URGENT: Submit Questions for Our "Gettin' Crunchy" Mixed Bag!

@murph One of my favorite things while being a dm is when you think of something really cool to improv on the spot that ends up having lasting ramifications (like star spawn for instance.) Have you had a particular moment you were really proud of coming up with on the fly since the band of boobs began?

Michael

@Murph How do you decide what magic items to give the gang and not be overpowered?

Hey @Murph I just started college and I'm getting a group together for a campaign I'll be running, it's my first time dming and I'm doing a mix of premade content and stuff I'll throw in for our sales, my question is for big stories like the one you've made, did you start with these long arcs and back stories and characters in mind or did they come together after you established your PC's and built it from them?

Quick question for @Murph. I've always liked the name Murphy as a first name and I'm trying to convince my wife that we should make our son that. So as someone who always goes by Murph would you say it's a decent name. And also for the BoB have you ever considered the nickname "Dropkick" as in like "Dropkick Murphy's"? Love the show guys can't wait to see where it goes in the future!!

Aaron Thomas

Got a DM question for @Murph...I'm putting together an encounter in a campaign where the party will venture through a corrupted forest teeming with undead. I thought back your "dash encounter" in the elemental plane of earth. Was curious as to what you referenced for the "lair actions" of the plane or whether they were completely homebrewed.

If new Hardwon picked a fight with old Hardwon, who would win?

With Hardwon's new look, is his hair still long enough to put in his hellish rebuke scrunchie?

InfinityFox

How come you guys are never guest stars at conventions or stream of many eyes or critical role?

Lungless

I’m pretty sure this wasn’t addressed but how much time past in bahumia while the boobs were in the feywild and shadowfell

Nick Thomson

His presence in Bahumia isn't connected to Thiala being alive. He's just been basically dimensionally shunted

Kestrel

Doesn't fully answer the question, but there have been lots of things said in throwaway lines that get accidentally retconned later; for example, Hardwon could read for almost half of the show

Kestrel

It was a constitution save to be infected, and once you were infected it was a wisdom save to escape mind control; her mind control seemed to give full control over anyone who failed the save, and she could use them as a reaction

Kestrel

A lot of the Crick is based directly off of things Emily said in RP

Kestrel

If a character is powerful enough to not just be commoner stats, I'd be willing to bet he has a stat block for them. Even just DMing my home game, I have stat blocks ready for almost all relevant NPCs

Kestrel

It works for the show because they get so few long rests and because they have such a small party, so it allows for them to have a bunch of high-intensity encounters without Murph having stress about long-rest frequency. It would probably be a little bit rougher in a regular home game or with a bigger party

Kestrel

UA is often overpowered as is, and the official releases are intended to balance them more efficiently

Kestrel

Check out the Circle of Spores Unearthed Arcana!

Kestrel

This really depends on what your actual goal is, as well as the type of paladin and type of campaign. Sorcerer/paladin is famously a little bit overpowered, but it’s also pretty complicated, and doing things just to make your character stronger isn’t always the most fun

Kestrel

They do not use maps!

Kestrel

The Amulet was cracked as soon as they found it, early in Moonstone, so there’s always been SOMETHING up with Thiala at the very least

Kestrel

The official Circle of Spores came out after the show had been going for a while, and Emily just stuck with the UA version

Kestrel

I can’t think of any monsters that are completely homebrew! He does a lot of reskinning, or taking monsters and swapping out a few abilities

Kestrel

He wouldn’t force them anywhere, but they do communicate off mic; he’s talked about asking where they’re planning to go next just so that he can actually build the location

Kestrel

They definitely roll for stats, but I think they do character ideas first and then roll and then arrange those rolls how they want

Kestrel

He was a monster of the month a while ago, you can see his stats there!

Kestrel

RAW, that’s not how Reincarnate works, but if Jake has wanted to it’s possible Murph would’ve figured something out

Kestrel

Your plot’s not the problem; talk to the players about it being a team game

Kestrel

Bev has Magic Initiate and Inspiring Leader! No idea about Moonshine

Kestrel

He’s a level 11 fighter! He’s always a level below the main crew

Kestrel

Emily definitely uses spell cards

Kestrel

Caldwell’s talked vaguely about bard, but I think he’s satisfied that urge with the Magic Initiate feat

Kestrel

You can make a character as complicated as you want, but it’ll depend what level campaign you’re joining! And NADDPOD is a group of professional improvisers with years of experience, so your home game will likely be very different, but it’ll also be something you’re directly a part of and connected to

Kestrel

If you listen to the 8-Bit Book Club episode from right before NADDPOD started, they talk about their ideas for their characters, so you can get a pretty good idea!

Kestrel

Cantrips are your friend, but also don’t be afraid to use your leveled spells when you feel like they’d be useful; there’s a lot of inclination to save slots but then you just end up not using them

Kestrel

Spell cards + lots of experience playing casters

Kestrel

It’s definitely not wizard’s familiar, definitely seems to be basically how a ranger’s companion would work

Kestrel

He definitely takes into account magic items; otherwise they’d whomp everyone (the Amulet especially is really good)

Kestrel

On the show, he’s mentioned like, off mic texting to be like “you guys are gonna go to Frostwind, right?” so that he doesn’t have to fully design multiple cities for one session. Basically, the plot happens whether or not the PCs want to be a part of it, and so encouraging them through story to follow your hooks still leaves plenty of room for it to be open-ended

Kestrel

They do not fudge rolls, and Murph did say on-episode that Paw Paw has total plot armor

Kestrel

Wild Magic Surge table, what other ideas do you have to expand it to cause more chaos?

STARSPAWN!

Starspawn, Starspawn Starspawn?

Another question.... With all of the Revelations / plot twist that has happened so far; which one has had the most profound impact on the characters AND for the players? Has there been tense moments off mike or even that got edited out? Especially with related to the above question?

Another question - is there a chance that NADDPOD can come to Pax Australia?

Greetings form Australia. My question is about the main campaign story. With each of the BoB meeting a God and having a few interactions with them; why doesn’t any one ask the Gods to help in the defeat of Thelia? Or even more importantly asking why / how she became a God (surely they should have some idea)? Also for @jake. When the players were initially creating their characters, how much input did you have in their backstory? Or did they free reign and you created The moonstone saga off the back of their background choices?

@jake @emily @caldwell do you guys ever lie about your dice rolls for the sake of the story? Also @brian would you ever consider letting Pawpaw die if it was epic/noble enough or are you afraid Emily will actually divorce you?

I have 2 questions: 1. As a DM where do you draw the line in allowing characters to world build? (Session 2 over and after flubbing a spell, a character now wants to add too his character that an evil force merged with his mind when he came to this realm. It kinda flubs up my plot). 2. How does Murph's Jersey crew compare to this? Is NADDpod a result of Murph's DMing style, or do the BoB make it the fun campaign it is?

Another quick one - do you ever roll for off screen plot points? Like a roll to see if The Chosen capture Irondeep or something big like that?

Y C

This is similar to the question I had in mind, so I second this. How do you find the balance between letting unexpected things happen (ex. Hardwon kills Galad) and still having a plan for what happens next?

Y C

DM question for Murph - I’m curious about this because I’ve never DMed before. When it’s not necessarily obvious what the characters will do next, do you have a few different arcs planned out so they can do whatever they want? Or do you sort of agree, “right so you guys want to go to Frostwind next?” and then design the area? I guess the question boils down to this- how do you keep the plot open-ended but still plan ahead?

Y C

DM question - how do you fairly balance a battle so that it’s challenging enough, but not so much that you risk a total party kill?

Regarding serious mechanics, I'm interested in Murph and Caldwell's take on the advice that I've seen some seasoned DMs spread (and that I often employ), which is: "Never prompt a Perception check." Because as soon as you do, you alert the players that there is something that they haven't seen / heard / smelled / etc. Perfect example being the Gemma assassination. Hardwon wasn't looking out for an assassin, so Jake wasn't told to roll. Some DMs take this a step further and never prompt any checks. You wait for the players to describe what they're doing, and if it wouldn't make sense for them to succeed automatically given their backgrounds, training, equipment, etc., then you say, "Roll Stealth," or whatever check makes sense. I realize that doesn't always make for super interesting podcasting, but it can make players simultaneously more engaged with the game and more afraid of the horror you could rain down upon them at any moment.

Alex Diamond

Murph & Emily - Since pretty much everyone at the Crick seems to have just one name (a feature of not knowing who their daddies are, I suspect), why does Moonshine have a last name? Unless you're going to say that "Moonshine Cybin" is her first name, like my friend who says that "Elissa Jo" is her first name and that she has no middle name, which literally makes no sense. Basically I want you to tell my friend she's wrong. Thank you.

Alex Diamond

Hey Murph, I love the puzzles and "arcadey" shenanigans you plan for the crew. How do you come up with these ideas, and do you test them before your sessions?

How do you go about designing such a variety of puzzles, obstacles, encounters and other bits that keep areas from feeling like a dungeon crawl? How do you go about giving hints to the boobs when they get stuck at one of these puzzles?

I've run D&D with both battlemaps and as theater of the mind, and I like theater of the mind quite a bit more. But I find it difficult to make sure everyone understands what's going on, what the battleground looks like and where everyone is relative to one another. How do you keep everyone on the same page in the midst of combat?

Question for Murph, I've DM'd a couple friends at times, and we're all fairly experienced players. When I run these, there are dull moments and my players can get bored at times. How do you keep the sessions exciting at most moments? I want them to love their characters, and they aren't very passionate about them. How do you come up with such great story hooks, and how would you recommend passing them into my own story?

Kahl Gillispie

Many say that the "healing word" spell is somewhat overpowered because of how often you can use it to insta-res a PC, being able to constantly heal a character who is down so they NEVER take more than one or two death saves. There have been many dangerous moments in the podcast where the stakes felt lower because of the amount of heals/revives. What is your opinion on this? Is it too overpowered/lowers stakes too much or is it perfectly balanced considering the ramifications of an actual character death (meaning entirely, as "new" Hardwon doesn't feel much different)?

Kahl Gillispie

Any advice for planning encounters that encourage lots of RP? I am going to start to DM soon, and I feel like it can get easy to get bogged down in the numbers and forget to RP while you are focussed on nerfing the baddies. PS: love the pod, helped me get through a miserable surgical term (I am a med student) at hospital getting to listen to you guys to/from placement!! XOXO

Polly Rinehart

Do you think the ability that moonshine has to get 6th level spells back on a short rest is a bit overpowered

Martin Healy

Try balancing the monsters to your party's specific strengths and weaknesses. Party is mostly fighters and sword wielders? Raise the ac 1 or 2. Just feel things out and you'll learn the balancing eventually. If you feel a monster is too hard while you're playing then reduce his damage from a d10 to a d8 or whatever. Little tweaks so that they don't notice. Careful with ac though, you can't really adjust that on the fly because people will notice.

Blake Petri

i don't know what he'll say but maybe roll a dice instead of a coin, they won't notice anything different

Blake Petri

Murph: Do you mostly plan out multiple scenarios from an encounter result? For example, Gemma's death; Had you already planned out "here's what will happen if she lives, here's what will happen if she dies" or do you plan the more likely one on paper and then have a mental outline for the other results? Thanks!

Blake Petri

Now that Emily has experienced the power of high level spells, is she even less likely to get to 2 attacks as a barbarian?

Jason Garrett

I’ll ask the question everyone else is too afraid to ask: WHAT WERE THE STATS FOR THE SKULLYWUG SUIT????

Jerry Mercer (me)

How much of the crick elves was prepared before hand and how much was improvised.

Eric and Andrea Benoit

How do you structure a session. From beginning stage to middle to setting up encounters to recording.?How do you prepare expository information? How do you track encounters and make sure you use all the things you planned for? As ADAM with ADD I always look for techniques to straighten out my thought processes. Thonk u

Fooleons

What were the mechanics for crick rot if any and how did marabels mind control work?

Andrew Bonkginya

For direct messenger, Murph: (and dunkle Caldwell if he wants to weigh in)

Fooleons

Jake, what is your high score in fruit ninja?

Stephen Lander

Murph, where do you draw the line between shenanigans and the band of boobs actually using their silly stunts for an effective part in their story or in a round of combat. Do you do quick thinking of how it can play out or do you mentally flip a coin on whether they can attempt to accomplish what they are doing for “flavor” for the pod?

Question for Murph: im planning a Harry Potter oneshot and want no fighter classes, all my players are familiar with 5e so i want them to start at level 3, and wanted to know if i should send weenies against them or a beefy boy? Several weenies with a lower attack could get out of hand ganging up on one PC, but im worried about beefy boys one-shotting my wizard.. Secondary Q for Emily: as a big magic lover, are there any subclasses you recommend to my players, or any i should exclude from the options? Hexblade seems to break my canon but Laura Bailey made it work

Daniel Hynes

Will you guys ever go to Gen Con Indy? I'm sure a lot of people want y'all to go.

David Vu

Question for Murph, what do you do if you don’t have stats for a powerful character, then your PCs attempt to fight them, for example if they tried to fight Jolene when they met her.

How long does it take to record the average episode now-a-days? I assume if the episode is two hours long there’s probably about 30 - 45 minutes of math and rules checks edited out.

All Pulp! No Juice!

I have a question about encounter planning. I always love how you give the team crazy fights where their goals aren't as simple as killing the bad guys (i.e., stopping the Chosen from casting a spell on all of Gladehome). How do you balance the encounters where the enemies can't just easily kill the BoB while they're distracted, or do so little damage that the BoB can easily complete their objective?

HellishRebuker, PhD

I'd love to know Papa Murphy's writing process behind encounters and major plot points. How long does it take to come up with an arch and how can you possibly account for the massive range of player decisions?

If the team defeats Thiala what happens to Balnor? Does he disappear like a revanent or will he stay in Bahumia and live out his days?

Love the show guys. thanks for all you do. my question is to Daddy Murph. When creating an encounter, do you find a creature you want to use first, or think of a cool scenario and find a creature that would suit that scenario?

Alastair Stevans

I would like to know more about fungal Pawpaw. I know Murph had mentioned the fact that he had dire wolf stats, but I’d like to know specifically if Pawpaw has more of less intelligence than your common fire wolf. Something like that. Also, can Beverly ride fungal Pawpaw, thanks Boobs.

Seth Holly

How do you know what is best for the story encounter wise like when is it best to have a fight that character could die on very easily, or using a challenge that the PCs may lose but will probably win, or using an easy fight that the PCs will definitely win

I know it’s not a dm question, this one is for Jake. Have you thought about multiclassing Hardwon into barbarian now that you’ve acquired your third attack?

The boobs have done an incredible job of building backstory and lore by ad libbing as you interact with each other and NPCs. Is there anything you established on the fly that you wish you could take back, either because it doesn’t fit with your character/class/stats or because it makes roleplaying more difficult? Or are you all just so good at improv that you have the perfect quip for any situation and can roll with it every time?

DM question! Murph what tools do you use to manage combat? Is it all by hand? Also do you have any tips for improvising NPC stats? Finally, any tips for how to set up non combat encounters on the fly?

I have a couple of DM questions. I just started a new campaign and I have six(!) players. I know Murph and Emily play D20 with six PCs, but has Murph ever DM'ed for five or six people? How do you deal with keeping combat from getting out of hand in terms of time and keeping track of everything? How do you make sure that each player gets a little time to shine (especially players that are maybe a bit quieter than the others)? In terms of "gettin' crunchy", how do you balance big fights with lots of enemy NPCs? Last thing... how do you deal with making up stats for when players start a fight with some NPC that you weren't planning on having them fight? Please feel free to use any or all of the above questions, time permitting. Thanks. ~ Chris B. aka Runcible Shaw

Yes, they have! Deadeye’s and Tonathan’s stats can be found as Monster of the Months

Kestrel

Multiclassing! I play a Rogue Assassin (Her name is Sybil and shes a sweet teen like Bev...only...you know...assassin murder) and I've been humming and hawing about multi-classing her but i'm not sure which class would work best and I'm always worried that i'll miss out on some awesome stuff down the road. Emily, Did you always know you wanted to multi-class Moonshine? We're you worried you might miss out on cool Druid Stuff down the road? And have the guys ever thought of multi classing any of their characters, Especially after Dead-eyes Sweet Multi-class stats? (P.S My Sweet Assassin does have a Pet opossum named Yaw Yaw as a homage to The Sweet Scrabble Man. The guys I play with now go out of their way to send me Opossum memes, and the one biologist even sends me pics of baby opossums when he finds them in the field!)

Nikki Lynn

i know paladins have to spread their ability scores over several different stats. What are young Bev's base stats?

Thomas Troy

How would you guys deal with a TPK this late in the game? Would Murph come up with some deus ex machina or would you all create new level 12 characters that were just chillin' around while shit was going down in Bahumia?

Josnak

Question for Daddy Murphy, When it comes to balancing an encounter do you take into account the magical items the BoB have access to or do you just balance around their level?

Cody Schlosser

Would y'all consider a "MONSTER MADNESS 2.0 MIXED BAG" where you pick npcs and creatures from the campaign to fight each other? Bullywug vs. Woolybug?

Mason McCauley

Who Would Win in a milk-drinking contest: --Bev, Moonshine, Hardwon? --IRL + Murph?

For the BoB, how do you guys prepare for each session as players? Caldwell has said he uses notecards, what else do you guys do? Do you use traditional character sheets? During your "session 0" did you roll your own stats and did you keep your first character sheets/change them out and write new ones every level?

Mason McCauley

What color are the chosen? I always imagined them as white but since there are white knights that doesn’t work. Gold? silver?

Gabe Petersen

Murph, I recently got Kobold Press' Tome of Beasts based off your recommendation. I adore how thick the book is but there are so many new creatures and I cant decide which to use. How do you decide the next big monster for the BoB to fight? Do you use any other reference books?

Mason McCauley

How long do you play for a regular episode ? Then how long does it typically take to edit the episode down to the tight 90+ or so minutes that you post?

Paul Hein

My money is on Emily

Sarah Sullivan

I'd LOVE to know how much Murph straight up writes down on paper. Does he have rough outlines of descriptions of towns or people, or does he have some sections fully written?? What about long character monologues/dialogue? It's hard for DM's to know how much to plan out, but Murph has long been one of the best podcast DMs in my opinion so I'd love to know the prep process!!

Sarah Sullivan

Hey there Band of Boobs and Daddy Murphey! I was wondering how Murph comes up with the puzzles for his campaign. do you take inspiration from other sources or are they all from your own head? Also, how do you gauge a fair difficulty level of puzzle for your players.

Julian Johnson

How do you, in an RP sense especially in the end of a campaign, decide who of the npc the characters will be meeting again? Like how do you decide that In a certain location the boobs might find Cob over Luna?

Oscar de la Garza

So Many Questions! Hopefully I'm not repeating too many of them but For Murph: Beyond the current MOM's can you release the stats and abilities of some of your cool homebrew enemies (Ulfgar, Maribel, the Watchman, Akarot's various forms, Gallad Rosell both as a paladin and as lord of shadowfell, and the creepier Mongomerys) and NPC's/allies (Balnor nowadays, Uku, Allanis, Erlin, Kran)? What are some tricks you have for keeping the tension high in situations that are supposed to be difficult/scary especially when you have players that are goofy as all heck? What are some of your tricks for not getting your enemies steam rolled when your players have so many attacks in a round? My players have caught onto some of my usual tricks, how do you lull them back into a false sense of security so that they can be surprised again? For the BoB: What's the one thing you wish you had done differently with your character building? With backstory, character creation, stat distribution, or leveling up? What is the coolest character you can imagine and what type of character (race, class, and personality) do you hope to play in the future? Who would win in a fight between Bev, Moonshine, and Hardwon? What about between Caldwell, Emily, and Jake?

Harry Abrahams

I'm really needing some help with a campaign I'm currently running. We've done about five sessions so far, and my players are loving it, their favourite session was one focused around solving puzzles and riddles so they can get into the current bad guy's secret lair. I want to do something similar again, but I'm struggling to come up with more puzzle ideas. Do you have any suggestions or methods of creating puzzles for you PCs?

For Murph: you've mentioned reskinning monsters before (eg. the goatmen were reskinned cultists) What are some other reskinnings you've done? Do you have any particular favorites?

Stephen “can Rage last for four years” C

Players: What’s the oldest item each of you still have on your inventory lists that you have picked up since the start of the show (excluding starting gear)?

Cutter Waller

Is there a underlying goal besides saving bahomia that motivates each character. Like for moonshine it seems like she is also trying to save the crick and her people by eliminating the chosen. What else drives bev and Hardwon?

For Murph and Caldwell: Just HOW do you feel confident you’ve struck a balance between the party’s capability vs. your custom encounter’s difficulty? I understand many enemies are taken mostly from books and changed a bit, but how do you get comfortable customizing those monsters, and creating custom minigames and puzzles without feeling like you’re accidentally making them too hard or deadly for the party?

Cutter Waller

For the Players: What was your rationale for multiclassing or taking feats rather than traditionally leveling up your character? And would you like to see for your character (e.g., stat goals, levels, access to certain spells.) Thanks for all the laughs!

Considering Moonshine is more of a healer and her power seems to come from Melora, would she be better suited as a nature cleric than a fungal druid? Emily seem frustrated that most high level baddies are immune to her spores

Will Brannon

I’m running my first one-off campaign and designing it from scratch. What’s the best way to map out a town town a tavern, store, and NPCs to inhabit it? Also, how do notes on

Cale Clinton

Probably too late but has Jake noticed any problem with playing a Ranger in Trinyvale? Keep seeing people write about how it's frustrating but I have made one in my notes just waiting to be played as soon as my friends gets off their asses

Lucas Lindholm

For Murph and Caldwell. Other than the 3 D&D core rule books, what books (specifically D&D or other tabletop RPG books) do you guys use to get monsters, encounter ideas or general mechanic ideas from.

For moonshine: Now that you’ve begun gaining access to some of the more powerful and badass spells in the game, are you regretting multiclassing into barbarian, the only class who can’t cast spells (while raging)? And if so, what would you do if you had a second chance?

FYI they're currently just PCs who have a chosen deity but it doesn't feature at all in their role play.

Murph! I love how you build the relationship between your characters and their gods into your campaign. How can I incorporate a bit of divine intervention into my game without my PCs thinking that they're some kind of 'chosen one', or that their god will dive in and save them when they over-reach?

For a new DM who is all about the storytelling, but also loves the mechanics of DnD, how would you advise building interesting encounters, especially non-combat encounters like the gauntlet in the Elemental Earth realm, any of the Mage Madness challenges, etc? Between both Daddy DM and Duncle, we’ve been able to hear really fun ways of implementing the mechanics of the game in dynamic new ways, and I would really appreciate any advice you could share!

Steve Pepper

DM question for Murph, I’m planning the big bad for my campaign, would a Dracolich be too much for 5 lvl 8-9 characters?

Gearoid Cotter

Could you go over the mechanics of R. Cane? I'd like to use something similar in my own campaign.

How should my Tempest Cleric go about learning who his deity is? He has amnesia (turns out he was evil in his past but his "slate has been wiped clean") and when he goes into combat, he basically thinks he is Thor. This is a Homebrew campaign, and the original deity I thought was granting my power was actually the target of my past evil self... he attacked the temple of Kara, Goddess of Storms, to try and steal her mystical warhammer (possible Queenshammer sibling since my DM is also a NADDPOD fan). But when he cleansed her temple, she came to him in a vision and told him he was not her Champion and that he had been evil. So where are his powers coming from...? How would you go about figuring this out so he can be true to his deity and be more pious in his adventures?

Ragnar Færdwynd

Love the show guys, so excited to see you in London in October! My question is are there any spells/abilities/feats you’re sad that you didn’t choose as you’ve levelled up/ones that you haven’t had a chance to use yet?

DM on the rise here! I need help with keeping traveling interesting. Murph, how do you make traveling from one city to the next entertaining? Boobs, what about just being on the road can be engaging for you as players?

For all of you: Is there any ability score your character has mechanically that you feel doesn't quite line up with how you play that character?

Robert Z.

From what I've heard, you can basically go to like 1.5 the "deadly" rating and have it be fine

Kestrel

Emily definitely does, and I think Murph's mentioned doing it as well!

Kestrel

They've technically already been back, with Tonathan and Uku

Kestrel

Balnor has the halfling Lucky ability to reroll ones! Murph just often forgets that he's a halfling and also that he technically has Action Surge, because there is...a lot going on

Kestrel

Can't remember when, but Emily mentioned a while ago that she feels like she always has to play a woman so that women are represented, and Jake said that he'd be willing to play a woman so that she could break from that if she wanted to

Kestrel

Do what they did with Paw Paw, and make it just a pet, not an animal companion! Very little hp, basically no way to help in battle

Kestrel

Does Maw Maw know who Paw Paw's daddy is?

He prints most of them!

Kestrel

They were at 12 going into Mage Madness!

Kestrel

Egwene's an old monster of the month, you can find her stat block there! Erlin is technically a level 1 paladin and at least a level 3 cleric (probably life domain), but is more likely some simplified NPC block

Kestrel

Daddy, Duncle, how do you manage the CRs of your encounters across an entire adventure? I’ve tried following the suggestions in the DM guide, but I find that this leads to a lot of relatively easy fights, while your adventures seem to be made up of a few really high stakes fights with dynamic elements - well not when you’re massacring goat men but you get my point . Also, do you think this encounter design makes for better podcasting or do you just prefer it generally?

Keaghan Yaxley

Can you do a compare of your day 1 stats vs your current ones?

Jeffrey Steck, Lord of the Fjord

Do y'all have a complete inventory list? What obscure things are on it (like do you still have water walking scrolls?)

Jeffrey Steck, Lord of the Fjord

Hey guys!! I’m currently about to start a new campaign with a couple of friends. My DM hasn’t told us much other than there is going to be a lot of dragons and that we should try to make strong characters because it’s going to be a really difficult campaign. I’ve been wanting to play a Wild Magic Sorcerer for a while and thought that this was my opportunity. We are starting at level 10, can you guys think of any good multiclassing options for my character so they can survive this campaign?

Quick question for Murph= are there actual stats for Pendeghast and if so what are they?

So this might take up a whole episode, but could you guys possibly give us a real in depth breakdown of each characters feats and abilities? We’ve come pretty far now and The Boobs have really leveled up in so many ways! It’d be cool from someone who casually listens to hear from you guys what makes your characters!

Jonah Sanchez

Howdy y’all! I’m running a game for, currently, six folks which I love. The problem is we always have people who want to drop in and see what our group is all about. We’re very story driven though and I’m wondering how Murph sets up his arches to help shed the spotlight on the guests he has? Also, what’s the best way to figure out how to fit the guest into the story in the first place? Do I take them to Chili’s or Applebee’s half apps?

Christopher Zeller

I have finally assembled a group of friends to DM in a prewritten campaign! My question is, because this seems to be a core part of the BoB play experience, how much shit do I let them get away with? One of them's already trying to be a magic pumpkin, and there's also a CN drow rogue, so I see this going potentially very weird. How do you "yes, and" your players without allowing too much bullshittery?

Hey Murph, fellow DM here looking for some advice on large fights. How do you handle the some what chaotic scramble for stat blocks when the battle is jumping around and you got 50 options for attacks and spells? Do you print it all out and have it layed out in front of you? Do you have it all digital with a bunch of windows open? Very curious bc I found that a lot of pauses trying to find a stat can break narrative flow easily. Yet you seam to move quick. (Unless thsts just editting or improve lol) but really what's your secret!!

Joseph Martino

Murph and Caldwell, how do you balance and design your encounters? As a DM I find it challenging to strike that perfect balance of challenging, life-threatening (when appropriate), but reasonably beatable. Thanks in advance and for the amazing show! Hope you come to Colorado on tour one day!

Kaitlyn with a K and a Y

Has every guest player come in as the same level the BoB's were at at the time? What were the guest players stats?

Jeffrey Steck, Lord of the Fjord

Would you ever consider using something like the D10000 table of random magical effects and if yes how would you handle it?

cynicalcereal

This is less of a crunchy question and more of a general DnD Question. I love to DM but have a hard time finding people to play with. Either I find people that are fun and can’t play regularly for a campaign, or I find people that are a little difficult to deal with socially. What do you do to find players? Do you look for friends that already have an interest in DnD or do you have more luck finding consistent players just introducing friends to the game that have no previous D&D experience?

Fighting Favorites - The Favorite Things Podcast!

What will be the time between Campaign 1 and Campaign 2? Do you forsee new players/new DM etc?

What is the formula you have for keeping a session to a certain amount of time? Murph, do you have an idea beforehand of what’s going to happen and where you will end the session, or do you just play until a good stopping point comes up naturally?

Fighting Favorites - The Favorite Things Podcast!

What are your thoughts on min/maxing characters for combat scenarios vs creating characters stats purely based off of roleplaying ideas?

Fighting Favorites - The Favorite Things Podcast!

With pawpaw's new stats, has he taken on the same features as a rangers animal companion, or maybe a wizards familiar? Can moonshine and pawpaw understand one another more clearly now or is it still just the rees?

MissAdventurer

Was it difficult for Jake to have to keep up with his stats and abilities changing so much over such a short period of time (being a human, becoming a vampire, playing JV, and then now being a half-elf)? (Also my last name is pronounced Eagle like the bird Emily got it right the first time! Thanks for answering my questions!!!)

Hey Murph and Caldwell, how do you balance your encounters so well. For example, how did you know that Orcus wasn’t going to TPK everyone. Or Caldwell, when you give them all the cool items, and keeping the fights interesting without killing them instantly or making it too easy.

Murph, how do you approach NPC creation? Get a stat block and invent their personality on the fly or have everything already planned out ahead of time?

Current character sheets please!

Question for Emily and Jake; who do you like more as a DM, Cauldwell or Murph?

Joe Stevens

Can we please get updated character sheets for the BoB?

How do you go about planning a big encounter for three players, I find it either ends up in a 'one big bad guy' or a 'ton of underlings' situation, how do you find the balance between the two?

How do you keep on coming up with a story every week? I feel like its a lot Of work coming up with a really good 2 hour story every thursday.

Steven

Question for Murph: What's the one rule you dislike using or won't use?

I’ve never played DnD before and I’m thinking of trying a Duet with my girlfriend. She’s open to trying DnD also. Has anyone ever played a duet before and if so any tips or comments?

Jesse Ganz

Emily is it hard to keep Moonshine out of the characters you play on Dimension 20

Amy Driver

Back when Hardwon “had a special tie to shadowfell” I felt like you guys had talked about maybe multiclassing Hardwon into something like the hex blade warlock or a shadow sorcerer. Having pentagreens trapped and willing to make deals also seems suspicious, was this ever an option you were willing to give Hardwon?

Carson Kleinbeck

Question for Emily, if you were to play moonshine until level 20 what levels would you want of Druid and barbarian? I'm playing a Druid named Mo and I've been thinking of multi-classing :)

Daddy Murphy - what has it been like DM’ing an ever more powerful group? What tips do you have for DMs who suddenly have players with a lot of HP and very powerful spells?

All Pulp! No Juice!

Question for Murph: What would be the best way to introduce an encounter if you'd have the perfect world to do so?

JoWade

A question for Murph: would you ever consider doing a 1 off episode where instead of the regular BOB, it would be the guest characters you’ve had? (except deadeye of course) I love all the guest characters and I’d love to see what an adventure with their party would be like, all same level as the Boobs themselves!

dream_rogue

Question for Murph, when planning out a new game how do you start? Do you decide who the main villain is going to be and outline what you want to happen? Or start off small and build? I'm finding it hard to not try and do everything all at once

Also what was your favorite "rule of cool" move that you guys ever pulled and Murph approved?

Mak

What is the most ridiculous class/race combination you can think of and how would you play your character so it makes sense with their backstory and so that your character could actually contribute to their campaign? Would you ever consider playing an illogical combination in an actual campaign?

Cal Silver

I'm wondering if there will be a cannon drawing for Hardwon now that he is transformed. I know his physical description, but I want to see his look how you guys see him now.

Mak

I'm going to be DMing for the first time next month and I'm so excited, but the crunchy encounter stuff is what I'm most nervous about! Math! Any advice for first time DM crunch jitters? Also, Murph, any advice on puzzle design - where do you get your puzzle inspo from? Thanks so much for the show and for helping us all out here! ^_^

LemonLines99

Hey everyone, how has becoming a close-knit party affected your friendship outside the game?

Daddy Murph -- As a fellow DM.... how do you sleep at night knowing the terrors that you put your party through? EDIT: Cause personally, I'd sleep like a big ol baby.

Gandarf de Grape

I would love it if you talked about having animal familiars! I want one and the DM said I could have one at level 3, so was wondering about what it’s like to play with one, if there’s anything I should avoid, etc. I don’t even really understand if or how they level up with you or anything like that, it’s it’s up to the DM, etc. Any and all animal familiar related things would be great!

alyssa

Dm here, I wanna give my players all the things but then they wind up super Op how do I balance it?

Do you roll to see how all the background forces, important NPCs,and nation's are doing or do you do what is most narratively most satisfying

Narkmaul

I was wondering what Ranger argetype Nyack is in Trinyvale? I think Jake has said before he had forgotten to pick a path and hopefully we can get some beastmaster or horizon walker action!

Will Brannon

When you have multiple fights going on between NPCs offscreen, like in Pandemonium or Dangerous Knowledge, how do you decide who wins or loses? are you rolling for it in real time along with the main fight involving the BoB or do you decide beforehand how much damage each party is going to take by the time the BoB catches up with the NPCs? Or something completely different? I've been DMing for the first time and I had no idea how to deal with that situation when it came up in my first session so I panicked and flipped a coin when I thought no one was looking (people were looking)

This late in the game, would anyone create a new character if yours died? Or would you let it play out with the remaining cast?

When Dead Eye moved on did his weapons disappear as well? I'm just wondering because if his Pistol stayed behind it sounds like it would be a good upgrade for Balnor's gun, but that is if Murph remembers to use him in combat #wherewasbalnor.

Fuck, That makes it sound like I'm shitting on Caldwell. I love you both, in sorry.

jacket22

I ask as a DM, who consistently lets his players off to easy. I'm more Duncle than Daddy

jacket22

This is a late entry so it probably wont get read, but Murph you are the MASTER of planning challenging but still achievable encounters. How do you manage it. Balancing all the different status effects and abilities and making a tense and challenging encounter without pushing it over the edge.

jacket22

Tips on playing a wild magic sorcerer? The random chance aspect seems so fun

Don Kianian

What is the most overpowered item you believe you've given the band of boobs and what items did you think would be more useful than they turned out to be. Boobs what items did you forget about or weren't excited about. Paw paw how do you feel having never received a magic item? Balnor how do you feel carrying a literal bag of cursed items that could easily kill you and hundreds of others?

How do you pull off a successful one shot with people who have been playing together without disrupting the flow or killing momentum? We always have people that want to play one shots with our main group but it's difficult to do it without it killing our ongoing campaign momentum, ESPECIALLY when meeting once a week to play for a few hours is already so difficult.

What is the band going to do after you wrap up this campaign?

The names of your factions, towns, and characters are awesome. How do you come up with your names?

Danny Summers

How do you inspire passion for the game in your players? We find that some players are either tardy, not paying attention, or bailing for no good reason, all symptoms of lack of passion for D&D (or engagement, which is a different issue). Thanks guys, love your show xo

Danny Summers

Could you read your characteristics (STR, DEX, CON, INT, WIS, CHA) down the line for Moonshine, Hardwon, Bev, and Balnor? How much have they changed since you started?

In the same vein, listening to the episode when y'all explained your thought process around creating your characters...how has your thinking shifted or not after this experience?

Jacob Shilling

Murph, do you feel the group having reincarnation takes away the threat of death and/or makes Moonshine too much of a keystone for the group?

Shawn Connor (DM4Hire.com)

Murph, do you feel the group having reincarnation takes away the threat of death and/or makes Moonshine too much of a keystone for the group?

Shawn Connor (DM4Hire.com)

For the whole crew: when you're creating your character, do you focus on the class you want to play and then build a personality for the character or do you pick a class that matches the character? Have you ever had trouble when the character doesn't seem to be quite right for the class? Moonshine definitely doesn't meet the traditional expectations for a druid or a barbarian and a druid/barbarian seems like such a wacky combo but Emily makes it fit so well!

Diggy Dordugler

oh he CRONCH

Honor Burke

To the Boobs are there any items you have gotten that have especially helped you handle staying alive and defeating higher level monsters that you may not have been able to do otherwise? To Murph how have you handled giving out enough items to make them feel like they are getting a powerup throughout the campaign without giving too much or making it something they just pack away and never use?

What subclass/stats does the lady snake, erlin, and red have?

Zach K

How far do you plan out a story, do you have a general idea of the beginning to end or do you just plan what's immediately ahead?

Julio Fuentes

What all did you drop and pick up between the green to grey knight transformation?

Taylor Tomaszewski

Hey Band of Boobs, I have been having a lot of trouble balancing my campaign for my players, I straight up accidentally killed one of my PC’s in our first session after dealing double their maximum hp. What tools do you use Murph to balance an encounter for your party. To the Boobs, what did you guys do to stay alive at those lower levels, or did you just have faith that Daddy Murphy wouldn’t kill you flat out.

What level are you even at now?

Will Hardwon ever multi class or will he stay a fighter? Does being a half-elf affect your decision at all?

What is the process of deciding difficulty checks in planned content? Is there a standard number you want any player to hit, or do you try to cater it to each player? How does the process different when the players are off the rails and you have to improvise check numbers?

Dustin A Colgate

Murph, how do you organize your monster stats and keep the easily accessible during the game?

To Murph: when you sit down to plan a session, in what order do you prepare things? How do you put together the framework for your session?

Murph, does the way you dole out magic weapons and levels and similar things vary between playing for recording and playing off mic?

Kestrel

Murph, how much thought have you put into how the monsters naturally act and behave in battle? For example goblins are natural ambushers and trappers, fae resort to invisibility and tricky spells, umberhulks rely on their confusing gaze to beat a backwards retreat in a pinch. Does this change the way you set up encounters?

Dantizzle

2 Crew, especially Jake, as you all have played further into the campaign, do you find the mental math of your dice rolls and modifiers has become faster/easier? Do you think that the act of playing dnd has helped you develop your quick-maths or any other skills?

For Murph. How much trouble do you have remembering all of your different character voices. I don't have any trouble coming up with new ones but I do have a difficult time remembering who has what voice.

Gecko

Daddy Murphy, do you have some kind of panic scenario in place for the unlikely event that the BoB decide to become murder hobos, or would the recording just never get out?

In my campaign, the players are very skilled at derailing and wasting a lot of time goofing around with random NPCs who weren't designed to have more than a few speaking lines and don't help further the story. How do you find balance between goofs and keeping the story moving forward and narratively compelling?

Cameron McEwan

Hey Murph! When incorporating a player's backstory into the plot, how do you balance developing a character's arch without taking agency away from the player?

Daddy Murphy, how did you start your world building process? Walk me through you sitting down to build Bahomia

When building an encounter, how do you ensure that it's balanced? The BoB have grown as players and are better at adapting (for example, Moonshine in "Pandemonium"). At the same time, they're getting more loot and fighting more diverse enemies. It seems like CRs would become less and less effective proxies, Thanks! Y'all inspired my friend's and I to pick up DnD and we just hit the 1 year mark on our campaign

What do all of you use for character sheets and DM stats? Do you use paper and pencils? Apps? Is excel involved at all? Also, can you take us through the actual process of levelling up one of the band of boobs?

So I'm about to start DMing a campaign with three PCs and no healer. I was going to give them an item similar to Bev's amulet, but then I thought it might be cool to give them Bev's actual amulet. 2 of them also listen to NADDPOD so it would be fun for them. But I want to give it a creative name and description so it's not immediately obvious. Any ideas? Mine so far: Toegold's Reprieve Respite of the Grey Knight Amnesty of Galaderon "A platinum amulet that bears a sunburst sigil, with a crack running across its face."

Dustin K

Expanding on that, does the baby elk bring anything to the table for Elk Moonshine?

I'm currently playing a level 2 loxodon rogue in my current campaign. I'm having a lot of fun with it, but I need some advice on what I should do with him leveling further

Michael W

There are a ton of D&D podcasts nowadays, when you were planning for this podcast did you decide anything to keep yours distinctive?

Rich Hilborn

This is a very vague question, but as players. What are your best tips in strategizing during battle?

Sierra Schuette

Murph, what moment were you most proud of improvving on the spot while DMing or piece of lore you came with?

Michael

Hey Boobs! DnD is so open in what you can do with it. Aside from roleplaying Balnor in WW1, what's the wildest idea you've had for a campaign?

Cameron McEwan

Murph, how do you decide which monster's to use in which encounters and why? Thanks love you all 😍 NADDPOD RULES!!!

Lisa Hilton

Jake: you've mentioned that your characters being hot badasses is important to you, would you ever play a lady badass? Or would you not feel comfortable with that?

How do you deal with players wanting wacky pets? I've had players that wanted a baby gelatinous cube as a pet, and its stumped me how to integrate their little buddy into the game without making their party too OP early on.

Ellie J. Vela (Them)

When are we getting our NADDPOD module!?

Sally Morcom

What are Moonshine’s Elk stats?

What equipment do you guys use to record and edit?

Question for Jake: How much did you have to change Hardwon’s stats when he got resurrected as a half-elf? Has it altered the way you you play at all?

Henry B.

Can the boobs go back the to the elemental chaos? Old Cobb went twice

Gabe Petersen

Do you guys worry about power scaling amongst the party and staying at around the same power level? For example, getting to the point where Hardwon dealing twice as much damage as anyone else, Beverly smiting a boss in one shot, or Moonshine sniping enemies before the others get a shot? and for Murph, how much do you take this into account when thinking up items/abilities for the party? Thanks!

A bit askew from naddpod but Murph what stats did you use for Kugrash because there is canon D&D ratfolk PC stats and it’s so frustrating!

Hey Murph, I really want to know how you manage to keep the world alive and intresting without creating to many distractions and having your players loose direction towards their end goals.

Should Balnor have lucky or is that only PCs?

Gabe Petersen

If you could change ONE thing that happened in the campaign, what would it be??

I'm no expert on the subject myself, but what I'd recommend is setting up several alternative teirs of difficulty for the same fight and adjusting between them on the fly if you see the fight going in one way or the other (without your players knowing of course). Have the baddies have hidden abilities in their back pocket in case you see the encounter going too quickly/easily. Then if you overshoot the difficulty and you see it heading towards a TPK, you can dial it back by making them "run out of that ability" or whatever. Fudge roles in the players favor if they really need it (I recommend never fudging them against the players). But for example, if they are fighting a dragon that is to much for them, don't let it get its breath weapon back when the dice says it should. Another way to increase difficulty without getting a TPK, is to just increase the difficulty outright, but allow the players strategies and shenanigans to be more effective and succeed more wildly. Give checks and saving throws a lower DC if the players are struggling, but let them feel that struggle. You kinda want them to feel like they just barely made it through the fight, but really you had that under control the whole time. Depending on how you set up encounters, DM discretion can be a very powerful tool. If you play your encounters strictly from the book it makes it harder. Especially if you have experienced players because they will notice, and you don't want that. Also, if something drastic happens, don't be afraid to derail the session's story outline you had set up and take it in a different direction. Introduce NPCs that can help them or hinder them on the fly. Introduce third party factions and allies if need be. Then adjust your story to fit them in later. Hope that helps in some way. Again I'm just a novice so take all that for whatever you think it's worth.

Ben M

Dm question for Murph, im starting a campaign where a character (similar to proffesor duddle) forces the pc's in a sort of memory dimention where they are essentially forced to live out memorys that they dont quite remember so that the proffesor can find out where they located certain precious artifacts. Now,as you can imagine there arent very many prefabbed maps for d&d under this premise so i have to make my own (I already have a map where the characters have to balance on the inner nuerons of the brain and avoid the electric charges thatshoot through said neurons) my question is, how do ypu balance playfeilds and puzzles that you home brew for characters?

Question for the group: What are you thoughts on playing Evil characters? I've always felt that the DM has to work extra hard to figure out a way to give an incentive to the Evil character just so that they have a reason to join the party and complete quests together. Also, the other characters has to change their way of interacting with the Evil character in order to work together. How would you all handle playing with an evil character as a player and as a DM?

Murph, what's the best way to make sure it's an emotional game? How do you actually make your PCs cry?

Murph- I am a first time DM(also never played) for a group of first time players. What are some ways you were able to help Jake get used to his first time playing the game?

Whatever happened to the giant Spectral PawPaw with many healing nipples? Would you be willing to stock that spell again? Having it in the fight is always hilarious!

We've all seen Jake's marvelous painting skills. Does anyone else paint miniatures, even though you guys don't use them for naddpod? Perhaps for home games with granddaddy Brennan?

Although simple, I was wondering how you set up the world so pc’s backstories take big parts in the world as it unravels. Hope you like simple questions. 😂

Storyteller Question for Murphy and Caldwell. When you are coming up with your story arches, do you talk with other people to bounce story ideas off of? I'm going to guess that Murphy, you've talked with Grand-Daddy Brennan. Caldwell, I know you really can't bounce full ideas off Murphy, so do you have anyone? I know when I'm in the thick of it, I love to ask others in hopes of them bringing up things I might be missing. If either of you need someone, hit me up, I love talking stories :).

If you all could make a lvl 10 character, what would you go with?

DT5537

Bryan, Caldwell, and anyone else who has been a GM: As a GM have your players ever surprised you so much that you had to actually pause for a minute to figure out how the world would respond?

Murph-what’s the most important part of planning a campaign? What books/resources would you recommend for someone who could only afford to buy a few?

Kendra Waters

How have you evolved the important NPCs like Erlin or Egwene so that they appropriately increase in power in between the moments where the party sees them?

Andre V

What is the most surprising use of an item and/or spell you've encountered in this campaign? Murph/Caldwell, do you decide to allow those uses on the fly, or is there a lot of consideration that gets cut out of the episodes?

Ive recently started a new campaign with some friends but for the first time im actually a PC instead of the DM! So obviously I came in very excited to finally get up to some shenanigans. With the last few sessions playing my gunslinger, "William ShakeandBake", at level 2 I have felt like I havent offered much to the party in terms of damage/combat. The base damage for a pistol according to matt mercers guide is 1 d10, but mentions nothing about a modifier. I figured it would be my dex due to the nature of firearms and would like the extra damage; but, the DM doesnt think so. What do you guys think?

Murph - Did you have a rough storyline for this campaign’s main quest planned out from the start or did you develop it later on? Do you already have an ending in mind for the BoB?

narsty

As someone who is about to begin their very first campaign, what, if any, are key differences between D & D on a podcast vs. just low key with friends? Just trying to get an idea of what I can expect and I don’t want to make a fool out of myself...

Murph: I was wondering how you organize and generally write out your plans for each adventure/session. I'm trying to make my first deep campaign and really enjoy how you can improve so well and generally hit the key notes of the story without railroading the boobs.

Hey Murph! I’m running a campaign right now and the PCs are level 11. I’m finding it’s hard to appropriately challenge them. Either the minions are too weak or the boss monsters are too intense. Either way, the fights sometimes drag on. Can you talk a bit about how you plan encounters that challenge the party and keep the action moving so it’s not just a slug fest?

Jordan Valentine

I have one for each of y'all! With hardwons next Ability score increase, has he considered dual wield so he can use both the hammer and the vampire axe Just how many dice is Bev rolling between his extras for evil, extra vs evil with the sword and divine smites? Just how does Emily pick the spells for the day, I keep running into issues when I play characters that just have full access to the whole spell list I always forget something important! Murph, when I do theater of the mind I have a hard time finding out where everyone is so do you keep a small map with general areas of enemies, terrain etc?

Travis Butcher

BoB, what was your biggest “I can’t believe I got away with that” moment with papa Murph or duncle Caldwell?

Murph references Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes a lot!! (PS: I just got it on amazon for only $22 instead of the usual $50something), and Emily talks about Xanathar’s Guide to Everything for an extended list of Druid spells.

Rhea Sublett

Question for the group! Do you plan out what skills/feats you will take when leveling up or during character creation? Murph as DM do you approve or disapprove of this behavior?

Stephen Charbonneau

You don't necessarily need to level characters to 20 to finish a campaign. I imagine they'll continue leveling naturally, with the possibility of not making past level 15-16

DungeonMama

An Eldritch Knight does not have a spellcasting focus like the arcane focus, druidic focus, or holy symbol. Is there a good way of using material components required for most spells without impeding gameplay? Is there a homebrew solution that would allow an Eldritch Knight to cast spells like other casters without having to constantly gather material components for a component pouch?

Jori Strack

I'm possibly going to be DMing for the first time ever, if my group can get together, and I have interesting ideas for the setting, that may make more work for both me and the players. One major idea thus far is that magic is much rarer, and more powerful. I was planning on slightly limiting spell slots and increasing effects of magic. Would, instead of limiting slots, some sort of flavor-based rareness to magic be more appropriate?

KaptainSigyl

murph - how do you create balanced encounters that matter? my encounters are either too hard and discouraging or are too easy and don't mean anything. Even when I have a balanced one, it doesn't /matter/ there are no stakes.

How do you keep a balance between keeping the mechanics true to D&D rules, with making an entertaining podcast.

Sir Carl

For Emily: Playing a Circle of Spores Druid Any tips or tricks on how to play this one?

Erik

Questions for entire crew, how do you make your combats funny and more flavorful. I try and emulate what I hear on the show but I always seem to fall short, any tips?

Hey Murph, how do you typically balance big boss encounters that involve a bunch of npc's? Is there a program you use or do you just go by feel and intuition? To go along with this, have you ever underestimated the difficulty of an encounter and how did you handle it?

Murph - In creating NPCs or enemies that are a specific class (e.g. Wizard, Paladin) do you make character sheets for them and roll stats? Or do you find a similar enough character/creature in the Monster Manual / Mordenkainens and use that?

PJ

Direct Messenger question: what tips do you have for balancing encounters? I use Kobold Fight Club but my players keep absolutely womping me in combat situations rated at the “hard” level. I definitely don’t want to TPK but I obviously need to challenge my players more! (ps: so excited to see y’all in Pittsburgh!)

Rhea Sublett

What is the most you’ve bent a character stat or mechanic due to what’s happened in the plot? Ie, the queens hammer accepting half elf hardwon. Anything that wouldn’t ‘normally’ happen on paper.

Hey Murph! First time DM here working on organizing a campaign for three other first time players. I was wondering if you think it would be a good idea to plan a few short one-shot campaigns for my party, before starting a longer campaign, to help everyone get used to the mechanics of DnD/playing together?

How do you think your characters would be different if they hadn’t met in Moonstone? Where would they be, and what would they be doing? Murph how would the NPCs be affected?

Mich Blackie

Hi! Dming for the first time in a year and a friend of mine wants to cause me great pain. He's playing a Nature Cleric at level 9 and has completely legally got his character 29 Passive Perception. I'm up for the challenge but what would you guys suggest I do to both validate the players build while also keeping the few things I really need hidden, hidden?

Amir Madmoune

For daddy DM. I assume that all combat is done theater of the mind for the show. Have you used map based or grid based combat in other games? If you have done both which do you prefer as a dm and which as a player?

Michael Stover

For Murph and the boobs. This is a highly debated topic in the D&D community. What is your opinion on DMs fudging rolls? On the show have you ever lied about a roll to spare the players, push a narrative, or to stoke your own nefarious desires? You dont have to specifically say when, if you have. Should roll fudging be completely avoided to please the RnG gods or is there a time and a place for it.

Questions for Caldy and Jake (also Emily if she wants!) if you were ever to multiclass, what would you class into? What would motivate you to multiclass?

I believe Power Word Kill doesn't allow for death saves at all. The target just instantly dies, and Bev would have to revivify

Emily: how do you, as a player, get inspired to make such big chaos energy moves and inspire others to do the same? And for the DMs: how do you adapt to the chaos created by your players? How can you sharpen your improv as a player and a DM?

Victor T (Balnor's Boy)

Emily: have you considered the elemental adept feat for moonshine? It doesn't list poison as a damage type that can be selected but that seems like something that can be modified if the GM says it's fine. Though I'm not sure spores counts as a spell

I know you’ve talked a bit about the spell component use for higher level spells, but as someone who has never actually played, is this standard practice? The players handbook lists a variety of components needed to cast even the most basic spells, so do you just assume that a caster would have some of these smaller items on hand? Thanks! Fuck you I love you eat a rat.

Question for daddy DM: I am about to DM my very first adventure and want to know what tips you would give a first time Direct Messenger. Thanks!

DM question: do you have any advice for describing environments, especially when doing theater of the mind where its sometimes hard for me/my players to keep track of what's around? Is there anything that Murph or Caldwell does that helps you all when being a player as well?

Murph, how do you balance non-traditional encounters like those in Mage Madness? I’m a new DM and I’ve been sticking with the rule books guide for balancing, but those seem to mostly be for straight-on slugfests. I would really like to do more fun stuff like what you do! Do you ever need to improv and change stats on the fly? p.s. Y’all got me into D&D and are a huge inspiration behind how I run my game. Thanks a ton!

Ever considered doing an episode drunk? Don't have to be a canon episode. * Pregame. * Sip your favorite drink through out the episode. * Nat 1, take a shot or a chug (depending on the drink). * Nat 20, you assign the shot or chug.

How often does the BOB plan out or write bits for the episodes? I know the majority is improv, but sometimes Beverly has a prayer or slng that almost sounds like Caldwell wrote it beforehand and held onto it until there is a perfect moment to use it!

Sierra Schuette

I'm planning a d20 random encounter campaign for my friends and need some help thinking of some crazy things to throw in there. They'll be traveling through a secluded forest and whatever they roll determines what they'll encounter. One I have already is a cabin in the woods thats actually a giant mimic they have to fight. I was wondering if y'all had any other cool/creative ideas for encounters?

Devon Virgin

A question for Murph (any and all opinions very much wanted though) as a DM my players love a good goof. Me too. But sometimes it escalates past a goof to basically abusing npcs I love to play and I’m wondering how you’d handle this in game? Out of game it’s cool. I talk to my players but in game they’ve really alienated some characters that I can’t justify bringing back to their side. Any ideas on how to handle something like that other than shoehorning in a new npc?

Eric Irwin

What's your favorite multiclass combination mechanics-wise? I've been trying to build a fighter/cleric tank with an emphasis on shield combat (AC buffing, Protection fighting style, etc)

Maddie Mayr

Question for the Murphest of Brians! Do all characters the Boobs encounter have all stats mapped out? For instance Cobb when first encountered and Nana Kindleaf? Would you think that it's a good idea for DMs? I'm doing my first Campaign as a DM next week and this show gets AAALL the credit for invigorating me to play this RPG.

SnorriFreyr

How much homebrewing and modifying spells or abilities do you do? (ie flesh-to-stone for heart breaking) How do you look for inspiration?

As a baby DM, how do I provide enough free will/ choice to my players and not make it seem like there’s only one way to continue the storyline but not make it so that I’m up till 4am planning every single eventuality?

Maxwell Cornwell

Will the nannerfly tour be uploaded to patreon? I'm prepared to give you more money if that would help. Also, what is planned for after the Bahoomia campaign?

Penny Garbo

1.) Emily: When is the next NADDPod soundtrack getting released? 2.) Murph: Since announcing that the campaign will end around episode 100, do you expect the players to get to level 20 by then? 3a.) Caldwell, Emily, and Jake: What, if any, ideas have you had for the characters you'll play in the next campaign? 3b.) Murph: Do you have any ideas for the setting of the next campaign? Will it still take place in Bahumia? 4.) All: When can we get a fun one-shot? Maybe DM'd by Emily or Jake?

DungeonMama

Hey guys, question for murph, I'm struggling as a brand new DM with a group of brand new players planning the next chapter of my campaign, my problem isn't ideas for the story which I have lots of, but I'm really intimidated with planning encounters that are fun and fair. How did you initially teach yourself how to run encounters? Should I possibly start with a pre made game then work up to making my own?

Question for Emily, when you write the music for the show do you visualize how the characters are feeling in the moment? I’m a huge fan of the music and think you encapsulate the moods of the characters so well!

Murph: how far do you deviate into homebrew when creating essential NPCs/allowing guests to make PCs? i.e. Matt Mercer's gunslinger for DeadEye. I find in my home game that too much deviation from The Source material can sometimes lead to writer's block out of sheer number of choices.

Rei

How do you weigh taking feats vs. skill points? Do you take feats that would fit your character best, or do you just want to make your PC as powerful as possible?

This. He may be 2 levels behind, but that's because his tuna abilities are too overpowered. Hmm 🤔 To make this ability as a spell, or a Warlock Evocation?

Taylor Schult

DM question: Murph, do you leave any situations open or free for future one shot campaigns?

Any advice for a DM with a party who just roleplays poorly? I try to give my gang time for character building and they usually end up saying things like, "My character just sits there". How can I help my players get in the mood to BE their characters.

Darius

Murph, I’m a DM and I find that many of my encounters devolve in to slug-fests. What is your process for designing dynamic, compelling encounters like the ones in Mage Madness?

Murph, for the Mage Madness, did you always know who were going to end up as the final 4 teams, or did you any rolls for the other teams?

Dylan Curran

For the DMs, how do I hint to my players that an encounter is not the last one they will be facing before a rest? I don't want my players to use all their spell slots and special abilities on the first phase of a fight and be completely unprepared for a second phase. Also, to the players, how are you able to make your limited resources last through multiple encounters? When do you know to go all out?

How much time, thought and planning goes into crafting a campaign and the world building behind it? Also do you have any tips on how to DM?

Kyle Conrad

Big thanks to Emily for inspiring me to want to play as a Spore circle druid, but recently, they kinda nerfed the stats for spore damage and sympotic entity HP. I'm in a homebrew group and currently play the OLD version of Circle of Spores, but what are your guys' thoughts on D&D officially releasing cool classes and races from Unearthed Arcana, but completely nerfing the stats?

Can we get a list of the items you have in bag of holding?

How do you justify things like the Krag being a level 4 but other people just out in the world, like apple, are level 10s

Murph: what is your plan on getting the band of boobs to level more quickly with there only being around 50 episodes left?

As a DM how do you go about mixing Form and Function?

Hemlock

Murph, do you write down a list for the order of initiatives? And if so, where was Balnor?

Andrew

More of a DM court question, if a cleric PC had brokered an agreement with their patron deity and then went directly against the will of that contract (they said they’d help people; they actively choose not to help the people) is it with in the DM’s power to take away their spell casting abilities (temporarily) to punish them for going against the will of their god

What exactly is Moonshine's fungal entity form? Stats, etc.

Sierra Schuette

Murph how do you keep track or leveling the characters up and giving out magic items? Do you try to level up after each arc? And are items just given out when convenient? Really curious about this as it’s something I struggle with a ton as a dm. My players have some insane magic items and are relatively low level so they womp on level monsters or nearly die to something more difficult.

mac thompson

Do you have any advice for new players (like myself) in regards to what the best type of character one should start off with in order to learn the most about the game of DnD as they progress and level up? Like is it better to start off with a more complex character like a spell caster or maybe start off with something a little more simple like a barbarian??

So many Questions!

Harry Abrahams

What are each of your favorite classes and why? What makes that class unique to you?

I second this question! I loooove fun encounters like this!

I’ve recently started playing my first DND campaign and I’m curious about multiclassing. I’m playing a Paladin and I’m wondering how I can multiclass to best strengthen my character? Thanks :)

Murph, do you ever change characters stats on the fly if the BoB is really struggling or really whomping you so the encounter fits more in the planned time allotment?

Andrew

Murph: how soon after his introduction did you come up with Balnor’s backstory? And will the Boobs ever find a way to return him to the Balkans?

Robert

Do you guys use actual battle maps when playing or is it just by word-of-mouth? I've been trying to visualize you guys playing and I need to know.

Existential Dread

Murphy how do you stay focused on writing the campaign with having to do other stuff?

Brian

Murph/Caldwell: How do you organize NPCs behind the screen? I'm a new DM and still trying to figure out a system to make it easier to keep track of. All: How do you choose your current dice sets?

Alex Gorman

Ever played with any other rpg systems? How did you find them compared to dnd?

Aaron Oliver

Me and the nipple brigade were thinking about setting up a villain campaign where we try to stop in heroes coming to stop us from ruling the city. Do yall have any suggestions on city's or lands to campaign in?

I'm a new DM and was wondering: if you home-brew some encounter, like the falling down the mountain after stopping the gash thwacking, do you playtest it? If not how do you know if its will work as intended, and do you plan for player shenanigans or just roll with them?

Shane Murphy

Papa Murph, what are your thoughts on the all-out-battle trial? Was it too easy? Too difficult? Anything you wanted to implement but didn't or did but regret?

Taylor Schult

Hello Boobs! As a shiny new DM, I’m finding that my players are really dynamic in battle, but seem unsure how to get what they want out of RP. Any advice on ways to help them or facilitate their interactions with each other without interfering too much?

Christine Jackson

Ooooh I can’t wait for this! I’m a new DM and always looking for advice and inspiration!! Story wise: Murph, how far ahead do you plan twists and when do you feel is the good time to reveal them? For instance - how long did you know Balnor’s story? Bev’s dad’s twist? In the event that the characters would have stumbled upon the clues (bev sr not using paladin feats) how would you have handled that? In terms of planning encounters: how do you strike the balance between a fun session and one with stakes that isn’t just a dungeon crawl? The one with the dolls comes to mind - what’s your process like for stuff like this? Do you find enemies in Tome of Foes and just add flavor and reskin? For Jake, Em and Caldwell: do you guys tend to pick feats and such for optimization or ones that make the most sense for your character? Somewhere in the middle? Are there traits or feats you guys picked that you wish you could go back on? Ones you wished you’d taken instead? Thanks for doin this yall!

Murph: Did you build the campaign in a spiral out from moonstone? and if so, at what point did you really lock in the overarching Thiala threat? or was that something you had in your mind from Session 1?

Mike Pindara

I need to know: how much trouble do you all think you’d be without certain spells in the past (such as rapport spores, reincarnate or if Mavris didn’t have counterspell for example)

ChiefLanevis

I'm interested in Balnor's tuna sandwich making abilities/stats- does he unlock new breads or condiments with each level? What will level 20 Balnor be capable of and more importantly will he have a tuna sandwich only youtube cooking channel?

How do I create difficult combat encounters for my players? I have a 5 person party with 1 NPC payer character, all level 7 at the moment, and between my fighters insane damage output, my warlocks tactical genius, and my wizards top tier magical shananigans, they usually blow through all of my combat encounters. How do I make it difficult without accidentally causing a tpk like you usually seem to do Murph? 🤔

HexMix

Can you give us all the changes made to Bev when he went from Green Knight to Grey Knight?

Brandon

I was wondering if Daddy Murphy used any online tools or references to help him keep track of the world and encounters and such (like World Anvil, etc) and if so what you use?

Luke M. Thomas

Hello! I was curious about how ya'll handle rulebook updates? I'm in a pokemon themed 5e game and playing an Artificer. The class is in the playtest stages and has gone through a couple updates. I like the original the best because it works with my character better.

Emily - could you explain building spellcasters, playing them, and just the general magic system of DND? Have you ever played a sorcerer? And if not, has Mavris inspired you to possibly play one in the next campaign?

narsty

I’m starting college and want to make friends and want to play dnd. I’m nervous about the perception of it however. Any advice?

Katherine Lindeman

What would your characters favorite cereal be? The people need to know.

Ben M

Definitely warlock

Keanu DRAMAFACE

LOL!!!!

Andrew

For Murph. How many of the monster that you take are Homebrew? Do you have rules for how to create a Homebrew monster without killing everyone by accident. My players would appreciate the answer

Shawn Magill

What are the newest feats acquired by the 2 crew?

Eric Applegate

Hardwon's recent... issue.. made me wonder: when first starting out with the podcast, were the boobs restricted to the basic dnd races, or was there an expanded pool they could choose from?

Darren Harvey

To Murph; what's your go to when players decide to visit a place or do something that you have not designed yet? Like of the players decided to go straight to Iron Deep from Galadoron, would you make it up as you go or force them to go somewhere else? Cheers!

Kaylie Elise

I’d like to know what Murph’s strategies are when creating a large battle, like the final round of Mage Madness or the Clash at the Gash? Both felt extremely down to the wire, but when I run sessions at home my battles feel either too easy or I have to change stuff behind the screen to make them winnable. Is the trick to just add more complexity and opposing parties so players have a lot of options to take the fight in different ways? Thanks, looking forward to the NYC show!

Alec Johnson

When building a character for the first time, do you use point buy and try to cater your stats to the character you have in mind, or do you roll for stats and build a character based on the stats?

Jori Strack

Should or is considered to? Both are interesting questions IMO

Trevor Brown

As the dm. How do you balance the. Enemies whenever you get a guest to join in. As you dont make the difficulty for 3 to making it for 4 instead. Also thank you emily for having a great last name. As i started a new campaign and in a last-minute panic as the the dm asked my characters last name i shouted AXFORD

Benwahah

As an aspiring DM, I was hoping for some advice on balancing combat encounters, especially at the lower levels when the players are so fragile. I want the combat to be fun an exciting, but all of the monsters/bad guys I want to use are too strong for level 1s and 2s unless I change their stats or just have 1 of them. Is there any way around this that is still just as exciting besides changing stats or starting my players at higher levels?

Xander M

What would you nickname some of your favorite ideas for a multiclass? Like would Moonshine's Druid-Barbarian mixed class be?

ThatManGareth

Hey guys, can’t wait to see you in Boston! What were the stats for Old Cobb and if he makes another amazing appearance how will his stats be boosted for the time passed?

2 questions: 1. What is your favorite mechanic/ability of your current PC or another PC you play? 2. Bev/Moonshine/Hardwon, If you could rebuild your character again, would you change anything to optimize yourselves differently?

Olivia Moody

Daddy Murphy how would one go about designing a D&D version of Donkey Kong Country? Thank you!

Israel Solis

Did you consider allowing Jake to change class or maybe drop some levels and multiclass when Hardwon was brought back as a living creature? Is that something allowed with that spell or do they always have to stay as the class they were at death?

Thomas Altic

I mentioned this on the last Q&A thread, but it's probably more appropriate in this one. Seeing as how the bag of holding has a sort of pocket dimension inside it, bigger on the inside, TARDIS style, what would happen if the bag were flipped inside out? I got answers from Jake and Caldwell during a live stream, but I'd love to hear Emily and Murph's thoughts.

Hopscotch

I’m a new DM, do you have advice on creating a plot that incentivizes players to work together? I’m trying to tie the plot into each of their backstories, but I fear some of them have characters with too much of a “I don’t care about anyone but myself!” attitude and it makes it hard to force them to be a team.

Tyler Davis

I know what hardwans feats but what are moonshine's and beves? I don't remember

Daddy DM Murph. How do to come up with new ideas to make your battles interesting and engaging for your players and us the audience? You've been bringing the heat lately!

Tim Calvert

How do you chose between feats or ability score improvements? I play with a group that's hesitant to tackle feats for our game, but I want to encourage changing things up since we're all pretty experienced players.

Dani Sharkey

In episode 2F09, when Hardwon plays his wood block, he strikes the same block in succession, yet he produces two clearly different tones. I mean, what are we to believe, that this is a magic wood block, or something? Ha ha, boy, I really hope somebody got fired for that blunder

*knight not night

Jordan Suleiman

How do you all go about creating characters?

Zoë Ballentine

which class do you guys all personally think would be the hardest to play as, and which combinations of multiclass do you think are the dopest?

Daddy Murphy and uncle Caldwell! I have a question about how you plan out puzzle encounters because I always have a hard planning something that is just hard enough to provide a fun challenge. The party either solves it in a couple minutes or can’t figure it out at all.

Expedia the Forbbiden One

What non-magical items (e.g. rope, candles, jars) do you think every player should have?

Mark Lanter

What were the tradeoffs Caldwell had to do in order to transition into a grey night? I've been a fan of the pod since day one and can't wait to see y'all in New York!!!

Jordan Suleiman

For Murph, what is the best way to design and engaging and mechanically satisfying chase? DnD doesn’t have the best chase mechanics and the pixie chase in the Fae Wild was one of my favorite chases in the show, how did you map it out to make it so much fun?

If memory serves they’re woodelves

Trevor Brown

Also, what are Balnor’s current stats as a night?

Do you prefer keeping a book with you for spell casters or do you prefer reference cards

Guardian of Light Zach H

What's worth keeping in mind when planning an encounter, to keep it fun/surprising but also make sure it doesn't go off the rails?

Are there any other classes any of you have considered taking levels in? I know Emily mentioned the sweet sweet barbarian rage but I'm interested to know whether any other classes have picqued the boobs' interest?

Advice for making extra special encounters?! Ex: The snowboarding video game or the auction from Trinyvale??

Also, what other D&D books besides the Handbook, DM Guide, and Manual do you guys use?

Keanu DRAMAFACE

Murph how do you plan encounters? Sometimes I plan an encounter for my party I think they’re gonna breeze through and it screws then over and other times something I thought would be easy messes them up. I use to DMs guide table for it but it never seems to work that great.

I just recently joined a CoS campaign as an Aasimar Monk, I am at 6th level and am debating taking another class to have a bit more support or ranged spells for the party. It’s hard to decide between all of the spell-casting classes, which would you suggest?

If I've never played DND but I've been listening to this podcast since episode 1, how complicated can I make a character. & Should I expect any campaign to compare

Mitchell Blake

If I wanted to play a key blade wielder do you think it would be better to play an eldrich knight or a hex blade warlock? I know both can use some spells and some weapon stuff.

Guardian of Light Zach H

How do you keep track and take notes of spells and information the Murph has given you during gameplay?

Zoë Ballentine

Murph, what are your go-to plot development or story telling techniques.

Can you guys talk about what class/sort of character you would come back as if you had to roll up a new character? Because I’m just picturing Hardwon coming back as a Gnome Bard and I can’t stop laughing. 😂

How did you go about the homebreweing of Grey Knight Bev and were any stat changes involved?

What would have happened if Mavrus didn’t counterspell the power word kill cast on Moonshine when she was under 100hp? Would she have been completely dead? Just unconscious?

Chris Roman

This is for Caldwell, how much of Beverly's character was planned ahead of time and how much of it is on the spot?

Biggest question: do you guys know how much I love and enjoy this show? Please answer at your earliest convenience

likedafish

Are Crick Elves a custom race or are they reskinned Wood Elves??

C.J. Schneider

Daddy Murphy, how do you choose or decide the BoB's battle encounters? I assume that the big named baddies have lots of thought behind them, but do you have a strategy for how to choose encounter levels or enemy types? Do you like to choose monsters you like, or is it usually based on where the BoB is at the moment?

Theodore Carraro

I have a druid(Circle of the Shepherd) that I'm thinking multiclassing into a rogue-- bad idea or great idea? I want those sneak attacks doe

Kelly McKew

Also how do you plan out such even encounters? Any DM tips for that?

Nicholas Johnson

Hello! Met y’all in Seattle! Was wondering, in terms of DMing, is creating an interesting “battle area”. For instance, if my players are fighting their way through a castle up to some evil necromancers, I don’t want my players to feel burned out from just beating endless soldiers and knights before the big boss. How do I keep sessions like this interesting? Much love!

Keanu DRAMAFACE

General question: what does daddy think of warhammer’s battle system as compared to D&D’s?

Trevor Brown

Advice for playing circle of spores Druid in early levels - just starting a game and am level one - best hack for managing spell slots in early levels while still being useful to the group

Rach

Any tips on making interesting puzzles for a group that typically overthinks

Emily how do you keep track of all the spells? I had a glance once and was immediately overwhelmed. P.S you’re all awesome

Jacob cooper

Can you discuss the mechanics behind Moonshine’s character now, how much is homebrew, and some of PawPaw’s stats and such? Much love to the BoB!

Nicholas Johnson