A very small typo! In the Whirlwind action for the Air Elemental, the text says:
On a failure, a target takes 15 (3d8 + 2) bludgeoning damage and is flung up 20 feet away from the elemental in a random direction and knocked prone.
I believe this should be:
On a failure, a target takes 15 (3d8 + 2) bludgeoning damage and is flung up to 20 feet away from the elemental in a random direction and knocked prone.
The Githzerai Anarch lair action links to the Light spell rather than the Lightning Bolt spell. This issue is only present on the compendium page, the monster page is fine.
This may have been missed in the flurry of updates. Still showing up for me: the Githzerai Anarch's lair action links to the Light spell when it should link to Lightning Bolt.
Okay, yeah, in that case, a couple of suggestions:
First off, it's almost impossible to actively engage all 7 players at once for 4 hours straight. :-) Some PCs will naturally have more of a spotlight than others.
Second, I'd plan for only one combat encounter, and look over the PCs' abilities to ensure that there's something in that fight for each PC. You'll want to look at not just the character's abilities, but the player's preferences, too. Have a player who loves puzzles? Add a fire-breathing machine with unlabeled levers. Have a social player? Include an enemy who loves to monologue and knows some crucial information.
Basically, try to focus on "set piece" battles that you can tune to the players and characters.
Runehammer on YouTube has a great series of videos on this where he talks about the importance of building an environment that includes a clear threat, a treat (something cool the players want to acquire), a twist or trap (some part of the environment that requires brains to figure out), and a timer (something bad that will happen in X rounds). Those tend to engage players and ensure they don't wander off.
I think timers are really key. If there's a sacrifice on an altar who will cause a portal to hell open in 3 rounds unless a PC can get to him/her and physically prevent the high priest from sacrificing the victim, the PCs will suddenly be a lot more attentive. ;-)
First question: Have you talked to the players who leave the table "for no reason"? Like, asked them why they left the table? It's definitely worrying when even the DM can't figure out why players aren't staying at the table.
During what activities do they get impatient? During combat? Social encounters? Exploration? Is it the same for most players or does it vary by person?
If people are bored during combat, you'll need to tighten that up. If I find combat slow, I'll tell each player that they have 30 seconds to start their turn. They can take longer than that to finish the turn, but if they hem and haw for more than 30 seconds, I'll move on to the next character in initiative, then come back to them (and this won't change their position in initiative next round). I also ask a player to track initiative, which tends to speed things up tremendously.
Beyond that, it really depends on the exact behavior of the players and what's boring them.
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A very small typo! In the Whirlwind action for the Air Elemental, the text says:
I believe this should be:
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Thanks for everyone's hard work in making D&D Beyond such a useful product!
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Okay, yeah, in that case, a couple of suggestions:
First off, it's almost impossible to actively engage all 7 players at once for 4 hours straight. :-) Some PCs will naturally have more of a spotlight than others.
Second, I'd plan for only one combat encounter, and look over the PCs' abilities to ensure that there's something in that fight for each PC. You'll want to look at not just the character's abilities, but the player's preferences, too. Have a player who loves puzzles? Add a fire-breathing machine with unlabeled levers. Have a social player? Include an enemy who loves to monologue and knows some crucial information.
Basically, try to focus on "set piece" battles that you can tune to the players and characters.
Runehammer on YouTube has a great series of videos on this where he talks about the importance of building an environment that includes a clear threat, a treat (something cool the players want to acquire), a twist or trap (some part of the environment that requires brains to figure out), and a timer (something bad that will happen in X rounds). Those tend to engage players and ensure they don't wander off.
I think timers are really key. If there's a sacrifice on an altar who will cause a portal to hell open in 3 rounds unless a PC can get to him/her and physically prevent the high priest from sacrificing the victim, the PCs will suddenly be a lot more attentive. ;-)
I also recommend Matt Colville's video on the different kinds of players. Very insightful about the various ways that different people approach the game, and how to try to satisfy them.
Hope this helps!
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Good topic!
First question: Have you talked to the players who leave the table "for no reason"? Like, asked them why they left the table? It's definitely worrying when even the DM can't figure out why players aren't staying at the table.
During what activities do they get impatient? During combat? Social encounters? Exploration? Is it the same for most players or does it vary by person?
If people are bored during combat, you'll need to tighten that up. If I find combat slow, I'll tell each player that they have 30 seconds to start their turn. They can take longer than that to finish the turn, but if they hem and haw for more than 30 seconds, I'll move on to the next character in initiative, then come back to them (and this won't change their position in initiative next round). I also ask a player to track initiative, which tends to speed things up tremendously.
Beyond that, it really depends on the exact behavior of the players and what's boring them.