Darak and Roogo had scouted the mountain side for over 5 hours gathering information on the humanoids and their lair. They just encountered a two orc patrol and dispatched them easily. Now they had a clear view of the entrance to the orc caves.
"Odd there is only one guard to the entrance of their lair. A single dirty muscular orc from the Rock Skull clan if I read his tattoo correctly." remarked Roogo. Darak stroked his long salt and pepper beard in deep thought. He realized that if the guard alerted those inside they would have to fight dozens of orcs. "I know what we will do Roogo. I will make an illusion to make us look and sound like the two orc patrol we just slain and we can slip by the guard. How is your orcish?" The half-elven thief nodded in agreement "Very good, I am fluent." he said proudly. Both know the two orc patrol was due back about this time so Darak's idea was timed perfectly.
The spell was prepared and cast. Darak and Roogo appeared exactly as the two orcs they encountered. Darak even duplicated the wretched smell they gave off of bad wine, body odor, and burnt food. Calmly both approached the entrance to the underground orc caves. The orc guard raised an eyebrow, pulled out a large flask, drank from it, and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. "Probably more of that terrible wine" Darak commented. The massive orc put away the flask and crossed his arms just as Darak and Roogo got to the large wooden frame of the entrance.
"And where do you two think you're going?" the large orc asked. Roogo answered in orcish "Our patrol is up, we are going inside." Short, simple, to the point Roogo thought. The large orc held out his hand to stop the two and he started laughing. "First off, Gruk wears his weapon on his left side not his right. Second Gruk uses contractions like 'we're' not 'we are'. Third Gruk has a slight limp from a leg injury he attained a week ago. Since you look like Gruk, and I noticed the inconsistency in your imitation of Gruk, I presume this is a very elaborate illusion. So I took the liberty to drink a potion to protect myself from your wizard that cast the spell. I'm guessing that's him concentrating on the spell behind you?" The orc explained all this to a stunned Darak and Roogo as he calmed pulled out a glowing short sword from his back and mace from his side. "Also Gruk always comes in before his shift is up, that lazy orc. By the ways you don't happen have elf blood do you? I picked up a slight elven accent in that orcish of yours, I sooo hope you are allergic to Elf Slayer, my short sword, MUHAHA...". As the bellowing orc raises his mace to smash the two adventurers they stand there stupefied by their confrontation of superior humanoid intelligence.
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Have you ever done this to players or have had this done to you? A seemingly simple monster or encounter that has unbelievable insight to a situation and defeats or hampers a party of adventurers? For a player it is very frustrating and as a DM you need to reevaluate your adventure and how you play monsters.
Why would a DM play a not so bright orc guard with such genius intuition? There are many reasons but most of the ones I have discovered are the following:
1. The DM is frustrated with the relative ease at which the party members have outwitted the adventure making it a cake walk. Now he overcompensates with the next encounter.
2. The DM is unfamiliar with the monster and misplays their intelligence and character by accident. Of course the example above is too the extreme.
3. The DM is not capable of playing a dumb monster or has trouble focusing on personality traits of a specific creature in certain situations.
As a DM you should always take the time and read a monsters tendencies, society, and combat tactics. When you have a firm grasp of how the monster behaves incorporate its intelligence into the role playing formula. This not only makes interesting situations but makes playing the monster easier. The monster has a personality and intelligence that plays itself in a certain way. It is also more entertaining playing a monster based on their personality and intellect. If the creature is a moron it can be outwitted, if it is smart you can give it insight. There will be situations where you can present the party with a seemingly easy encounter for them only to find their weak opponents are well prepared and cunning. Or a DM present a party with a greater challenge but the actual encounter is not as dangerous as it appears due to a monster's motives and personal traits. Lets look at some examples.
A 9th level party attacking lair of Kobolds: This may seem like a simple task for such a high level party but consider the opponent and their advantages: small, cunning, trap makers, knowledge of their cave system, most leaders are sorcerers. This makes a lethal combination that PCs must overcome. A DM could now spice up the adventure making the Kobolds a fanatical self-sacrificing clan that is not afraid to die for their god. They could attack in groups with perhaps 1 or 2 of them as suicide attackers that their sole purpose is to detonate the bead from a necklace of fireballs in their hands. Now the seemingly easy task for a group of 9th levels characters has become nightmarish as any one of a dozen attacking Kobolds they run into can be holding a 10d6 bead of fiery death.
A 1st level party encountering a Kyton devil: The Kyton clearly outmatches the 1st level party with his devil immunities and damage reduction alone. But Kytons, being not too bright, like to stalk pray for hours building up fear and dread before attacking them. This could allow the party to form a defense or idea to defeat the overpowering foe while at the same time creating a sense of terror from the DM. For players this becomes a difficult horrifying challenge to overcome that brings thrill and excitement. For DMs this is a chance to role play a notorious creature to the full level of its personality instilling fear and terror into its opponents until the final confrontation. The reward for defeating and outwitting such an opponent would be appreciated by both DM and players alike.
A 7th level party encountering a 20th level necromancer and his horde of undead: While a straight up fight would end up in the slaughter of the party as a DM you need to take a look at the motives of the villain when setting up this encounter. A good scenario would be for the necromancer be on a time table and the PCs catch him in the middle of a very precise ritual. The necromancer sends his undead to deal with the party while occasionally casting a spell to aiding his minions. He is too busy completing the "Ritual of Doom" to be bothered by such inconsequential living beings. Even though the villain can stop what he is doing and take 4-5 rounds to dispose of the party with ease, the ritual and his big ego get in the way allowing the party to have a fighting chance.
Now all this does not mean you can't have a creature that is different than the ordinary in intelligence and personality. You can have a high intelligence orc, but would he be really guarding an entrance to a cave or would he be a general or perhaps even a wizard? Unique highly intelligent creatures need to be placed in the correct situation at the opportune time. They should not be used as a matter of convenience because the party is frustrating the DM.
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If the orc sentry was a lv 8 NPC with high int and wis and lots of ranks in sense motive, I'd say the DM played him right and the PCs are about to had bad luck in underestimating him. Now if the orc was a straight Orc Warrior 1 with 6 int and wis, then he was played poorly (not to mention given way too much wealth).
I had a situation a little similar, I was playing a drow assassin that was scouting out this temple in the underdark populated by drow. I was "polymorphed" in the form of a small spider and was jumped by 27 drow who were, as my DM put it, waiting for something out of the ordinary to kill. So they had their trained spider web me and then shot about 14 crossbow bolts into my character. Luckily I was able to use a potion of gaseous form - wait not so good as the wizard cast more dispels on my character than I had ever seen come from one mage... needless to say my character died.
Drow considering a small spider "out of the ordinary"? Absurd. Even IF they detected you as something more than a typical spider, they should have had a darn good reason to consider you worth target practice.
Great article, you have good insight.
I had a situation a little similar, I was playing a drow assassin that was scouting out this temple in the underdark populated by drow. I was "polymorphed" in the form of a small spider and was jumped by 27 drow who were, as my DM put it, waiting for something out of the ordinary to kill. So they had their trained spider web me and then shot about 14 crossbow bolts into my character. Luckily I was able to use a potion of gaseous form - wait not so good as the wizard cast more dispels on my character than I had ever seen come from one mage... needless to say my character died.
Am I correct in assuming that all of those drow were morbidly suicidal? Killing a spider is punishable by death, doing so in one of lloths temples during a mass . . . were they TRYING to get their souls eaten?
I love the idea of an orc with some heavy character levels behind it. I also like the idea of an orc with an abnormally high intelligence. My only concern is that the orc guessed things a little too accurately with the uncanniness of Sherlock Holmes. I would have appreciated the depth of this encounter a bit more if the orc's assumptions were sprinkled with a few inaccuracies.
Look at it this way, when your players try to pick apart one of your deceptions similar to this, they rarely get every detail right. Some times they get one little twist just a little wrong and it throws them hurtling down the wrong path.
My only concern is that the orc guessed things a little too accurately with the uncanniness of Sherlock Holmes. I would have appreciated the depth of this encounter a bit more if the orc's assumptions were sprinkled with a few inaccuracies.
An orc, even if it was on the ball enough to pick up those inconsistencies will not be talking with the PCs in such a manner. Way Too OOC, Way too much of the DM chiding the players through an NPC. If a guard finds out a spy, they raise the alarm or lure them into an ambush. The lowly guard does not get to monologue!
As for playing too smart, animal int is all it takes to know one strikes at the soft underbelly of a group / pack. Defenders as supposed to be circumvented to get to weaker pack members. How does an Int 2 animal recognize that? They see who step forward and who is hiding in the back. If the Tanks step forward and the other characters hide behind them, the Target is not on the tanks.
If something has reach, improved grab and swallow whole, guess what, it is probably going around Mister Greatsword in porcupine armor and taking a bite out of one of those not clad in metal. Also once it has a mouthful, It is going to leave with the meal in its mouth.
Am I correct in assuming that all of those drow were morbidly suicidal? Killing a spider is punishable by death, doing so in one of lloths temples during a mass . . . were they TRYING to get their souls eaten?
Yeah. That’s more an example of playing enemies too stupid.
All excellent points, however, I don't think the proposed orc encounter was too bad. An orc would likely not comment on contraction use, and would more likely say, "and you speak orc like an elf" rather than mentioning accent. Everything else is definitely something a savage humanoid with Int 8 would notice and guess, especially what side a potential rival wears his weapon and that it was elaborate, but not well thought out illusion from the spellcaster obviously concentrating on the spell. Finally, an orc would prolly say "you two are now going to die" rather than wasting time blathering on about allergies and elfslaying, but the observations aren't out there for an orc.
There are rules for such situation for a reason, the Pc get a disguise check with a +10 for the spell, the orc a spot check with a bonus dependent on how well he know Gruk (+4 to +8, add +2 for be disguised as a different race). If the orc win then the DM can say he noticed one or more of those details, if he fails then he just say "Hi, Gruk". Unless there is a password system, but this is a different problem. ;)
1) Balance. It's no coincidence that a party is never made up of all the same class. A party of a fighter, rogue, and wizard will have at least one good fortitude save, reflex save, and will save respectively. This means that very few magical effects can hurt everyone in the party.
Good monster encounters are balanced to not all share the same weakness. For example, I would expect a band of hobgoblins to use reasonable tactics and understand the affects of area spells, whereas a band of orcs would make up for mediocrity with numbers.
This reminds me of an encounter that almost went wrong for me. My group was in a mansion where a vampire and his spellcasting henchmen were going to attack them. The cleric cast a silence spell and pretty much crippled all of the spellcasters. The vampire was powerful enough to have kept the encounter balanced and fun, but a single spell made all the difference.
2) The party members aren't the only ones who understand the mechanics of magic and powerful heroes. A smart chieftain will put better-than-average guards at the entrance, or at least understand the concept of illusions and how they can be used. Other smart defenses include defenses against fly spells, walls thick enough to prevent casual passwalls, and antimagic fields to prevent teleporting. Obviously few orcs would be smart enough to use any of those defenses, so it should be far easier to use such ruses on orcs rather than drow, for example. Such should be considered in the design of the dungeon.
For example, one of my encounters involved the party tailing a group of bandits to find out who hired them. The premise was that the bandits were more numerous and especially more powerful than the party, and direct combat would not be the best course of action. I didn't quite care how the party managed to acquire the information, whether through a single bluff check, an invisibility spell, meticulous sneaking, or possibly combat. One thing was sure: the bandits were no slouches, and had one man keeping watch and another one hidden in a tree with a shortbow. The point is that the DM needs to plan around the purpose of the dungeon or encounter without trying to be too controlling about how it's achieved.
Here's an example: let's say that you sent your party on an adventure to, say, a haunted castle. In this castle they fight the obligatory ghosts, wraiths, etc. then suddenly they see a zombie, but not just any ordinary zombie, this is the only amazing BARD ZOMBIE!!!! Won't your players be surprised when the little exp container in human form begins crying and saying that the "man" is always trying to keep him down.:D
So while "incorrectly" played monsters may ruin a campaign if used at a critical moment, they are quite useful for setting a change of pace if your players ever get bored (and they will) with a current adventure.;)
I had a situation a little similar, I was playing a drow assassin that was scouting out this temple in the Underdark populated by drow. I was "polymorphed" in the form of a small spider and was jumped by 27 drow who were, as my DM put it, waiting for something out of the ordinary to kill. So they had their trained spider web me and then shot about 14 crossbow bolts into my character. Luckily I was able to use a potion of gaseous form - wait not so good as the wizard cast more dispels on my character than I had ever seen come from one mage... needless to say my character died.
That's not drow being suicidal, that’s full blown metagaming on the DM's part.
It is very easy to play a creature to its wargaming potential, rather than its nature. However, it's nature is what makes it the encounter that it is. A dire tiger will stalk you, then expect you to scatter. A kobald will rightly conclude that you are a dire threat. Expect different responses.