Start with a perception roll if any of the heros are on watch to see if they see your monsters coming.
I wouldnt worry about what classes need a full nights rest when you create one. Monsters arn't going to only attack when the heros are nice and rested.
Any creature that would attack at night would work, spiders, wolves, bears, bandits, goblins, ect. As for how many/how strong, consult the CR table as you would with every other encounter.
If you want a spin on regular encounters you could wait until they wake up and have them encounter highway men that are trying to rob them, or have some bandits pretending to be in trouble and then spring an ambush.
You could also have 2 different sets of wild animals fighting eachother and have the noise wake up your heros and then it would be up to them to check it out or ignore it. (which i hoping they would want to check it out, as they are adventurers....)
They can always go back to sleep after the fight. I have not played with many casters, the only one i know off the top of my head is the witch, and i think, but could be wrong, Sorcerer/wizard.
What ever the case, say they lie down at sun down, have monsters attack 2 hrs later after the camp fire has burned down a bit, have your encounter. Judging on how long your encounter takes, they should have atleast 9 hours left to rest before dawn.
Let the players worry about how rested they will be. Camping in the wilderness is dangerous. If they fire off all their spells at the first sound in te brush, they will have problems when they need it later.
Let the players worry about how rested they will be. Camping in the wilderness is dangerous. If they fire off all their spells at the first sound in te brush, they will have problems when they need it later.
He's right, they will need to learn how to manage resources and save spells in case there is more danger ahead. They wont be able to rest in between every encounter and have all of their spells to go gung ho all day.
I can tell you the first time they enter an encounter with low spells or no spells and are pretty in effective, they will be sure to only use spells when they need to.
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You are planning a random encounter? That isn't random at all ;)
I have gm'ed for 9 years and run many APs.
For me a random encounter is more like a... a fight that is not connected to the plot. Like bandits ambushing, wild animals and alike.
That is the point of the random encounter. It has no connection to the whole plot of the scenario.
But again. A good fight is well organised and prepared into depts by the GM.
Dont just make it a.. "You guys are standing here.. And theese bad guys are comming from here.. ... 1.. 2.. 3.. FIIIIGHT!"
Those combats sucks and they are boring.
The first thing you need to find out is - what are they gonna fight?
I would like to create this encounter with you :)
I'd be happy to help as well. Is this connected with the plot, or does something unrelated just stumble upon them? Also, what level/classes are your PCs? What is the later encounter?
^^ lol yes!!!
This, all the way.The video in the link doesn't work.
I keep hearing that people can't watch videos on Springboard but I've never personally experienced it. This must be another one of those times.
Quick rundown:
Leaping Wizards:
3 (4?) low level Wizards
Jump from the bushes
Cast Sleep on anyone awake
Bash their skulls in with quarterstaves if possible
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Ooga, a little more information might be helpful in setting this up - how big are the nearby towns? How important is this road? What are the various factions or forces in the area that may prey on those roads?
I will help you with some pointers - and the Bestiary is your friend - once you master that book things will get easier.
So first lets look at what resources you will be playing with. We will start with a CR appropriate monster/encounter list and then add some features.
CR 1-2 (assuming it's temperate forest - semi-civilized)
Kobold
Mite
Dire Rat
Goblin
Orc
Skeleton (human)
Giant Centipede
Hobgoblin
Stirge
Zombie (human)
Ghoul
Giant Frog
Giant Spider
Gnoll
Wolf
Bandit, Human
Patrol
CR2
Boggard
Bugbear
Choker
Wererat
Werewolf
This is just what I picked going with a classic 1st ed feel
Now we sort them based a little more on locale - so lets ditch the exotics.
Semi final list (night)
Bandit Human
Bandit, single (wererat)
Centipede, Giant
Kobold
Patrol
Patrol, single
Stirge
Strange Event
No encounter
Write a small backstory or detail for each encounter and set up the probability of the encounters.
So here we go
At night (starting at dusk) roll 1d6 every 4 hours, on a 1 roll on the following table using the forsaken d12:
Off Road Encounter Table
1 - Bandit Patrol (human) (see entry)
2 - Bandit Single (human/wererat)
3 - Centipede, Giant
4 - Kobold Scouting party
5 - 6 Patrol (human)
7 - Patrol, Single (human)
8 - Stirge
9 -10 Strange Event
11 - 12 No encounter
1) The bandit Patrol will be comprised of a few few humans who are dressed like the local patrol, in fact they may be lapsed soldiers or a patrol who decided that banditry suited them better than upholding the law. They have been in a fight recently with a regular patrol which was sent out to kill or capture them so they are wounded. They will attack any soldiers, but they may try to just get by on the ruse of their disguise when dealing with travelers. One of their members was recently bitten by a wererat and when he turned he decimated their numbers and broke their operation. They were seeking him out before they ran into a real patrol. They are comprised of a few warriors (4-8), and one expert who serves as the groups scout. This can be an open fight, an RP opportunity (and then possible an open fight) or no fight at all.
2) Single bandit wererat (dressed as dirty and bloody soldier). Seems to be a lost and disheveled soldier. Torn and bloodstained uniform (with no wounds) may tip off the party that he is not what he seems. Could be an rp encounter that leads to a fight - very dangerous encounter. Warrior 1 wererat
3) A few of these creatures are scuttling about in the dark, they may even drop out of the trees (looking for birds or bats) out onto the party or they just may swarm about their camp looking for food. Could be a group of 1-3 (easy encounter for 2nd level pcs)
4) Kobold scouting party. A small group from a nearby den is looking for both food and loot. 4 Kobolds (4 warriors 1 ranger tracker/rat herder w/2 dire rats). Even with a ranger and dire rats in tow, they will not attack a party that is taking caution or watch - they may come back on the following night with a few more warriors (DM discretion). They will fight if detected, but they are just probing the human defenses and avoiding patrols.
5 - 6) Human foot patrol. Agents of the local power. On the lookout for a patrol that went rogue some time back. May be willing to trade for some non-critical gear (party caught food or loot for arrows, mundane gear, or minor necessities). Comprised of warriors (4-8) and an expert scout.
7) Lost patrolman. Was injured in a skirmish between the bandits and his group. May travel with the party or just camp down for the night. May also aid in keeping watch for the night, but would like to either return to his group or slog it back to town.
8) Stirge(s) 1-2. Will chitter about in trees for some time before attacking. Party may in fact dismiss them unless they know what they are (ranger or skilled check from another member). They will wait till their is one person on post before attacking.
9 - 10) Strange Event: Could be sound of fighting and screaming off in the distance. While traveling they can find a bloody mass of remains (unidentifiable). Strange glowing lights in distance that wink out as quickly as seen. Or a slightly luminescent fog that overcomes the party while traveling or camping and passes after a short time.
11 - 12) No encounter
You can use this list for a few nights while the party is in the area, eliminating any repeats as "no encounter". Some encounters - depending on their order - could foreshadow or interact with others. Also, if you are familiar you can roll as they play, or make the rolls before the time they would happen, and then fine tune them as encounter events. I do this often so I can add more detail to the random encounters (given time to think vs rolling and consulting a table).
This took me around half an hour or so to create as a thought exercise. Not that difficult, and the good thing - you can change, add or recycle cool features of a random encounter table so the whole thing isn't wasted when the criteria changes (change area, go up in level, etc).
Some thoughts behind my selections - I omitted the undead creatures since I don't know if their are ruins, a fallen temple or evil cleric nearby. Adjust the table according. BTW - undead are a nice fun low level fight, even for a party drained of some resources - a cleric may still have some turn/channel ability which isn't a direct resource spell drain so they still can have a fight while using an often forgotten resource.
The other exotics I dumped due to proximity (drow, choker, et al) to civilization. Same with the large humanoids (Orcs, hobgoblins, bugbears).
All this should change and be reflected on a table the further the group moves away from patrolled, civilized lands. I also eliminated mixed or double encounters - if you want to try that out as you master the game you can simply roll twice and combine effects - patrol plus bandit patrol would be a cool and confusing fight (who are the bad guys?).
If you desire to make mixed encounters I would stress rolling things ahead of time unless you are really good at running things on the fly. Tables can be a good investment since they can be fixed to a locale and be used over a series of days.
Good luck with the process!
-Aux
Yes, the folks upthread are right, this isn't a "random" encounter.
I'd reserve that term for when the chance and type of encounter are randomized, usually used as a deterrent to lingering in a dungeon or as a planned risk for overland journeys.
My Kingmaker players have a good sense of the random encounter frequency now, and they don't expect to go more than half a dozen hexes without something happening.
What you want is a planned nighttime encounter, which is great. Be careful, some GMs overuse these.
My recommendation: start simple.
If they present a credible threat and they hurt the thing at all, have it flee. If you use XP, reward them for running, chasing it off, or defeating the bear all equally. They will have survived a difficult encounter by selecting the right action, and that's RP, baby.
These are the ways to use such an encounter to enhance a wilderness campaign. Merely having 1d4 goblins show up and fight to the death for no reason is silly, I think. Even a "harmless" creature like a raccoon or a skunk gets the players to feel that the world is more real and the wilderness is wild.
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As a level 2 encounter, overnight, I am gonna assume at least 2 players who need to recover spells and powers. If your party is at least 4 players, and you have at least 1 skilled PC. You can use this as a chance to test their non traditional, everyday skills like Survival to notice wolf tracks near the camp location, or high DC perception checks so they can learn the importance of carefully studying your environment before they are too high a level to be seriously punished for missing a vital Perception, Survival, or Diplomacy.
I would say a pack of wolves (5) being led by an angry Brownie who normally lives wherever it is that the party has camped up. She returns from a cave exploration from the day and finds the party having probably eaten with a pack of hungry neighborhood wolves leap to attack the guard(s) quickly (2-3 at a time), making it more than obvious for anyone who can make a DC 5 perception check as long as they are within 20 ft of the guard, DC bumps+5 per every 10 feet.
Each of the wolves will make their own Stealth check roll adding a +11 (6 from bonus +5 due to darkness). This number will be checked against the guard PC's perception (If there is one) roll.
If however the party finds the tracks, Survival DC 20 to identify old tracks, and anyone with the Track (sp) can follow it to their den/cave where they are all conveniently all still asleep as the brownie has yet to arrive. If they are killed the Brownie flees, if they are not she leave all of her equipment in silent thanks just under the most Charismatic PCs nose if at all possible. (+16 Stealth) A Diplomacy DC 10, or Charisma Check DC 12 will cause her to laugh loudly, and run away leading the PC to a spring a half-mile away where the party my replenish good water and an abandoned boat the party can use now or later. The river can only be found with a DC 20 Survival and Perception check without her help. She disappears into the water as soon as the party arrives in ANY case and her equipment is lying in the boat.
The brownie can speak with the wolves due to familiarity and she directs them to attack one person at a time until 4 wolves have gone unconscious, killed, or set on fire. She immediately flees if a PC finds her hiding in the trees above the camp with a +16 Stealth bonus to her roll. She does not attack unless noticed and targeted. She throws 2 Alchemist Fire Vials at once at the offending PC who outed her, or attacked first.
Reward them with whatever hides they can salvage from the wolves, and put a Masterwork Leather Armor, and Cure Moderate Wounds Potion on the Brownie and you will have your loot taken care of.
I think Auxmalous may have won this thread. I'll go ahead and toss in low-level Undead as an extra option. Your bog standard skeletons and zombies, a pack of 4 or 5 of them. For a more formulaic approach, I think X + 1 zombies/skeletons, where X is your number of party members is appropriate.
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Allright. Sorry for my spelling by the way. Drunk and danish you know?
As a GM you should always consider what opportunities you have based on your players choices.
They are resting in the wilderness. What kind of wilderness? Jungle? Forest aka german-scandinavian enviornment? Are there rivers? Any big roads nearby?
Instead of bashing hit points out of your players in the night. Make an event out of it. Make it something they shall remember next time they consider resting in the wilderness.
A few memories of great resting encounters I know, and I remember them for a reason - they where awesome.
1. Forgot to hide our food supply.
In the night a pack of baboons stole our foodbags from us. None of us saw it. In the morning we was all like "Which of the guards ate it?!" And we had no food, so we kinda panicked. But we began to follow the footprints on the ground and we later saw pieces of our food. A trail of half eaten appels, the bone from a chicken leg and later destroyed bottle of beer (the dwarf freaked out in tears).
We then found this tree with the baboons and our bags destroyed at the bottom of the big tree. And we wanted revenge of course - stupid as we are. Never take revenge on animals, ever heard the story of Moby Dick?
We later found out the baboons was close friends with a goblin tribe, which wanted revenge on us for taking revenge on the baboons.
2. Religious crusade
We made a camp up in a big tree close to a big road. In the night a very big religious march was right down under us. Hundreds of torches in the night. Thousands humming voices in the night. The whole atmosphere of hiding and watching this march just below us was a big encounter alone. It was so well described that some of us wanted to join it.
Later in the back of the march some children saw us and pointed up at us. And yelled stuff. Panic everywhere in all of us in the trees. Where we now in danger? Would they hurt us? Or what would happen?
The cleric did cast Comphrehen language so he could understand them.
We found out they yelled "HERETICS!"
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Ooga, a little more information might be helpful in setting this up - how big are the nearby towns? How important is this road? What are the various factions or forces in the area that may prey on those roads?
thanks for the awesome post and putting lots of work in to that!
the nearby towns aren't huge metropolises. They are medium to small sized cities, a few days' horse ride away. The players are a day's hike off the main road. So they are kind of in the middle of nowhere.
That was the vibe I was getting from you. Not true wilderness but not exactly on the road. If they are traveling over the course of a few days you can re-use this table every night (eliminating repeats) and you an tweak this for daytime. That is, until terrain changes radically, then you will need a new table. I consider the effort "campaign investment", since they are reusable.
Daytime: Roll a d10 every four hours, on a 1 consult the table, etc. You can dump the nocturnal encounters as "no encounter" or replace then.
I also failed to list a "game food" encounter on first table (deer, etc).
Extra Daytime encounters could be a ranger or druid wandering around, furriers or trappers out from town looking to conduct their business. Some could be hostile (not engage in direct combat, but may want to avoid people) or they may want to trade (minor stuff) which a cool DM tool to cycle out party loot for usable items without going back to town. Goodberries (the spell) are a good trade item from a druid that would help heal and nourish the party, magical poultices (medically treated bandages) could works as low powered/non-combat (heals too slow for combat) potions of healing so you keep them in the gear and in the game.
PM me or post any questions. You can poach this table, but I must stress - as a new DM you need to tinker with this process and write some stuff up yourself. Who knows, you may like a random detailed encounter so much you may expand it into a full fledged fixed encounter? In any case it is a good thought and imagination exercise that new DMs should at least play with, if they do not want to consider using.
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Your bog standard skeletons and zombies, a pack of 4 or 5 of them. For a more formulaic approach, I think X + 1 zombies/skeletons, where X is your number of party members is appropriate.
Rynjin's approach might actually serve you better than the numbers on my list. I'm a bit old school with the random numbers/creatures encounters (too much Gamma World, which was 80% sandbox/random encounters) so a fixed formulaic may work better for modern senses.
Ex bandits should be X+2 in number (X being party)as a total CR consideration vs rolling a swingy number range on dice (mine could go up to 9 guys vs the party!LOL). It's just hard to burn the oldschool out of me. Sorry about that!
I'm thinking a leopard or equivalent cat. Show up a bit, see if its detected, stalk and hunt. If PCs make their Perception check, it hangs around for a while being a noise in the brush. If it can get an animal or sentry alone, it pounces on one of them, then drags the corpse off into the brush to feed later.
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I'm thinking a leopard or equivalent cat. Show up a bit, see if its detected, stalk and hunt. If PCs make their Perception check, it hangs around for a while being a noise in the brush. If it can get an animal or sentry alone, it pounces on one of them, then drags the corpse off into the brush to feed later.
Very cool idea, the stalking can even occur over a couple of days, and who knows - if there is a ranger or druid in the group this could lead to a non-violent encounter?
After a positive encounter (party gives it food, etc) the cat could hang back (not be part of the party but not attack) and a level or two later if they have a ranger or druid in their party they have a new animal companion.
I'm thinking a leopard or equivalent cat. Show up a bit, see if its detected, stalk and hunt. If PCs make their Perception check, it hangs around for a while being a noise in the brush. If it can get an animal or sentry alone, it pounces on one of them, then drags the corpse off into the brush to feed later.Very cool idea, the stalking can even occur over a couple of days, and who knows - if there is a ranger or druid in the group this could lead to a non-violent encounter?
After a positive encounter (party gives it food, etc) the cat could hang back (not be part of the party but not attack) and a level or two later if they have a ranger or druid in their party they have a new animal companion.
THIS
The lesson here is that every encounter (even a randomly generated one) is an opportunity to flesh out the setting and train the players to make smart decisions.
Yup. It's partly a chance to feel out the party, see how they will react, and maybe teach them that not all encounters need to be resolved violently. Nor by having evn line-ups. Stalk, hunt, use skills. Bthough I do like the idea of rolling the evening before to see if anyone notices predator spoor.
I really like the Leopard idea, that is some genius in action right there.
The issue is I have something planned for them the next day that I want them to have their spells for.. . throwing them into the situation unrested with 0 spells would be a disaster for the party. I'm also just curious as to which classes do actually need the full 8 hours in a row of uninterrupted sleep.
As an example:
Daily Readying of Spells: Each day, sorcerers and bards must focus their minds on the task of casting their spells. A sorcerer or bard needs 8 hours of rest (just like a wizard), after which she spends 15 minutes concentrating. (A bard must sing, recite, or play an instrument of some kind while concentrating.) During this period, the sorcerer or bard readies her mind to cast her daily allotment of spells. Without such a period to refresh herself, the character does not regain the spell slots she used up the day before.
Recent Casting Limit: Any spells cast within the last 8 hours count against the sorcerer’s or bard’s daily limit.
Basically, arcane casters need 8 hours of uninterrupted rest, and all casters have spells counted against them from the previous 8 hours when they ready their spells.