- When you're running a D&D game,
you're not likely to be using monsters
that have boss-like features, like lair actions,
legendary actions and environmental effects,
until your players are upwards of level ten.
But anybody who's worked a crappy corporate job knows
that even at very low levels, there's always a boss.
(whoosh)
Slug, can you send in Mudguts?
I thought I told him I needed those pillaging reports
on my desk by 2PM!
- [Slug] Right away, goblin boss.
- He's already been written up for this...
I guess it's time to escalate.
(whoosh)
- Your players shouldn't have to wait until higher levels
to have epic boss battles, and lairs are one
of the ways you can make a boss fight exciting.
For those who aren't familiar
with lairs: lair actions basically make the environment
into its own monster, with its own initiative,
to back up the big bad.
For example, an ancient red dragon can use lair actions like
a geyser of magma or poisonous volcanic gas.
Not only do lair actions lend atmosphere
and unpredictability to an encounter,
but on a more practical level,
they help balance out action economy
so that your boss can actually pose a threat.
The regional effects do something similar,
but they're constant.
So instead of something happening regularly
during initiative, a regional effect is more like
how all low-intelligence creatures within six miles
of a kraken's lair fight to defend the kraken.
Unfortunately, the Monster Manual
doesn't really give you access to lairs
when your party is at lower levels.
A goblin boss doesn't have a lair, for example.
But the good news is we don't have to rely on this thing.
I'm gonna teach you the basics of how to create
and use these features to make your boss battles epic,
and for hands-on examples,
we're gonna reference Home-Field Advantage,
a compendium of lair actions and regional effects
for over 300 monsters
from official D&D sourcebooks.
That's because this video is sponsored by DMsGuild.
DMsGuild is a community content program
where creators can legally use official D&D material
to create and share their own game content,
from adventures and character options
to monster collections and magic items.
There are thousands of PDFs,
all created by DMs like you to help improve your games
and make your job easier.
Make sure to use my code for a discount
on your DMsGuild purchase,
whether or not it includes Home-Field Advantage.
More info in the description, but just to be clear,
the advice in this video does not require purchasing
a book to implement.
You can absolutely take the tips I'm about to share
and use them without paying a dime.
Okay, let's get to work.
(whoosh)
- Slug, call an all-hands meeting.
It's time to take up the war chant.
- [Slug] Again?
- I don't need your attitude right now, Slug!
I need boots on the ground!
I need every single goblin giving 110%!
- [Slug] What's a percent?
(whoosh)
- Imagine that your level-two party has been fighting
some small groups of goblins, and now they're
about to face off with the goblin boss.
By this point, they've killed goblins,
and they know they're not really a huge threat.
They track the goblins back to their lair
and find themselves face to face with the boss
and her goblin minions.
In the first round of combat, the players take out one
or two of the goblins and are feeling pretty good
about themselves, but then the lair action hits.
The goblin boss starts pounding her spear on the stone,
and a harsh chant echoes against the cavern walls.
The goblins are banging their weapons
to join the clamor, shrieking and cackling.
You call for the cleric to make a concentration check
as the cacophony makes it more and more difficult
to focus on holding Bless.
You tell the party that the goblins seem empowered
by this chant, like being connected
with their fellows has made them somehow stronger.
This particular lair action comes
from the Goblin Boss section of Home-Field Advantage.
Any creature within five feet of a goblin
when the war chant begins has to make a save
for any spells they're concentrating on,
and all the goblins have advantage
on their next check, attack or save.
This is a perfect example of the first rule of great lairs:
They should complement
your monster's strengths or counter their weaknesses.
Here's the thing about goblins:
They're individually weak.
It's true, but that's why they gather in large groups.
Even weak creatures can be deadly
when there are enough of them.
That's a key part of goblins as a monster.
It's even written into the Monster Manual.
This lair action highlights that strength
and turns it into a mechanical benefit
that the goblins only get because they're
on their own turf with their own team.
Home-Field Advantage is full of great examples
of this rule in action.
For example, the shadow demon has light sensitivity.
So the book has given it a lair action that allows it
to create its own darkness.
Nobles are often not very mechanically threatening.
Their strength lies in their social power.
To represent this, the book includes lair actions
like nearby guards and servants being able
to use their reaction to take damage on the noble's behalf.
When coming up with your own lair actions
and regional effects, think about what circumstances
your monster or villain needs in order
to maximize their abilities.
How can you use their environment
to create those circumstances?
(air whooshing)
- Just received word from corporate.
We've been instructed to 'skulk around'.
Can you pass that down?
- [Slug] Aw, man, but it's nearly quitting time.
- Don't I know it.
Thank Maglubiyet it's Friday, right?
(whoosh)
- The effects of the war chant have ended,
and your party is slowly but surely picking goblins off
where they can, but it's lair action time again.
The goblin boss gives a command in goblin.
Any players who speak it hear her yell, "scatter!"
The goblins bolt.
Any that were visible attempt to hide,
and if there were any that were already hiding,
well, good luck finding 'em now.
The scrape and clatter of footfalls fade
into stealthy silence,
and the cavern appears strangely empty.
You pass the turn back to your players,
who are suddenly low on enemies to attack.
Although, they're probably looking like
pretty good shortbow targets right now.
This lair action is detailed in Home-Field Advantage
as an opportunity for goblins to immediately
use their reactions to hide,
or if already hidden, take their movement.
The goblin boss doesn't even have
to use their reaction for this move.
This is rule two of lairs:
Give players a problem to solve.
On a basic level, the goal of most combat encounters is
to kill all of the enemies.
Since goblins are so individually weak,
an encounter with a bunch of goblins mostly
just involves picking them off one by one,
or hitting a group of 'em with some sort
of area of effect attack, but as per the first rule,
we want the lair actions to play to the goblins strengths,
and boy, are they good at stealth.
By giving the goblins extra opportunities
to hide and sneak around, the objective
for players stops being kill all the goblins
and temporarily becomes locate the goblins.
This breaks up the monotony that can come with an encounter
where you just use the same damage-dealing attacks round
over round over round.
It also challenges players
to think creatively and problem-solve.
They're going to use different tactics and skills,
and this might even allow different players
their chance to shine.
Home-Field Advantage has other great examples
of this rule in action, too.
For instance, the Green Hag has
a lair action where she can disguise herself
as a nearby creature and then choose whether
or not to magically swap places with it.
That means players suddenly don't know
which creature is the hag.
Imagine that she uses it on a party member,
and now the players have to figure out which is which,
so they don't attack their own ally.
When you're picking a lair action or regional effect,
ask yourself, how does this affect the players' choices?
Consider having at least one of your lair actions present
a new problem to be solved.
That way, you can keep players
on the back foot during combat.
(air whooshing)
- [Slug] Boss? The new interns are here.
Are they doing any kinda training?
- Training?
Do they need training to be putrescent?
- [Slug] I dunno, maybe?
They could be stinkier.
- It's so hard to find good, entry-level goblins these days.
Nobody wants to raid anymore!
(whoosh)
- When the players first enter the lair,
you describe a noxious smell.
The goblins themselves look particularly foul,
even for goblins, and then the first player hits one
with a melee attack.
You describe the goblin's blood splattering
onto their attacker's face, weirdly sludgy and dark.
You tell them that at first they think
the blood is just hot, but then it starts to burn.
There is something deeply wrong with this goblin.
You call for a constitution save.
If they fail it, they're poisoned by the toxins
that these goblins somehow carry inside them,
but that's not all.
If anyone decides to brave that poisonous proximity long
enough to kill a goblin from melee range,
you call for a second, higher-DC con save.
If they fail that one, you get to take part in one
of a dungeon master's greatest joys:
You get to raise your eyebrows, make a note to yourself,
and say absolutely nothing else.
Man, that really freaks 'em out,
then, in 1d4 days, you can start revealing
the symptoms of sewer plague.
This regional effect doesn't demonstrate rule three
on its own, but when paired with the first two examples,
you can very clearly see
that it's crucial to make sure all
of your lair actions
and regional effects accomplish different things.
Lair actions and regional effects can do all kinds of stuff.
They can inflict status conditions,
like the effect I just described.
They can protect, heal or strengthen your monsters,
or they can weaken, inconvenience or damage the party.
They can create obstacles, cause weather effects
or give monsters extra movement or attacks.
You have pretty much infinite options with these features.
So make sure they're not all doing the same things.
If one of your lair actions deals damage,
consider making the next one change the terrain
or call for reinforcements.
Not only does this keep the lair actions unpredictable,
it also gives you options as a DM,
so you can choose the effects
that benefit your monsters tactically,
based on how the encounter is going so far,
and if you accidentally end up hitting
your players harder than you intended,
you have the ability to focus
on non-damage-dealing effects for a while,
just to give them a chance to catch up.
Of course, there's nothing more depressing than prepping
for a big boss fight where you're really trying
to scare the crap out of your players,
and then they beat your bad guy senseless
in the first round.
Lair actions and regional effects
can help strengthen your boss
and give you more tools to threaten the party with,
but it's an essential DM skill to be able
to adjust your monster tactics on the fly
to ensure that your epic battles stay epic.
Check out this video next to learn how to do that.
- Let's circle back next week
on the Q3 ravaging and looting schedule.
Oh, and, Slug. There was rotten carrion
on my desk this morning.
- [Slug] Happy birthday!
- (laughs) Oh, you shouldn't have!
Minion of the month right here.