Doubling HP is not an easy fix; it’s a lazy cheat. That’s my point.
If you’re truly disappointed as a GM at how weak your strong guards were, say that to your players. “Wow, I messed that one up. Can you all please give me five minutes while I reevaluate the next encounter?”
If the players are using their resources to smash through strong guards, and the GM covertly buffs them to counteract that fact, then that is precisely the point I am making about it undermining the players’ agency. The players decided to burn those abilities on those guards. Let them trivialize them. That’s why they used the resources. That was their decision.
The GM robs them of that agency by changing it behind the scenes, without telling them, and becomes the sole arbiter for how an encounter is “supposed” to play out.
The primary problem is that dnd 5e was made to be a dungeon crawler, and most people play it like a narrative driven rules light game.
As a DM if you’ve miscalculated, double that monsters HP. Or if you’re about to overrun them, cut it in half.
I don’t really care for this advice. I see it given a lot, but in my opinion it takes agency away from the players and gives the GM even more power than usual to direct the narrative.
Literally yes.
I fucking love deviled eggs and haven’t had them in years. These look incredible and I think I know what I’m doing this weekend.
Well, no, that’s not exactly what you said. And rolling with a percentile die means you do not need to add anything. A result of 00 and 0 is the 100. And your way makes rolling a 1 impossible.
Alternatively:
Roll a percentile die and a d10 together. Done.