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Hello. I'm curious about something.
I'm using Heroes of Horror's suggestion:
I have a campaign where monsters are "rare, & each is likely unique. However they each came to be in their different ways, each one is practically impossible to kill. Only those with the skills & fortitude to investigate each monster & determine what methods can be used to permanently eliminate it can hope to rid the region of the beasts that terrorize it." (The Medusa is a good example of this. Killed by her reflection. In my world there would be only one, not a whole race of Medusas walking around). Compare this with Greek myths, where not many have ever seen monsters but there are tales about them & anyone that can kill them are heroes of the ages.
Has anyone tried this & made it work? My players seem to keep thinking do enough damage & it dies. Very board game in that respect, after a while. The fight with Meninx (essentially my version of Medusa) taught them to look for weaknesses or find some other strength in order to defeat her.
I'm not sure how to go on with the others though. I have an idea for a Minotaur & other things (yes, taking from the old, but spinning with my own ideas), but how do I balance these two things?:
-Making the players realize they can't just rush in & start hacking at the monster/humanoid monster thinking of the hit points only in their heads..showing them they need to know its weakness or be armed against it with a special weapon, etc etc
-Still have them feel like heros. (is this essential though haha) It's all in the storytelling & the roleplay, how the surrounding peoples of the jungles look at them as heros & saviors of the forest for defeating the vile Meninx & her obsidian tendrils.. but is there more than this? Should all creatures have some weakness as they do in the greek myths?
Thanks! If anyone's tried this "variant" of sorts, do let me know how it went, or if you parted ways with the idea a few monsters in.
Hydra are interesting fights. You have to lop off a head and immediately deal X amount of fire/acid damage to cauterize the stump so it doesn't grow back two more heads. Your party's fightery types will have to do the lopping probably and the casters will have to time their spellcasting to get the appropriate damage type. Simple.
Anything with damage reduction silver or cold iron could be spiced up, but you could change that even to a new metal that you make up. Maybe the creature is an alien, only harmed by metal not found on [Earth] except in a special meteorite that is now sitting in a government protected museum or laboratory.
A group of shambling mounds has discovered a substation (or, if it's not a modern setting, is holding a druid or two hostage for call lightning spells). They are using the electricity to feed on, or just for a buzz.
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For a horror based game to work (for example), everyone at the table needs to be complicit in the idea. Same thing goes in your case concerning unique monsters. You need to sit down with your players and explain to them in no uncertain terms that for many (if not all) of the monsters you throw at them, just beating on them until they die simply WILL NOT WORK!
Explain to them that your monsters do have some vulnerability however and that it is the player's jobs to either figure it out or do some in game research on the matter...
Unique monsters do not usually live in a vacuum. They should have a rich background and history that should be known by the local (or nearest) populations that the monster in question takes its lair. You as DM/GM need to provide clues (both physical and in the form of the monster's background) for the players to uncover (either through direct combat or through in game research)...
It may come to be that your players simply do not like this approach, so you also need to be willing to ease off with the uniqueness of each monster (but still keep a few around to satisfy your idea of fun)...
Hope this helps...
-That One Digitalelf Fellow-
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Thank you very much.
I thought I'd made it clear, but perhaps not clear enough.
I made a very ornate backstory for Meninx, & the tribes all had different bits of info about her. The people of the two cities on either side of the jungle expanse as well.
Touching base with them; I just thought I'd check for any other advice here first. Merci for wonderful responses
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Make sure your Players are on board beforehand.
Also -- I strongly recommend having some fights, some monsters, that can be killed just like humans, dwarves and elves.
But first, in most cases things like this don't play as well as they sound. Spend time actually designing how the PCs will research. See if there's gonna be any fun in playing that.
Cuz if all you got designed is a skill check or two at the library or with the NPC sage, followed by the sermon on your pages-long treatise of The Minotaur -- that's not gonna be fun to play.
If, on the other hand, the PCs have to go to two or three small site-based "dungeons," each with a potential clue on the history and legend of The Minotaur, dungeons with traps, monstrous vermin and oozes, and monsters that can be killed the traditional way -- that would play well.
And after a few small dungeons, a handful of skill checks at the library and with the NPC sage, the PCs have several small bits of info that they have to puzzle together and make some assumptions on -- then go find The Minotaur and try to kill it.
Another important thing is if every single monster in your campaign (I'm not exactly sure what your definition of "monster" is, but for this response I'll assume it's anything that isn't a humanoid) has to be beaten by figuring out its weakness and dealing damage is useless, then you're going to have to change the game quite a bit, because I wouldn't be surprised if every single person in the group completely relinquishes any fighting capability in favor of skills and spellcasting. After all, if every single enemy is immune to weapon damage, then why bother even carrying a weapon? If every enemy has to be overcome by using a clever trick, why not make every character a skill monkey with tons of "tricks" up their sleeves?
My point is that making a change such as "most/all monsters cannot be killed by normal means" is a huge deal, considering that the "normal means" are what the game was built around. When combat is no longer combat, there are going to be major repurcussions.
Also, as a player, I'd begin to wonder after the third or fourth unique creature why I'm the one who's had to deal with all of these monsters. Sure, Perseus had to fight the Medusa and the Kraken and all that, but he's the hero the story is centered around (and there was some divine intervention in all of that, if I'm not mistaken). If these creatures have been around for a long time, and defeating them is something that I'm capable of figuring out how to do, why has nobody done it yet? Why am I the first person who's talked to all of these different tribes to figure out how to kill the minotaur? Does nobody else care?
Not that there can't be a very good answer to all of these questions- but there better be. I mean, with typical D&D, it's no big mystery when a group of adventurers takes down an evil warlord, because I'm sure there's plenty of evil warlords in the world. And yes, there's plenty of red dragons with massive hoards in the world. But when a particular group is constantly defeating unique legendary creatures, well, there better be a good explanation as to why they're the ones that do it.
Hello. I'm curious about something.
I'm using Heroes of Horror's suggestion:
I have a campaign where monsters are "rare, & each is likely unique. However they each came to be in their different ways, each one is practically impossible to kill. Only those with the skills & fortitude to investigate each monster & determine what methods can be used to permanently eliminate it can hope to rid the region of the beasts that terrorize it." (The Medusa is a good example of this. Killed by her reflection. In my world there would be only one, not a whole race of Medusas walking around). Compare this with Greek myths, where not many have ever seen monsters but there are tales about them & anyone that can kill them are heroes of the ages.
1) Medusa could have been killed any way - as the only mortal Gorgon - if she didn't turn anyone who looked at her to stone, making it rather to just walk up and impale her.
2) Those people are heroes because Greek mythos is filled with commoners. All the heroes are blessed with either the luck or the blood of the gods. And occasionally artifacts.Very board game in that respect, after a while.
I wonder what kind of boardgames roleplayers play because that doesn't make sense. Unless you only play battleship or something.