Hello 3d6! I’ve been working on this character theorycraft for a while now, and I’ve quite nearly accomplished my goal — only to fall barely short at the final 1%. I’m sharing it now in a 99-percent-complete state, for everyone to enjoy reading my mad scientist ravings, or to offer their own suggestions on how to wring out just a little bit more damage to finally have a character that can kill any creature in a single punch.
tl;dr: a theorycrafted level 20 Saitama character can deal 634 damage on average in a single punch, instantly killing 99% of all published monsters (27 monsters can survive).

The self-imposed rules

• Must be RAW.
• All printed magic items are allowed, and random properties may be chosen.
• Average rolls will be used for ability checks, attacks, and damage rolls.
• All the damage must be dealt in a single punch attack: damage that happens after the resolution of the attack does not count (poisons, damage on a later turn, etc.)
• Any amount of preparation time for the single punch is allowed.
• No friends — all the preparation must be done by the single character. No buff spells may be cast by other people.
• Bonus points if everything can be explained within One-Punch Man’s canon lore.

Now, let’s get into it!

Race

Protector Aasimar. Saitama claims to be an ordinary man, but let’s be honest, to have such ludicrous power, he must be more than human. Aasimar are more or less human, but with a touch of the divine, which fits the bill perfectly. Mechanically, we’re choosing this for the Radiant Soul option: as an action once per long rest, they transform for 1 minute and once per turn can deal their level in radiant damage to one target of an attack. At level 20, this will add +20 radiant damage to the punch, by far the highest single-attack damage boost of any racial ability.

Stats

Saitama has incredible strength, speed, reflexes, and durability, which he attributes to an intense training regimen. How could he have gotten such formidable training? Well, perhaps he read the instructions in a magic book. The Manuals of Gainful Exercise, Quickness of Action, and Bodily Health are very rare magic items that describe “fitness exercises,” “coordination and balance exercises,” and “health and diet tips” with words that are charged with magic. Studying these manuals and practicing their guidelines for 48 hours increases a creature’s STR, DEX, and CON stats by 2, as well as increasing their maximum for that score — up to a cap of 30. Clearly, to have such godlike strength, dexterity, and constitution, Saitama’s intense training must have included reading as many Manuals as necessary to raise his STR, DEX, and CON stats each to a godlike 30. This results in Saitama having a +10 to STR attack and damage rolls, a +10 boost to DEX checks like stealth and initiative, and a ridiculous amount of hit points. In order to multiclass, Saitama will also need at least a 13 in INT, WIS, and CHA — which should be achievable.

Classes

Saitama starts by taking three levels in Armorer Artificer, which gives him a suit of Arcane Armor that expands to cover his entire body and can be used as a spellcasting focus for artificer spells. The text describes “metallurgical pursuits,” but nothing RAW forbids one from choosing a suit of yellow leather armor for Arcane Armor. At AC 11 + DEX, this gives Saitama an AC of 21 — which doesn’t really matter, since he can kill nearly anything in a single punch before it ever has a chance of attacking him. We choose the Guardian Armor Model for Saitama’s Arcane Armor, causing the red rubber gloves on his leather armor to be counted as Thunder Gauntlets: they count as simple melee weapons when not holding anything in them, and deal 1d8 thunder damage on a hit. Saitama also has the option to use his INT modifier instead of STR or DEX when attacking with the gauntlets, but let’s be honest, he’s going to stick with his godlike +10 STR modifier here. Saitama will infuse his gloves with the Enhanced Weapon artificer infusion, giving them a +1 to attack and damage rolls, and turning them into a magic item. From Armorer, Saitama also learns the spells Booming Blade and Absorb Elements. To complete Saitama’s armor, he also gains a white Cloak of Billowing (a common magic item that does not require attunement) and a pair of red rubber Boots of Elvenkind (an uncommon magic item that also does not require attunement, and gives advantage on Stealth checks to move silently).
Next, Saitama takes nine levels in warlock. He chooses the Hexblade patron and Pact of the Blade, and gains the Hexblade’s Curse, the Eldritch Smite invocation, and the Banishing Smite spell from the Hexblade expanded spell list. He will also transform his gloves into his pact weapon, and take the Improved Pact Weapon invocation, allowing him to use his gloves as a spellcasting focus for warlock spells. Unfortunately, because his gloves are already a magic weapon with a +1 to attack and damage rolls from the Enhanced Weapon artificer infusion, they do not gain an additional +1 to attack and damage rolls from Improved Pact Weapon. Hexblade’s Curse allows Saitama to curse a creature within 30 feet for 1 minute as a bonus action, and add his proficiency bonus to damage rolls against that target. Eldritch Smite deals 1d8 force damage plus another 1d8 for each level of warlock spell slot expended when hitting a creature with one’s pact weapon. At a maximum 5th level spell slot, this adds 6d8 force damage to his punch. Banishing Smite activates as a bonus action and consumes concentration for 1 minute to add an extra 5d10 force damage on the next hit with a weapon attack. Additionally, if the target then has 50 HP or less, it is banished to its home plane (or until the spell ends). At nine levels in Warlock, Saitama gets two 5th-level spell slots per short rest. This is just enough for one usage of Eldritch Smite and one casting of Banishing Smite. However, he will then have to rest before going out to fight villains again — perhaps a good reason for why he spends so much time relaxing at home playing video games and reading manga. Saitama also gets two ASIs at his fourth and eighth levels of warlock. At these levels, he will take the Martial Adept and Fey Touched feats. The Martial Adept feat gives him a d6 superiority die and two maneuvers, one of which will be Menacing Attack (the other does not matter). Menacing Attack adds the d6 to the damage of the attack and forces the target to make a WIS save or be frightened (and though our goal is to kill the target outright, if it somehow survives, Saitama’s DC will be a difficult-to-surmount 24: 8 + 6 [proficiency bonus] + 10 [STR mod]). From the Fey Touched feat, Saitama will learn the first-level divination spell Gift of Alacrity, which lasts 8 hours without concentration and adds 1d8 to his initiative rolls.
To kill creatures in a single punch, Saitama will need to train to Assassinate: taking four levels in Assassin Rogue. Assassinate gives Saitama advantage on attacks against creatures that have not yet taken a turn in combat, and automatic critical hits on creatures who are surprised. In order to surprise creatures, Saitama will need to succeed on a Stealth check contested by the target’s Perception: “Any character or monster that doesn't notice a threat is surprised at the start of the encounter.” Saitama rarely sneaks up on his targets, but usually allows them to monologue for a long time before annihilating them with a single punch. It is his unremarkable appearance that allows him to take his enemies by surprise — and perhaps that appearance is its own form of stealth. Just to make getting surprise mechanically possible, Saitama will take an Expertise in Stealth, to double his proficiency for a +12 to Stealth in addition to his +10 DEX modifier. Due to his red rubber Boots of Elvenkind, he will also get advantage on Stealth checks made to move silently. With a +22 to Stealth, on an average d20 roll of 13.825 (with advantage), a Stealth of 35.825 should allow him to defeat the passive perception of nearly every monster — even the Greatwyrms, which have a passive perception of only 32. Tiamat has a passive perception of 36, and as the monster with the highest passive perception, she is the only monster capable of successfully noticing Saitama’s threat (unless he gets a little lucky with the Stealth roll). If we really want to ensure that Saitama can go undetected, we could give him the Epic Boon of Undetectability for an additional +10 to Stealth checks and immunity to detection or targeting by divination magic. He will also need to beat his target on an initiative roll to be able to get an automatic critical hit — which is why he will take the Alert feat on his fourth level of rogue, giving him a +5 to initiative rolls in addition to the +10 from his DEX modifier. As the only bonus monsters get to initiative is from their DEX modifier (and the highest DEX modifier that any monster has is +9, for the Elder Tempest or Will-o’-Wisp), with a total +6 edge from the +5 from Alert and his +10 DEX modifier, as well as +1d8 from Gift of Alacrity, Saitama will beat even the fastest monsters’ initiative rolls 89% of the time (and a later item will increase this to 97%).
When Saitama uses a Serious Punch, it’s like sending the target on a Path to their Grave. Thus, Saitama will take two levels in Grave Cleric. As an action, Path to the Grave allows Saitama to choose “another creature’s life force for termination.” The next time he hits the chosen creature within 30 feet with an attack, the creature has vulnerability to all of the attack’s damage, causing the damage to be doubled (as long as the creature is not immune or resistant to any of the damage types).
Lastly, Saitama will take two levels in paladin, gaining Divine Smite and the Dueling fighting style. When hitting with a melee weapon attack, he can expend a spell slot to Divine Smite, dealing additional radiant damage to the target. At three levels of artificer, two levels of cleric, and two levels of paladin, Saitama is a fifth-level multiclassed caster (his three levels from artificer are halved and rounded up to two, cleric gives two levels, and two levels of paladin is halved to one, for a total of five). This gives him two 3rd-level spell slots per long rest — spending a 3rd level slot on a Divine Smite gives an extra 4d8 radiant damage (1d8 off of the maximum of 5d8 from spending a 4th-level spell). It also deals an extra 1d8 to undead or fiend targets. The Dueling fighting style gives +2 to damage rolls when wielding a melee weapon in one hand and no other weapons. The Thunder Gauntlets count as simple melee weapons when not holding anything in them, so Saitama will hold something in his right hand, leaving him wielding only one Thunder Gauntlet on his left hand when he delivers a Serious Punch. (In One-Punch Man canon, Saitama usually punches with his right hand. For a mechanical reason, our theorycrafted DND Saitama has to punch with his left. Maybe this is why DND Saitama is slightly weaker than canon Saitama, and isn’t able to kill every monster in a single hit.)
With three levels of artificer, nine levels of warlock, four levels of rogue, two levels of cleric, and two levels of paladin, Saitama is a level 20 character.

Feats

As mentioned above, Saitama will take Martial Adept and Fey Touched at his fourth and eighth warlock level, and Alert at his fourth level of rogue.

Additional items

When Saitama strikes someone, it occasionally appears as if he has grown to incredible size (https://tenor.com/view/one-punch-man-gif-23643267). To simulate this, DND Saitama will consume a Potion of Giant Size (legendary) and a Potion of Growth (rare), increasing to Huge for 24 hours and then again to Gargantuan for 1d4 hours. From the Potion of Giant Size, his weapons roll three times as many dice (thus increasing his Thunder Gauntlets to deal 3d8 thunder damage on hit). From the Potion of Growth, Saitama gets advantage on STR checks and saves, and deals 1d4 additional damage on weapon attacks.
Saitama can attune to three magic items. We will choose the Hand of Vecna (legendary), Sword of Kas (legendary), and a Ring of Spell Storing (rare).
To attune to the Hand of Vecna, Saitama had to lop off his left hand at the wrist and replace it with the Hand of Vecna. This withered hand is hidden within his red rubber glove, and (among other properties) allows him to deal an extra 2d8 cold damage when he makes a melee weapon attack with a weapon held in the hand. The Hand of Vecna also includes one minor and one major beneficial property, along with one minor detrimental property. For the major beneficial property, we will choose the property: “When you hit with a weapon attack while attuned to the artifact, the target takes an extra 1d6 damage of the weapon's type.” For the minor beneficial property, we will choose immunity to charm and fear effects. The minor detrimental property we will choose is: “Your appearance changes as the DM decides” — from his intense training regimen (which included chopping off his left hand and replacing it with the Hand of Vecna), Saitama unfortunately lost all of his hair — still a sore spot for him.
The Sword of Kas grants several abilities, but Saitama only attacks with punches, so it will remain in its scabbard, somewhere on his person. While it is on his person, it adds an additional d10 to Saitama’s initiative (raising his probability of having a higher initiative than even a monster with +9 DEX to 97%). The Sword of Kas also includes one minor and one major beneficial property, as well as one minor and one major detrimental property. We will choose the same major beneficial property as the Hand of Vecna, for an extra 1d6 damage when hitting with a weapon attack (typically effects of the same type do not stack. However, since these are generic properties of two artifacts with different names, the properties should stack under RAW). The minor beneficial property can be any (some thematic options include immunity to disease or +1 AC), and the minor detrimental property can be: “The first time you touch a gem or piece of jewelry while attuned to this artifact, the value of the gem or jewelry is reduced by half.” Perhaps this explains why Saitama is poor. The major detrimental property can be taking 8d10 psychic damage when attuning to the Sword of Kas: Saitama mentions that his training was so intense that he thought he might die — perhaps this damage was why it felt so intense. (Note: with eighteen levels in classes with d8 hit dice and two levels of paladin for d10 hit dice, Saitama’s average hit points is 92, not counting the incredible 200 additional HP from his +10 CON modifier. Even at a maximum roll of 80 psychic damage from attuning to Sword of Kas, he wouldn’t actually die.) Interestingly, the Sword of Kas also causes its bearer to gradually become obsessed with destroying anyone corrupted by the Hand of Vecna — this might cause Saitama to become fairly conflicted.
Lastly, the Ring of Spell-Storing. Up to five levels of spells can be stored within, and can be cast while touching the ring. Saitama can spend one of his fifth-level Pact Magic slots to cast Absorb Elements (learned from his levels in artificer) into the ring, before resting to regain his Pact Magic slot. Absorb Elements can be cast as a reaction to elemental damage, grants resistance to the triggering damage, and adds an extra 1d6 of that damage type per spell level when the next time the caster hits with a melee attack on their next turn. Cast at a fifth level, this adds 5d6 elemental damage to Saitama’s punch. To voluntarily trigger the Absorb Elements, we will have Saitama use his free object interaction to stick a finger into a vial of acid held in his right hand (which also makes the Thunder Gauntlet in his right hand no longer count as a melee weapon since it's holding something, thus enabling him to use the Dueling fighting style with his left). The acid will burn Saitama, allowing him to cast Absorb Elements in reaction, getting resistance to the acid damage and charging up 5d6 acid damage to be released on his next melee attack this turn.

Preparation to punch

In order to maximize damage in a single attack, Saitama needs to do some preparation. At some point, he will spend one of his fifth-level Pact Magic slots to cast Absorb Elements into the Ring of Spell Storing, before resting to regain his Pact Magic slot.
On the day of, he must also cast Gift of Alacrity to maximize his initiative rolls (this lasts 8 hours), and spend an action drinking the Potion of Giant Size (which lasts 24 hours). One hour before the fight, he must drink the Potion of Growth (which lasts a minimum of 1 hour). He must also open the vial of acid and hold it ready in his right hand.
A minute before punching his target, he must spend an action to activate his Radiant Soul Aasimar transformation, and spend an action and a bonus action cursing his target with the Hexblade’s Curse and Path to the Grave.
Finally, on the turn he punches, he spends his free object interaction to touch the acid in the vial until it causes damage, then casts Absorb Elements as a reaction from his Ring of Spell Storing. He spends his bonus action casting Banishing Smite, and then his action casting the cantrip Booming Blade. (He has cast three spells in one turn, but the only limitation on casting multiple spells per turn is that if he casts a spell as a bonus action, he may only cast a cantrip — like Booming Blade — with his action.)

The punch

Booming Blade requires a material component: a melee weapon worth at least 1 sp. Normally, using his arcane armor as a spellcasting focus would allow him to ignore material components, but this material component cannot be ignored because it has a cost. The Thunder Gauntlets from a suit of arcane armor have no assigned cost, but the basic leather armor costs 10 gp, so it’s a safe assumption that a magically-enhanced +1 Thunder Gauntlet would cost more than 1 sp. Upon casting the spell, Saitama makes a melee attack against a creature within 5 feet. At level 20, the cantrip adds an extra 3d8 thunder damage to the initial attack, and an additional 4d8 if the target moves on its next turn — but the latter damage will not count for this purpose because our goal is to annihilate the target with the first hit.
Assuming that his stealth and initiative checks have allowed Saitama to surprise his target and go first in the initiative order, he has advantage on his attack from Assassinate and gets +17 to the roll: +6 from his proficiency, +10 from his STR modifier, and +1 from the Enhanced Weapon infusion. The monsters with the highest AC are Tiamat and the Tarrasque, with an AC of 25 — with advantage and a +17 to hit, Saitama has an 88% chance of hitting, and any hit is an automatic critical hit from Assassinate. If a guaranteed hit is desired, we could give Saitama an Epic Boon of Combat Prowess, choosing to hit on a melee weapon attack once per short rest. At that point, the attack roll doesn’t even matter.

Damage

The 1d8 thunder damage from his Thunder Gauntlets is tripled to 3d8 by the Potion of Giant Size. The Gauntlets deal an extra 1d4 thunder damage from the Potion of Growth, an extra 2d6 thunder damage from the major beneficial properties of the Hand of Vecna and the Sword of Kas, and an extra 1d6 thunder damage from the Menacing Attack maneuver. The attack deals an extra 2d8 cold damage because it was made with a weapon wielded by the Hand of Vecna. We add an additional 6d8 force damage from Eldritch Smite, 5d10 force damage from Banishing Smite, 4d8 radiant damage from Divine Smite, 5d6 acid damage from Absorb Elements, and 3d8 thunder damage from Booming Blade.
Let’s total this up: 6d8+1d4+3d6 thunder + 2d8 cold + 6d8+5d10 force + 4d8 radiant + 5d6 acid damage
All these dice are doubled on the critical hit from Assassinate: 12d8+2d4+6d6 thunder + 4d8 cold + 12d8+10d10 force + 8d8 radiant + 10d6 acid damage
Now, counting the flat damage: 10 thunder damage from Saitama’s STR modifier on the Thunder Gauntlets, +1 thunder damage from the Enhanced Weapon infusion, +6 thunder damage from Hexblade’s Curse, and +2 thunder damage from the Dueling fighting style, for a total of +19 thunder damage. We also add 20 radiant damage from the Radiant Soul transformation.
Another preliminary total: 12d8+2d4+6d6+19 thunder + 4d8 cold + 12d8+10d10 force + 8d8+20 radiant + 10d6 acid damage
All the damage is doubled by the vulnerability inflicted by Path to the Grave: 24d8+4d4+12d6+38 thunder + 8d8 cold + 24d8+20d10 force + 16d8+40 radiant + 20d6 acid damage
This averages to 198 thunder + 36 cold + 218 force + 112 radiant + 70 acid damage, for a total of 634 damage on average in a single punch.
Anything that survives this formidable blow must then have more than 50 hit points remaining, or else it is banished to its home plane without a save by Banishing Smite (thus, Saitama's punch can effectively defeat creatures with up to 684 HP).
After two short rests, Saitama could theoretically do a Serious Punch again on the same day — minus the +40 radiant damage from Radiant Soul (doubled by Path to the Grave), the only ability used that requires a long rest to recharge. After a second Serious Punch, though, he’ll run out of third-level spell slots for the Divine Smite.

The targets (who survives?)

With the most hit points out of any monster in DND 5e, the Tarrasque has 676 HP, damage immunities to fire, poison, and bludgeoning/piercing/slashing damage from nonmagical attacks, three legendary resistances per day, advantage on saves against spells, can nullify or reflect ranged attack spells, and can terrify creatures within 120 feet with its Frightful Presence. None of this protects it from a single punch from our Caped Baldy. On 62% of possible damage rolls, that Tarrasque is getting sent back to its plane of origin, gibbering with fear: with a WIS modifier of +0, it has no chance of succeeding the DC 24 WIS save against Saitama’s Menacing Attack (of course, Tarrasques are immune to the frightened condition, but let’s ignore that because it’s funny).
However, this doesn’t quite count as killing the tarrasque in a single punch, since it’s banished but still alive (and returns after one minute if it’s not originally from another plane). Additionally, a several other monsters could definitely survive the punch — chief among them, Tiamat: Outside of being immune to acid and cold damage (reducing the damage by 106 points and dropping the remaining 528 total damage from the punch well below her total HP of 615), Tiamat is also immune to spells of level 6 or lower: thus completely nullifying the effects of both Booming Blade and Banishing Smite. However, as a fiend, Divine Smite does deal an extra d8 radiant damage against her. Still, eliminating Booming Blade and Banishing Smite drops the single punch damage to 382 on average, leaving Tiamat with 233 HP: more than a third of her health. Instead casting Banishing Smite and Booming Blade, Saitama could use his action to punch twice using the Thirsting Blade eldritch invocation, spending both his 5th-level Pact Magic spell slots on Eldritch Smites and both 3rd-level slots on Divine Smites. If Saitama managed to sneak up on Tiamat to surprise her and get the automatic critical hits from Assassinate, he would deal 3d8+1d4+3d6 thunder + 6d8 force + 5d8 radiant damage on each attack, doubled from the critical hit to 6d8+2d4+6d6 thunder + 12d8 force + 10d8 radiant damage, and a total of +19 thunder on both attacks and +20 radiant on the first. The first attack damage would be doubled from Path to the Grave, but the second would not. The first attack would deal 12d8+4d4+12d6+38 thunder + 24d8 force + 20d8+40 radiant damage, and the second 6d8+2d4+6d6+19 thunder + 12d8 force + 10d8 radiant; for a total damage of 553 on average, still 62 points short of Tiamat’s 615 total HP.
Other creatures that would survive:

• Sapphire Greatwyrms and Velomachus Lorehold — with immunities to thunder damage and HP totals of 507 and 487 respectively, they survive the 436 total non-thunder damage from Saitama’s Serious Punch. With 51 HP remaining on average, Velomachus also has a 53% chance of having enough HP to escape getting banished.
• Amethyst Greatwyrms and Tanazir Quandrix — with immunities to force damage and HP totals of 507 and 444 respectively, they survive the 416 total non-force damage from the Serious Punch. Tanazir is almost definitely getting banished, though.
• The Aspect of Tiamat and Aspect of Bahamut are immune to both fire and cold damage, reducing the Serious Punch to 528 damage — not enough to eliminate their 574 and 585 hit points, respectively. However, both Aspects might still fall victim to the Banishing Smite: 56% of damage rolls will deal enough damage to banish the Aspect of Tiamat, and 37% of rolls for the Aspect of Bahamut. Interestingly, banishing these monsters with the Banishing Smite might be better than reducing them to 0 HP, because dropping them to 0 would trigger their Chromatic Wrath / Platinum Brilliance traits, resetting their HP to 500, recharging their breath weapons and legendary resistances, and unlocking their Mythic Actions.
• Copper Greatwyrms are immune to acid damage, reducing the Serious Punch to 564 damage on average — allowing them to barely survive with 1 hit point left (out of their HP total of 565). They will survive on 52% of damage rolls, and almost certainly get banished if they do. However, on the 48% of damage rolls that succeed in reducing them to 0 HP, they will actually not get banished: instead, their Metallic Awakening will immediately trigger and will reset their HP to 450.
• Silver Greatwyrms have 565 HP and immunity to cold damage, but even without cold damage, the Serious Punch still deals 598 damage on average: enough to reduce them to 0 HP on 91% of damage rolls. Interestingly, this gives Silver Greatwyrms higher odds of surviving than Copper Greatwyrms, because they are far more likely to trigger the Metallic Awakening and reset their HP to 450 to escape banishment — rather than Copper Greatwyrms, which have better-than-even odds of surviving the initial punch but then getting banished for their trouble.
• The other 11 types of Greatwyrm not yet mentioned will also survive thanks the same reason as the Silver Greatwyrm: they can't survive the initial punch, but being reduced to 0 HP will trigger their Metallic/Chromatic/Gem Awakening traits to reset their HP to 400 or more, ironically allowing them to evade being banished. Of the 15 types of Greatwyrm, only Copper Greatwyrms have moderate odds of getting banished in a single strike — the others will either survive the first hit entirely, or get reduced to 0 hit points and trigger their Awakening to avoid getting banished.
• Zariel from Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes and Archduke Zariel of Avernus from Descent into Avernus each have resistance to radiant damage, resistance or immunity to cold damage (respectively), and 580 hit points. However, they are fiends, causing the Divine Smite to add an additional 9 radiant damage on average (the 1d8 extra Divine Smite damage to fiends is doubled twice from the critical hit and Path to the Grave, but halved from Zariel’s resistance to radiant damage). Accounting for the resistance to radiant damage and the bonus Divine Smite damage to fiends, the punch deals 587 total damage. Then, subtracting 18 damage for cold resistance or 36 damage for cold immunity, Zariel survives with 11 HP and Archduke Zariel with 29 HP — both still very likely getting banished back to Avernus.
• No creature has resistance to thunder and more than 535 hit points to survive the punch, resistance to force damage and more than 525 hit points, or resistance to acid damage and more than 599 hit points. Only 10 creatures other than Zariel have resistances to thunder, cold, force, radiant, or acid damage and more than 400 HP: of those, Sul Khatesh, Rak Tulkhesh, Orcus, and the Demogorgon’s cold resistances reduce the damage by 18, but, as fiends, they take an additional 18 radiant damage from Divine Smite — and with 475, 478, 405, and 406/464 HP respectively (depending on the source book), they get easily annihilated by the Serious Punch. Tromokratis is resistant to both thunder and cold damage, reducing the Serious Punch by 117 damage, but with 409 HP, the Serious Punch still deals over 100 more points of damage than necessary to kill it. The Marut and the Ancient Amethyst Dragon are also only resistant to one of the damage types, which does not reduce the damage enough for them to survive.
• Many creatures have the Regeneration trait that allow them to survive and regain a certain amount of HP at the start of their turn even if they start their turn with 0 HP. However, taking radiant damage disables this trait for fiends, undead, and aberrations, and acid damage disables it for trolls and giants. Cold damage disables it for Tlexolotl and Vegepygmy, thunder damage for the Glasswork Golem, and spell damage for Wereravens. Four monsters have Regeneration traits that still work to bring them back from 0 HP after being hit by Saitama's punch: Loup Garou regenerate if not dealt damage with a silver weapon; the Jabberwock regenerates if not dealt slashing damage; and the Regenerating Black Pudding and Living Doll regenerate if not dealt fire damage (for the Wood Woad, banishment likely counts as no longer being “in contact with the ground” and therefore its Regeneration trait fails). None of these monsters have more than 300 HP, so the 634 damage from Saitama's Punch may be enough to destroy them by dealing more than double their max HP in a single instance of damage — however, Jeremy Crawford rules that massive damage is not enough to kill a monster with regeneration (https://youtu.be/1frsmP\_AzV0?t=2663).
• Some undead have an Undead Fortitude trait that allows them to drop to 1 HP instead of 0 on a save; however, these traits are disabled by both the fact that the Serious Punch deals radiant damage, is a critical hit (from Assassinate), and that they would have to succeed on a CON save with a DC of 5+the damage taken: DC 657 (when taking account the extra 18 radiant damage Divine Smite deals to undead).
• Vampires, Liches, and other monsters with the Rejuvenation trait may also be utterly destroyed by the punch, but survive by regenerating or gaining a new body later. However, we will still count them as having been killed by the punch, even if they didn’t fully die. Even if they return to bother Saitama, he can just destroy them again in a single punch.
• There may be other monsters with features that allow them to escape a single attack — if there are, they don't immediately come to mind.

Thus, our final list of 27 survivors of Saitama’s punch:

• Nullifies the punch (1): Tiamat
• Avoids banishment with 51-100 HP (3): Sapphire Greatwyrm, Amethyst Greatwyrm, Aspect of Bahamut
• Gets reduced to 0 but avoids banishment by resetting their HP through the Awakening trait (12): Silver Greatwyrm and 11 other types of Greatwyrm
• 50/50 odds of being banished (3): Velomachus Lorehold, Aspect of Tiamat, Copper Greatwyrm
• Likely banished, but still alive (4): Tarrasque, Tanazir Quandrix, Zariel and Archduke Zariel
• Reduced to 0 HP and banished, but regenerates (4): Loup Garou, Jabberwock, Regenerating Black Pudding, Living Doll

Saitama can kill all remaining 2,800+ monsters ever printed in a single punch.

Thank you for reading!

If you've gotten this far, thanks for sticking with me! If you have any ideas on how to squeeze out the last bits of damage to allow Saitama to one-hit kill any of the remaining 27 monsters, please comment to let me know!

I'm a new DM (D&D 5e) and I'm most intimidated by balancing encounters. I was asking a buddy of mine who is a long time DM whether he thought three level 6 characters (Echo Knight Fighter, Champion Fighter, Thief Rogue) could take on a Chimera or if I should somehow nerf the Chimera.
He suggested using the three character sheets I have to simulate the battle to see how things went. That solution seemed somehow lackluster.
Is this a common strategy or are there other tips and tricks to balancing encounters?

Include any justification in your choice if you want!
What should we do at level 4? If sticking with Ranger, do we take a feat or an ASI? If multiclassing, make the level 1 choices from those classes (Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Monk, Rogue).
Some details:

• The DM is running a homebrew 5e campaign set in his world that will be similar to Middle Earth
• Starting at level 5
• Standard Array ability scores
• Feat at level 1
• The only sourcebooks allowed are PHB, DMG, Tasha's, Xanathar's, Mordenkainen's MM, and SCAG

Current Build:

• Ghostwise Halfling (Hobbit)
• Ranger 2
• Squat Nimbleness Feat
• Far Traveler Background
• Proficiency: Acrobatics, Insight, Stealth, Survival, Sleight of Hands
• Expertise: Perception
• Languages: Common, Halfling, Elvish, Sylvan, Dwarvish, Gnomish
• Favored Enemy = Undead
• Fighting Style = Archery
• Ranger Archetype = Swarmkeeper (Dancing Rats)
• Spell List: (0) Mage Hand, (1) Absorb Elements, Entangle, Faerie Fire, Goodberry, Speak with Animals
• STR - 8
• DEX - 18
• CON - 14
• INT - 12
• WIS - 14
• CHA - 10
• Current HP (Average) = 36
• AC = 15
• Equipment: Shortbow (20 arrows), leather armor, 2 shortswords, explorer's pack, pan flute, dice set

Yesterday's link
Tomorrow will be starting level 5 choices!

So, last session i improvised a little ditty i think you guys may enjoy. Some of it needs work but i think it could be a fun addition...
Some context. My party just dined with strahd after being invited by him as "compensation" for what happened during the feast of st. Andral. I modified the feast a bit and used it as a plot by the Wachters to sieze power and please strahd. During that encounter they also met anastrasya and volenta, almost killing the latter while the former ravaged the city (i did the LBH thing where ana is a martial powerhouse and volenta is a rogue, she underestemated the party so they almost killed her and she now has a vendeta against them.)
After the dinner while the party stayed the night at ravenloft, the brides were sent out to the three major cities of barovia to send a message to the party, and remind them who's land this is...
Anastrasya went to barovia, with the instructions to bring ismark into line and invite him to the inevitable wedding with his sister... ana, not liking the idea but instructed to not kill ismark did what she does best and tore through the ranks of the barovian militia, hospitalising ismark and forcing donovich to take over (my players hadn't dealt with/found doru yet so that will become a problem soon...)
Ludmila went to krezk, to check on the abbot, and pressure a repentant vampire in hiding i added to the city (this one i havent run yet so it's a bit nebulous)
And finaly dear volenta, the reason for the post went to valaki, to punish the partie's allies the martikovs and turn the town against them... Volenta is the rogue archetype and a master trap maker, she also had something to prove after her near defeat so with a few spawns to help she set up a diabolical set of traps...
As the party approached valaki they saw a man on the road, he was tied to a post like a scarecrow and dressed to resemble our wizard. To their surprise he was still alive but when they tried to help the man, a hidden blade emerged from the wood, burying itself through his heart and slaying him instantly... Horrified but thinking they can be more carefull the party went on, next was a man resembling our rogue, a boastfull sort, he was also tied up in a simillar manner. Checking the pole the party found a simillar trap, and while here they just flubbed the role, causing the trap to trigger and kill the man in the same fashion, this was only the first of two traps, with explosives in his boots (the rogue bragged to be more nimble and "light on his feet" than volenta during their previous fight)
The next was our kenku druid, for whom they managed to remove a booby trapped crow mask before realisinf he had a blade as well, but located elsewhere, so when my party tried to put something over his heart to block the blade it was in the wrong spot killing him...
Penultimately was our bard, who's blade they neutralised but didnt manage to get rid of her explosive laden lyre before it was too late...
And finaly, standing in a mockery of full plate stood our paladin stand in. He was covered head to tow in armor, and bearing the symbols of the morning lord and the keeper of the feather. The party agonised, and checked all angles before removing his helmet with a mage's hand... But there were no traps on this one... just the drained corpse of adrian martikov...
And that's it. Volenta just rose from laughing stock to the most hated villian in the campaign :)
This was all improv, but i think with a bit of extra thought you can have something diabolical to really send a message to your players and make the brides threats on their own right!
Hope you liked it 😈

Hello! I am here to help you figure out what direction you should take your villains, be they teeny goblin rogues, or mastermind dragons and liches.
I am usually Central Time oriented, and you can talk to me here or on discord! Experienced with DND 5e but I also have some experience with other systems.

Hey, I recently purchased the game and am playing it for the first time and was wondering if you guys have any tips or advice for a newbie. I have all DLC including the new one. I dont know alot about RPG games and d&d 5E, im lost in a lot of things that i can do for characters in this game.
I was thinking about a party rogue/ranger for dex ranged damage. Or melee is better? Wizard with loremaster to learn a lot of spells that can help the team. Or warlock would be better? Someone to be in front melee to be the tank, to hit melee and call attention of the enemies. Monk, Paladin, barbarian or fighter? The last one im not sure, bard, cleric or druid? I need a healer? It would better have someone to suppot more the team or i pick more damage?
What you guys think? Any tips, advice or team ideas it will help me a lot.

Hey all! New to the scene but I grew up in Vancouver and have been running games for friends for 5 years. Looking to fire up a 2nd in person group since my main group only gets to meet once a month. Here's the details:
Game: Forbidden Lands (Swedish 80s dark/grim fantasy). System is Old School Adjacent with a slant towards wilderness survival and travel.
For who: New players and experienced players welcome!
How long: We'll start with a short adventure (Shadows over Long Harbour) and then see where we feel like going from there.
When: Ideally once every two weeks on a weekend for 3 hour sessions.
Where: Unsure as of now but sessions will be at public spaces such as rented out private rooms at a local library or a table at a game store.
What to bring: character sheet and pencils, we're going old school with this bad boy. I have the books and can provide PDFs and dice.
Slots: 3 open slots for players (1 filled)
Hook: Forbidden Lands is a hexcrawl sandbox game from Free League and is billed as "Rogues and Raiders in a Cursed World". The dice system is solely d6 except for special cases and it's rules light-ish (crunchier than narrative games, not nearly as crunchy as 5e, Pathfinder 1e, etc). Classic fantasy with orcs, goblins, elves, dwaves and classic RPG classes like fighter, wizard, bard, rogue, etc. Being a game based on old school RPGs it's decently high lethality and rolling up a new character mid session is absolutely a possibility.
Shadows over Long Harbour:
"A shadow has been cast over the town of Long Harbour, an esteemed fishing city on the coast of the forbidden lands. Over the past few months, people have gone missing, and bodies found mutilated in the hunting grounds a quarter days travel to the west. Yet no one seems to remember what caused it. A strange darkness is growing in the forest near Long Harbour."
A little about me:
I'm a local animator working at an indie game studio and have technically been playing TTRPGs since i was 16 (I'm 25 now) but I didn't properly start playing often until 5ish years ago when I ran a Monster of the Week game with some friends. Since then I've run a Lancer game and a Heart: The City Beneath game. I've never ran OSR or OSR adjacent before but I've pretty much put all my TTRPG energy into reading OSR blogs and the osr subreddit in the last few months. I've been noodling with the Forbidden Lands system as well and I made an addon for the game in the form of a tactile tiled inventory system akin to Mausritter which we can play with if we want (functionally the exact same as the base game inventory system, just represented as a slot inventory instead of a list of things). Interest wise outside of TTRPGs I'm your standard anime/manga/board games/games guy. Currently watching Gundam: Witch from Mercury, reading Chainsaw Man, Dandadan, and a few other manga, playing Tears of the Kingdom (like everyone), and dipping more into board games with my friends. I'm aiming to run an inclusive table that sticks to the tenants of OSR with creativity and engaged play rewarded. Tonally, FbL is dark (which doesn't mean it can't be funny) but I'll be trying to weave more of a spooky/dangerous air than your usual D&D 5e type tone. Basically have fun, roll dice, and respect each other is my goals. also in terms of location right now i'm floating between the New West Rain City Games store, Strategies games and hobbies, or a table at a library of group's choice.
If you're interest please DM me with any questions and provide some personal history you have with RPGs (systems played, experience) as well as your availability. I'll run some interviews to nail down a group.

Hello everyone,
I just wanted to share some thoughts I had regarding "Exploration Mode" a mechanic I picked up from watching a-few Pathfinder 2e essays, and I decided to hammer together a-few homebrew mechanics for my 5e game, and I liked the results.
For those unaware, exploration mode adds to the pillar of exploration by assigning roles to each party member at the table when, well, exploring! Those roles function to speed up exploration, while also challenging "call and response" play.
So:
Instead of saying, "You see a door" "I check the door to see if it opens" "You find it locked" "I roll to unlock it" etc. You instead say:
"The rogue, you've decided to check for traps and scout out ahead. You find a door ahead, it is locked so you prepare to unlock the door, before proceeding down the hall"
I wanted to get away from that old school mentality, and try this new mode, I thought it seemed neat, and would replace boring crawls for my large group with narrative breath between encounters, and here is how I did it.
​
First, I redesigned my dungeon for this adventure. Instead of having a map, I built my dungeon with encounters, and sprinkled between them "sub encounters" (The exploration scenes).
​
After, I told the party we were going to enter exploration mode, and asked everyone what is there goal, what they are trying to accomplish and what they want to do during exploration. A player said "Identify any local fauna!" another said "scout out ahead" and a third said, "look for footprints and trails." I then assigned "Skills" that only that player would be in charge of. So for the first, any nature or knowledge based checks. The second- he was in charge of stealth checks, and the third was allowed any survival checks. In addition to this, I have "class purposed" skills that players of certain classes would be able to do for free (Like druid for nature, or wizard for arcane checks). Then the crawl began!
​
The narrative began, and I gave everyone one skill check each relating to their interest. The druid got to examine the fungus and learn about its origin- the barbarian found footprints leading into the cave- and a successful stealth check from the rogue was able to watch the local populace of creatures as they cultivated. All the while it lead into the first encounter with their successes and failures telling the story of the dungeon and pulling them into a roleplay scene.
​
It certainly required more talking on my part, but I thought it succeeded. I run a large group (We have 7-9 regularly), and it succeeded in giving everyone a voice at the table when it comes to the exploration pillar, which could be dominated by a single skill monkey.
​
Second it allowed the players with the skills they wanted to run with to shine. The barbarian got to climb the wall to throw down the rope, the rogue got to scout out ahead and see the warnings. And since skills were pre-assigned, it make sure that we didn't get bogged down with everyone asking for a check!
Third, it really helped with the flow and speed. As a large group, sometimes those slow points can be meandering. But this allowed me satisfy the pillar and "roll some dice" without grinding to a halt in room descriptions.
​
All in all, my party liked it. It was something I really thought was a strong point of last session. I'm going to do it more!
​
Apologizes for any rambling, just wanted to express myself and a success at my table! As a DM of over a decade, I'm still tinkering with my game, changing procedures, to make it as "my style" as I can!
​
Let me know if you have any questions too, I'm happy to answer.

Kobolds and Goblins march on the far flung village,
Strange artifacts are uncovered, including a flying ship from the days of empire,
A murder occurs, a doppleganger is the culprit!
And the ancient ruins of the king of winter no longer sits abandoned!
Dare to enter the Nentir Vale in this level 1-7 mini-campaign currently in progress!
Greetings fellow adventurers. My name is William. I am twenty five years old and the DM of this adventure: a combination of "Keep On the Shadowfell" and "Cairn of the Winter King". Two adventures from the 4th edition system converted to 5e!
The campaign is set in the Nentir Vale (MY FAVORITE OFFICIAL SETTING), and takes place in the frontier settlement of Winterhaven. Encroached by the darkness beyond its reach, the party is there to rescue it!
So far, the party has travelled to the city, and aided them in their pressing issues- they've eradicated the kobold tribe, uncovered an ancient flying vessel (Now dormant), and uncovered a spy (Who narrowly escaped the city). Now they are tasked, YOU are tasked with diving into the Keep on the Shadowfell to stop the darkness, and to rescue (Or take down) a famed adventurer and mercenary by the name Dirg Atwood!
​
The party consist of: A giant soul sorcerer, a swashbuckler rogue, and an abjuration wizard. We also have a barbarian in the party, but he is departing from the game after this weekends session.
We are seven sessions into the campaign, currently level three. And are playing this (And every other) Sunday. You can join today and have a character ready for the adventure!
We sadly have lost two players so far, one about three sessions in, and another after this weekends session. Both were due to scheduling conflicts with work, so no hot blood at the table!
About my DMing: I have been a DM for around fourteen years. I like to consider myself quite experienced, and have done allot of adventures, and even have done professional DMing, workshops, and conventions.
​
I consider my DM style a flair of cinematic- I like flashy combat, big steaks, and fun encounters. Description is my strongest feature.
​
Lastly, it is important to note the expectations for the group. We will be finishing up the campaign by session ten (But I will see if the party wants to continue to finish the second part of this adventure) before deciding if we'd like to continue and run a long term campaign that is completely homebrew. As a result, this group may last for many seasons as we gear up for a long term adventure. Please be aware of that when signing up.
​
If you are interested, please message me. I hope to hear from you!
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Edit: Forgot to mention. We play on Discord and Roll20. Both require accounts, but are free. Mic required, webcam is not!
Edit 2: we are looking for someone between 21-40s to match our age bracket.

So I've been attempting to build my own deck after having copied decks for a while now, (mostly from a YouTube channel called Kiratwig2) and wanted to give a shot at an Adamancipator deck, as I've played with a (mostly) pure deck of their archetype and enjoyed it. I know it's no powerhouse, with Block Dragon being forbidden and all, but I figured I could at least make a fairly decent rogue deck with enough know how. Anyway, the deck list is below:

Monster 3 Nibiru, the Primal Being 3 Koa'ki Meiru Guardian 3 Adamancipator Analyzer 3 Koa'ki Meiru Supplier 3 Rock Band Xenoguitar 2 Adamancipator Crystal - Dragite 3 Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring 3 Adamancipator Seeker 3 Cartorhyn the Hidden Gem of the Seafront 3 Doki Doki 3 Adamancipator ResearcherSpell 3 Adamancipator Signs 1 Monster Reborn 1 Called by the Grave Trap 3 Infinite Impermanence Extra 1 Baronne de Fleur 1 Swordsoul Supreme Sovereign - Chengying 1 Adamancipator Risen - Dragite 1 Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon 1 Adamancipator Risen - Leonite 1 Adamancipator Risen - Raptite 1 Herald of the Arc Light 1 Gallant Granite1 Abyss Dweller 1 Underworld Goddess of the Closed World 1 Apollousa, Bow of the Goddess 1 Knightmare Unicorn1 Aussa the Earth Charmer, Immovable 1 I:P Masquerena Possible Cards/Side Deck Gigantes Tackle Crusader Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo Harpie's Feather Duster Crossout Designator Adamancipator Laputite Evenly Matched Adamancipator Resonance Gorgonic Cerberus Gorgonic Guardian 

This is my first time building a deck, so if you have any rules of thumb when deck building, I'd appreciate hearing those as well. Also if this post falls outside of the scope of the subreddit, I'll take this down, although I'd appreciate a point in the right direction if that's the case. Thanks in advance for the help!

Include any justification in your choice if you want!
What should we do at level 3? If sticking with Ranger, what Ranger Archetype do we take (and choices within) and what spell do we learn? If multiclassing, make the level 1 choices from those classes (Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Monk, Rogue).
Some details:

• The DM is running a homebrew 5e campaign set in his world that will be similar to Middle Earth
• Starting at level 5
• Standard Array ability scores
• Feat at level 1
• The only sourcebooks allowed are PHB, DMG, Tasha's, Xanathar's, Mordenkainen's MM, and SCAG

Current Build:

• Ghostwise Halfling (Hobbit)
• Ranger 2
• Squat Nimbleness Feat
• Far Traveler Background
• Proficiency: Acrobatics, Insight, Stealth, Survival, Sleight of Hands
• Expertise: Perception
• Languages: Common, Halfling, Elvish, Sylvan, Dwarvish, Gnomish
• Favored Enemy = Undead
• Fighting Style = Archery
• Spell List: Entangle, Goodberry
• STR - 8
• DEX - 18
• CON - 14
• INT - 12
• WIS - 14
• CHA - 10
• Current HP (Average) = 12
• AC = 15
• Equipment: Shortbow (20 arrows), leather armor, 2 shortswords, explorer's pack, pan flute, dice set

Yesterday's link
Tomorrow will be starting level 4 choices!

You know? As in:

• The Lancer = Reflexes and Cool, for more stealth-oriented play.
• The Big Guy = Body, for a more run-and-gun approach.
• The Smart Guy = Technical Ability, for crafting items and using smart/tech weapons and grenades.
• The Chick/Heart = Intelligence, for quick-hacks and breach protocol.

Like, it's an RPG, so you're practically developing V into one of these several different five-man band archetypes. Also, five-man bands are an incredibly common thing in most science-fiction and fantasy stories, whether it's a small crew of soldiers, scientists, engineers, and medics like in a sci-fi setting, or a small adventuring party of warriors, rogues, mages, and clerics like in a fantasy setting. And that even though V is just one character, the numerous builds for him weren't going to be any exception.
Anyone think the same way I do?

Hello all! I have been playing ttrpgs for around 4, almost 5 years now and despite being in many different diverse groups I've never had any horror stories to share. Now, I have at least one minor one.
People involved are myself(female, because it unfortunately matters), DM, Rogue, Ranger, Fighter, Bard and Witch. This is a Pathfinder 2nd Edition game.
Most of my experience has been with 5e, and I hadn't really touched any other system. So, when everything went south with Wizards of the Coast and the OGL and Pinkertons, I decided to branch out and try other systems. That is when I managed to find a group for Pathfinder! I was excited to learn the system, so as soon as I was in, I started reading the core rulebook and listening to videos on the rules of the game.
The initial party consisted of everyone but Witch(she would join later). DM proclaims he has about 3 years experience running 5e games, but is new to Pathfinder himself. No big deal, it seems all of us are new, with Rogue and Ranger being brand new to ttrpgs. We'll learn the system together. Things start off somewhat okay, with a skirmish between two sides, with players split between the two factions. Combat is very basic and everything dies in a single hit, without really attacking us directly. We do discover that Bard's character is... Well, the best way to describe him was a flamboyant elf, using an offensively stereotypical gay voice and cadence, who ran from the battle at the first sign of trouble. That was... Off-putting, but it was whatever.
We cleared the encounter, and one side clearly won. My character was actually knocked unconscious, but was picked up and carried by another player of the opposing faction, Fighter. We then all eventually stumbled across a large dragon man, basically a Dragonborn, who breathed lightning, and had a huge axe and plate armor. When we fought him, all at lvl 1, still worn out from the last battle. Almost no one could hit his AC, and he nearly downed half the party before we managed to win. I later found out that the DM just used a level 3 player stat block for this guy, and buffed his HP, which I know in 5e, at least, is a bad idea.
After this, the DM had a shady NPC show up out of nowhere and invite us to come along with him. This was the first sign that the DM wasn't very good at roleplaying, or at least doing so in a convincing way. But, this was the plot hook, so we all went with it. The DM then showed off their inexperience again when we were offered a mission from this NPC, and Rogue asked some pretty softball questions about why we'd want to work with them. As an aside, rogue's backstory involved working with criminals, and these guys were like rebels against the empire who invaded the city.
Either way, we had to go to an auction house to buy a magical item. We were given 50 gold to buy the item, and this was where the DM displayed their inability to describe rooms to us. The description was very bland, and didn't paint much of a picture for us. He also didn't really do many voices, so it was difficult to tell if an NPC was talking, or if it was the DM out of character. Regardless, we found the item we needed, placed bids and got into a bidding war with a noble. For whatever reason, this makes the bard decide to set off a... Distraction, by trying to cast a spell on the noble to charm them, to which they roll a 37 to resist. We are level 2, by the way. This leads to bard's backup plan.
Bard lights and shoots off fireworks in the auction house, causing the entire roof to cave in and severely injure most of us. Rogue did manage to snatch the item, and slip away along with Ranger. Bard ran down the street escaping the guards, and myself and fighter just stood around in disbelief, because up until that point, we had all blended in without issue. There was no reason for such a huge commotion. We stayed and the noble spoke to us, but we talked our way out of it, Fighter being the type from a military/mercenary background, and myself being a local farm girl.
Eventually, we all met up, and in between sessions, the entire group agrees to kick Bard for playing a blatant caricature and being chaotic stupid. He also talked over and interrupted people a lot, and really tried to push his luck with every ruling. And, before we returned to the quest NPC, we got a new player, Witch, who immediately rubbed myself and Fighter the wrong way because she was playing an older, grandmother type, character who... No matter what you said... She knew more than you, or at least as much as you.
Once we got back to the quest NPC, we were paid for the job, and given the option of taking other quests. We did one on an island, it was a poorly narrated place with a simple puzzle that everyone kind of overcomplicated. Typical rpg stuff. Then another, where we got to see Ranger awkwardly flirt with an NPC as a distraction. He was terrible at it, and we all had a great laugh.
I should point out that in each of these sessions we played, DM usually sounded very unprepared, even when we were doing what was clearly intended. He also frequently showed that he was not doing anything to learn the system between sessions. He'd make the same mistakes each week, forget how many actions his NPCs have taken, or even how saves and checks work, frequently using passives, instead of opposed checks. It was frustrating, because we had two brand new players to TTRPGs and we were all new to the game. Yet, it was Fighter and myself, and occasionally Witch as her know-it-all trait wasn't character specific, who were explaining the rules. I even had to correct him on crits once, because he said the number on the attack roll, even with 20, was below the AC. He argued until I showed him the ruling, and he then changed to saying he knew how it worked. Apparently not.
I digress... In game, we did another mission that resulted in our party being ambushed by the noble we had seen at the auction house. The party was then split on motives, as the Witch felt this guy was evil and refused to change her mind, while he told my character he could help her find her biological mother(she was adopted, and there was a lot of familiarities between him and her). Other than what Witch felt about him, and that he was a noble from the invading kingdom, we had no real reason not to trust him. Well, once we were released and able to discuss things, and no matter what anyone did in trying to convince Witch to work with noble, she refused without giving any explanation in or out of character. She just didn't like the guy because of where he was from.
The session ended without us having chosen a side, and we were poised to visit with the noble the next day. The morning of that day, during the next session, Fighter couldn't make it, so we said he went off to talk to someone from his back story, and we went shopping. Rogue got herself a crossbow and Ranger helped teach her how to use it. We then went to a local restaurant my character frequently went to with her adoptive father. This was a fun opportunity for my character to kind of talk about her childhood a bit, how important family is, and some stuff about her dad. When we got there, the Ranger asked what he should order, and my character recommended this huge, expansive breakfast, and I even made up a name for it, the "Hungry Farmers Breakfast" and added that her father proclaimed to have been the first to order it and even named it. Cue our Witch chiming in to say he lied, because this dish is served all across the land. She's eaten it at tons of places.
Now, it's worth mentioning that I had brought it up to DM multiple times that Witch has a know-it-all, one-up whatever you say, personality, and that it really detracts from what others can do. He's said he talked to her about it, and nothing has changed despite that. This, for me, was the last straw. I called her out, and said for her to let us come up with unique character development that we want, and to not steal the wind from our sails. I might have been a bit rude about it, but it was a repeated issue that had yet to be resolved. Witch tried to defend what she said by comparing it to stuff in real life, like from chain restaurants, and I had to point out that they don't tend to have chain restaurants in fantasy worlds, and that this place was specifically a local place.
After that, Witch got quiet and the DM ended the session an hour early because he had stuff to do, and Witch was apparently feeling sick. Supposedly unrelated to being called out. I talked to Rogue and Ranger, and neither of them thought I was out of line, and were sort of feeling the same way about how she was acting. I messaged DM the next day about it, and he promised he'd talk to her again.
I waited a few days, and the Discord server was quiet, and I messaged DM, asking if they had heard back from Witch since they messaged her, and he said he hadn't. He then told me, absolutely out of the blue, that he had a dream of me, that I was holding a baby, and he and I went on a walk together. I... Had never had the misfortune of hearing something like this before, and just promptly tried to change the subject. Fortunately, he went with the change and we talked a bit about Pathfinder stuff. Now, DM knows I'm married, I live in a different country than him, and that I'm... Around 10 years older than him. So, I was very confused as to why he would ever say anything like that to me.
We skipped the next session because two players couldn't make it, and during this time, I asked a lot of people IRL, and in other ttrpg games I'm in about the situation, showing screenshots of the conversation so they had, verbatim, what he said. Everyone, guys and gals, thought it was either super weird, or outright creepy as heck. I agreed, and decided that this would be the last nail in the coffin. Poor descriptions, bad roleplay, terrible rulings, no enthusiasm during actual sessions and suggestions of introducing broken critical failure rules, like permanent injuries or dismemberment into a game with total ttrpg newbies ON TOP of this guy also dreaming about me with a baby. I was done.
I wrote the DM a length explanation, told him how creepy it was, and that I'd be leaving. Wished him well, and waited for his response. To his credit, he didn't explode. But, he did say that I was overreacting because what he said wasn't explicitly sexual or romantic, and so I shouldn't take it that way. Yeah, I'll just take my friend's advice, where she said he was testing the waters with the dream stuff. I told the group I was leaving, without context outside of things just weren't for me. Wished them well.
When I left, Rogue, Ranger and Fighter all stayed in touch and wanted to play more games with me. DM, on the other hand, decided to air out everything that he and I said, sharing screenshots of the conversation and... Yeah. Rogue and Ranger were both kind of shocked by it. Rogue said it was none of her business, and agreed that DM was a creep. Ranger was a bit more forgiving about the dream stuff, but was also offput by the airing of dirty laundry. Fighter left when I did, so he didn't see it.
Tldr: Joined a Pathfinder 2e game where the DM went from incompetent and underwhelming, to really creepy, alongside a player who glorified a gay stereotype, and another who wouldn't let anyone have any cool moment, because she had apparently experienced everything in life, and it was better than whatever you did.
Glad to be out of that group, and now I have Fighter, Rogue and Ranger in a group that I and Fighter take turns DMing one shots in until we can find someone who would like to be a DM for us on a longer form adventure.
All in all, far from the worst horror story, but still an interesting little rollercoaster. I hope you enjoyed this. Sorry if it was a long read.

I never thought that I would get a need to make this post, but a certain cis white male Yugituber has invoked a recent push in the idea that Set Rotation is the solution to a majority of Yu-Gi-Oh's problems, and that it's very reasonable for it to be implemented, be it replacing the main format, or otherwise.
Before I explain my reasoning as to why this is a ludicrous idea, let's go over what Set Rotation is, and what it COULD potentially fix.
What is Set Rotation? (No it's not the card)
For the few of you who don't know, Set Rotation is the main gimmick of some other TCG's 'Standard' formats, i.e. MTG and Hearthstone. The idea is that the only cards that are legal in this Standard format are cards that have been printed in the past 2 or 3 years, and any sets that go past this timer 'Rotate Out', and become no longer legal for the format.
So, what would this potentially mean for Yu-Gi-Oh?
Slows Down Powercreep
This is the big one, and the main thing pro-rotation players hone in on as to why Set Rotation would be a step in the right direction. With every card being on a soft time limit, Konami would no longer have an incentive to make each set stronger than the last to drive in sales, and can instead sell sets on the notion of "This old set has less time to live, but this new set is on a fresh limit." This theoretically means that the rampant powercreep we've been seeing these last few years can be curved down majorly, and we can go back to the strategic back-and-forth gameplay we've been yearning for.
Curation of Good Formats
This next one is a little more nuanced. With the need to keep track of 10 000+ cards no longer on the menu, Konami can have an easier time designing exciting, interesting formats for the players to try out. They can print archetypes without the sorry that this random card from 2005 would break it, or that this random 2018 staple blows it out of the water. They could even pick and choose cards that have since rotated and reprint them in a core set, or as some have proposed, a yearly "Base Set", containing all the staples that have since rotated out of Standard.
And... that's about it! Those are pretty much all there is to Set Rotation, and how it could fix many of Yu-Gi-Oh's issues. And to be fair, curving down powercreep and the potential for fun gameplay experiences does look very enticing.
Let me explain why it isn't so simple.
25 Years of Fans for What?
Of the big 3 card games, MTG, Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh! is the only one where its main format does not feature Set Rotation. It would be pretty disingenuous to say that a negligible amount of people were drawn to this game FOR its lack of Set Rotation, instead of DESPITE it. And a large amount of the playerbase, and TCG players in general, don't appreciate their cards being on a blatant timer. "Well, they were on a timer anyways thanks to powercreep!" Not to the staples, they aren't. Generic cards last a solid 6? 7 years of consistently good use until a new card takes its place? And while it's true that archetypes certainly face a large brunt of the powercreep problem, many players simply don't care. They want to keep playing that rogue deck they always liked, and it being no longer legal due to just being too old is a real downer on them. This leads us to...
It Can be an Alternate Format! Or Can it?
It's no surprise that Konami is absolute shit at managing alt formats. This, alongside some other points I'll get to later, is an example of Set Rotation simply asking waaaay too much out of Konami. If a Rotation format were to be introduced alongside the current, "Legacy" format we're all familiar with, if Konami doesn't push it out the ass and shove it down our throats, it's natural thanks to the past 25 years of its history that the Legacy format would be more popular. Simply adding Set Rotation this far into a game's life requires extremely careful planning from a company, and extreme customer loyalty. And Konami does not check either of those boxes.
I Like Money
You can construct this as an advantage for Konami, but if they don't want to heavily support two ongoing formats at the same time, the price of the game can become a major issue. The current price of the game wouldn't be going anywhere. If Kashtira, Purrely and VS are any indicators, just because cards are new and being opened a lot doesn't mean they'll be cheap. Now add on that you can only play these cards for all of 3 years maximum before you have to invest all over again into another deck core as well as all of this new format's staples. This could be one of the reasons why Standard in Magic The Gathering died out, alongside WOTC removing the primary incentive to play Standard in the first place.
Oops! Legacy Support!
This is probably the biggest physical hurdle that needs to be jumped if we want Set Rotation to be a thing. A huge amount of Konami's current product is the printing of support for archetypes much, much older than 3 years in order to push it into meta viability. This would, simply put, not be able to exist in a rotating format. A common counterpoint thrown around is that whenever Konami prints legacy support, they can just announce that the archetype its for is now in the Standard rotation!
There are many problems with this.
Firstly, this would probably be the nail in the coffin for TCG and OCG never being able to unify as formats. And the stick in the mud is VJump Promos. Every VJump magazine, the OCG prints a mechanically exclusive card into it, usually one that supports an archetype. If this would bring it into the Standard rotation, all of a sudden we have one format that has Sky Striker legal, and one that doesn't. Secondly, some archetypes are just too old or too big to be reprinted. If CYAC were to release with this Standard format in mind, we would be seeing a TON of old-ass Superheavy Samurai cards shooting up in price, cards in sets now out of print, so Konami wouldn't even be making any money off of those purchases. And if Konami were to, say, print the archetypes the new cards are supporting in some of of supplementary set, not only does that have the possibility to bring product fatigue, do you really want the entire HERO and Blackwing archetype again?
Simply Overhaul Your Game
This is another point in Konami just not being competent or trustworthy enough to pull something like this off. Set Rotation could be implemented, IF Konami heavily supports alt formats, IF Konami decides to overhaul their entire product design, IF Konami is willing to curb their powercreep, and IF Konami even wants to take this major, major risk in the first place. That's a lot of big ifs towards a company that can't even livestream their events half the time, and a company that made fucking Metal Gear Survive.
Other, Healthier Solutions
Many of the pro-rotation players argue that this is the way to solve Yu-Gi-Oh's, admittedly, large, Powercreep problem. I argue that there are other ways to solve this. Ones that aren't as large of risks for Konami, ones that don't overhaul the game as we know it, and ones that can reliably provide a good break from current Yu-Gi-Oh!, which is realistically what we all want.
Pretty much the only alternative formats Konami is willing to pour some attention to are Speed Duels and Time Wizard. GOAT and Edison appear to be doing the best out of the legacy formats we have, and Konami has even shown some interest in it with Hidden Arsenal Chapter 1, a set that printed a whole bunch of Edison cards and even gave us an un-errata for Armory Arm. All it takes is one or two sets to make either one of these formats a budget friendly option, and Konami can just sit back and not need to use that brain of theirs. A non-rotating, static format that you can always fall back on to have a good time when current Yu-Gi-Oh! is getting bothersome on you. Speed Duels are doing quite well, with Konami opting for single boxes, DUDE style, instead of the traditional booster pack format, and they once again give players a nice refresher when they're tired of getting Zone-locked for 9 or getting Kaiju'd for the tenth game in a row.
I hope that I've reasonably laid out my reasoning as to why Set Rotation, while having good intentions, is reasonably, and practically not possible for Konami to implement in this day and age.
TLDR: Set Rotation helps for Powercreep and making good formats, but IMO ignores 25 years of history, Konami's refusal towards alt formats, cost, and product design. GOAT/Edison or Speed Duels are probably better for something like this.

This week I ran an encounter that took nearly two hours to complete. The PCs were inside a large house (the orphanage that they have felt compelled to defend because they are all secretly alive toys that belong to the children) that was being assaulted by a large number of bad guys.
Here is the encounter:
6 level 3 PCs + 3 NPC allies (the head mistress of the orphanage, the bar owner across the street and the reformed creepy soul bound doll, the later needed to be actively recruited during the fight)
vs
27 level -1 creatures (a mix of goblins, zombies and severed heads each attacking from different angles)
At 10XP each 27 enemies is 270 experience. 9 allies is 120+5(30) = 270 for a severe encounter. And... it really felt like a severe encounter. Folks were in danger of going unconscious, which would have been a near instant death sentence given the number of enemies, and the players needed to make good use of their environment to manage the quantity of enemies. (Even an absolutely amazing move of flying out of a window on a kite and hitting a large group with an AoE was only a dent in the onslaught.) So, consider this a testament on just how far the PF2e encounter math can stretch. That is, it works well beyond what is feasible to run on an in person tabletop.
Want to run something like this, here is my advice:
- I only attempted to run something like this because of Foundry. Doing this on a physical table would have been a complete nightmare, but I probably would have put HP tracking onto the players to make it work.
- DnD4e had a "minion" rule where large scale encounters could be run with designated creatures dying when taking any damage. The severed heads and goblins were almost that squishy, but the zombies definitely were not. I don't think this is a particularly useful rule for PF2e like it sometimes was for PF1e or DnD4/5e.
- I had the players pick up running the NPCs (a rogue, a bard and a wizard) based on taking volunteers when rolling initiative.
- Since the players were less familiar with the NPCs' sheets and had no opportunity to prep strategies with them, the NPCs were higher level to compensate. Even with this, the NPCs didn't steal the show.
- I doubt this scales up (using multiple APL+4 creatures against a ton of PCs) but I bet this would scale out (more allies and more enemies of the same level) pretty well... however, I do have a future test case for this.
- Environment played a huge role in characterizing the fight (why don't we just run away?) but also in allowing the PCs to bottleneck and out flank the bad guys. That said, the bad guys had ways of keeping up the pressure (flying enemies to attack upper floors while the others broke down the front and back doors.

The party, a level 2 bard, rogue and paladin plus their acolyte follower, is running through The Sunless Citadel (D&D 5e). They just made it to the tomb on the first level where a quasit has been bound to guard the sarcophagus sitting beyond a spike pit.
The party never found the secret passage around the pit. They discussed their options to cross the pit (use their spiderclimb scroll or climb around the edge with pitons and rope). The paladin detected a fiendish presence and they found the quasit's tracks in the dust so they're concerned about that and ready for a fight. Eventually they decided to head back to take a long rest among their Kobold allies and return later.
The quasit heard it all and knows they're coming back. Is there anything it can do to put up a better fight with 12-ish hours to prepare? The only resources it has in the immediate vicinity are the ever-burning torch behind the sarcophagus and lots of dust on every surface. Apart from drawing some scary messages/symols in the dust on the floor I can't think of much it could do outside of wait around for its usual attack routine of invisible->frighten->get popped almost immediately by the party's counter-attack. If it's willing to go beyond the tomb it has more options but I'm not sure if it would, or what worthwhile it could do if it did.