So right now my adventurers are on a prehistoric island. Dinosaurs are peppered through out the island. Fighting dinosaurs every now and again is cool and all but I want to stretch out the time on the island with a sort of "survival gauntlet". I want to come up with some things outside of battle that could make a player face death and some non-creature things that could deal a lot of damage.
I have various battles planned out but I'm having a hard time coming up with some original treacherous obstacles outside of things like cliffs, pits, and quicksand. What are some good ways to put the party into survivalist situations?
Thanks for any help!
Dotting for relevance.
If you don't mind things getting swampy, you could try bogs. They're hard to track through, give characters small and under cover from ranged attacks. And don't be afraid to use fog. Concealment is a very dangerous thing. I happen to be in the market for some similar ideas for a campaign I'm running myself.
native traps? Bogs with leeches, diminutive bugs, heat exhaustion, is it a "magical" jungle or mundane? only so much to do with a mundane one.
It's mundane. Which book would cover something like heat exhaustion?
Check out Souls for Smugglers Shiv. Its the first book of an adventure path, but has some good "stranded on an island" ideas.
The rules for heat exhaustion are in the Core Rule book under environment.
For non-combat stuff, make sure to allow Survival checks for "getting aling in the wild" to gather food and water, as well as Heal for the inevitable disease someone is bound to get.
Weather can be another great mini event, especially if it destroyed or seriously damages the players shelter.
Like the idea of giant insects and swarms to change things up.
Is the island big enough for one or two humanoid tribes... Maybe a Lizard Man tribe and an Orc tribe. These could be at war with each other, but initially indifferent to the party, giving an opertunity for trade, supply or subterfuge.