#cr 30

[dnd-shows-have-my-soul]

Ok episode just ended, here are my immediate thoughts.

- Laudna got a headache after staring at Rudius for too long, but Imogen, even with a Natural One, did not. This probably means that Rudiusborn are not effected by whatever ‘glamour ‘ effects Rudius produces. This also means that Laudna is probably not Rudiusborn.

- Going off of that, no headache was mentioned to overcome Orym. This could very much be because he rolled a Natural 20 and/or there wasn’t time to mention it, but it does add to the theory that Orym is also Rudiusborn.

-Morrigan. We received confirmation that she is a hag, and gives out favors in exchange for gifts. There is an implication that Fearne was one of those gifts. However, neither Birdie nor Ollie ever thought of the arrangement that way which makes me believe that there could be some foul play involved.

-We also have confirmation that the Gnarlrocks are definitely not good. We don’t know how exactly they’ll come up in the future, but it is something to keep it mind. Especially because Delilah has plans. And that is never good.

-The outside of Rudius looks like a threaded cage that weaves all the way around it. Imogen and Orym also discovered that beneath the red storm lies a city. We know that two forgotten deities are somehow tied to Rudius, and that these deities were already gone prior to the Calamity, so it could be that these Gods were imprisoned there and were never shoved behind the divine gate. It is also very likely that they created their own race of people to follow them. Hence, the city.

-Eyes of the Runekeeper. What will Laudna she when she is given a chance to take another look? She read the runes prior, there is no reason she couldn’t do it again.

I have a lot of other thoughts but that is the top bunch for now. I’ll probably make a follow post later with more ideas but idk. Good episode a lot of fun time. Yes

[valldoesdnd]

The Archvillain Archive is OUT NOW!

This 100 page supplement is brimming with 29 villains for your Dungeons and Dragons games, all the way from challenge rating 15 - 30! 

With new magical items, mythic traits and memorable BBEGs, this supplement has everything you need to run a memorable encounter with monstrously powerful foes! Grab the full PDF or Physical Book from here! Check out more content by Vall Does DnD here! Want to see what we’re working on? Come join our discord!

[serpentsembrace]

The mighty Tarrasque, for all its strength, is somewhat lacking in 5th edition D&D. This is widely understood, and there have been a variety of "fixes" proposed over the years. While this version of the tarrasque certainly restores some of its original power and hardiness, it also aims to solve what one might call "cheese" strategies for defeating it (looking at you, Ranger on a broom of flying). That said, my aim is not to merely nullify all such strategies, but to make the tarrasque a foe that is more than a worthy challenge for a party of level 20 adventurers armed to the teeth with magic items, and more interesting for the DM to run. There are a number of effects here that offer few or no saving throws. Players may see this as unfair, but this is Challenge Rating 30 (or somewhere thereabouts). There are no more training wheels. If an adventuring party is to defeat the tarrasque, they must be well-prepared, or face death. If your players are asking for a challenge for their high level characters, then give them one. If anyone uses this, please let me know! I would love to hear how it performs in actual play! On a personal note, I'm so glad that I was finally able to get something creative done again. It feels like it's been forever since I've been able to make something I felt was worth sharing. Sorry for the period of silence on new content like this.

[5ecardaday]

Emrakul, the Aeons Torn / Emrakul, the Promised End

If you’d like to support what I do, find free pdf’s for my content, get insight into my design process, and get access to other exclusive homebrew content, feel free to check out my Patreon, whose link can be found on my page.

[katleyh]

Been rewatching campaign 2 and wanted to draw this little moment from episode 30 when Caduceus has alcohol for the first time, poor thing.

I flippin’ love drawing Caduceus!

[stuntmantan]

An open request from the r/monsteraday subreddit. Just a Medium-sized deity didn’t make much sense to me, so I took the same route as I did with other divine entities I’ve homebrewed and cheated by making him actually Gargantuan, with the shapechange ability to take the form of anything else.

As a god of all magic, I felt like trying to use any magic against this guy should be as poor a decision as using a sword against the god of metal, but I also want to always make sure my creatures (and bosses in particular) are still fun and engaging for all players to have an encounter with. Limited magic immunity is a problem to be solved, total magic immunity is a dick move. Is a free counterspell on every turn super difficult to deal with? You betcha. However, it isn’t unbeatable by any means.

Off the top of my head, tactics for dealing with his magical mastery involve: - Burn your own counterspell against his. Yes, it’s a DC 19 and it essentially means doubling the spell slots used for every cast, but it’s not super out there for a level 20 wizard to accomplish with relative ease. - Cast spells in tandem with a party member (or a clone!). By holding your action to cast until someone else does, now Azuth has two spells coming at him at once with only one reaction to burn on a counter. Like a feint in fighting, the first spell is sacrificed so that the other one can go through clean. - Fight from the shadows. Not literally, of course, dude still has truesight and free clairvoyance, but keeping your location secret and hidden from him will mitigate a lot of what his mortal avatar can deal with. Making good use of cover, hit and run, and other stealthy options will keep you out of view and out of range of his toughest abilities. Remember that counterspell only has a range of 60 feet, which is paltry at a tier where you can cast fly on yourself.

Like all boss encounters, as much fun as it might be as a DM to go whole hog and just stack the deck completely against the party, that’s not what this game is about. As the game runner, you can at any time just say “Rocks fall, everyone dies.” The game exists as a vehicle for our imaginations and to create shared stories and memories with our friends. We’re not here to kill the party or assert our monster creations as the best most unbeatable things ever. We’re here to have a good time and ROOT FOR OUR PARTY. If you make an encounter that cannot be beaten, you have found the only one way to lose at D&D. Encourage your players to think creatively, and reward them for coming up with stuff you didn’t think of. Cheat the numbers both ways to keep the encounter interesting, and when things have built to an appropriate climax, let your players deliver the final blow. Share in their victories, and console them in their defeats. Have fun, friends.

[littlecajunlady]

Critical Role Episode 30: Stoke the Flames

I’ve finally reached the 30s!! Only took 5 months . . .

Also, Halloween episode! It’s cool/interesting that the costumes don’t really interfere with the story at all, or my ability to still imagine them as their characters. I’d also managed not to spoil myself much for this one surprisingly except for the big reveal at the end.

Another thing I noticed is that Percy answers the “who’s the last barrel for” question the same as Taliesin answered it in the campaign wrap-up, so I wonder if anyone who wanted to know forgot it had already been answered or if they just thought Percy/Taliesin wasn’t being truthful.

00:30 – Orion announced to no longer be on the show 12:30 – Game starts 16:20 - Percy explains the smoke 20:25 – Percy answers the question about who the last barrel is for 31:30 – Vex kisses Percy on the cheek 39:38 - Vax & Grog wonder where the smoke comes out of Percy 41:30 – Vampires! (Vampires?) 57:40 - Percy uses his sword/”The butt flap of my soul is down” 1:00:45 – Scanlan’s gotta pee 1:03:40 - Scanlan is duel wielding 1:04:40 - Scanlan Inspires Grog ♪ (Semi-charmed Life) 1:10:20 – Travis as Helga 1:12:45 - Keyleth does a reach around/kills 2 vampires with sun beam 1:22:40 – Scanlan gets HDYWTDT on last vampire using vicious mockery 1:34:20 - Laura grabs Travis’s boob 1:37:10 – Break starts 1:57:50 – Break ends (Percy, Vex, Keyleth, and Grog find a new place as their hideout) 2:07:50 – Nobody can say Percy’s full name (Vax and Scanlan as father and son go to a pub to try and talk to some people) 2:18:10 – Little boy Scanlan, persuasion and deception 2:21:00 – Vax is a terrible father (They talk to Keeper Yennin again) 2:35:20 – Percy reveals himself to his father’s old chancellor, Archibald Desnae 2:36:25 – CASSANDRA DE ROLO LIVES!! (They plan to attack the 2 other houses) 2:59:15 – Scanlan turns into a triceratops 3:05:15 – Game ends