I wondered if I could have some ideas and advice for L20 encounters. My initial thought was a Tarrasque but struggling to know how to introduce it. Any ideas?
Also, are there any other monsters for L20 characters that you’d recommend?
The new greatwyrms (beyond ancient dragons) in Fizban's Treasury of Dragons could be a good option; dragons in general are a good monster because of their ability to fly and their intelligence, so you can make them more or less difficult by changing their tactics to respond to what the players are doing.
Greatwyrms are also mythic creatures so you have the option to run their second stage as well if the players aren't feeling challenged enough.
That's if you want a single boss enemy; otherwise a good way to challenge higher level groups is to throw more enemies at them. Or you can play with lair actions and environmental effects for added challenge.
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Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
I'm writing a blog to give ideas for using the monsters abilities to create truely devastating, and extremelly interesting, encounters. I don't have a lot for level 20, because the Monster Manual has relatively few monsters meant for level 20, but can I suggest/recommend my ideas for the solar. Also my ideas for the balor, goristro, and maralith demons, although I would add minions to go along with any of those demons if running them for level 20 players. (As it happens, my blog also features minion/ally suggestions/ideas for each monster.)
D&D Beyond has been giving me trouble attaching links, but you can find it the articles easily by googling dragonencounters.com and adding the name of the monster you want.
What to expect: Solar - Combat strategies that render the solar deadly, even against level 20's, and a few truly lethal traps, especially when run together with the solar. (Also a plot idea for why the PCs would be fighting an angel, although if you don't like the idea you could always homebrew an evil monster with an identical stat block.)
Balor - Introductory fight, and ideas for how to run a volcanic eruption (with the PCs caught in the middle of it, trying to escape. And suggestions as to why they don't just teleport out.)
Goristro - Combat strategy, scenario, obstacles for him to push PCs into (the goristro has an attack that shoves the PCs backwards), and a brief discussion of running mazes in D&D.
Maralith - Combat strategy (the maralith works extremally well as part of a group of monsters, ideal for level 20) and several scenarios to make it even more interesting, some of which involve (basic) traps.
Ps. If you do use any of my ideas, would you let me know how it goes? I didn't have a chance to try them out on a level 20 party, and I'd love to hear about it.
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DM, writer, and blog master of https://dragonencounters.com/ a blog dedicated to providing unusual, worthwhile encounters for each monster, making each one unique.
Also, suggestions for which monsters might be found together (for people tired of dungeons full of one humanoid race, and perhaps a few beasts and undead.)
Giving you a generic answer is going to be really hard, as different parties have different strengths. I've only been able to challenge high level parties by tailoring encounters to their particular strengths and weaknesses.
It's really hard to make an encounter epic when everyone is going with their genetic Plan A For Big Encounters. Forcing them to plans B and C are when you start to see creative play and memorable moments.
At the same time, you don't want to just shut down everything the party is good at. It's not fun for them and it's fairly transparent, which breaks immersion. The challenge needs to feel natural and fit the scene. If it's something dramatically game-changing like an anti-magic field, you can even let the party know ahead of time so they can prepare.
at level 20, theres not a lot of RaW monsters with enough clout. the dullahan from VRgtR is good(and mythic) as are the mythic monsters from MOoT. homebrew really shines here though, this place alone probably has over 12 good monsters for your purpouses
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Pronouns: Any/All
About Me: Godless monster in human form bent on extending their natural life to unnatural extremes /general of the goose horde /Moderator of Vinstreb School for the Gifted /holder of the evil storyteller badge of no honor /king of madness /The FBI/ The Archmage of I CAST...!
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Fun Fact: i gain more power the more you post on my forum threads. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
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Hi all,
I wondered if I could have some ideas and advice for L20 encounters. My initial thought was a Tarrasque but struggling to know how to introduce it. Any ideas?
Also, are there any other monsters for L20 characters that you’d recommend?
Thanks in advance all
Jim
The new greatwyrms (beyond ancient dragons) in Fizban's Treasury of Dragons could be a good option; dragons in general are a good monster because of their ability to fly and their intelligence, so you can make them more or less difficult by changing their tactics to respond to what the players are doing.
Greatwyrms are also mythic creatures so you have the option to run their second stage as well if the players aren't feeling challenged enough.
That's if you want a single boss enemy; otherwise a good way to challenge higher level groups is to throw more enemies at them. Or you can play with lair actions and environmental effects for added challenge.
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
I'm writing a blog to give ideas for using the monsters abilities to create truely devastating, and extremelly interesting, encounters. I don't have a lot for level 20, because the Monster Manual has relatively few monsters meant for level 20, but can I suggest/recommend my ideas for the solar. Also my ideas for the balor, goristro, and maralith demons, although I would add minions to go along with any of those demons if running them for level 20 players. (As it happens, my blog also features minion/ally suggestions/ideas for each monster.)
D&D Beyond has been giving me trouble attaching links, but you can find it the articles easily by googling dragonencounters.com and adding the name of the monster you want.
What to expect: Solar - Combat strategies that render the solar deadly, even against level 20's, and a few truly lethal traps, especially when run together with the solar. (Also a plot idea for why the PCs would be fighting an angel, although if you don't like the idea you could always homebrew an evil monster with an identical stat block.)
Balor - Introductory fight, and ideas for how to run a volcanic eruption (with the PCs caught in the middle of it, trying to escape. And suggestions as to why they don't just teleport out.)
Goristro - Combat strategy, scenario, obstacles for him to push PCs into (the goristro has an attack that shoves the PCs backwards), and a brief discussion of running mazes in D&D.
Maralith - Combat strategy (the maralith works extremally well as part of a group of monsters, ideal for level 20) and several scenarios to make it even more interesting, some of which involve (basic) traps.
Ps. If you do use any of my ideas, would you let me know how it goes? I didn't have a chance to try them out on a level 20 party, and I'd love to hear about it.
DM, writer, and blog master of https://dragonencounters.com/ a blog dedicated to providing unusual, worthwhile encounters for each monster, making each one unique.
Also, suggestions for which monsters might be found together (for people tired of dungeons full of one humanoid race, and perhaps a few beasts and undead.)
Giving you a generic answer is going to be really hard, as different parties have different strengths. I've only been able to challenge high level parties by tailoring encounters to their particular strengths and weaknesses.
It's really hard to make an encounter epic when everyone is going with their genetic Plan A For Big Encounters. Forcing them to plans B and C are when you start to see creative play and memorable moments.
At the same time, you don't want to just shut down everything the party is good at. It's not fun for them and it's fairly transparent, which breaks immersion. The challenge needs to feel natural and fit the scene. If it's something dramatically game-changing like an anti-magic field, you can even let the party know ahead of time so they can prepare.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
at level 20, theres not a lot of RaW monsters with enough clout. the dullahan from VRgtR is good(and mythic) as are the mythic monsters from MOoT. homebrew really shines here though, this place alone probably has over 12 good monsters for your purpouses
Pronouns: Any/All
About Me: Godless monster in human form bent on extending their natural life to unnatural extremes /general of the goose horde /Moderator of Vinstreb School for the Gifted /holder of the evil storyteller badge of no honor /king of madness /The FBI/ The Archmage of I CAST...!
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Fun Fact: i gain more power the more you post on my forum threads. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!