D&D (2024) A Different Way To Run High Level Monsters

Did the players know the new mechanics? Did they know they had to do 150 HP /rnd in order to make progress toward defeating it?
Yes, they knew the new mechanics. They did not know the precise number, but in the same way one might give narrative hints about how wounded a creature was, I gave them hints regarding how close to filling that hit box they were. After the hit box was filled, I told them how much damage they had done. So in the first 3 fights, where each boss had 3 equal hit boxes, they were able to sort of hone in by hit box 3.
 

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It seems to me, that you are also misunderstanding his point. However, I will let @jgsugden respond if they feel the need as I am not invested in this discussion as the two of you are.
The line of attack that I somehow disenfranchised players of their agency because some number that came out of nowhere is pretty galling, to be honest. None of what was accused happened at the table, and there were lots of reasons to target the minions, as I have already described. I am not sure why someone would come in hot that way without know the details.
 

It seems to me, that you are also misunderstanding his point. However, I will let @jgsugden respond if they feel the need as I am not invested in this discussion as the two of you are.
The math doesn't add up. If the mock ups showed the PCs doing 550+ damage in less than 2 rounds, but each PC was averaging 40 damage ... How many PCs were being used? 8? Regardless, the concerns I raised above would guide me away from any system that "resets" per round when you have a fixed initiative order. It leaves characters with a slower initiative with the clean up.
 

The line of attack that I somehow disenfranchised players of their agency because some number that came out of nowhere is pretty galling, to be honest. None of what was accused happened at the table, and there were lots of reasons to target the minions, as I have already described. I am not sure why someone would come in hot that way without know the details.
I agree, but that was not what I was talking about. That is why I think you misunderstood. The issue I noticed in the two posts I read was a math issue. The math didn't add up, and that probably simply resulted from a lack of detail (I don't know since I haven't looked at all the posts).
 

Yes, they knew the new mechanics. They did not know the precise number, but in the same way one might give narrative hints about how wounded a creature was, I gave them hints regarding how close to filling that hit box they were. After the hit box was filled, I told them how much damage they had done. So in the first 3 fights, where each boss had 3 equal hit boxes, they were able to sort of hone in by hit box 3.
I do like the idea and glad it seemed to work so well for you. Will keep it in mind if I do high levels again.
 


This might be of interest:

From my notes from the third session, the hit boxes looked like this:
[ ] 7 53 106 148
[ ] 22 83 89 18 44 85 138
[ ] 44 74 28 108 148
Those middle bold numbers indicate when the boss used a minion to heal (this was Hateweaver, who absorbed his "high priests" in order to heal). The actual threshold number was 130. Unfortunately I did not write down which PCs did which damage.
 


Cool idea.

I did something similar in our home game. Instead of hit boxes, i used old video game/anime trope "this isn't my final form". Each form has HP limit, after they deal enough damage, monster transforms, gets new abilities (that replace old ones) and uses new tactics plus it also gets fresh HP. Usually 2-3 "forms" per boss fight. Solo monsters in high level games are funny. They either get steamrolled in 1-3 rounds or it becomes slog fest grind, chipping away on that big sack of HP.
 

The math doesn't add up. If the mock ups showed the PCs doing 550+ damage in less than 2 rounds, but each PC was averaging 40 damage ... How many PCs were being used? 8? Regardless, the concerns I raised above would guide me away from any system that "resets" per round when you have a fixed initiative order. It leaves characters with a slower initiative with the clean up.
Wouldn't the PCs that go after the monster just be the first ones to deal damage before the monster resets again? I mean, PC1 and 2 go and deal 100 damage and then monster goes and resets damage because you did not meet threshold. Now PC3 and 4 go and deal 80 damage. This carries over to PC1 and 2's turn since the monster has not gotten to go a second time.
 

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