I've been having a recurring issue in my game, and I was wondering what other GMs think about it.
When the PCs cast buff spells, particularly the ones with a duration of "minutes per level", they get into the mind-set that they have to rush through the dungeon before the buffs wear off. It's gotten to the point that the whole dungeon crawl seems to be all about the buffs.
This makes them end up sticking their head in a room, glancing, and then moving on if there is nothing obvious there. They then often forget to go back, and have missed some important treasure or plot-related information that I end up having to feed them through other means just to advance the plot. It also makes it difficult to create the right atmosphere, when the cleric is tapping his foot saying, "Hurry up, Rogue-- the fighter only has three minutes left of bull's strength!
Honestly, I'm getting frustrated by this behavior. I've thought about having bad guys hiding and then sneaking up behind them; or having them blunder into traps in the rush to get to fights before the buffs run out. But it's the mindset that's really getting to me.
Without the PC's focus on getting as much done with the buffs up as humanly possible, they would be much more cautious and I'd be able to provide a better atmosphere.
Locked doors, non-linear dungeons, and/or brawny enemies.
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Tell the party that you won't shield them from the consequences of hurrying. Then don't shield them.
Let them run into traps. After a couple of times, they'll figure out that the "gain" from avoiding a trap compares to that of saving a buff spell.
Let them miss clues. Then they'll have to figure it out themselves; going back to see if they missed anything. It'll be worse for them if they needed those clues for a boss fight. Too bad; that's the choice they made.
If they storm into rooms with enemies rather than taking a moment to plan - let them. That means they'll have less tactical advantage, and that's their loss.
Tell them the consequences are on their heads, that you won't lift a finger to help them if they screw themselves.
Rushing ahead will get them in trouble with things like traps, etc. They'll also not be able to take the time to get the Perception checks they're probably demanding, or at the least take a penalty (I don't have my books to check what a rushed Perception roll gets).
My groups have generally been good about saving those kinds of spells for boss encounters and the like, or otherwise only cranking them out when absolutely needed. I'm not sure how to get a recommendation to your players that they save their resources for big encounters and not buff to the gills at the entrance to the dungeon, though.
Have them run into some nasty traps. Either actual traps that they didn't find because they were too busy running through. Or ambushes set by other inhabitants of the dungeon, that they missed because they were running through.
They peek into a room and see nothing. Infact the wizard in that room was just standing behind his bookshelf. He hears the door maybe someone saying "Nothing" and the door closing agian. He goes to check and finds his buddies in the other room slaughtered.
He gets friends and they attack the group when they least expect it.
The best advice I can give also has the side-effect of powering up casters a bit:Recharge Magic.
I used this variant rule when GMing Carrion Crown and although it made the party wizard slightly more powerful, it wasn't intolerable. There are a couple of limiting factors:
-same action economy (one spell per round)
-higher level spells recharge slower so you can't just spam your best abilities
I mainly did it so that the party healer could heal more effectively. I, as a GM, have no problem with the PCs getting back to full health between fights. That's my opinion but it might not be to your tastes.
The net effect is that the party does not feel so rushed because of the game's resource management. There are people that swear that resource management is part of the game (almost a mini-game) and would hate this idea but my players and I do not enjoy this style of play (we don't track weight, or number of arrows, or amounts of bat guano, etc.).
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Divide. Delay. Distract. Dissuade.
"The goblins run through the doors, and close them behind them. Three doors, East, North, and NorthEast. What do you do?"
"Hold!", says the NPC.
or,
"The corridor is long and littered with trash"
(while the clock ticks...)
"The spilled lamp oil catches fire. It could get to the books you saw. You notice some bottles now, glinting in the firelight. They had been in the shadows of the stacked books."
"Why you hurting Gon?", the giant asks in passable Common. "We brothers." (And shows a holy symbol matching one on display)
Of course, all these are CHEATING, if you make them up on the spot (like I just did). But if the dungeon has such features, and they just rush past them, then the books and potions burn, and they kill the shaman that wanted to parlay, and get caught on the traps in the trash, and while they are reading Gon's letter to the Ephesians, the surviving goblins from room one attack.
Build a world, let them in it, and let them miss things. Have an NPC follow along behind them and profit from what they miss, like a crow after lions. Once or twice, and they'll figure out, they need to have the timed effects serve their purpose, not serve the timed effects.
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I'm a fan of traps, puzzles and letting them miss loot. If you don't care to explore and play the game to its fullest then I have no incentive to reward you. Playing should be fun for everyone and if you took the time to put together a dungeon and loot and a boss and they just run right through making weeks of work over in 2 sessions then I have no problem making people fall into pit traps, meet devils that should have been avoided had they read clues, or miss out on some fat loot.
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This makes them end up sticking their head in a room, glancing, and then moving on if there is nothing obvious there. They then often forget to go back, and have missed some important treasure or plot-related information that I end up having to feed them through other means just to advance the plot. It also makes it difficult to create the right atmosphere, when the cleric is tapping his foot saying, "Hurry up, Rogue-- the fighter only has three minutes left of bull's strength!
Missed loot is probably the thing that hurts most. When the PCs are relaxing in the inn after they have rushed through a crypt in the graveyard, have a very happy gravedigger walk in and buy the whole bar a round. He just found some magical ring in a crypt that was obviously cleared out by adventurers - only they left behind a magical ring that the gravedigger found and sold to a merchant. Now he wants to celebrate his new found fortune.
Missed loot is probably the thing that hurts most. When the PCs are relaxing in the inn after they have rushed through a crypt in the graveyard, have a very happy gravedigger walk in and buy the whole bar a round. He just found some magical ring in a crypt that was obviously cleared out by adventurers - only they left behind a magical ring that the gravedigger found and sold to a merchant. Now he wants to celebrate his new found fortune.
Ooh, I like that one!
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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If you'll pardon my self-plug, I wrote this adventure in which I don't think you'll encounter much of the trouble you're describing. I also specifically wrote it to be able to fit into an existing campaign (including lots of potential plot hooks for continuing beyond what I wrote), so if your PCs are the right level (or close enough that you could just tweak things), give it a shot and then leave a review to let me know what you think!
Add long corridors, walls to climb, or some sort of puzzle to solve to open the door. Or rubble to clear to make a corridor passable.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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Don't adjust the future encounters for any treasure they miss by glancing through rooms. When they end up behind WBL and suffer for it, point out that there's been sufficient treasure, they've just chose not to search for it.
(This one's more complex) Advance the plot without their interaction. Party missed the bad guy's notes you planted for them? Then his plan advances. Now when they go to town X for plot point Y, NPC Z is dead because they didn't stop the bad guy. They didn't get *item ment for PC* because they didn't check for the secret door? Then nemisis NPC finds it when tracking them.
(Depending on how invested they are in the campaign world) If they get a reputation for rushing through dungeons and leaving things behind, make others suffer. They decide they didn't have time to disarm a trap? Someone who knows their 'rep' comes in later, sets it off and something bad happens. This works best if their attached to the world and its people, and you can kill a loved one.
Once they've drawn aggro from 3-4 encounters at the same time while simultaneously tripping 2 traps by rushing thru, they should have TPK'd themselves and the issue will be resolved.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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This is tricky. You don't want them to end up at a dead end because they missed a clue. You don't want a situation where they lose because of something they missed 5 or 6 sessions back. You have to balance making it harder because of missing things with still giving them the chance to correct the situation.(This one's more complex) Advance the plot without their interaction. Party missed the bad guy's notes you planted for them? Then his plan advances. Now when they go to town X for plot point Y, NPC Z is dead because they didn't stop the bad guy. They didn't get *item ment for PC* because they didn't check for the secret door? Then nemisis NPC finds it when tracking them.
Oh I agree it's tricky.
To use an example from a campaign I ran.
So it's a balance to make the hero's task *harder* not *impossible*
This rushing is not the usual way of dungeon delving, but it is still a workable model.
Our new group has two players who buff up at the beginning, and rush through. I don't mind. It adds a sense of urgency.
But they do go back and search everything when its clear.
The problem (for them) comes when they beat the crap out of all the mooks and get to the boss and bite off more than they can chew, and flee. Now, because they didn't stop along the way (as permittable), they are short on resources to resupply.
If they are moving so fast that they are running over traps and alerting multiple areas, they are doing it wrong. Likewise, if they are killing everything and then just leaving, they're idiots or psychopaths lol. Or perhaps they just distracted.
I'd much rather they buff and rush than fight three rooms and retreat to come back tomorrow.
Maybe you should alter your style to mesh better with theirs, since they seem to be enjoying the rushing action?
Once knew troll with "Club of Bull's Strength Bane".