By now most players know, or should know, that a monster knowledge check can make all the difference when you’re fighting a monster for the very first time. Knowing that a monster is undead, has a vulnerability to fire or has a breath weapon will have a significant impact on what you do during the encounter. However, in practice I’ve discovered that making a monster knowledge check isn’t always as simple as rolling against the DCs set in the PHB. There are often other mitigating factors that need to be addressed when determining the success or failure of a monster knowledge check.
Category: DM Resources
Any skill challenge that isn’t a challenge is boring. Here at Dungeon’s Master we’ve written a lot of articles about skill challenges. We’ve created a lot of skill challenge templates intentionally made generic enough that you can drop them right into an existing campaign. However, some skill challenges just aren’t that challenging to some parties. This is especially true as PCs get to higher levels. So what do you do if you find a skill challenge you want to use in your campaign but it’s not going to challenge your players? Simple, you make it more challenging – and we’ll tell you how.
Some DMs feel that skill challenges aren’t that malleable. They believe that skill challenges are designed with a certain level in mind and if you try to adjust the numbers for a party more than a couple of levels up or down it’s not going to work. I wholeheartedly disagree. With a little bit of creative thinking most skill challenge can be adapted to suit your party, regardless of the PCs’ current level.
When the party finds themselves in front of a locked door it usually falls to the Rogue to search for traps and then unlock it. It takes two rolls and about 30 seconds of game play. It’s a boring, even for the Rogue.
As a DM I’m always trying to find new and creative ways to challenge the party. On top of that, I like to throw typical conventions upside down. So when I was creating a recent dungeon and needed to place a “door” between the PCs and a secret chamber I opted for something unconventional. I wanted something that required more than a quick Thievery check to bypass. I also wanted something that required the entire party to work together to overcome. And that’s where the idea for the revolving door originated.
Depending on how a DM wasn’t to incorporate this into his campaign, it can be a straight up skill challenge or it can easily become a dangerous hazard. I’ll describe how the door works and then provide the skill challenge mechanics afterward.
When players create a character one of the most important decisions they make is choosing their race. Most often players look at the race that provides the best ability bonuses or most interesting racial power to compliment their class. It’s because of this min/maxing we tend to see the same race/class combos over and over again. Introducing the Metamorphosis Curse into your campaign will force players to try new races they might not otherwise choose on their own.
Let’s assume that you’ve created the perfect character. You’ve played through a few levels and you’re really getting to know this PC. He was built to kick butt and he’s doing a fantastic job so far. Everything’s clicking. What happens if his race is suddenly changed? How does this affect your character?
When you look at the latest issues of Dungeon magazine or read through any LFR adventure, skill challenges are always presented in the same way. After a brief description of the high-level objective you’re presented with a laundry list of skills and then a brief description of what happens when these skills are used successfully. This presentation is ok, especially for a new DM trying to better understand the tasks that can be accomplished by using these skills. But what if we turned the skill challenge inside out? Instead of revolving the skill challenge around the list of skills, have the skill challenge revolve around the goals.
Welcome to a new series for Dungeon’s Master where I’ll be talking about encounter design, emergent storytelling, setting the tone of your game, finding ways to challenge your players, and revitalizing the classic dungeon crawl for a new generation of gamers – all through the lens of the classic Tomb of Horrors adventure as I run it as a mini-campaign for group of veteran gamers. The players will provide their perspective as well, as they talk about their preconceptions of the Tomb of Horrors and their character creation process for this iconic adventure. We’ll also have real-play podcasts of our entire Tomb of Horrors experiences hosted at the Shattered Sea in the coming weeks.
Today the Dungeon’s Master team welcomes Steampunked, our newest contributor. He brings a wealth of gaming experience to our blog and a unique perspective on D&D. He’s played and DMed many games with Ameron and Bauxtehude including LFR adventures, D&D Encounters and the Shattered Sea campaign.
According to Newton’s laws of motion, “For every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction.” The same can be said of the actions of your players. Every decision that they make, every action they take, has a repercussion.
The village is burning, while rushing back the PCs encounter bandits with villagers as prisoners. The PCs can rescue the prisoners or attempt to save what’s left of the village. There is only time to take one of these actions, which actions will the PCs take and what will be the repercussions?
The PCs can eliminate a major force of evil in the campaign, but killing this foe will leave a power vacuum that other rival factions will seek to fill. Is the devil you know better than the ensuing chaos that will ensue with the death of this foe? If things go from bad to worse and it is common knowledge the PCs are the ones responsible, how will they be perceived by the common people?
This is the final instalment in the Adventure Builder Workshop, based on the seminar at GenCon this past August. To read the complete series view the articles listed below:
Categories
Adventure Builder Workshop: Rewards
Every player likes treasure. From gold, to gems, to shiny magic swords, we love our treasure. Our eyes glaze over as we dream about the perfect item for our character. Players have been known to lie, cheat and steal to keep a larger share of the treasure for themselves. We just can’t help it, it’s in our nature. As a DM it’s your job to dole out those tantalizing parcels of loot to your players.
This is the seventh instalment in an ongoing series about the Adventure Builder Workshop, based on the seminar hosted by Wizards of the Coast at GenCon this year. The previous entries in the series are:
Your villain has henchman, so it’s only right that you provide some suitable allies for your players. Allies are the useful folk who populate your campaign world, providing motivation, plot hooks and reasons for the PCs to undertake the adventure. Without allies your players would be set adrift in a world full of enemies, constantly looking over their shoulders.
This is the sixth instalment of the Adventure Builder Workshop, based on the seminar presented by Wizards of the Coast at GenCon this year. The other entries in the series are listed below:
A great campaign is comprised of many elements and villains, locations, story, and henchmen are all required to bring things together. However, it’s the individual encounters that allow you to weave the story together. Encounters are the meat and potatoes, and are often the most memorable aspect of the entire campaign.
This is the fifth installment of the Adventure Builder Workshop, based on the seminar presented by Wizards of the Coast at GenCon this year.
To read the complete series visit the following articles: