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unimaginable
2010-11-28, 12:55 PM
Got a rough plan for using a pack of displacer beasts to torment the PCs in the Beastlands. Something like they accidentally step through a portal and end up on the dusk level with no sense of direction, and end up being chased by the displacer beasts for a while, eventually over the course of the protracted encounter coming across the Big Evil hidden in the forest.

So... who's used displacer beasts before, and how have they worked out for you? Any times for running them?

Party is lvl 5... Druid, Factotum, Battle Sorc, Ranger and new player whose character we haven't made yet.

Last Laugh
2010-11-28, 01:12 PM
They seem like rather basic enemies, the 50% miss chance will make the fight longer than you might expect. They do have a nice grapple modifier tho, +14 is probably more than anyone in the party, even the factotum. They have natural attacks that target both reach range and close range, very nice! But they don't deal lots of damage.

I don't know that much about your party, but the sorcerer could mess them up. Glitterdust will not RAW reveal the displacer beast, but it should given the nature of the spell/displacement. AoE spells and effects can toast them fast. (just noticed that the player is a battle sorc)

They are pretty simple critters, the miss chance gives them some survivability. I don't know your group so I don't know how they will handle it.

Druid can outgrapple it. Which will end the encounter... (via wildshape.)

unimaginable
2010-11-28, 01:26 PM
Well the idea is a pack of them, in a thick forest at dusk. Part of the purpose of the session is to give a sense of the forest itself as un****withable... the displacer beasts will largely be a manifestation of that. I want to have them appearing and disappearing out of the brush. Possible to give them behind the scenes support from Fey.

Last Laugh
2010-11-28, 02:11 PM
Well the idea is a pack of them, in a thick forest at dusk. Part of the purpose of the session is to give a sense of the forest itself as un****withable... the displacer beasts will largely be a manifestation of that. I want to have them appearing and disappearing out of the brush. Possible to give them behind the scenes support from Fey.

This sounds fine. They are spooky animals that can confuse inexperienced players (the first time I encountered displacer beasts was memorable.) If the players have read the Monster Manual and know more about Displacer Beasts feel free to refluff them. (I've wasted turn attempts on flesh golems because of how the DM described it)

unimaginable
2010-11-28, 02:20 PM
How did your DM run them, though, that made it memorable? They definitely have potential, but I'm looking for tips on how to make it fun. I want the session on the whole to have a horror theme to it, and for the Displacers to be a creepy part of it but to get outstaged by a much more horrible enemy they'll chance upon during the extended encounter. So for the beasts themselves, it shouldn't be too overwhelming, but should be definitely difficult and scary.