So I'm using this nifty encounter building tool to create random encounters to specific levels of difficulty so I can populate some random encounter tables for my hexcrawl experiment.
I thought it might be fun to throw out some of the results to see what the community can come up with as far as a situation involving these critters. So the idea is to present a situation that involves the monsters posted as if you were describing it to your players. What is the problem to be solved? What is to be gained by doing it?
Encounter 1 (1st level, Easy, Forest): Three commoners and a crab.
Encounter 2 (1st level, Medium, Forest): A bandit, a giant rat, and a giant wolf spider.
Encounter 3 (1st level, Hard, Forest): A goblin, an orc, and two giant weasels.
If you then want to post up a critter combo of your own for others to riff off of, feel free. Please number your entries so we can see what's been done.
Go!
Encounter 1 (1st level, Easy, Forest): Three commoners and a crab.
Encounter 2.
Escobar, the giant rat has been hot on the trail of a caravan a few days off. Bandit Johnmite has trained Escobar to track the smells left by the droppings of beasts of burden. Johnmite hopes he and Escobar can pull a quick night raid when they catch up to the caravan.
Unfortunately, Ytilemnon the dread spider has recently awoken from its hibernation. Ready to feed, Ytilemnon (in truth a trapdoor spider) patiently waits for any who stray too close to the spider's den.
As the party makes camp in the nearby woods, the screams of a horse pierce the night's stillness. Ytilemnon has attacked the caravan! Johnmite and Escobar, wary of the hideous spider, attempt to quickly murder the two drivers and the farmhand who accompany the trade goods so they can take the choice loot for themselves. But they can't steal a wagon without horses to pull it.
As the PCs arrive at the scene Johnmite begins screaming for help as Escobar slinks through the shadows to ambush the terrified farmhand.
What do you do?
iserith wrote:
Encounter 3
Once upon a time, there were four multiclassed druid/sorcerers called Enomon, Baraltor, Wiggsworthy and String and they were friends. One evening, whilst walking together in the forest looking for suitable trees to annoy, they spied a giant white rabbit in a waistcoat disappearing into a rabbit-hole saying "I'm late! I'm late!" as they do. Just for fun, they all wildshaped into weasels to chase it down the rabbit-hole but just at that moment a lunar eclipse caught them unawares and the magic went wrong. Their desperate attempts to change back into their natural forms have triggered wild magic surges with the result that they are now an Orc, a Goblin and two Giant Weasels.
They don't want to fight, they want magical help, possibly from a high-level Cleric who can cast Restoration. Their problem is, that Enomon can speak Orcish but nothing else; Baraltor can speak Goblin but nothing else, and the other two cannot speak at all except that they can snarl at each other in Weasel.
DM: "You see an orc, a goblin and two giant weasels beside a large rabbit-hole in the forest. They seem agitated, as if trying to communicate something. What do you do?"
Wiggsworthy, if transformed back from his weasel shape, will offer to donate a +1 Ring of Protection to the temple of your choice.
Encounter 4: 1 Elk, 4 octopus.
Good stuff so far - a crab with an artifact, a confusing act of banditry, a chance encounter at a spider's nest, and shapeshifting gone awry...
mellored wrote:
Here are some more:
Encounter 5 (4th level, Medium, Swamp): Eight swarms of ravens.
Encounter 6 (4th level, Hard, Swamp): A harpy, two orcs, and a spy.
Encounter 7 (4th level, Deadly, Swamp): Five gnolls and a swarm of poisonous snakes.
iserith wrote:
iserith wrote:
mellored wrote:
Wuzzard wrote:
iserith wrote:
iserith wrote:
Not gonna lie, I used this a week or so ago and loved it. My first pre-roll was
Encounter 8 (1st level, Medium, Any): 1 Boar, 5 Quippers (pirahna)
So I had the PCs need to swim and encounter the quippers, but have a Boar rush out of the woods (with charge!) against the first PC who would get out of the water.
This tool is awesome, because it gives me a springboard for my creativity!
Triumphant PC finally swims ashore, exhausted only to be gored to death. What a boar. 
iserith wrote:
For Encounter 3: The party hears some racket in the forest clearing up ahead. They peak through the bushes to see a goblin and an orc both looking off into the distance, both jumping up and down cheering out each in its native tongues. On the ground before them is a small pile of gold coins. If the party waits for a few more rounds, they'll see two giant weasels running from the distance back towards the goblin and the orc. The lead weasel has a strange looking pelt in its mouth. The other seems to be chasing after it.
It seems as if these two humaoids have been wagering some coin on trained giant weasel races.
Depending on when the party steps in, the reactions could be quite different. If they attack before the weasels return, the weasels will attack the PCs when they get back. The party might determine that the goblin and the orc like to gamble, so they could suggest another contest or even bribe them with coin to appease their greed.
Perhaps the goblin's weasel wins and the orc gets angry. If the party reveals itself after the race, the goblin and his weasel may just take the gold an wander off while the orc tries to take out his aggression (and command his weasel to do the same) on the PCs.
Encounter 7: As the party approaches a grassy area raised slightly out of the swamp, they see 4 gnolls dancing in a circle around one gnoll that is playing a flute like instrument. The center gnoll seems to be controlling a swarm of snakes. They all poke up their heads and sway to the music. One of the other gnolls, systematically grabs a snake and milks it for its venom.
This is a ritual that this particular tribe of gnoll have perfected. If a fight breaks out, each gnoll has poison one dose of poison on its first weapon attack. If the gnoll playing the flute is killed, the snake swarm turns on the gnolls and attacks them (and anything else that is near).
I kept rolling for city encounters for a small party (1 and 2 players) and came up rather consistently with something involving a handful of goats. So apparently the City of Luskan has been coopted by feral goats, and only the small adventuring group has the skill to handle them!
...although the goats do seem to have a Deadly ally from time to time. Eight housecats. Truly vicious indeed!
"When's the last time YOU were seriously afraid of Tom and his 7 friends, HRMMMM?"
Love the tool! 
Giant weasel races, gnoll snake-charmers, and feral goats!
Encounter 9 (4th level, Medium, Swamp): Five acolytes and a giant spider.
Encounter 10 (4th level, Hard, Swamp): Five giant bats and a will-o'-wisp.
Encounter 11 (4th level, Deadly, Swamp): An ogre and five ambush drakes.
Encounter 11 (4th level, Deadly, Swamp): An ogre and five ambush drakes.
The ogre is operating a store. Ambush drakes are for sale to bona-fide dungeon owners who can prove their credentials. Prices range from 375gp for a small, insignificant-looking drake called Cedric up to 1273gp for the much more imposing specimen called Eronobil.
Thank goodness ogres are stupid - I wonder how one would prove they're a dungeon owner.
iserith wrote:
iserith wrote:
... I think I broke it
Just to mess with the program I ran a random encounter for 5 lvl3 characters fighting gargantuan monsters in the grass land
6 ancient black dragons
Total xp 198,000
As an aside, doesn't the end of the Hoard of the Dragon Queen pit four 7tth level adventurers against an adult white dragon at the end? I guess you're supposed to run? That's a "ludicrous" encounter according to this calculator.
bengrayawhile wrote: