I struggle with creating engaging exploration encounters for STR-based characters. It's this tendency of mine to think of strong PCs as “the big dumb guy,” a subspecies of one-trick pony. They’re buff, they’re tough, and they stand at the front during combat. When it's not combat though, I find it weirdly difficult to think of cool things for strong characters to do.
There are plenty of classics in the skill-challenge department. Lift the portcullis. Break the door. Stop the runaway carriage. But when it's time to interact with the environment, the most interesting stuff always seems to go to the high-mobility characters and casters.
So help me out here. What are the best encounters for helping the strong guys feel useful outside of combat?
I mean...it entirely depends on their characters, doesn't it?
A barbarian with climb, knowledge (nature) survival and swim can overcome terrain, knows some herb lore and can cook a decent meal when the party makes camp.
One with Perception and Intimidate isn't doing much.
One trick ponies are one trick ponies; they can't do much outside of their niche because they weren't built to.
A character that actually has depth and an at least somewhat broader skill set can actually do stuff. It really just seems like a character issue to me.
Can you give an example of the sort of wilderness encounter you're building where you struggle to engage everyone at the table?
Climb/Swim... my big dumb Fighter was always carrying people up or across things. Like Andre the Giant in Princess Bride climbing the rope like an elevator for others. I carried the Rogue across a river, swimming in heavy armor. Didn't think twice about Swim checks, regardless of my armor... one of the perks of being strong. Same with climbing, I would "dyno" even when carrying people... that's where you let go of the cliff and jump up/off to catch a handhold you otherwise cannot reach.
Oddly enough, my character was also the jumper. I don't know if everyone else was too scared, didn't know how to allocate skill points, or what... but I would end up jumping boat-to-boat in heavy armor with my greatsword because I was the only one that would/could.
My willingness/habit of carrying others made me the go-to guy in an urban chase sequence. I picked up the Tiefling Cleric and was jumping over fruit carts with her, aced the Acrobatics roll for muddy cobblestone and slid/surfed out the gate with her... in heavy armor, 2 skill points per level, Acrobatics not even a class skill without the trait I took to get it. Lol.
Another time, we were fleeing a prison colony, boat was leaving port, a line a guards on the dock... I charged them on my horse and when they braced/speared the horse, I vaulted the gap over their heads, stuck my sword in the side of boat. Apparently nobody else in the party had Ride?
That Rogue I carried around was so freaking worthless I would pick him up at throw him down hallways I thought might be trapped... this made me the party trap-spotter/disable-er. Think the room might be ambushed? Throw in the Rogue. Is there an enemy around the corner? Throw the Rogue. Think the bridge will collapse? Rogue-toss. Ans it wasn't a cooperative Fastball Special like Wolverine and Colossus... no, I would grab him kicking and screaming then manhandle him into submission and throw him against his will.
Counterweight!!!
The party in my Kingmaker campaign rigged Oleg's gates to shut with ropes and pullies off the walls. When the bandits rode in to collect their dues, the big dumb Fighter-types jumped off the walls holding the ropes. Gates swung shut, locking the bandits inside the walls. A little nonlethal fall damage for the party members taking the plunge, but pish-posh.
Just something I've noticed - the BDF player may not want to be involved. They want to hang out with you/your friends and to play out the fights, but might feel that they'd rather mess with their phone than listen to or engage with all the 'boring' out of combat stuff.
Counterweight!!!
The party in my Kingmaker campaign rigged Oleg's gates to shut with ropes and pullies off the walls. When the bandits rode in to collect their dues, the big dumb Fighter-types jumped off the walls holding the ropes. Gates swung shut, locking the bandits inside the walls. A little nonlethal fall damage for the party members taking the plunge, but pish-posh.
Could be fun to make the "weight" characteristic on the sheet relevant. That way the "big" part of "big dumb fighter" actually sees some play.
For example, it takes two small characters or one BDF to trigger the counterweight.