its impact. But for key battles, the sort that accompany campaign milestones or end arcs, there’s little more satisfying than … Continue reading →

I’ve alluded to phased bosses a few times, but I haven’t gone in-depth about it. A phased combat encounter is any encounter with multiple stages as part of the same fight. These stages must be mechanically distinct; a knight who … Continue reading →

Players most strongly remember two kinds of fights: the very easy and the very hard. If a fight seems difficult on paper and the players blow clean through it with good rolls, good strategy, and/or a good builds, they’ll tell … Continue reading →

Stealing boss ideas is easy once you get used to it. A DM can pick up almost any game with a boss, pick almost any boss in that game, and apply it to their game for a fun encounter. But, … Continue reading →

Boss fights are hard. Most editions of D&D really aren’t designed to handle them, so there’s no simple math you can do to turn a fight into a boss. You could just apply a template to a monster or give … Continue reading →

A few actual, non-hyperbolic years ago, I said this: Yes, having an odd ability score as an ability damage buffer is a type of metagaming. But it’s also a way of defining a character. As in, “Rock Hardslab is so … Continue reading →

I’ll admit the name of the last post inspired this one, but its a valid topic besides. I have been fortunate in my DMing career in that I’ve rarely had to deal with players who cannot stand each other. It’s … Continue reading →

I’ve begun a new campaign, because I am very dumb. While Faith is closing out its first season I’ve also put together Under the Stars, a campaign I loosely described to the players as Breath of the Wild meets Ni … Continue reading →