This thread is for posting encounter ideas that fellow DM's can incorporate into their games.
The encounters should contain:
1. Level of Encounter
2. Name of Monsters
3. Number of Monsters
4. Level of Monsters
5. Role of Monsters
6. Source of Monsters
7. XP of entire encounter
8. Set Up
9. Tactics
10. Terrain (Optional)
11. Story Arc (Optional)
Current Encounters:
[Post=18742533] Bloody Chess (Rovin) - lvl 3-6 [/post]
[Post=18745209] Kobold Ambush (TheLoreKeeper) - lvl 1 [/post]
[Post=18747876] Hobgoblins (AbdulAlhazred) - lvl 7 [/post]
Original Post:
I was wondering if we are able to post sample encounters on these forums?
I know it's not appropriate to post the stats of the monsters but the names and sources I do not believe would be an issues.
The reason I ask is I think a thread with same encounters for various levels would be a good source for DM's. Maybe a format that has the level of the encounter, total xp, difficulty (easy, average, hard, etc.), the challenge involved (monsters, skills, traps, etc), and any necessary terrain and setting.
I enjoy building encounters but I also like borrowing other peoples encounters and returning them soiled and defeated.
Anyone interested?
I was wondering if we are able to post sample encounters on these forums?
I know it's not appropriate to post the stats of the monsters but the names and sources I do not believe would be an issues.
The reason I ask is I think a thread with same encounters for various levels would be a good source for DM's. Maybe a format that has the level of the encounter, total xp, difficulty (easy, average, hard, etc.), the challenge involved (monsters, skills, traps, etc), and any necessary terrain and setting.
I enjoy building encounters but I also like borrowing other peoples encounters and returning them soiled and defeated.
Anyone interested?
I don't see why you couldn't post one here, and then discuss its finer points or questions in the context of your campaign or adventure.
In any case I'd generally rather just have the simplest format for the monsters. Just give:
Name (Level X role, XP NNN) number appearing
Just like the format in the MM. If they are standard monsters we can look them up if we need to. I'd much rather just have the actual juice of the encounter, what makes it unique and not have to wade through stuff that I can already look up.
Bloody Chessboard
Monsters: 4 x Arbalasters (lvl 4 artillery from MM2 and Free RPG Day)
Traps: 2 x Pendulum Scythes (DMG1)
Layout: Encounter takes place in an unlit 8x8 square room. If you're using tiles, I favor the black-and-white chessboard design, hence the name. There are 10' wide wooden double doors opening out of the room in the center of both the north and south walls. Party enters from the south, north door has a medium DC lock on it. The hidden control panels for the traps are in the chamber/corridor/whatever just beyond the locked north door.
One arbalaster starts in each corner of the room. Each one's guarded area is the 5x5 space diagonally opposite from it in the room.
One set of pendulum scythes sweeps east to west across the room's middle six rows, while the other set sweeps north to south in the middle six columns. The trigger plates for the traps are laid out in front of the entrance door in a 4x3 grid, arranged so the triggers for one trap are checkerboard-pattern with the the ones for the other.
Tactics: Encounter starts when the south doors are opened. The arbalesters are standing in the only squares in the room that are unaffected by the pendulum scythes, and will attempt to remain there. If their double shot power is charged, they'll always attack, concentrating fire with others as much as possible to drop PCs. If not, they'll fight defensively if firing would draw an OA. Target priority will be enemies in melee range of any arbalaster, followed by enemies attacking from outside the room, and finally any other targets in the room.
XP: 1050 as written, roughly level 5. Most suitable as an N+1 encounter for 4th level PCs, but it'll work for anything from about 3rd to 6th.
Modifications: Upgrade the Pendulum Scythes to Elite (1400 XP total) and cover the floor in Grasping Slime (DMG1) to increase the difficulty, or to make a standard encounter for 6th or 7th level PCs. Alternately, just add the Grasping Slime, which probably increases the effective difficulty (albeit not XP, unless you're generous) to about 6th. You can also make it more or less difficult to jump over the trap triggers by varying the approach from the south. Long straight corridors leading up to the door make it easier, weird inclines or stairs/narrow passages with only a 5' level space in front of the doors are harder.
Usage Ideas: This fairly generic encounter can be plugged into many dungeons or buildings as a deathtrap or guardroom. Fits thematically with dwarves, who are fond of traps and crossbows, but it could just as easily work with goblins or kobolds, or as a room in a thieves' labyrinth, wizards' guild, or evil temple.
One variation would be to use it in a "hot pursuit" scenarion, where the PCs are chasing one or more bad guys and get led into the room. Maybe the runners are as surprised as the PCs when they trigger the traps, etc. Or maybe they know all about it, and have confederates waiting who've opened the north door and turned off the traps for them to escape, then slam the door and activate the traps as the PCs arrive.
Another option would be to use the basic version of the encounter early in the adventure, and then have the party run into the hard version later on. The two are nearly identical in appearance, and overcondfidence is a common player flaw.
We should try and make this like an encounter compendium. If we did do that, maybe we should list Encounter Level, and monsters involved. Then possibly the first post could be edited to contain a table of contents.
Oops. sorry, your post, just got a good idea and ran with it, anyway...
D&D
Kobold Ambush
Encounter Level Difficulty: Standard (625 XP)
5 PCs
Party Level 1
Setup
The PCs are venturing in the wilderness, possibly on a trek to a quest, when the band of kobold bandits leap out of trees and begin to attack.
This encounter includes the following:
2 Kobold Dragonshield
2 Kobold Slinger
7 Kobold Minion
2 Kobold Dragonshield
Level 2 Soldier
Small natural humanoid (reptile)
XP 125 each
2 Kobold Slinger
Level 1 Artillery
Small natural humanoid (reptile)
XP 100 each
7 Kobold Minion
Level 1 No Role
Small natural humanoid (reptile)
XP 25 each
Tactics
The minions swamp the PCs, getting flanking as much as they can. The slingers stay back at least 3 squares from the PCs hurling stones from a safe position, elavated if possible. The Dragon Shields stay in the front lines and keep the PCs occupied.
A good encounter for a new party just starting out.
© 1995-2008 Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Here's another one:
The party has learned that a group of hobgoblins is transporting a large treasure up a road and plan an ambush. This gives the party the chance to reverse the usual situation where the monsters are waiting for them and gives them a bit different set of tactical choices than usual.
The road itself is a 25' wide paved highway which once served as a major trade route during better times. The land to either side is heavily forested and large trees overhang the road in many places. Given plenty of time characters can position themselves in these trees if they wish. Climbing a tree is a DC15 climb check. The trunks of the large trees are 2 squares across and provide cover. Anyone in the branches is considered to have concealment. Anyone on the ground more than 1 square from the road can lie prone and will then be considered to have concealment as well. Since the PCs have time to prepare they can all be considered to be hiding at the start of the encounter if they so wish.
Alternatively the PCs could use other tactics, such as cutting down a tree to form a road block. A large felled tree will provide cover for anyone behind it. A felled tree is 10' in diameter and requires a DC10 climb check to climb over and otherwise acts as difficult terrain.
The hobgoblins are in 2 standard wagons (AV 19). These wagons are 3 squares long x 2 squares wide and covered. Each one is drawn by 2 horses and they have a speed of 4. Otherwise use the stats in AV. Each wheel of a wagon can take 25 hp damage before it fails and wheels have AC 6 FORT 12 REF 8. Once a wheel is destroyed the wagon is slowed. Once a second wheel is destroyed the wagon crashes. Anyone inside a wagon can only see out the back and has cover against attacks. Leaping onto a wagon requires a DC15 acrobatics check.
The following figures are present:
* 1 Hobgoblin Commander (Level 5 Soldier XP 200) - On wagon 1.
* 2 Hobgoblin Soldiers (Level 3 Soldier XP 300) - 1 driving each wagon.
* 2 Hobgoblin Archers (Level 3 artillery XP 300) - One on each wagon.
* 4 Goblin Warriors (Level 1 skirmisher XP 400) - Riding Dire Wolves.
* 4 Dire Wolves (Level 5 skirmisher XP 400) - Carrying the goblin warriors.
Total XP 1600 (level 7 encounter).
Note that the dire wolves will not climb into a wagon and cannot really attack anything ON a wagon.
The hobgoblin's tactics are simple, move as fast as possible and get past the ambush. They aren't interested in sticking around unless they seem obviously likely to win. If they are halted they will position their wagons as effectively as possible, using them as cover. The goblin warriors and the archers will try to pick off anyone using ranged attacks against them while the soldiers deal with anyone attacking the wagons directly.
The party has basically 2 main strategies to choose from, leaping down on the wagons from the overhanging trees, or trying to stop them with a roadblock. If they can stop the wagons while remaining in the trees or on the wagons they can avoid fighting the dire wolves until the rest of the monsters are defeated, but they may be outgunned in ranged firepower.
The treasure can be anything desired or it could be slaves, etc.
AbdulAlhazred: Interesting. Those are some really big trees.
Yeah, well, the Warlock has a phobia about big trees, lol. Gotta cater to character development, you know how it goes. They are pretty big, but then again the whole place has been overgrown for a LONG while. Dwarves maintain the road, mostly.
I'm actually kind of surprised there isn't a board specifically for this sort of thing.
There is.
The [forum=707]Campaign & Adventure Workshop[/forum] description states:
[INDENT]If you're interested in designing worlds, campaigns and adventures, then this is the forum for you. Come inside to discuss any plans or problems you might have with designing your own encounters, adventures, campaign arcs, or even home-brewed campaign worlds!
[/INDENT]
There is.
The [forum=707]Campaign & Adventure Workshop[/forum] description states:
[INDENT]If you're interested in designing worlds, campaigns and adventures, then this is the forum for you. Come inside to discuss any plans or problems you might have with designing your own encounters, adventures, campaign arcs, or even home-brewed campaign worlds!
[/INDENT]
I guess. But I'm not having problems or making plans with the ones I'm posting. I'm sharing finished stuff that's worked for me in the past. Speaking of which, here's another, rather more complex offering:
Knee Deep in Devils
Monsters: 4 x Pit Fiends (level 26 Elite Soldiers)
4 x Bone Devils (+5 up-leveled 22 Controllers)
29 x Bearded Devils (+4 up-leveled 17 Soldier)
+up to 8 x War Devils (level 22 Brutes, summoned by Pit Fiends)
XP: 135,000 - N+2 moderately hard encounter for a 5-man level 30 party
Layout: You're going to want a large board for this, at least 30x30 and bigger is better. We used a gridded 4x6 battlemat from Chessex. The encounter takes place around a central McGuffin (tailor to fit your game...my PCs were after a set of artifacts that would let them snuff Tiamat), which is surrounded by four portals to different parts of the Nine Hells. The portals are at least 10 squares from each other in a box pattern, should by at least 3x3, and are (per MotP) precise, misty (vision through gate is 5 squares) and restricted (the gate key being elaborate brands on all the devils, and therefore fairly impassable to the PCs). Surrounding terrain is a rocky cavern with scattered rivers of lava, each at least 4 squares across but none within eight squares or so of the portals. Lava is difficult terrain and a creature entering or starting its turn in it takes 20 ongoing fire damage (save ends). You should also scatter a rock pillars of various sizes around the area. The cavern is well lit by the lava, but has a low ceiling, only 2 squares up in most places. Makes for a nice, hellishly claustrophic feeling despite the size of the place.
5 of the Bearded Devils start on the map, scattered the central McGuffin, and one Pit Fiend stands 2 squares from each of the portals. The PCs enter from a map edge, having followed a passage to the area. The portals (if they get close enough to see through them) open into a guard rooms in different infernal castles, with a Bone Devil and 6 Bearded Devils waiting beyond each.
Tactics: A lot depends on the PCs abilities. If the party locks down or just massacres the Pit Fiend next to a given portal, the reinforcement group (or part of it, at least) comes piling out to help, either by just fighting or (if it's a lockdown) by making heal checks to grant multiple +2 save bonuses, which are untyped and stack just fine. If there's no huge save penalty involved, use heals to grant saves instead, remembering that the +2 boost option only applies to the next end-of-turn save. If their Fiend isn't having problems, keep some or all of his Bearded Devil reserves beyond the portal until the PCs close in, or pop their big lockdown tricks. The Bone Devils should come out early (round 2?) for debuffing.
Beyond that, each monster types has specific tasks:
Pit Fiends summon two War Devils each ASAP and use Point of Terror to debuff defenses on individual PCs. Try to stay within 5 squares of a portal until you're reasonably sure you're safe from lockdowns, at which point call in your reserves and go melee stuff, albeit cautiously. If you can get the PCs into your auras without exposing yourself to too much damage do so, but don't be afraid to back off via teleport. The Fiends need to stay alive to keep spamming Point of Terror for everyone else, and to keep the +4 attack boost for their respective War Devils. Unless the party has weak fire resistance, don't ever sacrifice devils with your Command power unless they're below 10 HP.
War Devils use Besieged Foe to give all thier allies a +2 to attack rolls, and use Fiendish Tactics whenever they can to grant extra attacks or movement, preferably to other War Devils or Bone Devils, although bloodied Bearded Devils are also a good target. They also have some very handy teleport tricks to exploit.
Bone Devils spam Fiendish Focus to stack another -5 defense debuff on targets hit by Point of Terror, and their poison sting might let them add another -4 to will, making future debuffs easier to apply. Try to maneuver to use their auras, but be careful to screen them with other troops.
Bearded Devils are your expendable grunts, swamping the enemy in melee or sacrificing attacks to do heal checks on locked-down Pit Fiends or even Bone Devils. They're most useful when bloodied and within the Bone Devil auras, but they can be useful anytime against targets with multiple defense debuffs on them. If you can find targets without damage resistance, they can also sandpaper 5 points a turn with their own aura.
In general, you're trying to debuff the PCs and then bury them in Bearded Devils. War Devils are also fairly expendable (but try to keep Besieged Foe going), and once the pair associated with a given Pit Fiend are dead, their summoner can also be tossed away with little loss. The Bone Devils are vital to your debuffs and for boosting bloodied allies, so try to keep them alive as long as possible.
There are 45 monsters in this encounter, and 16 of them are epic tier. The battle's going to take a while, mostly because there are a lot of HP on your side of the table. Despite that, keep in mind that this is only an N+2 encounter. You're going to lose the fight. Probably you're not going to do much more than drain some daily resources. But the numbers involved make the fight feel epic, with the PCs carving through the legions of Hell on their way to the McGuffin.
Usage: I used this encounter as a "midpoint" fight in the party's 30th level "final" story arc. It's most dangerous in the early and middle parts of the fight, and can be fairly long. Once the PCs start getting the upper hand and breaking up the debuff/boost combos, the devils' effectiveness drops rapidly, and there's nothing wrong with having the broken survivors flee through the portals in a blind panic rather than forcing the PCs to kill every last enemy.
This shouldn't be a party-killer by any means, although it's a little more dangerous than a "mere" 30th or 31st level fight. 30th level groups have stuff like "two ancient gray dragons" for a quick snack, but hordes of devils aren't much more than a decent meal.
-wrecan, your friendly neighborhood forum guide[/highlight]
Here's another pair from me, highlighting the joys of the wraith creature type:
Wraiths Are Nobody's Friends
1,250 XP (plus 200 XP per extra Wraith) - Level 6
Monsters: 2 x Wraiths (level 5 lurkers)
1 x Human Mage (level 4 artillery)
1 x Human Berserker (level 4 brute)
4 x Human Bandits (level 2 skirmishers)
Layout: The encounter takes place in a long-abandoned cemetary, scattered with tombstones and heavily overgrown by shrubs, weeds, and small trees. The humans are a group of brigands led by an aspiring necromancer, and are using two small crypts as rather morbid living quarters. Most of the group is currently enacting a (fairly noisy) ritual to raise the spirits of the dead as allies, and the Mage and three of the Bandits should be scattered around the perimeter of a 5x5 summoning circle near the crypts. If the area is approached at night, the other Bandit and the Berserker will be on watch near a lit campfire, otherwise they'll be loafing in one of the crypts. Surprise may be possible if the party is approaching stealthily.
Tactics: The brigands are all wanted men and assume the PCs are after the bounty on them, so they'll immediately attack any intruders, aborting their necromantic ritual at once. The Mage will maneuver to avoid melee and hurl spells from a distance. The Bandits will melee at first, but aren't particularly brave and may attempt to run when bloodied if the Mage has been taken out of the fight. The Berserker is a maniac and will battle to the death.
At the start of round three (or round two if the party had a surprise round) roll initiative for the two Wraiths and place them on the map wherever you feel would be most interesting. They can boil up out of graves, emerge from crypts, or drift down silently from the sky. They've been disturbed by the brigands' ritual, but are by no means allied to them, and will happily attack any living creature. They will take every opportunity to land the killing blow on an enemy so as to spawn a new Wraith. Bandits are the most likely victims of this kind of abuse, but they'll take on anyone they think they can drop. If there are no bloodied targets available, they may fly into the air and ready an action to charge and double-team the next target that gets injured. Wraiths will take OAs against both PCs and the brigands, although the Bandits are too frightened to return the favor and the Berserker is bent on killing PCs.
Usage: It's a simple bandit-hunt scenario at first, but the Wraiths complicate matters considerably. If the party isn't careful, they may find themselves facing three, four, or even more Wraiths at once. Probably best for a five-man party of level five or six. Quite dangerous for a group of level four or lower, and too easy for higher level types.
That's What Minions Are For
54,456 XP (plus 7000 XP per extra Wraith) - Level 27
Monsters: Death Titan (level 25 elite brute)
4 x Dread Wriaths (level 25 lurker)
12 x Grimlock Followers (level 22 minions)
Layout: The encounter can take place in any large Underdark cavern and tunnel, and can be used as a "wandering monster" encounter with any terrain that catches your fancy. The Death Titan is leading a hunting party of Grimlock Followers and four Dread Wraiths that he refers to as his hounds. The wraiths have used phasing to flit through walls and scout ahead of the rest of the monsters, and have spotted the party before the encounter begins. The PCs may catch a fleeting glimpse of the wraiths in return (passive Perception vs the Wraith's Stealth) but in any event they'll hear the howling of the grimlocks and the wailing of the titan's soul shroud, preventing surprise. When first spotted, the minions will be spread around within five squares of the Death Titan, with two Dread Wraiths behind him. The other two Dread Wraiths will lurk out of sight behind rocky obstacles and attempt to ambush PCs who advance recklessly.
Tactics: The Titan and minions will attempt to close in and melee at first, with the Grimlocks staying within the Titan's aura at all times. The Wraiths will advance more cautiously, readying actions to charge once the PCs close. Once the Titan takes any damage or four or more minions of his die, he shouts "Hounds! Take the slaves! Feast on their souls and multiply!" The Wraiths will then attempt to kill wretched minions as fast as possible, producing more Wraiths in the process and feeding the Titan's shroud at the same time. The Titan should freely spend souls to heal or burst attack, he's going to have plenty of them to work with.
Usage: A moderately dangerous underground encounter for epic tier characters of about level 26. If the party isn't quick about killing minions (or Wraiths, to do it the hard way) they may have problems, but by epic crowd control should be simple enough. To use with higher level parties, have the Wraiths immediately start feeding on minions, and hide some of them out of starting line of sight.