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So my niece stopped by my place today with my sister in law to pick some stuff up while i had a DND session today and my niece is really clingy to me so i let her watch, she wanted to play so i let her in a limited way, she got to listen to me tell a fun story and role any dice i the DM would

it was only for like 20 minutes but she caught on quick that the smaller the number the worse so when she rolled a 1 she said "oh no, i lost" and it made the entire table break out laughing lmao

The False Hydra is a very interesting and engaging idea that holds a lot of storytelling potential. It will almost never be used this way. Instead, False Hydra's sit comfortably in the D&D sub-category of "Things that are never actually run but players like to think about and create little micro fictions and ideas in their heads about".

Because if you've tried to run a False Hydra or if you've thought about it for longer than a few seconds, False Hydra's require way more prep on average, they require your players not have any other goals in mind, if you aren't a good storyteller the narrative will quickly fall apart and play like shit.

In the grand scheme of things, False Hydra rely on metagame knowledge and continuity to even be scary at all. Otherwise, so long as it's singing, the PCs don't care. Even if they figure everything out, so long as they fall under the spell again, it's back to normal and it's up to the players to just pretend they don't know what they know, or the DM to give them the tools to remember again.

With how often you see memes and posts about False Hydra, you would think they're one of the most beloved villains ever. In reality, I've been playing 5e both in person with friends and strangers, at events, and over Discord for 8 years now, and I've never encountered one a single time.

People like to talk about False Hydras, they don't like to actually PLAY them. They've become adjacent to something That Guy™️ brings up in the session to go, "Oh... You don't know about the False Hydra? 😏 Heheh.. Let me tell you a story...." And then he just recites something he read online.

Memes and fan content are the lifeblood of any fandom, subculture, niche, hobby, etc, but at the same they run the risk of giving outsiders an idea of what the game is that will set them up for disappointment and failure. In the same way that Critical Role caused thousands of people to dive into D&D expecting it to be a professionally produced, carefully curated, well-funded fantasy adventure film, how is someone who wants to play D&D because they find a False Hydra interesting supposed to actually satisfy that? Ask a DM to do a False Hydra in their campaign so there will be no surprise and no mystery, ruining it? Or become a DM solely to run that campaign, missing out on the thousands of nuances of TTRPG management?

Just like a False Hydra sings you into a fake interpretation of reality, I think D&D is overloaded with false representations of what D&D actually is. And more than WOTC's bad behavior, more than That Guy in your LGS, more than anything else, giving people a false idea of what they're going into will return D&D to the niche subculture that it once was.

Please keep in mind, this post has nothing really to do with the False Hydra being bad or impossible to run, and everything to do with it being presented as a character or a recurring thing or a common entity. I am simply using it to comment on the tendency of D&D content creators to create a narrative that doesn't exist that portrays D&D as something it isn't.

Solo bosses are one of the most common disappointments I see in 5e.

On paper they look terrifying. At the table they usually swing hard in one of two directions: • they melt in 1–2 rounds due to action economy • or they survive only because of HP bloat + Legendary Resistance, which feels bad for players

After running into this problem over and over, I stopped trying to “fix” solo bosses with numbers. Instead, I changed the structure of the encounter.

A solo boss isn’t fighting the party, it’s fighting the action economy. No amount of extra HP really solves that; it just delays the outcome.

What doesn’t work (in my experience) Doubling HP → longer, not better fights Over-tuned damage → random player deaths More Legendary Resistances → invalidated player choices

The structure I use instead I design solo boss fights around pressure, phases, and objectives, not raw stats.

1. Phases, not HP walls The boss changes behavior at clear thresholds (not just “bloodied”): new abilities new positioning new priorities This keeps the fight dynamic even if the party is winning.

2. External pressure Something else is happening besides “hit the boss”: collapsing terrain civilians to protect rituals ticking down The boss doesn’t need more actions if the fight itself demands decisions.

3. Soft action economy Instead of more attacks, I add: reactions that reposition or disrupt lair actions that reshape the battlefield limited “once per round” effects that cost something The boss feels present every round without spamming turns.

4. Clear win conditions Not every solo boss needs to die. Sometimes: breaking a focus forcing a retreat surviving long enough is the real objective.

I’ve run this structure multiple times at different levels, and it’s been far more reliable than CR tweaking.

Curious how other DMs handle solo bosses: Do you still run true solos? Or have you abandoned them entirely?

This illustration captures a small moment from our session.
After combat, during a short rest, one PC still had energy to burn and started bothering their companion—chatting, joking, and generally refusing to sit still.
The other PC looks clearly exhausted and mildly annoyed, but not truly upset.
These two characters get along well, and that easy familiarity shows even in moments like this.
Between epic fights and serious decisions, it’s these quiet, slightly silly interactions that make our D&D sessions feel alive!

The context is I am running LMoP for my kiddo, her 2 teenage friends, and one of their dads. It’s going pretty well after accepting that they pretty much want to beat up goblins and explore the darker side of role playing. I’ve totally leaned into it and have tailored the game so players don’t feel like they need to be on the side of good while still keeping the story intact. I feel it’s a good place to get their emotions out.

Recently, one of the players admitted that they want to attack one of the other players, played by their dad. I overheard this while they were talking to my kid. They recently had some hard things going on at home and some consequences from their parents (Teen stuff, I’ll spare you all the details, but everyone is safe and ok). There’s a real possibility that they will go after the dad’s character and I don’t think any of the others players would stop them. What should I do?

The party is currently LV3, but they have encountered this creature while they were very low on HP, which had them run on sight (no initiative was even rolled)

They are learning more about the monster every so often, and it’s intended they don’t fight one until at least LVL5.

What I wonder is, how hard of a time will a 4 PC, LV5 party do against this monster? Could I fetch a few cannon fodder enemies into the fray as well?

They will have prior knowledge of some of the creature's weaknesses, and one of the players is a retired tactician, so I intend to give them some sort of battle advantage from studying the creature.

Thanks!

Clarification: "Orobound damage" is damage that bypasses resistances and applies DMG to the soul of a creature. This particular creature has an artificial/incomplete Oro, meaning they don't have all the mechanisms a real soul has to defend against damage. By the point I expect them to fight it, they should have at least one source of Orobound damage in form of a ranged attack/weapon.

This is a just a shower thought, but as paladins can't be diseased, if someone became a paladin from a young enough age, their body wouldn't learn to recognise harmful microbes. This is called the hygiene paradox.

As the immune system doesn't know what to attack, there is an increased likelihood of allergies and autoimmune conditions.

Please don't yell at me for this, I am fully aware of how stupid of an idea this is.

EDIT: I have been made aware that the hygiene paradox is wrong, and that everything I just said is idiocy. I'm not attempting to spread misinformation, or make light of people who actually suffer from these conditions.

The image above is the current draft I am using for my dnd OC

Hello, I am new to this dnd character creating. I’ve played baldurs gate, which is based around dnd and made a character just based on what I like. However, after playing the game I had a big liking the character I made to and want to make it my own oc for a dnd campaign. I also tried using websites to help further inform me of the armour, speed and general info that I need. The character was a drow paladin who was an oath breaker however this time I was planning on sticking to the oath.

So my questions are: 1. Do the does the race of your character have to be best fit to a class? (e.g half elf as a paladin) - if no, then would a drow be ok to use as a paladin? I know they are more stealth based but I like the race a lot and would like to play with it

1. I based my character stats on the 4d6 roll where the lowest was eliminated and the rest were added up. Are the stats ok for a level 1?

Any help is appreciated thank you

(mostly completed) I decided to zoom in this time and do everything in a bit more detail. The results: I’m happy with the mountains (for the most part), but I need to find a nicer-more detailed style for everything else that still doesn’t take ages. I took people’s advice for the river (more streams consolidating into the few), and it does look better than before, especially on this large scale. I also like the design I went with for the banner, I’ll definitely use some modification of it in the future. On a daily basis it does take a long time to make a map, so either I’ll post them partially completed like this or I will take my time but upload every 2-3 days until school starts, then a week apart later.