• 1 Post
  • 160 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
cake
Cake day: June 14th, 2023

help-circle







  • Obviously you have a lot of possibilities with a villain who is being deliberately portrayed as unhinged. I think the line you need to walk is between making it honest and ruining the fun. One thought that came to mind was the reset. If the bbeg is on the back foot and it looks like the PCs got it, have the bbeg throw a tantrum and wish to try again. Everyone’s HP resets, and maybe he had a few new special abilities to counteract the offensive moves that they first tried. Not to mention, this also goes back to a time when the bbeg has a wish spell. This makes it like a boss fight with multiple health bars, but there are some players who don’t like this type of encounter vehemently and it can feel cheap. I wouldn’t do more than 3 “rounds.” If you party is really tactical, you might also entice them with new weaknesses that are telegraphed or maybe an environmental assistance.

    Another idea that came to mind would be wishing they already won. Then you flash forward to the PCs about to be executed in some theatrical way, turning the encounter into a 007 escape that leads directly into the real boss fight. Maybe there are some low level horde waves, some skill checks, some absurd monologuing.

    Best of luck!








  • Friendly reminder that you don’t need to buy WotC/Hasbro products to play 5e. The 5e publishing ecosystem is pretty strong and there are lots of options so that you don’t have to get rid of your old books. Level Up Advanced 5e has free PDFs online of their whole books, but the books are fantastic quality. Tales of the Valiant is coming soon, and there is a huge catalog of Kobold Press content before that. And then there are hundreds of smaller presses that also support the ruleset. I haven’t gotten any WotC products in years even before the OGL, mainly because quality seemed to be taking a turn, but there is still great content out there.



  • If you want to bend backward to accommodate this player, you can. Give them a reason to behave that way. Make the other PCs know and understand. For example, in Dark Sun, magic saps the natural world of life and cruel, terrible things happen when magic is cast. Maybe the knife-wizard knows this. Let the spells be dangerous to other people and the environment, but not the party. Have the others in character ask/beg the caster to use a spell, especially if this matters. You can help balance encounters around whether or not they will need to dip into this costly magic.

    I’ve dealt with a crossbow wizard before and, tbh, it is easier to have them just face the repercussions of their choices. Granted, that was a one-shot with close friends, but you do what you think is best.

    Quick Edit: it might be worth talking about how ttrpgs are a collaborative game and that players should be working together to their goals, while they seem to be dedicated to playing not only suboptimally (which imo isn’t a problem) but they are playing in a way that is actively disruptive. Perhaps not as bad as actively attacking teammates or the like, but this would ruin my fun. I don’t want to play games with people like that.