Episode 43
Our Favorite Dungeon Master Enemies (For Now)
Welcome back to another episode of How to Be a Better DM.
Today Tanner and Justin talk about their favorite enemies!
Today's music was provided by https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roABNwbjZf4
Mentioned in this episode:
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Transcript
hell
]:hello adventurer
]:welcome
]:and welcome to how to be a better dm
]:before we get into the show what sund day we
]:before we get into the show let's start with today's warm up tanner my co host
]:friend
]:friend and ally
]:yep
]:i have a warm up for you
]:game go ahead
]:so
]:i want you to this is because i just spend time
]:i want you to this is because i just spent time today
]:writing a new episode for the show on how to describe combat so i want you to
]:writing new episode show on how to describe forms
]:briefly describe combat between with a schoolyard bully and his prey
]:i love it okay
]:so obviously i've never experienced this because i've been well loved my entire
]:life no
]:hopefully this doesn't trigger anyone by the way
]:yeah um okay
]:so
]:we have our intrepid ah
]:bully approaching you can tell him from a mile away he's got his shirt tucked in
]:nicely used to think bullies were slob bish not so with this one he comes up
]:behind his victim and then reaches down what's he grabbing your underwear wedgy
]:town
]:around the clock
]:and then of course you hear a yell from his victim the bully isn't perturbed at
]:all he continues pulling people start gathering around some of them saying hey
]:stop it i'll give the bully a name derek stop at derek
]:and so he of course derek isn't gonna listen to them he's decided to be a bully
]:so he continues to pull oh my goodness what's that ripping the underwears ripping
]:and then
]:it just completely gets destroyed his victim falls to the ground feeling a mix of
]:shame and fight he gets up
]:a swing in his fist cuffs all over it's just a swarm of fist the bully un
]:perturbed once again he puts up an arm blocks one blow he grabs the other fist
]:and then he pulls him in
]:for a hug 'cause i'm going to end this with a good note the bullies changed his
]:ways and he's hugging his victim and that's how life should be boom
]:oh that was awesome
]:guess i
]:for a second when they were trading blows i i went like full dragon ball z like
]:two
]:and then it catches the fist ah man that was funny
]:uh school
]:awesome well adventurer thank you for joining us on this auditory experience this
]:is how to be a better dm
]:i your co yes w with my other co host
]:i'm your co host justin lewis with my other co host tanner won ten do you want to
]:say hi
]:hello guys it's it's wonderful to see you no but seriously it is wonderful to uh
]:be here with justin always a pleasure and and i love sharing some some of my
]:thoughts with you listeners
]:awesome i think your warm up was extremely wonderful today and i hope
]:thank you
]:you are recovering from that veggie you gave herself
]:hey
]:hey i never said that
]:so well you said i'm sorry well
]:joking i'm joking
]:you know um well today uh let's get into
]:sh
]:today's show
]:like what's her did you speak to after the sh so
]:and listener make sure you stay tuned after the show to hear some notes
]:sponsored as well as
]:from our sponsors as well as some other announcements but today
]:we about
]:we wanted to talk about some dungeon master enemies
]:and and more specifically some of our favorite dungeon master enemies kind of
]:what specific like super
]:ad
]:the adversaries that you like to to pit up against your
]:sure
]:characters
]:so uh do you
]:uh so uh tanner do you want me to start or would you like to start
]:you know what let's have you start
]:gotcha
]:one that i
]:like
]:particularly like is
]:mind
]:players and that's probably because
]:that's i
]:so one of the first ones
]:so one of the first books that i read in the forgotten realms which is one of the
]:worlds that dnd takes place in which is actually one of my favorites
]:one of the first books
]:one of the first books series in fact if not the first was homeland
]:all
]:by r a salvador
]:this
]:about dr dod and i'm probably not saying his name right cause
]:a
]:it's such a hard name to say right but
]:in
]:what
]:the book
]:uh i i hope i don't give any spoilers away but in the second book
]:this
]:dredged or drizzt
]:finds himself and dz as a drow he finds himself
]:stuff the umbrella he writes himself
]:a slave to mind players and then i found out that you could make your players
]:attack fs or vice versa and i thought that that is so
]:especially
]:cool especially what are the things that i think make kind of sets them apart is
]:you
]:fights
]:often fight or or your characters fight
]:pretty good b
]:lot of enemies that are magic based but mind fs are psychic based which is
]:something that
]:put your to
]:is pretty uncommon
]:i know
]:hiking guys
]:in my campaign i recently added mine fs in
]:specific
]:specifically because i have a barbarian who based on kind of the character
]:chosen
]:he's chosen and the different uh
]:paths he's taken he's basically resistant to everything except psychic damage so
]:speak basically
]:i was like
]:one that second
]:you know what i'm going to find a way to get psychic damage on this guy and
]:one i have
]:finally i have and he
]:my
]:does not like it and it
]:so
]:makes me so happy because he's actually taking damage like a normal person
]:instead of just being resistant to basically everything so that's my first one
]:okay mine is
]:not it's not an exciting enemy but i think it has a lot of potential
]:u
]:have you ever heard of minions
]:yes
]:yeah and i'm not talking
]:yeah
]:about uh about the movie uh
]:be dope
]:yep wow good on you
]:nice
]:but but no like in minions in five e are basically kind of a catch all term for
]:um
]:like
]:in terms of their
]:what's the word i'm saying in terms of their mechanics they have one hp they kind
]:of were introduced as this way for players to feel overpowered right like you
]:have hordes of these minions coming and each you know each hit basically so long
]:as you hit it which is very easy you just take it one out at a time but they're
]:kind
]:u
]:of swarming you
]:so
]:i have mixed feelings about them and that's why i kind of love them as a as an
]:idea is first off it gives your players a chance to feel very powerful um
]:especially and that's sometimes useful but on the other hand it can be kind of a
]:slog you know if it's just like oh your players and essential it's them just
]:burning through the turns you know
]:uhuh
]:and so i had some thoughts when we were thinking about this topic i was like okay
]:how can you make in minions interesting um i think when someone is alone
]:i i think that that is a wonderful opportunity to do that just to
]:uhuh
]:have them basically swarmed by like it could be townsfolk right i think that
]:would be a great
]:right
]:opportunity to be like oh this is a minion you know um
]:yeah yeah
]:and then have them kind of swarm this one player
]:with this one player's character and then that player can kind of have to deal
]:with the consequences of just mowing down all these town folk right
]:which is a great character
]:right where it's like oh my
]:yeah
]:goodness this guy cause i'm assuming that most often they're not just like plain
]:evil um
]:right
]:this person in defense or with whatever has just mowed down all these people and
]:that really sucks for them in the aftermath to have to notice that right um
]:right
]:but yeah i don't know have you had any thoughts while i've been talking like h
]:how do you think that they could be less of a slog and more of a thematic element
]:i
]:like
]:feel like one
]:with minions
]:maybe part of them should be kind of a slog like did you ever play those kind of
]:arcade games where
]:like
]:like the one i'm thinking of is like teenage meat and inga turtles where
]:you say
]:it's like you walk side to side but you can kind of go forward and back a
]:yep
]:little bit
]:and and you know you jump and and and you hit the ninjas and then you kill them
]:seem like that's the
]:i feel like that's the kind of the purpose of the minions is
]:you're
]:like
]:supposed to fight like thousands of them essentially i think one thing that
]:really does helps in this
]:narratively you
]:they have one
]:you know they have one hit point you you group them together as one thing so like
]:a horde of goblins attacks one person
]:and every damage actually kills one of the
]:she
]:goblins maybe that's one way to too
]:chr
]:uh i guess narrate it or do it mechanically instead of ruling initiative for like
]:thousands of goblins instead you know
]:what
]:you roll initiative for one goblin and then
]:black
]:times that by forty or fifty
]:whatever it is
]:or whatever it is and then have the people actually
]:watch
]:fight forty or fifty and you know thematically
]:he said what
]:instead of doing one attack when they roll damage they're you know cutting down
]:that many goblins and things like
]:that it's essentially like lord of the rings two twin you know
]:essentially like los
]:colors
]:twin towers not twin towers the two towers gosh and i guess all the lord of the
]:rings movies where they're just hacking down goblins and orks left and right you
]:know what i mean
]:yep yeah that that's a great
]:so
]:point i think
]:i think that that's a wonderful way mechanically to make it a little bit smoother
]:um
]:uhuh
]:and also it's just it's a nice mix up versus like these stronger enemies right
]:yeah
]:for sure and actually that's one thing that i personally took from the star wars
]:table top role playing game system i know we
]:about
]:don't talk about other games on this because this is a dandy five e podcast which
]:is something i stress so much right
]:uh s
]:but the genesis system by fantasy flight games
]:they generally pick have their
]:they generally they have kind of their enemies
]:what it
]:split up into different camps
]:there's adversaries minions and nemesis and adversaries and embassies are treated
]:adversary
]:by like normal individual monsters but minions are always grouped into kind of
]:groups
]:so s
]:of these monsters and they have pools
]:a
]:of hit points and when you kind
]:kind of certain special form of st
]:of reach a certain threshold one of the minions dies and so and so forth so
]:that's kind of where i got that idea
]:yeah i love that okay do you have another one
]:yes i
]:perfect
]:do i'll do i'll do two of them and then you can do one and then i'll do my
]:okay
]:last one so um kind of going on the
]:see the b
]:theme of mi flavors i obviously love drow um maybe it's because i'm having them
]:fight my people right now but
]:i like
]:i like the aspect of
]:gorges
]:an intelligent enemy
]:that definitely
]:that definitely knows what they're
]:doing they're very stealthy and very silent they also have a lot of innate
]:very very very exciting else
]:abilities they can levitate um they can cast
]:darkness
]:globe of darkness and they also have various elements of paralysis which i think
]:globe of darkness and they also have various elements of paralysis which i think
]:is very cool
]:is very cool
]:more than anything like that what you expect
]:more than anything i like the the intelligent aspect behind it
]:they just s
]:and just the cold silent kill killer
]:stuff
]:mindset that comes with a drought
]:it it's really easy to
]:i think that's really easy to
]:narrate in a fight scene um especially because they're so they're so quiet
]:res white jeans especially because they're so they're so white you know that
]:generally that they don't you know scream out or whatever and and you don't have
]:to come up with like the witty banter mid thing i think that's just really nice
]:specific
]:the second thing i like is beholder
]:you see mostly because
]:and this is mostly because they are
]:and this is mostly because they are
]:classically dungeons and dragons like they're you know
]:the cycle dr
]:aside from dragons maybe uh beholder are one of the most iconic enemies in
]:dungeons and dragons um
]:what else
]:but i also love how
]:they too are are very intelligent and their eyes have so many different abilities
]:generally that is just really really interesting um
]:to fight because you just never know what's gonna happen when you're fighting one
]:and you might get disintegrated or you might just get slowed you know like you
]:don't know which i think is really fun
]:yeah i love that
]:i think it's just so iconic honestly too
]:yeah
]:and uh and kind of segue into mine uh this is almost like
]:the bare like basic minimum whereas minions are essential like when i talked
]:about them they're supposed to be just like mowed through by
]:yeah
]:any level of character but especially like later on where you have more area of
]:effect going on like those are great these other ones are
]:so my initial thought was town guards right because when you're early in an
]:adventure
]:especially when you run into a town essentially especially if you have a bunch of
]:murder hobo
]:yeah
]:players right than their
]:yeah
]:main adversaries could be town guards
]:for sure
]:and there's a lot of interesting ways you can do that right like you can throw
]:all the town guards at them you can also have the town guards kind of threaten
]:them with something
]:you know terrible don't just throw them at him but it's something that i've
]:actually found success with to make town guards a lot more interesting
]:and this is one of my reasons why they're like one of my favorite enemies is
]:cause you run into them in every town
]:yeah
]:so long as you don't treat them as just the throw away you know blank faced
]:mm
]:copies of each other then then guards can actually be super interesting
]:if you ever have you ever heard of the video game shadow of mordor
]:yes i have actually i i was actually thinking about playing it the other day
]:cause my brother gave it to me
]:how nice yeah it's got this system that is very smart frustrating too but
]:basically where i so you're you're this ranger let's say
]:uhhuh
]:who is
]:infiltrating mordor and basically each time that he gets killed by an ork
]:essentially that work comes back stronger the orch gets promoted gets an extra
]:ability and so it's harder to
]:well
]:deal with it's it's called the nemesis system um
]:oh that's cool
]:yeah and and so essentially what i would recommend it not necessarily the nemesis
]:system because you shouldn't have to wait for your town guard to mess someone up
]:in order for them
]:right
]:to be cool what i would recommend is have each town guard be kind of
]:an individual right they should have their own specialties you should make them
]:more than just the simple template give them a special ability right and then
]:right
]:if the players have a meaningful encounter whether it's violent or just like um
]:just any kind of conflict at all basically the next time that guard comes back
]:what should he do he should be cooler in a certain way whereas before he
]:uhuh
]:was a lackey oh my goodness this time is that a medal on his chest and why is he
]:does he have two spears instead of the one that he had before you know it's just
]:right
]:it's a nice way for you to enjoy the combat more but also make even you know
]:conflicts within the town a relatively quote unquote safe town can feel a lot
]:more exciting
]:i like that cause one of the things that makes your world feel dynamic is that
]:things change when your characters aren't around like if they come back after a
]:while to a place that they've been before things are different
]:that's
]:that's one of the best ways to let your characters know like hey this is a real
]:world you know even though it's not but you know
]:sergeant so and so got a promotion to captain because he helped you defeat the
]:knoll attack and you guys had a direct impact because you found him cowering in
]:the hay barn and you convinced him to go out and lead the charge you know so it's
]:kind of cool to to to let your characters let your players see that and
]:yeah
]:it definitely helps with immersion so i like that
]:yeah
]:my last one is themed enemies
]:i'm a big fan of theming your
]:enemies for the dungeon i guess dungeons kind of a catch al term i use for like
]:the module or the sidequest or what maybe sidequest is better way of saying it
]:but themed enemies is as a good way to
]:group your enemies together so that way they they feel cohesive a little bit but
]:it's also a good way to pick them cause sometimes you just don't know what to
]:throw out your players next
]:yeah
]:there was
]:what are you gonna say something
]:no no no i i just i was
]:okay
]:agreeing
]:sure uh so there was a side quest i had my guys do in the campaign where they
]:went to this haunted mansion essentially and that was a really easy way for me to
]:be like okay
]:school
]:let's explore all the undead things that i can um and just kind of pick and
]:choose which ones i thought were cool for different parts of the mansion and and
]:then the last you know the big boss was kind of a nerved undead beholder i i took
]:down some of his abilities and and lowered some of the the dcs and things like
]:that just to make him a little bit easier for the troop that was
]:they were lower level but anyways
]:just
]:it was just easy for me based on the setting to pick the enemies and the cool
]:thing about dandy is there's like the
]:still
]:skeleton which is kind of the mechanics and then there's the skin there's the the
]:beauty as side which is the the aesthetic you can take the skeleton the mechanics
]:and then just throw whatever can of paint on you know that people see this all
]:the time in and like fortnight where you get different skins but essentially
]:you're the same person you don't have any extra abilities you can take any
]:character and and any adversary you know peel the paint off and throw in a fresh
]:coat of paint essentially and instead of a drow you have a futuristic warrior
]:from the future who
]:what
]:shoots poison darts from like a laser gun or something don't change the mechanics
]:but it's the same thing but it's different you know
]:yeah i really like that too and something just to point out from what you said
]:you took a common template for an enemy and you tweaked it according to the
]:situation right
]:exactly
]:and that's that's what nice what what is nice because
]:specifically if you if you like me find yourself starting a lot more adventures
]:than you do like getting
]:to higher levels you might be like
]:uhuh
]:oh my goodness this beholder is a little too tough for them or oh this uh this
]:lich i'll i'll probably never run a party through this right
]:right right
]:feel free to just take whatever enemy any at all um and tweak them for your needs
]:right that could be turning super powerful in me like weakening it down to where
]:it makes sense that it's in your low leveled adventure on the other
]:see
]:hand like i was mentioning with the guards or the minions you know you can always
]:uh take a simple enemy one that you'd expect to meet you know not in the end game
]:crazy dungeon or whatever but
]:yeah
]:instead like in an everyday town and be like oh my goodness this captain of the
]:guard is like beefy if my guy
]:right
]:starts messing with the town folk like this is actually me an interesting fight
]:right
]:right right exactly um
]:yeah that's all
]:yeah well that's all the uh the ones that i've listed
]:or something
]:those are some of my favorite dungeon master enemies uh anything you'd like to
]:add ten or before we close up
]:no honestly i think that enemies are great and and aside from their mechanics
]:i think that you should really try and flesh out their backgrounds and why they
]:are part of the adventure and what effects they have and then you'll have a great
]:campaign
]:for sure for sure uh well thank you listener adventurer for for listening to
]:today's show we
]:sh
]:appreciate you and the support you give us make sure you leave us a rating
]:interview so we can
]:she was sure
]:share this show with people who definitely need it cause the
]:yeah
]:hobby is there for people who need it and for people who want it
]:like i said uh six years co announcements the most
]:like i said uh stay tuned after this for some important announcements from us as
]:well as some of our awesome awesome sponsors but tanner thanks for for joining me
]:on today's show
]:course
]:any last words for the listener not not for you
]:any last words uh
]:any last words
]:though honestly you guys are all great thank you again for listening uh love you
]:alright well
]:listener we will see you next time for another great show of how to be a better
]:is we will s next time we're never very short
