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HEAD VILLAIN: Introducing him, and keeping him alive.
My apologies to everyone for my lack of posting in the last few weeks. I’ve been working on guest posts to try to bring up the blog’s ratings online, and it’s left me a little short of time. With that said, let me introduce the first DragonEncounters post on a different site. Meeting the villains… Continue reading
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DRYAD: Improved Nature Quests and the Green Trap
Discover better nature-themed quest ideas—and learn how to turn dryad encounters into lethal fights with Entangle and stealth tactics. How to Use: Dryad and Nature Quests The obvious purpose for a dryad is as a quest giver, for nature related quests. I don’t normally do quests (I feel enough quest ideas exist online), but most… Continue reading
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DRUID: Moonbeam and Thunderstrike in a Deadly Chase
How to Use: NPC Druid Spellcasting Tactics The most obvious use of a druid NPC is to give help or advice, or to ask them to go on a quest. I am going to wait to discuss nature themed quests in the next article, Dryad. For this article, I will concentrate on giving two druid… Continue reading
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DRACOLICH: How to Use Immortality as an Unfair Cheat
How to Use – Dracolich “Suicide” Tactics Fighting back isn’t the only way a villain can respond to the heroes’ aggression. Another way is to go after a city, or other civilians, forcing the heroes to either risk themselves in order to save the civilians, or to suffer the effects of massive unpopularity. [See below].… Continue reading
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DRIDER: How to Use Darkness and Range in Combat
Three Ways of Running DnD’s Drider: The Temporary Parley Trap, Tactics of the Darkness Spell, and the Drider’s devastating sniper range tactic. How to Use – DnD’s Drider Parley Tactic Advantage of Knowledge of the Drow The drider is the ideal monster with which to set up a drow campaign. As a being who was… Continue reading
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DRAGON TURTLE: Battle of the Living Island
How to Use Combat Encounters Ideas 1 (difficulty 18): Dragon Turtle Island Legends tell of islands that are actually giant sea beasts. This likely inspired D&D’s dragon turtle, and this is my first combat encounter. When setting this up, we’ll immediately run into two problems. The first is that the dragon turtle doesn’t have… Continue reading
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SILVER DRAGON WYRMLING: Climbing for Survival and Chasing Down Caverns
Dnd’s silver dragon wyrmling is weak, but can really hamper movement. Here are four separate encounters built around that. How to Use – Silver Dragon Wyrmling Tactics The best way to use any wyrmling, tactically, is for it to hit them with its breath weapon when available, then use its movement speed to get around… Continue reading
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ANCIENT SILVER DRAGON: Perils of the Fogbound Lair
The silver dragon has a lair that seems simple, but is actually a deadly maze to its enemies. Let’s explore why that is. How to Use – The Silver Dragon’s Lair (difficulty 24) Unlike with the other dragons, the silver dragon’s lair actions are actually better suited for the path to the dragon, as… Continue reading
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2024/2014 Monster Manuals, and What Now?
This is just a brief update to address the issue of the new Monster Manual(2024), and to set blog policy for the way forward. For at least the next year (dating from the release of the Monster Manual 2024), I plan to treat both Monster Manuals as authentic. What will that mean? Changes to Monsters: All… Continue reading
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ADULT SILVER DRAGON: Daring Escapes and Visiting Neglected Areas
D&D’s silver dragons rule the sky. These mountain-top and midair encounters let your players ride beside—or battle—the sky king himself. How to Use & How to Not Use DnD’s Adult Silver Dragon Reasons For the Dragon to Refuse to Help As I’ve already discussed, bringing powerful friendly NPCs into D&D raises the problem of why… Continue reading
About Me
I’ve been a DM since I was about 10 years old. (Not of D&D, admittedly, but still.) After growing bored of fights that were all the same, dungeons heavily populated by one monster type, and a general shortage of ideas, I figured I’d embark on my own trip through the Monster Manual, one monster at a time. Feel free to join the quest.