Encounters

CATEGORIES HERE This page is meant to describe encounters for quick and easy reference.

Each of these encounters serves a different purpose, and each of them will take a different amount of time depending on a lot of factors. However, in general combat and puzzles take more time than traps. NPC encounters may be as short as "I pay 5 silver for a place to sleep" or as long as an hour long conversation involving the whole party and one or more NPCs.

Combat

Any combat encounter falls in this category. Many encounters could lead to combat, depending on your players. Combat can also be used to supplement other encounters.

Combat does not always have to be deadly or even challenging. The setting the combat takes place is important to keep into account:

• Barfight
• Street brawl
• Fighting city guards
• Shaking down an NPC
• Duel with an audience

In social settings especially these types of combat should be viewed differently from your typical bandit or goblin fight. City folk tend to think of themselves as civilized after all, even if you know better as DM.

Besides the standard combat encounters iconic to D&D think about spicing it up:

• Add combat to a puzzle room, making the puzzle harder to solve or making it a part of the puzzle itself.
• Create a threat of violence when the PCs deal with NPCs (a bad mouthed PC shitting on the guards might lead to an (attempted) arrest!)
• The drunk orc at the bar is not amused with the bard's raunchy musings and throws hands at him.
• The suspicious fellows asking for exorbitant amounts of toll to pass initiate combat when the players refuse to pay.

Tactical Combat

One way to spice up combat is by adding elements that require the players to think tactically:

• The goblins are hiding behind walls with slits in them, making them much harder to hit.
• Verticality makes the enemy spellcaster much harder to hit.
• Pillars around the room make for a perfect place to dodge the dragon's breath attack.
• Spike traps around the combat space can be used to push enemies on (or get the players impaled!).
• The dungeon's floor collapses in a specific pattern, making the area smaller every round.

There are many, many elements to add to make players think about combat and it can be as involved as you want: From the tiny, 1 square wide hallways to multi-staged boss rooms with lair actions, floor traps, and cover.

Puzzle

Puzzles are encounters where players have to figure out how to pass an obstacle to get to a goal. Puzzles can be combined with other types of encounters.

Locked Door

A locked door blocks the player's way. The goal of a locked door is to challenge players to think creatively, solve a puzzle, or search their surroundings.

To open the door the players must:

• Speak the password
  • Clues to the password are important. Provide clues on the door or in the room to provide the context. Skill checks may be utilized to help the players.
    • The password may be given to them in advance, either clearly or cryptically (Rhymes work well).
    • If this door is located in a dungeon it may be worthwhile providing the players with the password (or a cryptic message containing the password) at the start of the dungeon while they are still unaware of the door's existence.
• Find the key.
  • The to the door must be found and inserted into the lock before the door opens. It may be hidden around the room, the dungeon, or exist somewhere else entirely.
    • For additional challenge place the door inside a room that is in itself a puzzle, a combat encounter, or both.

Trap

Traps serve to keep the players on their toes. Traps can be placed anywhere it would make sense to place one:

• On a (locked) chest containing some kind of valuable.
• On a portal (door, window, etc.).
• Inside a dungeon.

A trap's location will tell you a lot about the type of trap you could put in place. A locked chest may contain poison gas or a spell like hold person or blindness, while a dungeon may be full of spike traps and boulders chasing the party down.

NPC(s)

An NPC encounter will usually come down to roleplay and talking to a person. An NPC encounter shouldn't be viewed as hostile by definition. There are many types.

• Bartering.
• Gathering information.
• Pickpocketing.
• Finding lodgings for the night.
• Running from the guards.

The list goes on and on, but any player interaction that involves an NPC is effectively an encounter. This can always turn into a combat encounter, of course.

NPC encounters will often be a spontaneous occurrence, but by thinking about what the players want to achieve and how that aligns with the NPCs interests (if at all) you can easily let the players make some skill checks to see if it goes their way. Making an NPC grumpy and unwilling to help the PC's is a good way to make it challenging for the players. A high persuasion or intimidation check could do wonders, just like a sum of gold or offered service could. If the PCs start acting like assholes you could even let it spiral into the guards getting involved, or other NPCs refusing the players business in the future!