D&D General Don't Point a Loaded Beholder at a Player Character You're Not Willing to Disintegrate

[aco175]

Re: the giant crab claw damage- I love this, and I try to do it myself when possible... it's really hard in D&D for players to be able to tell, just by description or a mini/token on the board. On VTTs it's somewhat easier because settings can be such that damage and to-hit are rolled simultaneously, so they can see on a miss "holy crap that does HOW MUCH damage?"

I have the players roll damage against themselves from the monsters. This allows the players to roll more dice and for me to speed up combat. So me telling them the damage is 4d10+6 lets them know that it is a big deal and they can imagine what that damage looks like.

 

[Meech17]

I know it's been a while.. I don't get to play D&D that much.. We're able to get together every month, to every other month..

But I had this session on Friday, and it went well! Months ago, when the party leveled up to 3, the monk chose the subclass which gives them elemental spells.

We're sitting at the table and she is positioned perfectly so that the "Boss" monster and one crony were between her and the pit. She asks me what the ability she chose did. Up until this point all of her Ki Points had just been spent on Flurry of Blows. I wasn't sure either so I grab the book and look it up. Turns out she had chosen the ability that gives her Thunderwave. Both creatures were blasted into the pit, and the crony (Naturally) was the one to succeed his roll to catch the vines. I rolled 5d6 and told them how much damage the boss took, it ended up being a lot. They asked if he died and I said "I don't know.. He's at the bottom of this pit.. Are you going to go check?"

They didn't find that as funny as I did. What they especially didn't find funny was in each following rotation where I'd make a point to address the boss' turn.

I did get to push one player down the pit, and they were able to catch a vine and save themselves. One of their teammates was luckily close by and able to hack down the goblin trying to cut the vine free as well. So it was a fun moment.

My players also really liked when they descended the pit and I moved my elevated board thing out of the way to reveal that there was a whole-ass second map underneath.

It was a good session, and I appreciate everyone's advice!