Combat rating 20

June 27, 2024

ADULT RED DRAGON: Battle of the Burning City

Perhaps the most interesting place to put a red dragon is in the middle a city that it’s attacking. Fighting in the city forces the PCs to split their attention between the dragon, the fires, and any people that might need help. Let’s look at them individually. Continue reading

attacker (CR 17+), leader

Combat rating 20, Combat rating 23, Combat rating 26, Combat rating 27, difficulty 18, dragons
June 23, 2024

YOUNG RED DRAGON: How to Use Brute Force Properly

The red dragon is of the worldview that strength (meaning might) is the only important attribute, and that clever approaches are the methods of weaklings. This means that any interesting encounters with them will require either the use of homebrew, or convenient terrain. Continue reading

attacker (CR 8-10), independent

Combat rating 12, Combat rating 14, Combat rating 17, Combat rating 20, difficulty 11, dragons, homebrew
May 30, 2024

ADULT GREEN DRAGON: Threats, Trickery, Minions, and Magic,

Before I discuss the adult greens dragon’s tactics, I want to discuss the spell Hero’s Feast, and how to deal with it. Continue reading

guardian (CR 11-16), independent

Combat rating 18, Combat rating 20, Combat rating 23, Combat rating 25, difficulty 17, dragons, social encounter
January 17, 2024

HORNED DEVIL: How to Use the Devil’s Laziness

or the sake of this article, I am going to assume the horned devil was assigned to watch an entrance. It can be to a magic item, to a portal, or to anything else worth protecting. Continue reading

guardian (CR 11-16)

Combat rating 14, Combat rating 16, Combat rating 19, Combat rating 20, devils, difficulty 13
December 18, 2023

YOCHLOL: Dangers of the Yochlol’s Web

The yochlol comes with one of the strangest abilities in D&D. It has the ability to turn into a cloud of toxic mist, with will render anyone inside it poisoned, making it harder for them to attack and easier for them to be attacked. Continue reading

guardian (CR 8-10), minion

battlemap, Combat rating 12, Combat rating 14, Combat rating 17, Combat rating 20, demons, difficulty 11, social encounter, traps
November 23, 2023

GORISTRO: How to Use Mazes and Forced Movement

The intended tactics for the goristro are, I think, that he makes a head charge one turn, the next turn he multiattacks, hopefully tripping at least one PC prone. Continue reading

attacker (CR 17+), minion

battlemap, Combat rating 20, Combat rating 21, Combat rating 23, Combat rating 25, demons, difficulty 10, difficulty 16, difficulty 18, difficulty 20
October 26, 2023

DEATH KNIGHT 1: A Duel of Questionable Honor

This is the first of two death knight articles. This one uses him as a lesser boss, in the next one he’ll be the campaign’s big bad. Continue reading

boss battle (CR 17+), leader

Combat rating 20, Combat rating 21, Combat rating 23, Combat rating 25, difficulty 21, homebrew
June 26, 2023

DEATH TYRANT: Fighting While Defending a Crowd of People

In this scenario, the city has fallen to the death tyrant. * The death tyrant has zombies, giants (ogres, ettins, cyclopes) and possibly other monsters rampaging through the city and setting fire to some of the houses. Continue reading

boss battle (CR 11-16)

beholders, Combat rating 17, Combat rating 20, Combat rating 21, Combat rating 23, difficulty 17, theater of mind
June 15, 2023

BEHIR: Forcing the Players Into Making a Deadly Pursuit

The behir’s strategy is simple. It will ambush the PCs, constrict one of them the first turn, drag them to a safe[er] area if possible, and swallow during the second turn. After that, it will flee through a tunnel. Continue reading

animal, attacker (CR 11-16)

Combat rating 14, Combat rating 16, Combat rating 19, Combat rating 20, difficulty 10
May 4, 2023

DEVA & How to Run Tests of Character In D&D

A look at possible reasons why the PCs are left to go on quests. Why the angels don’t defeat all the villains for them. (The monster manual tries to give a reason, but comes up short. All it says is that then the angels would take over completely. It doesn’t address why that would be… Continue reading

ally (CR 8-10), leader

angels, Combat rating 12, Combat rating 14, Combat rating 17, Combat rating 20, difficulty 11, social encounter

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.

Dragon Encounters

Combat rating 20

ADULT RED DRAGON: Battle of the Burning City

YOUNG RED DRAGON: How to Use Brute Force Properly

HORNED DEVIL: How to Use the Devil’s Laziness

GORISTRO: How to Use Mazes and Forced Movement

DEATH KNIGHT 1: A Duel of Questionable Honor

DEATH TYRANT: Fighting While Defending a Crowd of People

BEHIR: Forcing the Players Into Making a Deadly Pursuit

About Me

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