u/white_ran_2000

I don’t like that about myself. I’ve been running the campaign for over a year now and I think it’s going ok. But there’s nothing I can do that may scare them, they just barrel in and kill everything. Prepared a possible tense negotiation scene “nope, not valuable enough, off you go”.

And the hard thing is, it’s wearing, me down. I want to build a complex, emotionally invested campaign but I cannot; they’re not scared, they’re not invested. They just kill things. And every time they kill more npcs and barely break a sweat, I feel a little more defeated.

So my question is, how do I get out of the mindset that if they killed the enemies, I must have failed? They clearly enjoy winning, they enjoy having powerful toys and they even pull clever tactics to disarm and neutralise their enemies.

So why do I feel so hollow? How do I make myself feel joy with their joy, or at least their victory? How can I see whether I’ve succeeded as a DM?

I’m not even sure what I’m asking, if you guys can help me understand. I feel upset that they’ve obliterated yet another npc and I know it’s wrong and I’m wondering what’s causing it and how to fix it. I want to feel enthusiasm with their shenanigans, not deflation because they yet again put a hook to the sword and I have nothing to entice them with. All they care is loot, really, being more powerful and killing more things. Even the core of the campaign, they think they can just achieve by killing. And they are very good at killing.

I’ve come to dub the group “tactical aggressors”. Not quite murderhobos, but they seem to think that violence is, indeed, the first answer, regardless the question.

As the title says. I try to give e moments and beats. I thought it’d be interesting to meet Rezmir on her way to the portal under Naerytar, and believed she could make it. She didn’t. They took Hazirawn and the mask. And her head.

I thought it’d be a tense negotiation scene with Talis in the lodge, where she offers information on the cult and the castle in exchange for the mask. They didn’t think so. Even more deliciously, they suffocated Talis as they were trying to restrain her for interrogation. Now they have her dead body in the bag of holding, and a mission to find a 5th level cleric for Speak with the Dead.

They rolled incredibly well in survival, used feats etc so now they’ve made it to Parnast. They’ve seen the castle. The villagers give away nothing. They got drunk in the tavern.

So come next session, they will be awakened with a massive rumble as the giant castle floats off above their heads….possibly with Glazhael lazily flying next to it as rearguard. Mostly because I want them to fight a dragon.

After that, we’ll see. Maybe they fight the dragon. Maybe they chase the castle. Maybe they shrug and try to make it back to Waterdeep. As long as they enjoy meeting every week.

I use the encounter balance system from Flee Mortals! for my 5e campaign and overall I am very satisfied. Per that system, a party should have 2 “Hard” encounters per day. I have a party of 6 level 8 players, so a Hard encounter has a CR sum of 24. And yes, I know that CR should not be the only way to judge an e counter but for now that’s how much effort I can devote.

What do people think the outcome of a “Hard” encounter should be? In my last session, I threw 3 such encounters at the party; granted one PC went to death saving throws and they all needed a short rest after, but I reckon they can go another couple such encounters before another rest. The party is comfortable with short rests, they have many martials (2 figters, barbarian, rogue, paladin) and a warlock. There are magic and even legendary items involved.

So it appears that my party treats Hard encounters roughly as Medium, in which case I am inclined to simply start treating them as one level higher, to be able to keep the balancing as intended.

How much of depletion would you say a Hard encounter should be?

I use the encounter balance system from Flee Mortals! for my 5e campaign and overall I am very satisfied. Per that system, a party should have 2 “Hard” encounters per day. I have a party of 6 level 8 players, so a Hard encounter has a CR sum of 24.

What do people think the outcome of a “Hard” encounter should be? In my last session, I threw 3 such encounters at the party; granted one PC went to death saving throws and they all needed a short rest after, but I reckon they can go another couple such encounters before another rest. The party is comfortable with short rests, they have many martials (2 figters, barbarian, rogue, paladin) and a warlock. There are magic and even legendary items involved.

So it appears that my party treats Hard encounters roughly as Medium, in which case I am inclined to simply start treating them as one level higher, to be able to keep the balancing as intended.

How much of depletion would you say a Hard encounter should be?

I may have a fight with an adult dragon in its lair coming up. The players are just about enough level to fight it (lvl 8) ; if they are depleted it may go poorly. If they are smart and find a way to rest in the dragons’s environmentally dangerous lair (extreme cold, heat, or poisonous wetness ), is it fair to say that the players may gain a long rest thus replenishing spell slots, hp etc but, if they fail a constitution saving throw, they also gain 1 point of exhaustion?

A lot of people complain that there is little direction for the nitty-gritty and the DM has to come up with a lot ideas and re-balance many fights, so here are some things I thought of for the castle Naerytar and Talis the White encounters. I ran one of the below and plan to run the rest in the upcoming sessions. Feel free to comment, borrow or even ignore.

In Castle Naerytar, my players collaborated with the lizardfolk and installed an insurrection. So I left the lizardfolk fighting the bullywugs, and the players concentrated on the cultists. They lingered a lot in the tower where the entrance to the basement is so Azbara Jos hurried silently past them; they followed stealthily and saw her disappear in the teleport. After realising it's a teleport, they decided to go back up and look for the activation word.

On their way back upstairs I orchestrated the big fight with Rezmir, intending for her to flee to the teleport after a tense combat. They met her at the ledge with the "crane" in the dungeon, so half the party was on the ledge and half was 15feet below. Rezmir was flanked by cultists and used her legendary actions liberally to escape to the teleport. My party rolled really high initiative and cleverly used some spells, so she died one round before she would make it. They took Hazirawn and the mask.

Next is the diary with the activation word. The module doesn't say much, so I made it a parting gift from Rezmir. Cultists guard the tower she had it and it is hidden inside the wardrobe with the acid trap. The diary is actually written in invisible ink, which appears only when drenched with black dragon acid. This ties beautifully with Rezmir and the trap. The clues to see the writing are: If the trap is activated, then the diary gets splattered and reveals some of the writing about Greenest and the castle. The diary's pages feel tacky and waxy to the touch (Perception or investigation 12). The desk bears signs of acid corrosion in a spray pattern (Perception 17 to see), except in a square roughly the size of the open diary. It's up to the players to find acid to pour on the diary, but I plan to have a black guard drake also guarding the room, so he may have acid saliva.

Once they go through the portal, if they manage to calmly converse with Talis, she will have realised that they killed Rezmir (the barbarian openly and proudly wields Hazirawn). She will offer to exchange the information about the flying castle in return for the mask; if they refuse she will try to take it by force/combat. I updated Talis' spells to include Spirit Guardians, Spiritual Weapon, Banishment and Hold person. I'm not sure if I'll let her surrender or if I'll let them kill her. But they have a habit of knocking enemies out and bringing them back up to question, so maybe they'll take care of that aspect. If all else fails, they will make it to Parnast rather late and will have to chase the castle in the air.

We need a new wok. Our old one was non-stick coated with a flat (ish?) bottom.

I would like to have one without the chemical coatings, but I worry that we are not very experienced users, we will inadvertently ruin the seasoning, or not be able to use a completely round wok.

Maintaining the seasoning is my biggest worry, we often prepare the meal and leave it in the wok before serving. We do typically use the wok for stir fry’s, occasionally for stews or currys but I do have pots for those too.

Do you have any Amazon recommendations for someone that does t want to eat Teflon but is not that wel—versed on Wok maintenance?