Dealing with whack-a-mole

Quote from Androcus_Divinicus >>

 

Quote from LanternNoir>>

And my point in all this is:  They had fun.  They felt pressure, they felt investment, and I didn't have to write homebrew rules to get there.  Maybe my group is unique.

I assume you're talking about this gnoll battle, in which you seem to have created a custom monster to more effectively challenge (threaten?) your PCs. 

 

Yes and no.

Yes that was the battle but the gnoll itself wasn't really homebrewed specifically for it's mechanics.  The Boss was homebrewed specifically to fit the theme and I knew I needed one of those custom legendary creatures to give a good sense of horror and dread.  And maybe that alone was a fix for the "whack a mole" problem.  The build is actually based on Deurgar Warlord (https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/96520-duergar-warlord) that I then tweeked and fiddled with to make a big scary gnoll out of.

Also I gave him a Mace of Terror.  Only it was a Maul.  And his lair is an abandoned shopping mall that the tribe took over.  So.. yeah.

But my theory is deeper:

And again maybe my table is unique.  Somehow we have a culture where "I didn't do enough in the fight" is their version of "I was making death saves and it sucked".  Having a cool ability that whiffs on a d20 really engenders disappointment.  I mean we're on 20 sessions now, we've had one character making death saves once, and every fight they've come out of it going "wow.. that was awesome and intense".  I don't know if that's a matter of pacing, frequency of fights (we have had two epic battles this campaign, and about a half dozen smaller skirmishes) or if it's the players.

I think I'm just rolling around that the Whack A Mole problem can also find resolution in how your players approach the game.  I dunno....