This is another idea I've had for a while that I just kind of like, but I'm not sure that I would ever use. I like when combat includes a random element that affects the environment, but I can see how the dice could make such an encounter completely unwinnable. That in and of itself is not always a bad thing, as the PCs should be challenged with "impossible" situations that they can puzzle their way through. But I think I'd have to refine this a little bit more before I considered it anything more than a half-baked idea I had for such an encounter.
Environment: Desert, Wasteland
Theme: Limited visibility, Difficult terrain
Characteristics:
- Sight range reduced
- Ranged weapons' range reduced
- Movement is in random directions
- Movement is slowed
- Phases of severity
Uses:
- Dramatic confrontation
- Antagonists likely are not impaired
- Hectic battle, where friend and foe are indistinguishable
Info:
Allow me to preface this by saying that sandstorms are also very good skills challenge. However, they're run very similarly to how the forest fire I wrote about earlier is run, so I decided not to just make that same idea happen again. Instead, this is to talk about this kind of disaster during a combat. Mostly this is to make an otherwise straightforward fight very interesting, by manipulating some factors that most fights assume to be givens. If the PCs cannot see their enemy, and can't even control their movement correctly, then a battle can quickly become more involved.
First off, the sandstorm should not be a permanent condition. Rather, it should come and go in phases. If the PCs are caught blind and flat-footed for the entire fight, then it's just flailing about aimlessly in the sand. Instead, every few rounds the sand should blind them completely and cause the PCs to lose their sense of direction. The DM should roll a die to randomly determine when the next wave of sand should come, so the PCs are kept on their toes. This makes it very unpredictable.
The antagonists should all be expecting this kind of sandstorm. Presumably they live in this kind of area, and so are used to the limitations. Perhaps they have trained ground-dwelling desert beasts to ambush the PCs during the fight? Or they have special crossbows designed to fire bolts during a sandstorm, while the PCs only have arrows that get knocked about. At the very least, the enemies should be able to reposition and get into an advantageous position during the sand phases. This provides the PCs with a tactical challenge that may be very difficult to overcome without having planned for such an occurrence.
The goal here is for there to be a large-scale battle in the midst of the storm. The idea that I have in my head right now is for there to be a wall with archers on top, and riders on the ground atop desert-dwelling beasts. The PCs are attempting to assault some sort of fortress, and so have to brave through the arrows while the storm is raging. The melee with the riders would be intense as it is, as most combats are when one group is unmounted and the other is, and the storms only make it that much worse. Should the PCs break through, they enter into a courtyard where they are further surrounded by archers. Only once they battle their way indoors does the storm cease to have any effect. And depending on the type of storm, it could continue to impact the battles; the ceiling caves in and the room begins to fill with sand, sand elementals start attacking the fortress out of the storm, the evil wizard that summoned the storm descends upon the PCs for an impromptu boss battle. The possibilities are endless.
I like making fights interesting by making them take place in odd spots. Fighting on a bridge is one of those things that seems so very mundane, but can have so many interesting consequences. Credit for the image to Reddit user TopdeBotton.
Environment: Forests, Rivers
Theme: Restricted movement, Dangerous boundaries
Characteristics:
- Narrow path to the other side
- Easily blocked off
- Edges are open, people can be knocked off into the water
- Bodies pile up
Uses:
- Choke point for a critical area
- Many mooks block off the bridge, preventing passage
- Aquatic monsters jump on and off the sides
Info:
Fighting on a bridge isn't the same as having an open area, or even a corridor of a dungeon. Falling off is a very real possibility, and potentially a lethal one if the bridge is up high enough. In other cases, falling off would slow someone down immensely, allowing them to be shot with arrows or gutted with spears.
The main problem with fighting on a bridge is how narrow it is. Like a dungeon corridor, it's easy for one or two monsters to completely block it off, forcing a party to engage in combat. That combat is going to be different from a more open area, and even different from a dungeon. In a dungeon, monsters in the next room are blocked by a wall. With a bridge, that is not the case. Ranged attacks from the other side onto the party are still an option, and the PCs don't have too much they can do about it. There will be a melee combat occurring where the two sides meet somewhere on the bridge, and the PCs will have to consider whether or not they even want to risk shooting bows and spells into it.
Aquatic monsters can add another level of intensity to the fight. If tentacles writhe beneath the party and begin attacking while they're stuck on the bridge, they will be forced to use unusual tactics to survive. If other monsters leap up out of the water and engage in melee combat on the edges of the bridge, only to then jump back in and reappear the next round, then the combat becomes that much more hectic. Non-aquatic monsters may still hang out underneath the bridge, and should be focused on ways to grapple people and drag them off the side.
So again, something a little bit different. This time, I'm doing a monster concept. The first thing you may notice is that I did not include any stats. That is because the intention is for this to be more of a template than anything else. The monster may be encountered at any time in a campaign, so the stats will vary wildly while the concept remains the same. I included a list of characteristics that would make finding relevant stats easier, since one would only have to follow those guidelines.
Also something new here: I want to build upon one of the very first posts I did here on this blog. That would be the one and only Black Forest. I'm going to spend the next few days making encounters or NPCs that could be found in there. Credit for this image comes from Deviant Art user ~orochi-spawn...though I still got it from Reddit.
Edit 7/16: So I just realized that I forgot to put the picture in...
Name: Swamp creatures
Environment: Swamps, Dark forests
Type: Aberration
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Description:
The creature is large and grotesque. It has slimy green scales, and massive claws. It stands crookedly bipedal, and lets loose a terrifying roar as it sees you.
Characteristics:
- Low intelligence
- Melee
- Heavily armored
- Amphibious
- Resistance to poison
- Toxic bite
Tactics:
- Charge forward
- Fight to the death
Info:
The Swamp Creatures are very dim-witted but powerful foes. They are created by perverse magic that corrupts the natural order of things. They are considered aberrations, and are unnatural. They feed off of any living flesh, but are not strictly hunters. They will eat what they kill, but the swamp creatures are driven to kill anything they lay their eyes on. They do not use any special tactics beyond hiding in pools of water until they see something to attack.
In combat, the swamp creatures are very predictable. They charge towards the nearest enemy and attack until it dies. Then they move on to the next enemy. This continues until there is either nothing left to kill, or the swamp creature itself is dead. The creatures are strong physically, and are heavily armored, with a resistance to poison. They have no special powers or magical abilities beyond a poisonous bite.
In terms of roleplaying, the swamp creatures are created mostly by accident. They are products of corrupted nature, and are driven insane. They used to be other creatures, but have been so greatly altered by magic that they are unrecognizable. They sometimes may hunt in packs, but it almost always ends in them tearing each other to pieces until only one remains. Even that one will probably be so heavily injured that it dies shortly thereafter. They may be used by the antagonist as low-level flunkies, as they are very easy to manipulate into serving simple tasks. Mostly just to guard a particular area. They are not very good trackers nor watches, and they can be simple to sneak by unnoticed.
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