DM Tricks & Tips

[Gandolfi Feesh]

Looking for some fresh DM tricks for my new level 17 campaign. Sessions are generally focused on combat and puzzle encounters.

I'm not looking to kill PC's outright (as this spoils the fun of it all), I merely wish to see them suffer in the funniest way possible :)

Any help much appreciated.

[Adamaro]

- monsters have blindsight/blindsense/tremorsense AND emit a mundane (acid?) cloud which prevents PCs from seeing trough it (and thus targeting). Make monster a swarm (tiny, so it is immune to normal damage) for extra fun. To topple that, cover it in AMF or even better - the gas this swarm emits has properties of Disjunction effect. (does not affect the swarm of course)

[opticalshadow]

do they have a bbeg yet? if not toss them somethign way over their head, something that can bring them to the brink of death letting them live, and have tem literally crawl away.

one thing i like to do when my players are doing pretty well, i dont want to outright kill them (esp at that level most of them have ways around death) but instead i put them against a bbeg thats been preveilent thoughout the camp, something they just, with every ounce of their power, only manage to amuse, remind them things are out there, that will walk over them.

[Bob the DM]

The trick is to have a reason for them to survive. Let them fight something that they can go all out on, and hurt, but not stop or destroy. Then when they've been beaten have that thing imply that they're just right for the job it has that needs done. That he/she/it has gone through at least 20 other parties and finaly found a group powerful enough to complete it's task, yet be unable to truely hurt it (insert evil laugh).

[Thrice Dead Cat]

Nothing is canon until the PCs see it or confirm it with their own eyes. People around town claiming some guy is a dragon? Just rumors till the PCs do something.

[742]

The trick is to have a reason for them to survive. Let them fight something that they can go all out on, and hurt, but not stop or destroy. Then when they've been beaten have that thing imply that they're just right for the job it has that needs done. That he/she/it has gone through at least 20 other parties and finaly found a group powerful enough to complete it's task, yet be unable to truely hurt it (insert evil laugh).

that reeks of poor plot. if youre just going to do that why bother adding one at all?

i got it! if you know me ill hurt you for reading this spoiler.
re feat/spell/skill a dragon. that should be scary enough. i would say something that can take human form but proper use of that might be suspicious in a non-RP campaign.
OOH! maybe if they defeat the dragon(who uses a contingent teleport to not die) and find the treasure hoard they will also find a "prisoner" (or prisoners, each kept in separate isolated cells with some traps and minor encounters) one of whom is the dragon. heal up-using the PCs own resources to do so if possible, maybe drop a hint of quest giver/escort quest with the important NPC. then tell them suddenly theres a dragon standing next to their squishies, just out of range of their fighter, and it gets a full attack before a quickened benign transposition with a dominated slave. maybe make it a size that wouldnt normally be quite a high enough CR for them to suspect that its the big bad.

for bonus points engage the second attack while theyre resting and/or poison them. for even more bonus points apply full buffs before combat (maybe with silent spell. also make sure to talk with the PCs so the NPC can find out who does what.
if theyre level 17 they *should* have some way to escape/survive if it goes badly, which it should.

honestly unless theres antimagic areas or 1 round kills involved i cant see a level 17 party ever taking permenant losses, and even then they would have to be seriously unprepared.

[WinWin]

I like utilising Rube Goldberg encounters.

Simplest method is a series on automatic reset traps in conjunction with a series of monsters that utilize these traps in conjunction with tactics.

Kobolds work well for low level encounters, even with low level manual reset traps.

Higher levels I would probably use something like a force golem to knock characters in range of a series of traps.

Intelligent incorporeal creatures in a gauntlet are also pretty fun.

High level...Hard to say without knowing more about party composition. Action denial is better than raw damage IMHO, so traps that trip, confine, poison or otherwise debilitate are more to my liking than blasting for immense damage.

[Captain Caveman]

I am currently DMing a level14 campaign. In the last session they had to beat a thieves guild's gauntlet. After having them go through trap after trap. They come to a door with 3 keys on hooks next to it and small writing on the keys. The players read 2 of the keys, (all 3 had explosive runes on them.) None of the keys fit the door. Finally one player says, "I try to open the door." The look on their faces when I said it was unlocked was priceless.