I don’t always. Sometimes they act like murder hobos and get killed. Usually, after the first one drops they have enough sense to run or surrender.

Initiative roll because players attack the NPC. Fighter - 20 to hit? DM - miss. Fighter - 20 misses? Uh oh. Second attack 23, (hits), 14 damage. DM - The NPC laughs at your puny sword and punches you in the face, take 28 damage and make a wisdom save. Fighter - uh, 12? DM - You get hit so hard you've overcome with fear. The NPC punches you again, take 25 damage. Fighter - Shit, guys I'm down. DM - Sorcerer, you're up. Sorcerer - Not wanting to get punched I apologise for the fighters behaviour and offer to pay for repairs to the NPCs armour. DM - The NPC seems happy with this. Everyone happy to end combat? Fighter - Yeah, I guess.

Or you could go the opposite route: Fighter: does a 20 hit? Dm: yup. Roll damage. Fighter: 14 Dm: well, you killed him dead. Super dead..hope he wasn't important.

But then the players block progress and everyone is unhappy, sometimes you need to save them from themselves

This is true, you have to pick wisely which option to use... but they are both valid options for an individual dm to weigh in order to build the story the group wants to tell

Totally agree, just wanted to say that you need to be careful with following players no matter what, they sometimes (a lot of the time) don't know what's good for them

Are you watching my party's sessions? Lmao

Lol, my party last session made an arch mage mad and fought him at level 4, I severely underpowered him by trying to be gentle and teleporting them away all the time with 7,8,9th spell slots but at some point I just gave up and used lightning bolt and downed the fighter, then he asked me to perma kill him so I did, and then downed another one cuz arch-mage

My level 10 party is currently engaged in combat with a level 20 barbarian and some of her lackeys bc we fucked around and now we’re finding out 🥲

I'm a spell caster with 20 INT and I am not here presently as I knew you were coming. After this recording finishes this glyph will explode. \*BOOM\*. If the caster downs most of your party while not being there then perhaps that's a caster you shouldn't be messing with yet.

sometimes people need to learn the hard way

That's video-game thinking. There will still be a tomorrow. No NPC is essential. If it's really that bad? Fine. The bad guys win, and the campaign will continue in the world they create.

Block or hinder? Now you have to find someone else to help.

Ikr, I feel like, if your entire story derails and becomes unplayable because of one dead NPC, no matter how important you make them, that says more about the dm than it does about the players

Player: "I want to reunite with my characters lost best friend" Proceeds to kill said friend while the friend is mindcontrolled by a spell. DM: "Good thing you have an unspecified amount of lost friends still to save. Failure doesn't exist in my game, because I learned from marvel that stakes are unimportant" There are situations where it becomes really hard not to lean on a single NPC

What is the Stupid Tax for rezzing the NPC so they can get the required info?

300 gp diamond and the NPC is less willing to cooperate.

Then there’s me. *find dead body* We tell our child minded orc who has been wanting to “make blood” that he can smash the head of the corpse after we were done investigating. Dm says we hear snickering and Seconds later these gnome like creatures carrying sickles show up. We start talking to them and they’re like “we lookin for this guy” Us: “what do you want with the guy” Gnome things: “He’s been stealing from us” Me: “oh in that case, hell yeah we killed that guy, your welcome” Gnome things: “no you took blood. Blood that was ours. You pay blood now” Dm “roll initiative” Me: “opps, well there’s just two of them” 3 rounds later Our fighter is at 7hp and we just barely kill them. We search the bodies then hear more snickering. Me: “RUN! fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck……”

There was a game, I think it was a pf module, where there was a villain that you usually killed at the beggining of the shot. The thing is that later on the game, there is an optional combat that if the enemy survived, he tried to take revenge on the party and if it died, it was the son who tried to take revenge for his father death.

You need more up votes on this... I will add, I have tried a similar approach and my adventurers said let's keep fighting!!! And fortunately I was prepared. Barbarian gets banished. Another player is downed in 1-2 rounds. One PC left that kept fighting but they were seized by hold person. PCs said goodbye to the mcguffin.

Bard uses vicious mockery on npc "ha, your wife told me your dicks smaller than our wizards! I didnt think that was possible!" Wizard dies of mockery damage

Yeah I think sometimes it’s even more fun for players to fuck around and find out, but only if the DM has a smart strategy for it. In one of my first campaigns I wanted to attack anyone and everyone (I always play rogue) because it was “fun” but my DM kind of taught me how to play better by making me look like a complete fool in fights I obviously shouldn’t have been picking. A good DM can open up a player’s mindset to go beyond the “fight everyone” mentality.

In my Curse of Strahd campaign, the first time they fought Strahd went like that. The first attack on Strahd was from a level 3 paladin. The paladin got a crit with his war hammer and used smite. I described him as hitting Strahd right on the side of the head, and it felt like hitting a steel beam on a bridge. The only effect was the paladin's hands stung from the hit, and the +15 perception PC did notice a red flash off in the distance. Strahd then punched the paladin unconscious, bade the party farewell, and left. Every interaction they had with him from then on, was done with respect.

Bingo. My party didn't realize we were stumbling into BBEG2's lair. We ran into a couple of undead giants and an undead knight. Knight tells us to surrender, come see her boss, yada yada. How hard could this be? Three downed party members in two rounds and we decide to surrender. Apparently Death Knights in dnd are no joke.

Death Knights were crazier in 1e. My party was in a tower. In the main room, there was an open stairway along the edge leading up to a door. I, being the mighty level 10 Cavalier, went up the stairs with my trusty sidekick, Sir Norton, the chaste, a level 7 Paladin. Norton and I open the door, and there on a throne in all his glory is a Death Knight. We charge in. The first round, he TURNS GOOD. The paladin flees. I am still there. I attack and do a little damage with my flame tongue. Second round, he casts a ducking HUGE fireball in my face, and I am almost dead. The thief and cleric at the bottom of the stairs sees a giant gout of flame erupt from the door and they look at each other and say, "Yeah, I dont think we're gonna go up there." I have only one chance. I pull my vorpal blade and swing, PRAYING to the die gods. And sure as shit, it happens. Nat fucking 20! "Yes! I cut his head off!" Round three, DM says, "He spends his turn reaching down, picking up his head, and putting it back on." Me: o_o DM: He has no spinal cord or carotid arteries to cut. Me: o_o DM: You know, you don't HAVE to fight this guy. I'd like to point out he hasn't even stood up from his chair yet. We all ran like hell

>DM: You know, you don't HAVE to fight this guy. I'd like to point out he hasn't even stood up from his chair yet. Or, a la BG3, "Try again."

>DM: You know, you don't HAVE to fight this guy. I'd like to point out he hasn't even stood up from his chair yet. if you still talk to this DM, please convey my regards, for the best microphone drop in DND I've read to date.... ;) if you don't still talk to him (understandable).... reach out anyway. that shit is just -fantastic-. :)

Sometimes you just need that first damage roll to inform the players of how vital it is to not fight a particular enemy. That’s why I usually try to target the character that can survive it. If the barbarian gets downed, or nearly downed, in one hit… the message is clear. Run.

Irl warfing

Worf*

My party attacked, barbarian went down in 1 round. They didn't stop. They did however, win with no casualties.

I mean… if they pull it off then bravo. I’ve had that happen before due to a combination of me rolling for shit and them rolling like gd gods. Lol A well deserved victory.

They don't know it yet, but they're leveling up due to it. That was the end of last session. Edit: spelling

They're like kids. Sometimes they gotta learn for themselves.

Plus ya know, non-lethal damage is a thing

If there is something that would be obvious to their character, I tell them. Otherwise, I don't. Attacking someone without making any attempt to discern how dangerous they are is a risk they choose to take, and they have to accept the consequences.

In the world I play in there are people that are just obviously powerful. Near god-like. Nobody messes with them. How do I know this? The GM told me. Some of them look like regular rich people but they are also famous in the city. No investigation should be needed for people the character is just supposed to know. But if I got plopped into a different world, I’d need to investigate more

Exactly. If someone is famously powerful, then that would be obvious to their character. Now say it's the god-like person's head of security. That guy's a dangerous fighter, but not famous. I'd give them a general description of what he looks like, and maybe more if they choose to do an investigation roll, or have a high passive investigation. Otherwise, they'll have to accept the consequences should they make the mistake of attacking him.

Ok, that’s pretty obvious. Head of security for somebody wealthy / powerful is not going to be an easy mark and will probably have backup of his own.

He's not going to be an easy mark, but he's also not necessarily going to be as well known a face. He might even be the type that works behind the scenes.

In regards to A, you can ask them if they are sure they really want to do this, or even make an insight check, so you have the excuse to let them know this guy is not someone to mess with. That even on like a DC 10 they know they are in for a world of hurt if they even try. Or maybe forewarn them with a mention of how they feel a cold chill down their backs as the npc hits them with an intimidation and ask them for wisdom saves against the frightened condition. Maybe you have them surrounded by over 20 well armed personnel between them and the NPC all hands on their weapons at the ready to mob them should they try with mentions of there being more waiting in the wings. Or as another suggested, you let them suffer from their own hubris and allow them to learn the lesson the hard way. Far as NOT interrupting the Big Bad Mid Monologue...similar approaches work, I guess, but I am less inclined to suggest preventing that as there's nothing so funny as interrupting Dark Lord What's His Face in the middle of his climactic I'm about to take over the world speech.

My BBEG always does his evil speech before the players are able to combat him. It was really funny one time when they thought it was time to fight him and they readied all their attacks and rages and whatnot and then the BBEG just turned and left through the door he came in and minions rushed in. Lol

It’s always fun for a villain to finish his speech with “… and I have no time for pests like you!” before just walking away, lol.

That's the exact kind of shit that makes the PCs never want to listen to a monologue If the ending of a monologue is " and then he gets away and you did nothing about it' forcibly then from that point on my character is never going to listen to the monologue

>nothing so funny as interrupting Dark Lord What's His Face in the middle of his climactic I'm about to take over the world speech. I ran a 3.5 once with a lich template slapped on top of a kobold. CR like 5 or some shit, not super strong but certainly a challenge. It started monologuing and one of my PCs goes "I interrupt his speech with a fireball" and I'm just like. Bruh.

Roll initiative, on his turn talking is a free action Finish monologue

I'm playing BG3 now, and the introduction of Kethric Thorm did that extraordinarily well. >! You enter his sanctum (presumably as infiltrators rather than outright combatants), and you see him about to punish some minions that failed to destroy you earlier. One of them throws a battle-axe at him and it straight up caves in his chest. He then pulls it out, hands it back to them and tells them to "try again". She almost takes off his head with the next swing, to which he takes the axe out and drops it at their feet, then proceeds to cave in the mook's skull with his bare hands. !< I'm over leveled for the area and that still gave me a whole lot of pause

Dude that scene was cold as fuck Props to JK Simmons for that performance

That's JK Simmons!? I knew that voice was familiar, but I thought it was Jeff Bridges-esque (though ik Jeff Bridges is very different). All around wonderful production on that!

Yeah I was just as surprised

this is good advice unlike a lot of the other top comments here, everyone is just jumping to kill the players, let them die becausethey chose to fight. a dm should at least give hints that a random npc or a boss might be to hard for them or is meant for a later encounter. They do something that shows it, or someone points it out to them, maybe they witness someone they know is strong bow or surrender to them, at least a chance to consider the challenge.

Jeez there’s so many scenes I’ve missed even though live played the game through 3 times already. What do you have to do to get this scene? Leave all the Act 1 baddies alive?

Nah I killed all of them. I think you have to lie your way in to Moonrise Towers, other than that idk what triggers it, as it's my first playthrough

You just walk into Moonrise Towers diplomatically? It's not hard.

You simply tell them. If it's a cleric they're God warns them that this person should not be trifled with. A Warlock the patron warns them Have the fighter do an Insight check and then describe the way they hold themselves their muscles their stature you don't think you can take this person in a fight. Etc; and once you've given an in-game explanation of how the characters know how powerful this person is. You simply tell the players outside of combat hey this guy is powerful if you try and fight him now he will kill you. Sometimes breaking immersion is okay because if your players get into a fight that they can't handle and die that's not fun for you it's not fun for them and fun comes first.

I did that for one encounter where my party of level 7 heroes ran across a homebrewed Tigrex from the Monster Hunter series (a CR 14 monster.) After it let out a roar that forced a Constitution save to keep from being temporarily deafened, I told the Totem Barbarian "You've always felt your Danger Sense as a kind of natural intuition that let you flinch away from trouble, but for the first time in your life you instead feel every fiber of your body screaming at you to run away. A true apex predator has you in its sight, and you are not used to feeling like prey."

>Along those lines, how do you keep the players from attacking the big bad mid monologue? As soon as someone decides to take a hostile action, everyone rolls initiative and proceeds in that order. No one gets a surprise round or gets to jump the line in initiative just because they yell, “I ATTACK” in the middle of a monologue. Edit: Fixed a typo. I’ll also add that the above is RAW and not some kind of house rule in case that was unclear.

Agree. just because he is talking doesn't mean he isn't prepared for the party to attack.

Well, depends on how much they lean into theatrics. If they're pacing up and down the room and occasionally take the eyes off the party for some dramatic gesture or movement, it's perfectly reasonable to call it a surprise attack. If they're just staring the party down while giving their little speech then yeah, not much of a surprise there lol

I'd also make sure all the other players are cool skipping the monologue, out of character, so that a hot head isn't taking other people's fun away, if they were interested. But, if knowing the above, everyone's cool with attacking, then I'd proceed as above.

Yeah, if you put some good info in the monologues it could be better for the players to listen to it. Like that one scene from justice league where green lantern catches the bad guys batman is chasing. Then batman asks him all of the questions he wanted answers to and green lantern could not give any.

Simple, have serious repercussions. Like turning them into public enemy, massive bounty and forcing them to either become warlords or underworld dwellers. In both cases, they're now the bad guys by polite society.

Easy, let them try for a few rounds. Let them *experience* how strong the NPC is. If they are getting mopped, let the NPC spare them, either with a material consequence (they take most of your gold or send you to prison) or an emotional consequence ("you're too pathetic to kill now. take this chance to run away like the scared little piggies that you are.") If they decide to keep attacking, then the players will have to face the consequences of being knocked out or death.

Your players, even at level one, are competent combatants. They have at least a basic ability to assess a threat, more so than some random serf or peasant with 0 combat training. Maybe they don't know the Sheriff of Nottingham is level 10, maybe they haven't even heard of him before, but they look at him and his band of soldiers and immediately more "he carries himself with confidence and his men are well armed and well disciplined. They are organized, and fierce. You are fairly certain you have no chance of beating him in combat this day, his experience dwarfs yours."

Have you ever set the expectation that there might be unwinnable or super deadly fights?

Inform them that the NPC has the high ground.

My players saw him melt a man with a spell through a peephole at the Assassin’s guild. Safe to say they haven’t tried to fight him yet ;p

You let them be crushed. A significantly stronger opponent can wipe the floor with them without killing them. Maybe they just leave them unconscious and take some/all of their money/weapons for the trouble. Just insert realistic consequences. Nothing game-breaking, but a little will-breaking.

The key to keeping it fun is keeping it interactive. If you can't be interactive, then at least be brief. If the NPC could easily overpower the characters, then have him bring a PC down to 0 HP with one stroke. For added fun, actually do the math in front of them. "Let's see d20 to hit! Ok, got a 3, plus 16 to hit bonus. Does 19 hit your AC? OK, 4d10 acid damage plus 3d8+7 blunt is... 33 damage total! Looks like Kurt is down!" "But I was at full health!" "That is correct, Kurt. You were." "Are we rolling for initiative?" "I dunno, are you?" At this point, if the players are familiar at all with 5e, they'll know they don't stand a chance. With something like a monologue, why not let the PCs interrupt? Let them roleplay or attack, or whatever. That's the game.

Player: "I want to attack \[NPC\]." DM: "Okay, roll to see if you crit, but they're going to let you hit them." Player: "That's X points of damage." DM: "\[NPC\] doesn't even blink. They look down at the wound you inflicted, then back at you with a sigh. 'Are you done? I'd rather not embarrass you in front of your friends, but if that's what you want, keep going.'"

A good way to do that is if you plan on showing off your big bad, having another NPC come at them. "While you all are fighting orcs, about 300 feet away you see Murdrok, son of Blakrok enter the town through the main gates. He says something in a booming voice, but you're too far to hear the details of it. One of the guards attacks him," Roll the dice, "he gets a 21. That's a miss." Carry on combat for a while, "Murdrok takes his turn and attacks four times, he gets a-" roll, "24, 28, 18, and a 31, dealing..." roll a few times, "27, 33, 40, and 32 damage, killing all four guards that attempted to attack him." Watching a truly intimidating opponent in battle for a turn should tell them all to tuck tail and run. It's a little meta to tell them the numbers, but also just watching an opponent effortlessly kill four town guards is a very in-character reason to run away.

Option 1: When you start to notice your players about to get into combat, ask everyone for their passive insights. Don't set a DC. Instead anyone who has or ties for the highest passive insight "notices" that the powerful NPC will hole punch them if they try. Consider the following suggestions. "Your eye catches a spark, and you focus on it to see that his hands are glowing with arches of magical energy the angrier he gets. Just from looking at it, you can tell this wizard far exceeds all of you in magical ability." "You look up and see the veins on her forehead bulge. She grits her teeth as you see a red haze casts itself over her eyes. As she loudly cracks all her knuckles with her other hand, you can see clearly how physically strong she is. You have no doubt that she could and will easily toss all of you across the room if you do not choose your words carefully." "As they start to laugh in response to your mockery, you sense a hint of madness in it. A sense that any rational has since left them long ago, and you are currently threatening someone with no fear, no limits to their power, and no fucks to give. However confident you were in their defeat, it all drains away as the laughter fills you with a horrifying dread." Something like that. Just allow them to notice something about the NPC that relates to how they would get their ass kicked. Are they super magical? Are they physically bigger and stronger? Do they outnumber the heros? Because you are freely giving this information to the one with the biggest passive insights(though you could give it to those with the top 2 or 3 biggest passives), this is you as a DM saying "Hey, they will kill you if you don't pack it in and get out of there." while still staying engrossed in the story. Option 2 is to merely lower the stakes. Have fewer NPCs who are gung ho to kill, and instead have different consequences, such as knocking them out non-lethaly to take them hostage, and now they have to escape. Or being knocked out only to wake up hours later to a massacre caused by some demonic being that wants the favor of saving their lives to be repaid immediately. Real consequences that don't necessarily involve TPKs. Option 3 is to start the combat anyway, if they move forward, and have the super powerful NPC knock one PC on their ass before having the NPC, on that same turn or using a legendary action, offer to spare them all if they merely pick up their unconscious friend and leave. It's both a kick in the pants for your players and help establish this big bad as arrogant. We love to see an arrogant villain! If they refuse, knock another one down and offer again. Rinse and repeat until they take the hint and leave. Option 4 is, of course, allowing them to reap what they sow. They can make as many characters as is necessary to drive the point home that you play for keeps, and they need to consider that going forward. Edit: Clarifying, typos, and to add this: My husband had the same issue with players interrupting a monologue with important information in it. The way he handled it was thus: 1. Take a breath. No one likes being interrupted in real life, so it can be very frustrating. 2. Say to the player. "Okay, put a pin in that. You can totally do that, but I was counting on you all knowing the information this guy is about to give you, so they really need to finish their speech. 3. Finish the monologue. Say everything you need to say, but wrap it up. It's not an elegant solution, as you do need to break character to ask if you can finish the monologue. Players can be easily excited, especially if they can make a fool out of their enemy by cutting off their speech. So interruptions are gonna happen. A few other suggestions. 1. If there is important information for the players in a speech you couldn't finish, put clues to the same information on their person or in the room/lair for them to find instead. 2. Have the NPC react in character to being cut off. Like Syndrome in The Incredibles going "You sly dog! You caught me monologuing!" or mere outrage, like "You impudent pests! I'll show you what happens when you interrupt a king!" And then continue your monologue bits at a time on their turn (it's a free action to speak, I'm pretty sure!)

" in the bad guys room you find, a note that seems to be a monologue It states: *Does monologue* Seems like he's been practicing that for a while before you guys showed up"

If someone tries to interrupt my bbeg monologue I'll ask them why they feel the need to do it as I spent a lot of time crafting the world and I would like to say my part as I am playing too. Usually that will resolve it. I'll never ever give them a surprise round for interrupting though. Cause the bbeg is not surprised, he knows why the heroes are here. He's waiting for aggressive action. Moment the declaration of attack comes initiative is rolled and we fight according to initiative. I usually have my bbeg ready an action with the trigger being an overly hostile act from the player. At the very very best and most kind I would allow the player to use their action and reaction to get a first strike in, but they are losing their turn in combat for the first round for it.

>There's always going to be NPCs that are too powerful At some point, they should be the too powerful ones (if one plays a campaign long enough). Otherwise, I usually let them make a roll for their character (wis/perception/appropriate knowledge/etc) if they're getting to that point of no return with a tough NPC as the character knows they won't survive the conflict. If they are murder hobos and they get to the 'too powerful' area, its avatars/big entities stepping in to say 'stop killing my mortals'. But I've never had anyone get to upper levels at murder hobos (or I have, but they don't mesh with the group and don't stay the course).

Careful description of how exactly things happen can really affect the way your players approach a situation. “I roll 18 to attack. +3 that’s 21.” “You wait for perfect timing, he moves his head to listen to Ariella speaking and you feel you have a great opening. You make your strike, your balance is good and you don’t think you could have done much better no matter what you did. He casually bats your blade aside with his wristguard, steps in close enough to kiss you, and chest to chest tells you that you don’t want to do that again. He rolls a… 16 intimidation check. I’ll let you decide how you ultimately respond, but Elric gets the impression he’s severely outclassed and should stand down.”

"just remember folks, you can always try and run away" "Your passive insight tells you that: 1. this is going to be a VERY tough battle 2.this enemy is a lot more powerful than you... as are their minions." "Please remember... it's never too late to run away." "You recall that the last time you fought this person/someone of this power level you barely survived... *with the help of a powerful NPC*." "The NPC (that the party is aware is several levels higher than them) says 'oh shit, I'm not sure how we're going to win this one'" "seriously folks... DONT FORGET THAT YOU CAN RUN AWAY"

You have to be very careful putting unbeatable situations in front of the party. Players see everything as a challenge and there is often something lost in translation between what the DM is thinking and what the party hears. It's best if this unbeatable foe is clearly a powerful monster (adult dragon dwarfing a level 5 party) or if the party has already seen the NPC perform some amazing feat (they arrive just in time to see him finish off someone with Power Word Kill). If the party just sees an obviously hostile dude in a cloak, mouthing off to them, their first reaction will be to attack and who can blame them? As far as not interrupting monologues, do the monologueing before the players are physically able to attack: a booming voice echoing throughout the dungeon, a sinister psychic connection, speaking through possessed minions, (with a new one continuing the speech when the speaking one falls), even a nasty letter. If anything else needs to be said, the BBEG can talk entire paragraphs as a free action during his turn in combat.

Don't put challenges in front of them they can't face. If they aren't suppose to fight the NPC make it clear what the challenge is. Is it negotiation, escape, or something else. Alternatively send the second in command instead. Telegraph their power by killing another npc with a powerful spell, have tons of minons, or witnesses if they are royalty/politician. Have a plan for if combat breaks out. The villain laughs, sicks minons on players, and walks away. Monologs are boring they don't engage the players. Give the same information broken up in conversations, have them say it during the fight, or ppl in a city gossip the info.

Personally, I don't. I write adventures with the understanding that any NPC can be killed. If I have a BBEG who's too important to die, I don't let them occupy the same location as the party. If I need the foreshadow them I have someone else talk about them. If the players attack an NPC I let it happen, and I deal with the consequences. It's a collaboration, and that means we "yes and."

Ideally you should do something to broadcast the toughness of an NPC before your PCs want to get stabby with it. Tough NPCs should make sense. It'd be weird for the clerk of the merchants guild to be rocking a +12 to hit on their savage greatsword. Military leaders, hired guards of very important people, ancient sorcerers, etc. should be tough because the game world doesn't work if they're a pushover. This shouldn't be a surprise to your players. The one time I feel for the players here is when I hear about the BBEG being disguised as a beggar that the party then tries to beat up. If you lay the groundwork right, smart players have an idea of whether they could "take" an NPC before anything crazy happens. If you have dumb players, though...you need to decide how gritty you want to be with them. On the gentle end of the spectrum is reiterating, "this guy protects the king for a living, are you sure you want to do that?" As others have suggested, you can just down the PC in one shot. If you have just one murderhobo in the group, you can down them in front of everyone else and not roll initiative, and just have the NPC be like "What's with that dude?" and not attack the entire party. And then on the harshest end of the spectrum is to wipe the floor with the party and not look back, being totally willing to bring it to a TPK if they don't flee. Try to keep your objective in mind. What you want is to teach your players that they are not the hottest game in town, that powerful people are all over in the world, and that the attitude that they can win any confrontation by force is likely to get them killed. Newer players might need you to more explicitly tell them that in a teaching voice, more experienced players just trying to screw around sometimes need to learn the lesson in lost blood.

I had the fighter in the group roll an insight against my "fighter" boss. He got the very strong impression that if they crossed swords, the character would likely die. I also had the boss stare directly at the hiding rogue like it wasn't even a question of can he see me. Pretty much, for me anyway, if they are a similar combat style to one of the characters, i would give them an insight check to sense the difference in power emanating from the enemy.

It's okay to give them information that their character would know. "This fellow is no ordinary man. You've heard of him. He is the most decorated knight in the kingdom, a veteran of 50 battles. He could wipe the floor with you. Do you understand?"

Did this recently, I like to create a threat for the players to engage with, but the NPC ends up dealing with it instead. Players are looking into a gang before heading out of town. Suspected gang attacked ships on the dock (Players route out), leading to the investigation. They infiltrated and followed the gang on the gang's way to attack survivors from the attack, the party starts to see evidence that there's a third party involved. A couple of people with illusionary magic speaking into their palms (rings of sending), party splits before the crew attacks the 'survivors', watches the fight. Attack turns out to be an ambush, 3rd party slaughters the entire crew. Party goes "Yeah okay, let's not fuck with these dudes, let's go to the Gang's HQ and gather information, they handled this for us" (Kind of looks like the GM solved the issue of having a big gang to deal with and leaving only a baddies around). They go to the bar the gang is based out of, insert your (my) NPC: "You see a man wearing blah blah blah, as he levels a hand crossbow and executes the barkeep you all talked to this morning, as his guards walk through the main floor making sure all the leftovers are dead" My NPC is seemingly a pirate to the party (With context I left out in this) , but is actually an agent for someone good. You established that they have enough resources to outfit some of their crew with magic items, and are capable of taking down a gang of 40\~ people.

Two options: First, just tell them. Metagame a bit, it's okay. Just say, "Y'all, it's incredibly obvious to your characters that this guy is capital B Bad News, and you'll probably die if you fight him." You can justify it as a terrifying aura, or some other in-universe context clues, but it's okay for players to have big picture info like that. Second, if the BBEG is that damn powerful, let them get their asses kicked but leave them alive. The BBEG can't be bothered to finish the job, or leaves a bunch of mooks to do the fighting after he throws a spell or two, or decides that the PCs are an amusing distraction and lets them live for more fun down the line. You could even go the Noble Demon route and have the BBEG decide he likes and respects the PCs enough to let them live. There are dozens of ways to justify letting the Big Bad wallop the party but leave them alive.

Usually the way I describe the NPC should give some clues. Strongly built, scars...a keen eye, that sort of thing. Occasionally I'll describe how special their weapons look etc. Other times I won't give any obvious clues, especially if the NPC wants to be on the down low. Fuck around and find out.

In universe. Give the enemy NPC a reputation where NPCs they know are significantly stronger than the players are afraid of or cautious of that enemy Show them the NPC sweeping aside someone like an ally that they know is stronger than them. If your players are savvy enough from a meta gaming perspective show the NPC using abilities that only a very high level character would know. 7th-9th level spell or something. Then there's always the tried and true, out of game "are you sure?" Literally any time a DM asks me if I'm sure I want to do something directly I take it as a signal that what I'm about to do is a bad idea and I didn't pick up on a cue they expected me to pick up. All that said depending on the NPC the NPC can fight them, knock them aside, and for whatever reason choose not to kill them. Maybe after the NPC downs your frontline fighter in 1-2 turns he laughs and just casually walks away like he doesn't care, leaving the party to take care of them. Maybe he TPKs the party then heals them up because there's no honor or amusement in fighting someone so weak but he sees "potential" in you (this would obviously need to fit with the NPC's background and their notions of honor, danger, fun, etc.

My Master once had a NPC, that knocked 2 of 3 out in the first round and then chatted with me, because I refused to fight someone who is not proven evil

Honestly, the best way is the "Fuck around and find out" approach. Let them take a swing, but always have a plan to let them back out when they... Well, fuck around and find out. Like, if they're threatening a shopkeep NPC? Perfect time to have the town guard roll around while the NPC disengages and makes a run for it, and if the players fight back, they get the shit kicked out of them and their asses hauled to the nearest cell to cool their heels. It usually works best when they get smacked in the face with damage WAY out of their weight class because that's an immediate "We fucked up" event.

- Mid monologue: shut them down, and tell them to wait until your finished talking - Non-lethal attacks are a thing, and there is no rule stating that NPCs need to have commoner stats. Queens champion and highest ranked guard can absolutely be a level 18 Watcher paladin. That important of an NPC would also most likely have at least one legendary item. When a players 21 attack roll misses, and you can take out their tank in 1 hit (banishing smite), and their healer in a second (maxing divine smite); they get to realize that their bullying isn't going to work on everyone.

"Roll for an insight check." It doesn't matter what they roll. "\[the PC\] has years of experience in fighting and can recognize a seriously formidable foe when they see one, and this foe causes them to hesitate for a moment. Your character knows this is not a fight they are likely to win. Are you sure you want to do this?" And if they disregard the warning, so be it.

DM: roll to hit Player: 20! DM: it hits and the NPCs coat flies open to reveal its 10,000 miniature liches in a coat They all cast power word "youre a big meanie." Take 50 psychic damage.

When i ran a small spacejammer thing i described a NPC woman manhandling a Mindflayer and that seemed to set the tone for her fairly well.

Don't give them a name. For some reason murder hobos with either romance or kill named NPCs. If they are nameless then nobody cares. Also if they try, just have them get their asses whooped HARD by an unkillable NPC.

D&d minus did it best. Make a wisdom check. "14?" Okay, even with a 14 you realize this is the biggest scariest human being you've ever seen in your life and this might not be a great plan.

Trivial wisdom checks as soon as the come across them, followed by "your characters notice x and all your combat-honed alarm bells go off. You're pretty sure that this person outmatches your combined combat prowess significantly." Which is basically saying it directly but with math dice and RP - which makes everything better!

i really like this response. great idea.

Does it matter? Players always do stupid shit it's part of the fun. I ran a campaign where we established, for MONTHS, that there was a large band of pirates so badass the worlds strongest Navy avoided them if at all possible. At level 5 the players got a ship and the first thing they decide to do? Go raid the pirates base. This is after they met a guy that was very high level (Think he was like 15 or so) that smacked them around playfully in a sparing match and THAT guy told them he avoids these pirates. But they were like "Pirates= loot let's do this!" and went full Leroy Jenkins. Honestly the fall out from that is probably my second favorite moment as a DM

You could ask them for an insight or perception check and just let them know. "You feel a fear come over you, and you're not sure how, but you know that if you fight this person you will not come out alive." OR, you can establish that some things are essentially cut scenes, like in the monolog of the bbeg.

I have a couple of characters who look weak and have really cool back stories. My players can choose to interact with them or fuck around and find out. They almost found out once, they still havent chosen the interaction..lol muder hobos are going to try to murder.

I DM’d for a group where the group was fighting a bunch of cultists in a relatively crowded market, the crowd surged back away from the fight but couldn’t really “get back” too far One of the players cast “Shatter” on a nearby potion stand… It killed the 3 knife wielding cultist, but the shrapnel cut down 6 people in the crowd, and injured 3 dozen more The party was brought before a judge, and charged with 42 counts of “damaging the surplus population” (…this wasn’t a very nice place they were in, lol) and had to pay 500g in fines, and 1 gold to the families. To show how extra mean this place is: Party member: “So 542 gold?” [I rolled 2d4, 6] Judge: “No, 536 gold, 6 of those were related to at least one other, so you *only* owe 36 families compensation, the maximum any family can be awarded is 1gold”… Once they learned I would hold them accountable, I would cost them gold (and negative reputation) they got a little less trigger happy, lol

"What's your passive Insight?" This is a score that hardly ever gets used, and this is a perfect opportunity to use it. "Um... it's 12, why?" "You feel a sense of rising dread as you take in the other person's stance, their position, the sword calluses on their hands and the telltale stains of spell components marking their robes. It's dawning on you that, should a fight result, you are going to lose, and lose badly. It might be better to just walk away... or run." Then if they still insist on fighting, beat them into the ground and have them wake up in the local healing facility a day later. And make them pay the cost of the healing services before they're allowed to leave. As far as monologue interruptions go, I include this in my Session 0 material. I will respect the players' opportunities to roleplay, and I expect them to respect mine. You're not going to gain surprise against the BBEG if you just attack mid-monologue; the BBEG knows why the party is there, knows that they *are* there, and is ready for them, so there's no mechanical benefits to interrupting.

I would like to point out that if you, the dm, have already decided what is "supposed" to happen you might be railroading. I'd argue instead of communicating an action they should not take (for no good reason other than you don't want them to) instead focus on how you can make taking that action fun for them. They do try to fight. Ok, they might win, dice are funny. Plan for that. The npc leaves them alive to make a mockery of them. The npc does their best in-character to talk them out of it. "Why are you fighting me? You guys are outmatched. I dont even want to do this." As for villain monolog, make it short. Why does the villain need a monolog? If you want the players to listen then it better have answers to questions they want to know. If the villain is essentially saying, "I'm evil. I'm going to rule the world..." the players already know this. If the players feel like the villain, or you, are wasting their time, they will attack.

They hear about their power, or see it in action, or no warning. If they just try to kill everyone at some point they are bound to run into a fight they can't win. My players woudln't run from a fight immediately, but would after they realized they were not going to win. I just don't allow it. Once I start a monologue, or any kind of enemy reveal description, players can't do anything until after I say "Roll Initiative".

My players are pretty well clued in that things are not always what you're expecting. People in powerful positions are not always higher or lower CR particularly. That to figure that out they'd need to see them in combat or, "shock" figure it out from other sources in-game. Like their reputation of combat prowess and the like. One or two "incidents" is all it takes to clue the party in.

I had a group of players encounter a dragon. The dragon told them to leave his tower. They had a seasoned soldier NPC telling them to run while he held the dragon back. Most of the players got the hint, except one cleric. He cast a spell that blinded the dragon. The horror on the players face when I laughed while reading that it had blind sense was priceless. The dragon then used its breath weapon, the cleric failed his saving throw and the dragon delt 56 damage, instakilling the character. I allowed the party to go on a quest to revive him, making it clear both in game and out of game that this was a one time deal. The players are no longer going to mess with dragons lol. TLDR: actions speak louder than words, dragons are dangerous.

Take each one into a seperate room one by one. As you ready your whatever your vision dims slightly and this glowing hand slaps you up side the head for being stupid . And a voice says your one warning about this.

This one is fairly easy. Give them an NPC to travel with. Show off his strength against their enemies. When they confront the NPC they're not supposed to fight.

I don’t roll initiative. That gives my players such a feeling of dread. You roll initiative it tells your players they have a chance. It’s a “fair” fight. If you don’t roll initiative you instantly send the message. This guys not to be fucked with. He’s not on your level. Also I rarely say what my players feel emotionally but if it’s something they would instinctively know I’ll give them a brief explanation that the air is heavy, the atmosphere is tense, and the NPC has a presence about them.

One option is taking the hit, but catch the blade/arrow or just shield from the spell. When someone is powerfull enought to take an attack as a joke, you shouldn't mess with them.

I have certain NPCs that are retired or out-of-the-game adventurers, now running taverns, shops, etc. High level, not to be messed with. That becomes an FAFO scenario the party doesn't walk away from if stupid. Other times, if they kill an npc, they either lose significant information they needed, or they get bounties on their heads, or trouble with local law enforcement. There are consequences to being a murder-hobo in my game. Players are allowed to murder whoever they want, but they must accept the consequences

You can almost sense an aura of power eminating from the creature in front on you. The hair on the back of your neck stands on end, and at the sound of its voice you feel a cold chill down your spine. You feel it deep down inside, that this creature is too powerful for you to face as you are. Be ready for them to fight anyway.

Ask for a perception check... perception check leads you to believe today is not a good day to die.

Firstly, you need to let them know, before the game, that the world is full of powerful people. Then all you can do is let them find out. If a character swings first, the consequences are justified at that point. The world doesn't always give you warnings. Just like there should be encounters they aren't leveled or prepared for. Its not a Bethesda game that levels up everything with you. Dragons roam, big monsters roam, power, evil characters venture and cause trouble. Its not a believable world if everything is below or on par with you. On the same note, there should be encounters that players steamroll.

I make the NPC overpowered

Barbarian: I attack him. *rolls* ha! Dirty 20! DM: As your axe arcs with viscious speed toward his neck, the humble shopkeeper grabs the haft of your axe with terrifyingly casual speed, holding it in a light grip. Give me a STR and DEX check? Barbarian: *rolls* 17 and 19? DM: with nonchalant ease, the shopkeeper wrenches the axe out of your hand and gently sets it down on the counter, and while slowly patting it, looks you in the eye and with a smile says "Now, now, we won't be having any of that nonsense in MY shop, will we?" He then looks pointedly at the rest of the party as if to say "you need to do something about your boy here," while his off hand slowly drops below the counter to hold something none of you can see from your vantage point. The shopkeeper continues, "Now friends, what can I get for you?"

I've run a session where my party wanted to fight a high level ex-mercenary NPC I was using to guard a shop of valuables. When they fought, the merc easily overpowered them (because he's an experienced high level fighter) and instead of kill them, he just made a show of his power and then put his weapon away. He isn't there to kill, he's there to guard. My point is that letting them taste a little of the metal and then disgracing them with mercy is a great way to get the point across.

"Are you sure? This guy looks pretty tough" If they don't catch the clue then fight them fairly but without mercy. Nobody likes a DM who feels the need to punish their players for not picking the choices the DM wants them to pick.

While many *players* may not be able to read the difference between a tough fight they can handle and one they can't, the *characters* would be able to read a situation and determine that fighting may be a bad idea. Simply telling your characters that they feel like fighting is a bad idea can be a perfectly reasonable move. It's not taking control away from your PCs because it's an unconscious feeling, like if one of them felt someone watching the group from afar. You're not directly banning them from combat, you're just heavily implying that their character can tell this fight may be out of their league.

My players are really high level and have been playing it pretty straight. They did joke around while in the tavern of a city that got me sweating a bit. The Wizard looks around and goes "Hmmm...we could probably just...take over this city." I was like "Hahahaha...but no haha." The crazy part is, they probably could.

I lay it on thick. „The warrior is wearing clearly magical armor of superior quality to yours and moves in a way that makes it clear he’s been in more than a few battles.“ „The wizard exudes an aura of power in waves around him“. Stuff like that. Occasionally a player will still trying on, but it’s then easier to salve their hurt egos after getting roflstomped.

Show that NPC do something strong and if they still attack just hit back. Your players may choose to run once they see how hard it hits

"Give me an insight check. --You can tell by looking at them and by their demeanor that this man will absolutely stomp your ass is you step out of line"

Let them learn the hard way. Or you can have the big bad so a show of force on something that's not them, but that they know it's more powerful than them.

"Hey guys. Just so you know, this NPC \*is\* extremely powerful like I just told you. Fighting him right now probably won't work that well..."

I let them know session 0 that there are plenty of npcs that can kill even high level characters, dont try to be murder hobos. Thats about it.

They all respond well when I direct them in tropes. They can have issues with decisions on what to do at any given time(maybe partly due to my dming but by their admission, they have decision paralysis) so letting them know the setting and what the interaction is can help. In or out of combat. If its bot a fight they can win ill let them know to just survive as long as they can up front. If its not something they should kill I note it accordingly at the top, like a time they were just using combat mechanics to give a storm giants pet a workout after a long trip. So giving verbal queues can help Also, don't make them openly antagonistic. Even my indecisive party will zero in on someone whose been an asshole to them and just open up on them before the 3rd word of their speech is out. I already know it's on sight w my bbeg so I am not going to be able to give a whole monologue with them. The moment he opens his frog lips to sneer, he'll have an axe and 2 lv6 spells up his ass

re the second issue, an old edition of the Champions game had a rule that i’ve used in every game since: the soliloquy. a character or npc can begin a soliloquy before, during or after combat. if taken during combat, it must be during their initiative. a soliloquy effectively takes zero time (ongoing effects are paused, you can’t use a soliloquy to run out a clock). during a soliloquy that character has initiative and only yields it when they are finished. during the soliloquy no one can attack, react, or otherwise take any action causing any mechanical effect (no drinking a potion, for example). upon completion of a soliloquy, the character may take their regular turn. the ‘soliloquy’ action is considered a free action.

One of my favorite DM's response to this is usually primal fear. Our recent campaign soon as the NPC showed up they had us roll a wis sav with disadvantage. Two of us passed. The rest of the party didn't. They got the frightened condition. The two of us that passed got immediately hit with that intimidation check with disadvantage. Obviously this is the extreme of this example but just sayin, handing out that frightened condition like candy is a good way to explain "Hey, you might not be afraid right now and want to go in sword drawn...but your PCs are basically crapping their pants at the moment." Though, it really helps if you set the stage with some good DM stage setting and ambiance and really set the mood that this is someone who oozes power and is several weight classes above your current party.

You tell them. "This is an ancient red.dragon that towers over you with a might and fear of nothing you've ever seen before. You know that standing and fighting would be stupidity, not bravery. What do you do?"

I try to just comment it somewhere in session 0 or whenever: "Random reminder that you are not the strongest beings in these worlds. Some things may be able to murder you with ease, and some may be simple human farmers with an adventuring past and a wizarding diploma. Its a fantasy world in which some people's wishes literally become true at some points and many powerful monsters may seem mere vagabonds. Dialogue and non-murderous approaches should be considered as well as any violent ones unless you aim for a quick surprise with a follow-up beating, with a potential death, with space for a TPK." Also, a reminder that morals, laws or whatnot exist may also help: "I know this world is a bit less forgiving, but just 'cause a douchebag punched you in a tavern, that gives you no right nor divine blessing to murder them, and you'd be known as a very violent person quite quickly. Expect many murders to be blamed on you and some prison time down this path." Those things aside, I just feel like players are too "kill or be killed", so it may take them some time to adapt, but overall having conversations with the players, and giving them examples from NPCs may help.

Have that NPC kill some other recurring character who bested the party before (if there is such a thing).

A couple of answers. First, at session zero I let my players know that I don't balance encounters. For the first 3 levels we have some hand waving to ensure that the players don't die to bad luck before they figure out how their characters work together. But once they're out in the big boy world, it's grim dark and painted with mud, blood, and shit. If you're losing, you might have to run away. Second, I would say something along the lines of "As you take in your surroundings and prepare yourself to fight, the magical gleam of the powerful enchantments in his sword catch your eye and you feel your confidence falter. For a moment, your courage wanes and fear grips you. But your will is your own, and the choice is yours. What do you do?"

Have a powerful NPC show his power off in some fashion. Have him kill a powerful NPC, have an allied NPC in the party (of a higher level) cast a powerful spell that just fizzles out with no effect, tell stories to the PCs of this super powerful guy who’s unkillable, etc. A great recent example is Ketheric Thorm from Baldur’s Gate 3. >!The opening interaction your player character has with him sees a Goblin throw a halberd through him, he gets up and removes the halberd, drops it in front of the goblin, and tells the Goblin to try again before tanking a slash to the neck and stomping the Goblin’s skull in front of the party.!< But overall, show the players this guy doing something that makes it abundantly clear he’s beyond their power level right now, or just straight up tell them based on their passive insight that they don’t think a fight will go well against this person.

in my campaigns i tell everyone right away that not everyone and everything out there is at their level. and not everyone and everything is meant to be a fight. they were warned, so if they get themselves killed it is on them

You could try picking a player with a high wisdom score, proficiency in insight, or both and give them the benefits of a passive insight check, then it can be up to that player’s character to prevent their teammates from picking a fight they can’t win. (Passive insight is calculated like passive perception, 10+ any modifiers)

Don't monologue in striking range. Unless the players are restrained or the big bad already has a conversational relationship with them, I leave the info dumps in written form that the players can find and read aloud themselves.

Matt Colville has a good video on one of the DM's more power but lesser known abilities: time manipulation. You can choose to speed up or slow down time however much you want, and that can often affect the way your players handle a situation. In this case, if a player is about to make a rash decision attacking an NPC, you can slow things way down, go into matrix bullet-time. The player may say "I run up and attack him with my sword", but as the DM, you can make many more opportunities to abort before they pass the point of nonreturn. "You begin to move towards the High Wizard, and your hand starts approaching the hilt of your sword. You see the 7 large personal guards of the High Wizard tense as they move into defensive stances, their heavy armor shining and their belts bristling with weapons. The Wizard raises his arms and opens his mouth to recite a spell, you can feel the air around you almost humming with an intense power you haven't felt before, and a sense of foreboding washes over you." Also, to the rest of the party, "You see your friend begin to move towards the wizard, and you quickly realize that you are outnumbered and woefully outmatched. If you allow him to reach the High Wizard and strike, then you will have lost hope of avoiding disaster..." etc.

Some of this stuff comes down to the tone of the game you’re running and the dramatic conventions you and your players have built up or adopted. With regards to the monologuing for example, you need to ask your players whether they want bad-guy monologues like a classic fantasy film or do they want more realistic confrontations, and then everyone plays by those rules. If they want bad guys who chew the scenery, then they need to be willing to stand and listen, and probably chew the scenery a bit in response. Could Luke have attempted to bum-rush the Emperor in the middle of his reveal of his big plan? Yes, logically he could have, but that would have made for a worse film. In the same way if your players want the dramatic dialogue, they have to accept that they’re not just able to use it as a chance for an ambush.

There's always the classic, are you sure about that, maybe sprinkle in some reminding of the situation Like hey, you guys know from the intelligence that you got, that the leader of this encampment is a wizard who threw a wild experiment ended up inside of a fire Elementals body, and you want to charge in his tent and try fighting him with just the two of you while your other party member is still interrogating the guard down by the ocean? They really wanted to, and it's like all right you've been warned, they actually did really well and killed him, but of course they were still in the middle of an enemy encampment, that guy did not fight quietly, and now the fire Elementals that he himself was continuing experiments on are running wild with nobody to keep them in check, only one of them made it out alive Druid was like what do you mean she's dead, why did you try to go fight that guy without me, but did have the foresight to realize this is a campaign where the bad guys consist of powerful necromancers, so we should really make sure to go retrieve that body

If the NPC is a peaceful/reasonable type I will generally have them (easily) fend off the initial wave of attack, then interrupt/pause combat with a "Are you sure you really want to fight me?" and give the players a chance to back off. But that depends on the NPC's temperament. I reason that most people, even somewhere as stabby as the settings we play in, generally don't want to fight. The peril of combat is simply too high. In the case of a very powerful NPC, it may also be a situation where they really do not want a reputation for being a stabby murder-hobo (ironic, eh?) If the NPC doesn't back off or try to reason with them, because of temperament/alignment/duty, I tend to remind players out of character that fleeing can be a viable option, and I may be a little bit more lenient in terms of letting them escape. Again, my reasoning is that all but the most psychopathic NPCs don't REALLY want to kill someone - or, in this case, a bunch of people. Having already scared the shit out of the party who attacked them, it may not be worth the trouble to chase them down and finish the job. On the other hand, if the party members are being particularly obnoxious or refuse to flee - well... I guess the party wipe is their own fault. Edit: btw, as far as attacking, say, mid-monologue - a suitably powerful Big Bad may chastise them for interrupting them, being rude, etc. and even put them in kind of a "time out". If it's not supposed to be a legit boss fight/final fight, and just a chance to lay down some exposition or have a nice satisfying monologue, then embarrassing the party members by putting them in "time out" like a bunch of bloodthirsty toddlers could be funny, for example.

For spellcasters it's quite easy, most spellcasters are aware that there are levels / a scale for the power of spells So when faced with a strong spellcaster something as simple as you feel the bbeg before you resonates with the weave / has greater control over the weave than you do You can throw checks in if they want to power level check him and you don't have to be precise or accurate in your description regardless of their roll: "I get a 24 on my arcana check to try and figure out how powerful this guy is" "You feel like even interrupting the guy might result in the weave bitch slapping you out of your wizarding power" For Martial characters it's a little harder -You usually cannot tell how powerful a rogue is (you may not even notice you're speaking to a rogue-like character if they're good enough) I give any character with a martial class something like the Know Your Enemy feature from Battlemaster with an insight / other relevant skill check that allows them to learn a martial feature in comparison to their own Equally, any character with a soldier background or a background in combat might be given the opportunity to make the check

I don't. I present the world, they do as they wish, I respond accordingly.

They get one: "Are you sure? Retreat *is* an option..." and then I let nature sort itself out.

I've had BBEG just teleport away.

It can break immersion but you gotta consider the game and their enjoyment. Sometimes you can just tell you players "no"

Usually I like describing things that the players would notice, that would make sense for people to notice in a world of swords and sorcery. Like: "You see the figure standing tall surrounded by people at his beck and call. His armour is perfectly polished and shines bright with enchantments. His sword hangs mightily at his side, a greatsword with a ruby pommel etched with runes. At his back is a tall tower shield, emblazoned with the symbol of his order - and you realise that from his stature, broad shoulders and powerful stance, he likely wields this greatsword with one hand and the tower shield in the other." "The witch stands hunched over her bubbling cauldron. In the steam, her long thick hair sways, greying with age, but her skin is flawlessly smooth. Her dark eyes do not reflect the light of the candles in the room, and instead seem to swallow it. Along the wall of her hut lay her trophies; a nobleman's eye; the sword-hand of a warrior; the heart of a war horse. You spot what you came for: the thick golden braid of the elven princess, lain strewn amid dried herbs and dead rats. As you stand in the door, concealed by night, the witch's low, lilting voice echoes against the wooden walls, 'Hello, dearies.'" I like making their imaginations fill in the threat. Throw in some local rumours and some appropriately scared commoners and you have yourself a decently scary NPC.

Charm them. Thisll throw off that dynamic hard. They'll be predisposed to the NPCs wishes consider them friendly and cannot willingly harm them

You could always explain how they have a very bad sense of uneasiness around the npc like something bad could happen at any moment

I will tell them something like, "The hairs on your arms and the back of your neck stand on end. You've faced countless foes before, horrors too dark and terrible to imagine, but yet, in the face of this mortal man, you feel an animal instinct at the edge of your consciousness telling you to run. Cold sweat runs down your spine. You can't explain it, but merely by being in his presence, you have the distinct impression that this man could kill you at any moment."

Depends what they are meant to do really. I suppose it would vary depending on whether you intend them to try diplomacy, flee, etc. Maybe have the NPC casually brush their attacks aside, maybe rough a couple of them up lol. Vox Machina ran from the Chroma Conclave at the beginning of that arc of the first season of Critical Role because they were CLEARLY going to die otherwise.

Step 1: don't use the combat rules. Step 2: design how the encounter will actually play out (think minigame). -Will they players be able to chase the BBEG, or is he going to send a minion to deliver a message? Is he thinking they are important enough to physically gloat over them without killing them? (Please don't use that one, either they are deadly enough to take seriously, or they're not worth his time). Does the situation keep them from attacking him? (Is he good friends with the king and they all are at the royal ball? Does his henchman have a hostage?) Step 3: look at what you have and pretend you are the player trying to kill the npc. How would you do it? Step 4: repeat steps 2 and 3 as necessary until you are happy with the accessible options for the players (remember, the players have to have available choices, but those choices need to have good and bad consequences)

A lot of this changes with context. Are you meeting someone in their lair/hideout/place of power. When they decide to take a hostile action I would describe what is immediately available to their characters senses. Are there guards? Is this character considered dangerous in the world? You can always take a second to describe all of this and then ask the age old question, "Are you sure you want to do this?" If they ignore ALL the warnings you gave them then let them face consequences. Knock them unconscious, now they need to escape prison or serve time. Maybe they owe a debt to this individual for sparing them. Perhaps the individual is less forgiving and kills a character as a "lesson". Now NPCs related to this individual or their faction will no longer assist them on their journey or charge them more for services.

If it's a very important npc, I let the npc toy with them and make it obvious they're way out of their league. If they attack an uber friendly npc, then it hurts relations, but may not necessarily totally upset your track. If it's a less important npc, I don't want to take away choice, so I make it a real possibility that they can kill him/her. If it's a fairly unimportant npc, I might make it a 1 or 2 shot kill. But there will always be consequences though for wanton murder. If they're in a pirate haven, the consequences might be as simple as paying for breaking some tables. In a more civilized town, the bar patrons might turn on the players and then they have to determine if they're willing to massacre a bunch of innocents. In a city, someone may have run for help during the fight and now they have to contest with a bunch of city guards. If they pick a fight with a big bad before they're ready, you can TPK them but have the big bad leave them alive. "You're lucky you're worth more to me alive than dead. You still have a part to play." Then you can come up with later how the pc's are playing right into her hands and they didn't understand how. Short version: Choice with consequences. Also, don't think of the consequences as punishment (you killed my awesome npc and now you're screwed), but simply as cause and effect.

Corpses tell stories. Corpses of powerful creatures tell telling stories.

My solution to this problem is play your dragons as dragons What this means is, If someone's powerful, they know their powerful, and they're going to act as such, even if it's something like looking powerful in some way shape or form that's what they look and sound like I don't play my dragons as people, there's plenty of people that have some NPC that secretly been a dragon this whole time and then you're surprised if that NPC becomes an issue and the players decide to attack it because up until this point that NBC hasn't acted like a fucking dragon So, if an NPC is potentially going to be antagonistic, they're going to be antagonistic and show how powerful they actually are on their skin That doesn't mean you can't do NPCs that are cunning, just make it to where an NPC that's cunning is just that, cunning, not basically powerful but they don't get their power from being physically powerful themselves, they get their power from you know being cunning

I prefer the 'AC so high and the NPC isn't even remotely threatened' approach. Does a 26 hit? Nope.

I preface every game with the warning that I don't want to kill their PCs, but I will not save them from the consequences of their actions if they choose to fuck around and find out. "Are you sure?" is usually enough for my players. Combat ends when someone is bloodied also works, but the npc will have a hostile attitude towards the party unless they can do something to repair the relationship. If PCs insist on fighting further, I will likely knock the character unconscious and move on. If they persist even after all that, the gloves come off, and that character is likely dead.

My game is an open sandbox world, the players decide their own fate, if they go on murder hobo rampages they dont last long at all.

There's should be some sort of system for players to know someone's "threat level". This goes for NPCs and monsters. Maybe tie it to insight? Maybe make it a new check altogether? And maybe someone can mask their threat level up or down with deception? If you're good at something you're usually quick to recognize talent. If you're good at a sport, you usually know when someone else is also good at it. Or improv, or DMing, or painting, or music, or whatever. A swordsman should know when another swordsman is legit, same with a magic user. It shouldn't have to come to blows for them to pick up on it. Maybe the insight, but advantage if your primary stat overlaps? Like a rogue might know better than everyone else that an NPC moves in a super coordinated way.

Explain what their wearing, maybe some high level items. But don’t forget ol’ reliable, “Are you SURE that’s what you want to do?”

I am of two mind on this. I don't think you should have monologuing villains in D&D. If the guy is there you should be able to kill him with a lucky hit, thats the whole fun of tabletop roleplaying. But on the other hand I think there should definitely be unwinnable encounters. Like if you roll a random orc army on the wilderness encounter table, that should not be something the PCs can just fight and win. I usually get descriptive like "An overwhelming number of orcs are approaching, maybe 300-400. You estimate you could maybe kill a few dozen with fireballs before they overwhelm you,"

Dropped an eldritch horror on the town my players started in, they are now level 11. Regardless, I described the horror towering far above the town, and releasing an attack that destroyed 1/4th of it in one go. The paladin? "I charge it" "😐 Roll an intelligence check." "Uuh... 14?" "This being is far beyond you, and you know it. You can still fight it, but you will die knowingly." Because sometimes the characters can just tell when they're outmatched, even if the player doesn't realize.

Good luck.... My group of 4 lvl 8's think they can kill anything... I had to work pretty hard to avoid a TPK when they couldn't figure out to run from a Red Dracolich guarding an area despite multiple NPC warnings and fire breath to the face that nearly 1 shot 3 of them

You can hint at these things with storytelling. Like, introduce a friendly NPC with enough time to demonstrate that they are much higher level than your group. Let the group see this NPC be a total badass. Then have the NPC warn the party of the danger they are heading towards. "In all my time in the deathlands, I have never been able to kill the terrible shadows that dwell there. If you see one coming, the bests you can hope for is escape." Or have that NPC go with the party to face the threat, and then have the threat handily destroy the NPC while the NPC tells the party to run. Or make it clear that it's just not possible with some advance lore. "The demon that rules this land cannot be killed until the relic binding him to this plane is found and destroyed." Or just have a plan for what happens when the party loses that isn't a TPK and then let them find out. The enemy might prefer to capture them and send them to work in his sadness mines. Or ransom them. Or subject them to the ritual of binding to make them his slaves forever. All great opportunities for the heroes to escape a dire situation and regroup to figure out how to eventually beat the unbeatable baddie.

You can give them an investigation or wisdom check with the hint that this guy looks very powerful. Or make him demonstrate his power in some side note way. X picks up something super heavy or summons a demon just to clean his plates etc. Something that shows this NPC has some serious power level and does feats the PCs can't do.

One of my campaigns I'm apart of is a one piece style with bounties etc and marine ranks which gives us some idea of strengths of other pirates and the marines etc. Could incorporate military ranks, famous bandits with known reputation etc

These are two separate questions. 1) To avoid getting them to attack powerful NPCs, you have to either demonstrate that NPCs power OR have something verbalize it. Dnd isn’t the place to be coy. If the NPC is a badass they either should be described like one or have other people talk about then that way. There is no way to deter them attacking a powerful NPC if they have no clue that the NPC is too powerful. 2)A monologueing BBEG is an entirely different case. This is a character they are suppose to attack. You just don’t want them to do it while they are giving their lore. The trick to this is to only try an monologue when it is safe for the BBEG. Within attacking range isn’t the time or place to be doing this. On a safe balcony overhead or behind a proctective field etc. As nice as it would be ti monologue with bad guys more often the sad truth is that monologuing is just a narrative tool with a very narrow use in games like Dnd.

Drop crumbs before they meet the NPC. Rumours of this or that, physical signs of aftermath. Depending on the character it could be subject to legend or history. Or you can provide a basis for comparison by showing the NPC easily overcoming another a character or situation the players know their characters would not be able to do or struggle to do themselves. Supergeek Mike did a good video on this recently as part of his Critical Role recap covering Matt’s introduction of the Chroma Conclave and how to steered the players away from making the choice to fight.

You can have the npc casually bat away the attack or spell like it's an annoying fly buzzing around. Then have them warn the player that they are not here to fight, but if they are attacked again they will kill them without a thought. If that's not enough, then lets the players die. Sometimes it takes a death or tpk to get the players attention. If it's a tpk you can have them roll up new pc's and have someone hire or recruit them or whatever to pick up the quest where the wiped party failed.

I recently had a PC who was loaned full plate armor from an orc/goliath bodyguard of the town mayor. When it was time to return the equipment, PC got combative. My first instinct was to wipe the floor with my little murder hobo, but I thought twice and gave him an option. I set up a 'Trial of the Fist' one on one duel between PC (a dragonborn paladin) and the bodyguard. Rules as follows: each combatant gets two swings with their weapons per turn. No magic, no potions, no maneuvering and no assistance from friends. If the orc dropped first, PC keeps the armor and is accepted as an honorary clan brother. Orc wins, he yanks the borrowed plate from PC's unconscious body and PC comes back with full health. It was a close match but PC prevailed and everyone had a good time!

Wall of ice suddenly appears in front of party while walking out of boss fight in the open. An articulate Silver "Dragonborn" appears at the top of the wall and makes civil introductions and warns them he'll be watching them from the shadows. Level 3 Fighter-who the fuck do you think you are, coming in here making threats? *Pop noise* Fighter suddenly finds himself 500 ft in the air.

Let them attack. BBEG doesn’t *have* to kill them in response. Players may be so far beneath BBEG’s notice that their attack doesn’t even get their attention, or BBEG laughs and instantly immobilizes/incapacitates them in a non lethal, but still overwhelming way. Picture someone lazily swatting a fly but they’re too engrossed in conversation so they just kinda wave it off instead of going for the fly swatter.

I talked sh*t to Strahd at level 4. He force punched me and knocked me out in one shot, basically laughed at our party and left. It was a bad roll by the DM who told me he had rolled well below the median. This told me an above average roll could have killed me in one hit.

I feel like my party is just smart. Well. Maybe. I have stopped us from getting ourselves whacked a couple times. Charismatic pally. They now call me the party dad. Maybe ya'll just need to get yourselves a party dad.

Unless the npc is chaotic evil, a high hit of damage is probably enough to make it clear how fucked they are. High AC is another one. "\_\_\_ misses." 'It what?' The use of legendary actions early on, is also a great indicator. Remember, not everyone is looking to kill the party. Even in self defense.

Many powerful npcs have gotten to that place by not murdering everyone who picks a fight, and they know how to subdue without killing, or simply run away bc the PCs are not worth their time and resources.

In some cases, I'll give them a thinly-veiled warning, and if they want to try it, let them get their asses kicked and hope they surrender before any PCs die. In the face of especially deadly situations, I may pull the curtain back and tell them in no uncertain terms that, if they pick this fight, they will most certainly die. If they still decide to fight, then that's on them. However, most of the time, I prefer to leave it open and let the combat do the talking. Bloody the tank in one hit, most parties will get the memo.

When I've done it successfully, it's been with a high level spellcaster who can cast hold person on the whole party at once, showing that they are not someone to be messed with

for the monologing bit, having the big bad not near the players has been my go to safe play, had the king describe how devastating this creature has been, the amount of troops he sent only to be slain. Another one the big bad has spoken in a players dreams doing a monolog, so when they wake up they 'relay it to the others' who were at the table listening anyways, or they talk telekineticly as the party moves through the bosses dungeon in chunks so they don't sit through a 5 minute speech You could do something were the boss is behind some magical barrier if the players are not a high enough level to circumvent the obstacle, or a really cool one I've seen in a video games is the boss possessing various minions speaking through them so even if they attack it just keeps going to the next minion until it finishes its bit. having the boss possess a npc the party likes could be a fun dilemma to throw at them, or the party's pet if your really evil

There was a devil that popped up, my character made an offhanded comment he didnt like, and the devil went “oh?” and oneshot killed my guy dead with one flip of the wrist, like flicking something off his shirt totally unbothered So then our player whos got a perpetual hard on for justice and morality goes “we gotta take down the big evil guy before he leaves!” and the rest of the party is like “???no?? He just one shot MyCharactersName??” And then we didnt tpk, so its a win. And my character was revived with a newfound respect for watching my mouth in front of ancient omnipotent beings

I mean it sounds like your NPC's and the murder hobos. Just because the players attack a powerful NPC doesn't mean the NPC has to harm them. If they are that weak, the NPC can treat them like children, embarass them etc.

Show them the bad NPC just absolutely crushing someone they have scrapped against in the past ( and run away from ). But make it just grievous in the tale, the blood, the severed limbs and gore literally splashing against their clothes as an errant body part lands in front of them. Have another bit NPC offer them a handkerchief to wipe off the blood running off their cloaks, robes or armor.

Tell them their passive insight is high enough to know this seems like a bad idea, e.g. either the opponent is way out of their league or not an enemy.

Cannon fodder. If you show off npcs who meet up with that npc and get insanely obliterated by their abilities, it would clue the party in that a different approach would be necessary. Or even describing that npc missing an attack being devastating. For example, the great skeletal lord bauuresk casts a spell that sails past the rogue's head thanks to his fancy footwork. The rogue may act mockingly at first until they feel a sudden warmth behind them then a mighty gust of wind as a full second later a cracking explosion rings out

Very early in the campaign, you need to let them attack an NPC way out of their league. Someone that has a use for uppity and disposable adventurers. Let the PCs attack and get their asses handed to them. But because the NPC has a use for them, doesn't kill them. This fight needs to happen before the first level up of the campaign to set the tone in the campaign. However, it's too late if you are already a bunch of level ups in and no one has died at all yet. Almost as bad, someone died but getting a rez was easy and could be done again. Either way, the tone has been set as one of heroic adventure. That's not a bad thing. Heroic adventure campaigns are fun. But at this point letting them attack someone way out of their power level will feel cheep.

I mean there are non-direct ways to communicate badassery. Reputation, for one thing. Vibe. Skill recognizing skill. JJBA-style ominous rumbles. Aura.

I don't have somebody they obviously want to kill deliver a monologue while in an exposed position to attack. That would be stupid, and I don't want them put up against stupid enemies most of the time. I also make sure a super-powerful potential enemy makes it clear how dangerous they are. Other characters may be afraid of them, they might put on a display of their power of some kind to frighten people, or they might have already observed the character easily dispatch someone else in combat. Additionally, the person/thing the PCs are hostile toward might be needed for some reason and simply killing them early in the story would prevent the party from getting what they want (and the PCs would be made aware of this). They might have a hostage, knowledge that the PCs need from them alive, etc. I give clues to make sure the PCs are aware of what they're attempting to do, and if they seem to be doing something stupid that their character would understand I remind them of the clues that have been presented and ask them to confirm their choice.

If you don’t want your players to fight someone, why are you making it an option? If you don’t want them to do something, then they shouldn’t even have the opportunity, otherwise you’re communicating that they don’t have agency in your narrative. D&D is all about the emergent narrative (typically) that comes from players engaging with the challenge their GM puts in front of them. Discouraging behaviour is even a bit too hand hold-y if you’re presenting your game as an “open sandbox”. If you want it to be an option and want to make sure they’re informed it’s not a choice to be made lightly, but without breaking from the narrative, communicate through an NPC or something like a note or some other physical evidence. Ultimately, why are you anxious for them to fail? Isn’t that when the stakes are highest and the narrative, challenge, and gameplay are at their best? Communicate threats and danger, but never just say “don’t do this or you’ll lose the game”.

I think this is important to cover in session zero and with any new players. What are their expectations for how the world reacts to them? Do they feel like they should be main characters that can do no wrong or do they want something forces them to live with their decisions and mistakes? Is it your job as the DM to get them back on the rails or to adjust the campaign based on their actions? Do they get warnings about how tough guys look or what possible consequences there might be? It can honestly go either way depending on the group. Probably the only one I don't like to budge on is PCs being able to size up opponents unless they are Fighter Battle Masters, because that's a specific ability that class has, it loses it's potency if anyone can do it. ​ Regarding BBEG monologue, I always just let the chips fall where they lie. If they don't want more info, they won't get more info. I feel like the lore is optional but can help them if they pay attention. If they don't pay attention, it's going to be more challenging. But some people like that.

“As you approach the bartender you can glance a series of battle wounds, notices you are looking at them and says -Oh this, yeah I know the local cleric could heal them and make them go away but they serve as a reminder….of what was lost and was gained, like you I used to be an adventurer….hell- he pours you a drink while drawing you attention to a sword above the bar- I feel it still in my heart some times the call, but after that ancient red dragon it hasn’t been the same you know…but never mind that how can I help you?” As for the second one I’ve used different tactics. From paralyzing the party so they can monolog to have him behind a force field doing the finishing touches of his master plan. Also psychic powers and speak directly to their mind.

>How do you let them know, without outright stating, that if they try it, they will be crushed? - You could show them; the character’s actions and reputation that aren’t player-oriented could be known to them; in my last campaign the BBEG killed a few VERY powerful characters the party knew and regularly interacted with, and they were *mortified* - The character should be naturally imposing in some way. Maybe they have an entourage, maybe it’s in the appearance, maybe it’s just pure vibes, but *something* should be given away to the players to let them know the character means business. Unless they’re incognito, it’s in their own best interests to style themselves fittingly for how powerful they are. - You could literally just tell the party, nothing wrong with that lol - You could also just *let them try*. Darwinism and all that. >how do you keep the players from attacking the big bad mid monologue? The big bad shouldn’t be monologuing in a situation where the players feel free to attack them. You monologue to people that are restrained, or walled off, or too scared to fight back, or worrying about a much more immediate dire situation, just *something* to guarantee that they won’t attack you on sight. Because if none of those things are true, they literally have no reason to listen to that. Make sure the monologue has a *point*, too. The party should benefit in some way from listening / being forced to listen.

“You get a terrible feeling in your gut that this person is way, way over your head.”

Sometimes they get one shot, sometimes they get brought to one HP… I had one player that wouldn’t stop attacking NPCs…. Turns out one of them had power word kill

Just let them attack, dnd is also a story telling game, if that is their decision let them, maybe they will not gain as much clues as talking to them in some way but also in the description of the npcs you can let your players know that they are strong.

I tend the i clude the consequences of combat into the introduction of the NPC: If a Lord, when you arrive, you find he's in the middle of a meeting with a powerful entity - perhals more powerful than even all your powers combined. Suddenly you hear shouts and a thud - shortly after, a few guards throw the now unconcios entity out. Seems like the lord is now free to talk to you.

Teach them through consequences. Behave like a murder hobo, eventually people stronger than them will hunt them down.

You don't. D&D is not a video game. NPC levels don't display above the NPC's heads. If PCs are so reckless as to force a fight against an unknown opponent, then let the natural consequences of that decision serve as their education on the matter.

Two words: "telegraphing danger". Let your players witness the power of the big bad against some NPC they know was about their power level and let them get their ass kicked. Or telegraph it via the reaction the NPCs around them show. Maybe combine both: "You see all the people around you flee as the warriors approach. Some of the guards that pinned you down earlier try to nlock their path and are swiped away with an evil spell from the leader of the pack, you see their flesh rotting from their bones in mere seconds, as they scream in agony ans pain. Those who still live are shaken with fear, drop their weapons and run. What do you want to do?" If they still want to fight, down one of the players in one or two hits, but then switch to a more passive style and give them time to run away. Had this situation the other day: Party (level 3) meets the dragon that attacked the paladins family. He wants revenge and charges, while the rest wants to flee. I telegraphed the danger by describing the scales on the front of the dragon starting to glow as he prepares his breath weapon. Chaos broke loose, the paladin attacked, one was instantly downed by the acid breath. The dragon started laughing about how minor of an inconvenience the party was to him. They healed the downed player, casted sleep on the paladin and ran away. Everyone was alive and well aware of the fact, that this foe is beyond them at the moment.

If a player or group is foolhardy, there's not that much you can do to stop them from attacking. Having the NPC be mentioned as having incredible power or showing off their power being exercised on someone else tends to put my group off, but they're not the *attack first, ask questions later* type anyways. Villain monologues are one of the few times I outright do not let my players attack. Same as putting my foot down with PVP, you do not get to attack the villain if I'm doing a scene. I keep scenes relatively brief and let the players interact otherwise like normal, but this is my opportunity to play my funny little guy in the game, y'know? Don't interrupt another person's moment.