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Returning 35 results for 'players instead'.
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Monsters
Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden
to succeed instead.
Magic Resistance. Auril has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Unusual Nature. Auril doesn’t require air, food, drink, or
unfeeling entity.
Have Auril speak only when necessary. The less she talks, the less risk you have of unintentionally demystifying her in the eyes of your players. Let her actions, not her words
Monsters
Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden
weather, detect thoughts, ice storm
Legendary Resistance (2/Day in This Form). If Auril fails a saving throw, she can choose to succeed instead.
Magic Resistance. Auril has advantage on saving throws
demystifying her in the eyes of your players. Let her actions, not her words, define her.
Lesser gods in the D&D multiverse are extremely powerful and arrogant, but also fallible and blind to their
Monsters
Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden
.
Legendary Resistance (2/Day in This Form). If Auril fails a saving throw, she can choose to succeed instead.
Magic Resistance. Auril has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical
her to explode and die. A mephit that dies in this way does not use its Death Burst. Instead, each creature within 10 feet of the exploding mephit must succeed on a DC 21 Dexterity saving throw, taking
Initiative
Legacy
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Rules
tied monsters, and the players decide the order among tied characters. The DM decides the order if the tie is between a monster and a player character.Sometimes a DM might have combatants use their
Initiative scores instead of rolling Initiative. Your Initiative score equals 10 plus your Dexterity modifier. If you have Advantage on Initiative rolls, increase your Initiative score by 5. If you have Disadvantage on those rolls, decrease that score by 5.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide
who missed the previous session. You can provide this recap, or you can invite one or more players to deliver the recap instead. Each approach has benefits: DM Recap. Provide the recap yourself if you
Recap Start each game session after the first with a recap of what happened in the previous session. A recap helps players get back into the story. It also provides important information to players
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->D&D Beyond Basic Rules
who missed the previous session. You can provide this recap, or you can invite one or more players to deliver the recap instead. Each approach has benefits: DM Recap. Provide the recap yourself if you
Recap Start each game session after the first with a recap of what happened in the previous session. A recap helps players get back into the story. It also provides important information to players
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Divine Contention
Narrative Combat Instead of resolving the battle with miniatures, you’ll guide your players through a series of tough dilemmas, each leading to a different battlefield encounter. Their actions on the
field determine the overall success or failure of the battle. Use the Battle Flowchart provided nearby to guide your players through the conflict. Each box on the chart introduces a different mission
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Tomb of Annihilation
Navigation Have the players designate one party member as the navigator. The navigator might be an NPC, such as a guide, and the party can switch its navigator day to day. At the start of each new
the day, or a –5 penalty if the group is moving at a fast pace. It’s possible to get lost on a river by following a tributary instead of the main branch. If the check succeeds, the navigator knows
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
lives transformed into waking nightmares. In most horror adventures, your players will employ familiar, adventure-ready characters. That doesn’t need to be the case, though. Instead, for short, low
-power adventures, immersive retellings of tragic events, out-of-body experiences, or other unique tales, consider providing players with temporary, stand-in characters called survivors. This section
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Out of the Abyss
Summarizing Travel Instead of checking for random encounters every day, you can skip over or summarize parts of the characters’ journey. Roll 1d6 + 1 for the number of days between encounters, with
the usual chance of the encounter being a terrain encounter, a creature encounter, or both (as described under “Random Encounters”). For example, if roll a result of 4, you would tell the players
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide
Information. If you tell the players what the Armor Class of their opponents is, you reduce the steps of interaction needed to resolve an attack. Instead of telling you a number and asking if it hits
individual players are having trouble getting a chance to do things during exploration or social interaction, have the characters roll Initiative and act in Initiative order, just as you do in combat
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
your players’ imaginations by describing a horror indirectly in stages. Chapter 5 features advice or making familiar monsters more frightful. Also consider the following elements when describing
flesh, or is it a supernatural force that warps what it comes in contact with? Wounded. When it’s wounded, how does it react? What does its blood look like? What is inside it instead of flesh and blood
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->The Book of Many Things
the ally. This can be a great way to keep more players involved if the party splits; when any player’s usual character isn’t present in a scene, they play the ally instead. It’s helpful to give the
allies and even friends. And though our lives may eventually diverge from theirs, that doesn’t make the friendships any less meaningful.
Let Players Take Charge Consider letting your players control
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide
Combining Bastions Two or more players can combine their characters’ Bastions into a single structure. Doing so doesn’t change the number of special facilities each Bastion can have, how those
some event deprives one character’s Bastion of defenders, another character can apply all or some of those losses to their Bastion instead, provided the two Bastions are combined.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Tomb of Annihilation
level. If the adventuring party is relatively weak, it’s up to the players to choose whether to flee instead of fight, negotiate instead of attack, or surrender instead of die. It’s up to you as the
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Storm King's Thunder
points. These NPCs are predisposed to aid in their settlement’s defense, but players might try to keep them out of harm’s way instead. Each NPC has an ideal, a bond, and a flaw, and though you should
. If your group has more than six players, one or more of them won’t receive an NPC, and that’s okay. (Let the players decide who gets one and who doesn’t.) If your group has fewer than six players
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->The Book of Many Things
to your campaign, shaping it to fit your needs and the tastes of your players. You can stack the deck with low-level effects that prompt roleplaying instead of mechanical changes or create a deck that
storyline and the players’ lovingly created characters are scattered by the winds of fate to the corners of the multiverse. But it doesn’t have to be that way. You can tailor the Deck of Many Things
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide
Frequency of Bastion Turns By default, a Bastion turn occurs every 7 days of in-game time. Here are common examples of players taking one or more Bastion turns: The characters are on a long journey
take one now.” You can slow the frequency of Bastion turns to better serve the needs of your players and your campaign. For example, if the characters have months between adventures, you can call for
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Rise of Tiamat
stage directions that must be followed. Tyranny of Dragons does not hold your hand and guide you step-by-step from the story’s beginning to its inevitable conclusion. Instead, it presents people
have tried to foresee the most likely courses of action that the characters might take in the adventure. However, D&D players are curious and unpredictable, and Faerûn is immense and filled with
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Tyranny of Dragons
followed. Tyranny of Dragons does not hold your hand and guide you step-by-step from the story’s beginning to its inevitable conclusion. Instead, it presents people, creatures, locations, and situations
likely courses of action that the characters might take in the adventure. However, D&D players are curious and unpredictable, and Faerûn is immense and filled with possibility. In a scenario as open-ended
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide
players to keep playing instead of letting one player stop the game. Character Knowledge Encourage players to play their characters within the limits of what the characters know and understand. It can be
Respect for the DM As the DM, you have the right to expect your players to respect you and the effort you put into making a fun game for everyone. The players need to let you direct the campaign
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Hoard of the Dragon Queen
stage directions that must be followed. Tyranny of Dragons does not hold your hand and guide you step-by-step from the story’s beginning to its inevitable conclusion. Instead, it presents people
have tried to foresee the most likely courses of action that the characters might take in the adventure. However, D&D players are curious and unpredictable, and Faerûn is immense and filled with
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide
your players agree to avoid character death in your game, you might consider an alternative: a character who would otherwise die is instead “defeated.” The following rules apply to a defeated character
Scaling Lethality You can adjust the lethality of your campaign using the encounter-building guidelines in chapter 4. If your players enjoy games that test their characters to the utmost and are
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Forgotten Realms: The Tenebrous Stone
these scenes, inviting players to describe the failure and what their character did or didn’t do in the past. A demonic figure appears in each vision, taunting the character. A character who succeeds on a
senses, and the demonic figure of their visions manifests as a Succubus. The succubus is Vulnerable to all damage from characters who succeeded on the save and changed the outcome of their vision, but characters who failed that save and experienced a tragic outcome again have the Frightened condition instead.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Rise of Tiamat
create a deadly encounter. If the adventurers are weakened from earlier encounters, aim for a hard encounter instead. Don’t be reluctant to use forces that are likely to kill one or more characters
. The destruction of the heroes is the goal of this attack, and if the risk of death doesn’t feel real, the players won’t take the threat of the cult seriously. Second Attack Cult Forces Creature XP Value Dragonwing 450 Dragonsoul 1,800 Mezzoloth 1,800 Nycaloth 5,000 Adult black dragon 11,500
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus
boxed text to the players: The cracked helm and sword of a titan lies half buried in the ash of Avernus. A spherical stone set into the sword’s pommel still gleams with scarlet radiance.
The
empyrean Uldrak quested into the Nine Hells to slay Tiamat and win glory for his deity, Surtur, but he was beaten handily by the dragon queen. The empyrean wasn’t slain; instead, Tiamat cursed him for his
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->The Book of Many Things
an opportunity for the characters to engage with a creature that’s too strong to defeat in combat Reward clever characters who overcome a challenge with brains instead of brawn Make a villain, an
. Be wary of using riddles found online, especially if players can access the internet during the session.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->D&D Beyond Basic Rules
character, and the character takes the Dodge action in combat until the player rejoins the group. This solution allows the other players to keep playing instead of letting one player stop the game
Respect for the DM As the DM, you have the right to expect your players to respect you and the effort you put into making a fun game for everyone. The players need to let you direct the campaign
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dragons of Stormwreck Isle
Approaching by Water If the characters row to the observatory, read this text instead: As you round the southeastern tip of the island, you can see crumbling ruins atop basalt columns just off the
lair, but feel free to tease the players with the idea that he might notice them. If the characters beach the boat on the shore, they can easily climb the bluffs to area D1, described below. If they
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014)
Creating a Magic Item
The magic items in chapter 7, "Treasure," section are but a few of the magic treasures that characters can discover during their adventures. If your players are seasoned
paladin uses a flail as her main weapon, you could change a holy avenger so that it’s a flail instead of a sword. You can turn a ring of the ram into a wand, or a cloak of protection into a circlet
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Tyranny of Dragons
that create a deadly encounter. If the adventurers are weakened from earlier encounters, aim for a hard encounter instead. Don’t be reluctant to use forces that are likely to kill one or more
characters. The destruction of the heroes is the goal of this attack, and if the risk of death doesn’t feel real, the players won’t take the threat of the cult seriously. Second Attack Cult Forces
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Basic Rules (2014)
character apart from every other character. Even within your class and race, you have options to fine-tune what your character can do. But a few players — with the DM’s permission — want to go a step
choose instead of increasing your ability scores as you gain levels. Your DM decides whether these options are available in a campaign.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Player's Handbook (2014)
character apart from every other character. Even within your class and race, you have options to fine-tune what your character can do. But this chapter is for players who — with the DM’s permission — want to
options you can choose instead of increasing your ability scores as you gain levels. Your DM decides whether these options are available in a campaign.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide
players are experienced, start the campaign at level 3 instead. (See the Player’s Handbook for rules on starting at higher levels.) Bringing the Party Together During session zero, help the players come
Session Zero At the start of a campaign, you and your players can run a special session—called session zero because it comes before the first session of play—to establish expectations, share ideas
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Candlekeep Mysteries
dragon turtle stat block with the following changes: It speaks Draconic and Terran. It lacks a swimming speed and the Amphibious trait. Its breath weapon is a 60-foot cone of abrasive sand instead of
steam that deals slashing damage instead of fire damage. Ogruhl has been trapped here for millennia, restrained by magic chains. Ogruhl was the prisoner of a cruel Netherese wizard. When the city around