I’m eventually suppose to be running my first one-shot among my DnD group that’s currently in a campaign with another acting as DM. He’s agreed to play as a character but also help me as needed, so I’m not really concerned there.
What does sort of concern me is there’s a younger less experienced member of our group that sees obsessed with the new Pugilist class. It seems like a lot for both the player and the DM from what I’ve read. I’m worried nonetheless he will want to use it for the one-shot.
I have expressed concerned with our regular DM about him possibly using it in his future campaigns so he can warn them it might not be allowed, and he said he’d look into it. I’m not sure what I should do though if the kid chooses to get it anyway. Do I put my foot down or let him walk all over my encounter?
It’s worth noting that my monster has resistance to bludgeoning damage (but weak against silver), but I’m not sure when Pugilists get access to force damage. Either way, it won’t be silver, but it won’t be resisted. The monster is based on a great whyrm and the characters are at level 7.
I don't know much about the Pugilist class, but I will say it's very reasonable to tell your players in advance that their character options are limited to those from official books, especially if you're new to DMing.
I played it in a few one shots and it feels very strong. I played the Squared Circle subclass. Picking people up and beating other people with then was absolutely a blast but the later base class features are crazy strong. https://omegle****/
Yeah, that makes sense to announce that ahead of time. I’ll try to say something to everyone when we next meet.
Speaking of which, unfortunately I don’t get to play DnD very often, so hearing from someone who has experimented with the class/subclasses a few times so early is very helpful. Since I’m new to DMing there will only be one monster on the field at once with a possible total of two. I may skip the second one all together if the party seems to banged up and say there was just one monster all along. My point is, there won’t be a second monster to beat senseless with another monster… unless he thinks to drag the first monster’s corpse yo the next one. Oh dear… anyway, that would be bludgeoning damage, correct? He’d be better off using the force damage option to bypass the monster’s resistances.
Yeah, that makes sense to announce that ahead of time. I’ll try to say something to everyone when we next meet.
Speaking of which, unfortunately I don’t get to play DnD very often, so hearing from someone who has experimented with the class/subclasses a few times so early is very helpful. Since I’m new to DMing there will only be one monster on the field at once with a possible total of two. I may skip the second one all together if the party seems to banged up and say there was just one monster all along. My point is, there won’t be a second monster to beat senseless with another monster… unless he thinks to drag the first monster’s corpse yo the next one. Oh dear… anyway, that would be bludgeoning damage, correct? He’d be better off using the force damage option to bypass the monster’s resistances.
Pugilist get the ability to do Force damage at level 6 (Moxie Fueled Fists).
The most important thing is for you and the players to have fun. Pugilists are a very strong class. In a one shot I wouldn't worry about banning them or anything (although wagnarokkr has the right idea) but you do need to consider all the classes involved to make a fun game.
Also, I'm not sure a 1 creature encounter will be much fun. Let's pretend your Pugilist wins initiative. If I was playing it I would have picked Squared Circle subclass. I'd run up to your monster and do 3 attacks with "Stop and Drop" ability (which he gets at level 3). Each hit will do damage AND maybe knock it prone AND maybe grapple it. The class can also make it very difficult to save against these with the "Inescapable" ability (also at level 3). Now your monster will not be able to attack (takes an entire turn to even try to break a grapple) and all your other players will have advantage while attacking it. This fight will be over in a few seconds.
A level 7 Pugilist can very easily handle 3-4 monsters his own level by himself. You will still have other members of the party to entertain. A level 7 wizard will want to Fireball something and so on.
This isn't meant to discourage you in any way. Don't sell yourself short. Try a couple of really tough monsters and see how you handle them. And if your group cares about you at all and knows your new they will be helping you and reminding of of triggers and conditions. You'll find that managing two creatures an encounter isn't really more difficult than one. And if you find yourself struggling (or killing players) then you can back off a bit just as you planned.
Running several monsters is relatively easy if you have a process.
Number them using either letters or numbers or a combo - you have 6 ghouls, they are g1 g2 etc.
They all have the same initiative.
Have the party state where they are, then match up monster to PC, Go a bit slow in the beginning to get the "process correct". Just be consistent with your process always going right to left, or left to right. Be consistent..
Yikes, that sounds brutal. I might have to rethink what I’m going to do… or at least what I could do.
i mean, not to doubt you, but the way I understood it was a leveled monster is suppose to be fair for 4 of that leveled players. So far ai have a Barbarian, an Eldritch Knight, and a weird rogue/sorcerer. I’m not sure how many others will want to join, but it likely will be bo more than 2 more. I know it’s not ideal, but I’ve been working with my usual DM and feel like we have a plan. I’ll admit, he did have me nerf the monster a bit from what it was based on, but still… I feel like he’s not steering me wrong.
That being said, the Pugilist does sound tough. I’m just bot sure how to rewrite the adventure. At most, I could maybe have them going against 2 of my CR7 monsters at once and have it make sense, but that just still sounds too tough to me. I don’t know.
My one-shot is based off the three little pigs and little red riding hood. One of the 3LP hires them to investigate a monster sighting. While looking, they may run into Red on her way to “Grandma.” There’s a chance the wolf may run away. That being said, there could be a second wolf. If they kill the wolf at Grandma’s house, they’ll get a chance to rest back with the 3LP before another wolf shows up. If it escapes, my original plan was for the first one to show up and they fight it… only for another one to have snuck into the final house.
My point is, there’s at most two wolves, one from each story (if not just making them the same wolf). It wouldn’t make much sense for what story is based on for them to be more than two wolves. If i did, I would have to base them on more generic monsters without breath weapons.
In depends on the players/characters, optimized characters played well can often take on monsters of higher CR than themselves. One monster of CR equal to the party's level is generally a "medium" encounter - i.e. hard enough that they have to use resources but not so hard as for there to be any risk of any character dying.
Looking at Pugilist... it's super broken. Basically Monk but better at everything in every way, so would be substantially more powerful than any other character and would completely cripple your wolf enemy in one turn.
Understood. On one hand the player’s seem pretty smart, so I doubt I have much to worry about as far as overdoing it. Still, i don’t want to go against what my normal DM told me. I don’t know.
Either way, I’ll definitely say something next time we get together about only using stuff from official books.or should I let them know through our Discord ao it’s in “writing?”
Thank you all for all of your help! I’m have to make a post to let you all know how it went and maybe get feedback on how I can improve. .
Follow your friend's advice. If it doesn't work out don't get discouraged... it's a learning moment. If it does work out then great! Everyone is having a good time.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I’m eventually suppose to be running my first one-shot among my DnD group that’s currently in a campaign with another acting as DM. He’s agreed to play as a character but also help me as needed, so I’m not really concerned there.
What does sort of concern me is there’s a younger less experienced member of our group that sees obsessed with the new Pugilist class. It seems like a lot for both the player and the DM from what I’ve read. I’m worried nonetheless he will want to use it for the one-shot.
I have expressed concerned with our regular DM about him possibly using it in his future campaigns so he can warn them it might not be allowed, and he said he’d look into it. I’m not sure what I should do though if the kid chooses to get it anyway. Do I put my foot down or let him walk all over my encounter?
It’s worth noting that my monster has resistance to bludgeoning damage (but weak against silver), but I’m not sure when Pugilists get access to force damage. Either way, it won’t be silver, but it won’t be resisted. The monster is based on a great whyrm and the characters are at level 7.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/5710827-tbbw
I don't know much about the Pugilist class, but I will say it's very reasonable to tell your players in advance that their character options are limited to those from official books, especially if you're new to DMing.
pronouns: he/she/they
I played it in a few one shots and it feels very strong. I played the Squared Circle subclass. Picking people up and beating other people with then was absolutely a blast but the later base class features are crazy strong. https://omegle****/
Thank you both for your input.
Yeah, that makes sense to announce that ahead of time. I’ll try to say something to everyone when we next meet.
Speaking of which, unfortunately I don’t get to play DnD very often, so hearing from someone who has experimented with the class/subclasses a few times so early is very helpful. Since I’m new to DMing there will only be one monster on the field at once with a possible total of two. I may skip the second one all together if the party seems to banged up and say there was just one monster all along. My point is, there won’t be a second monster to beat senseless with another monster… unless he thinks to drag the first monster’s corpse yo the next one. Oh dear… anyway, that would be bludgeoning damage, correct? He’d be better off using the force damage option to bypass the monster’s resistances.
Pugilist get the ability to do Force damage at level 6 (Moxie Fueled Fists).
The most important thing is for you and the players to have fun. Pugilists are a very strong class. In a one shot I wouldn't worry about banning them or anything (although wagnarokkr has the right idea) but you do need to consider all the classes involved to make a fun game.
Also, I'm not sure a 1 creature encounter will be much fun. Let's pretend your Pugilist wins initiative. If I was playing it I would have picked Squared Circle subclass. I'd run up to your monster and do 3 attacks with "Stop and Drop" ability (which he gets at level 3). Each hit will do damage AND maybe knock it prone AND maybe grapple it. The class can also make it very difficult to save against these with the "Inescapable" ability (also at level 3). Now your monster will not be able to attack (takes an entire turn to even try to break a grapple) and all your other players will have advantage while attacking it. This fight will be over in a few seconds.
A level 7 Pugilist can very easily handle 3-4 monsters his own level by himself. You will still have other members of the party to entertain. A level 7 wizard will want to Fireball something and so on.
This isn't meant to discourage you in any way. Don't sell yourself short. Try a couple of really tough monsters and see how you handle them. And if your group cares about you at all and knows your new they will be helping you and reminding of of triggers and conditions. You'll find that managing two creatures an encounter isn't really more difficult than one. And if you find yourself struggling (or killing players) then you can back off a bit just as you planned.
Have fun!
Running several monsters is relatively easy if you have a process.
Number them using either letters or numbers or a combo - you have 6 ghouls, they are g1 g2 etc.
They all have the same initiative.
Have the party state where they are, then match up monster to PC, Go a bit slow in the beginning to get the "process correct". Just be consistent with your process always going right to left, or left to right. Be consistent..
Yikes, that sounds brutal. I might have to rethink what I’m going to do… or at least what I could do.
i mean, not to doubt you, but the way I understood it was a leveled monster is suppose to be fair for 4 of that leveled players. So far ai have a Barbarian, an Eldritch Knight, and a weird rogue/sorcerer. I’m not sure how many others will want to join, but it likely will be bo more than 2 more. I know it’s not ideal, but I’ve been working with my usual DM and feel like we have a plan. I’ll admit, he did have me nerf the monster a bit from what it was based on, but still… I feel like he’s not steering me wrong.
That being said, the Pugilist does sound tough. I’m just bot sure how to rewrite the adventure. At most, I could maybe have them going against 2 of my CR7 monsters at once and have it make sense, but that just still sounds too tough to me. I don’t know.
My one-shot is based off the three little pigs and little red riding hood. One of the 3LP hires them to investigate a monster sighting. While looking, they may run into Red on her way to “Grandma.” There’s a chance the wolf may run away. That being said, there could be a second wolf. If they kill the wolf at Grandma’s house, they’ll get a chance to rest back with the 3LP before another wolf shows up. If it escapes, my original plan was for the first one to show up and they fight it… only for another one to have snuck into the final house.
My point is, there’s at most two wolves, one from each story (if not just making them the same wolf). It wouldn’t make much sense for what story is based on for them to be more than two wolves. If i did, I would have to base them on more generic monsters without breath weapons.
In depends on the players/characters, optimized characters played well can often take on monsters of higher CR than themselves. One monster of CR equal to the party's level is generally a "medium" encounter - i.e. hard enough that they have to use resources but not so hard as for there to be any risk of any character dying.
Looking at Pugilist... it's super broken. Basically Monk but better at everything in every way, so would be substantially more powerful than any other character and would completely cripple your wolf enemy in one turn.
Understood. On one hand the player’s seem pretty smart, so I doubt I have much to worry about as far as overdoing it. Still, i don’t want to go against what my normal DM told me. I don’t know.
Either way, I’ll definitely say something next time we get together about only using stuff from official books.or should I let them know through our Discord ao it’s in “writing?”
Thank you all for all of your help! I’m have to make a post to let you all know how it went and maybe get feedback on how I can improve. .
Follow your friend's advice. If it doesn't work out don't get discouraged... it's a learning moment. If it does work out then great! Everyone is having a good time.