Combat rating 23
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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
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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
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ANCIENT BLACK DRAGON: Fighting is the Ruins
The Monster Manual tells us that black dragons make their lairs on the ruins of empires. Here’s how this can turn the ancient black dragon’s lair into a nightmare for any aspiring adventurers. Combat encounter 1 (difficulty 23) Arrange the dragon’s lair as a series of islands or platforms above the swamp water, high enough… Continue reading
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PIT FIEND: Master of the Hells
Stage 1: When the pit fiend sees the PCs, I would have a number of other monsters be around. The pit fiend gestures to the other monsters to attack, and then climbs up to a high spot, where it can watch the fight like a Ceaser at a Roman circus. Continue reading
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ICE DEVIL: Making Proper Use of the Ice Wall
The best use for the ice devil is to have him cast his ice wall, and then defend it. Continue reading
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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
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DEMILICH: A Glass Cannon Foe, and How to Use Him
The demilich is one of the more unique monsters in the Monster Manual. Before we can try to build scenarios for him, we need to first understand how he functions, and how he should and should not be used. Continue reading
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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
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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
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SOLAR: Tactics for Outdoor and Indoor Fighting
The solar has two different styles of fighting, indoors and outdoors. I’ll detail them both. If your players are fighting a solar, you might want to use both, as it will save the fight from becoming boring. besides, any boss fight can use a second phase. 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.