horror style campaign Qs

[oh-no-noob]

(idk if this was suppose to go into homebrew or not but oh well) Okay, i'm basically new to d&d, but i do know the basics. I'm wanting to run a mini campaign of 1-3sessions. I was describing it to a fellow gamer and it seems its a horror style plot.
I had all the characters be 3red level gestalt with fun mixes.
They are all going to be girls(kinda revenge in a way bc i'm the only girl in my group and i play mostly female characters and well its not always pleasant being a girl with my group ugh)
anywho.
i have templates for the badies/bosses, but here are the Qs:
do i have to pick actual 'powers' out of the books for the bad guys. like i know what i want them to do exactly (out of my imagination) but do i have to find the matching thing from the rules/books etc.
thanks :3

[BlueInc]

It depends heavily on your style of DMing and how rule-happy your players are. I’ve DMed campaigns where I didn’t have stats for 90% of the NPCs or villains, just an idea of how I wanted situations to flow. However, my players were loose and more focused on roleplaying, so it worked out. It’s best if you have something written down in case your players have a problem with what you’ve done.

That said, one of the advantages of posting on a site like this is you have people with knowledge about the dozens of books out there that might fit your situation. What are some of the powers you were considering? I’m sure someone will know a similar power you could use or adapt to suit your purposes.

[oh-no-noob]

It depends heavily on your style of DMing and how rule-happy your players are. I’ve DMed campaigns where I didn’t have stats for 90% of the NPCs or villains, just an idea of how I wanted situations to flow. However, my players were loose and more focused on roleplaying, so it worked out. It’s best if you have something written down in case your players have a problem with what you’ve done.

That said, one of the advantages of posting on a site like this is you have people with knowledge about the dozens of books out there that might fit your situation. What are some of the powers you were considering? I’m sure someone will know a similar power you could use or adapt to suit your purposes.



my group tends to be slightly rule happy as you said, i will have a bit of stuff written down
one baddie as i've named him is Skinless lol, want him to be level 5 monstrous type, bc as the name says he is skinless and creepy looking. His powers is if he hits you with his natural weapons(claws/bite) he not only takes the player's hp it adds to his. and can only be injured with natural weapon attacks as well (like if a monk does flurry of blows that would be very good to take him out) but haha the players will have to figure that out on their own :3
hmm he can see in the dark (darkvision) but also sense more than that (blindfight?)

[Spruit]

That's the beauty of D&D! As long as you can imagine it (and its fair to your players) you may do whatever you want. If the current D&D spells don't sound like what your creature would, do you can simply fudge a new spell. Just don't forget to add stats to your spell like spell resistance and check DC and all that.

[oh-no-noob]

That's the beauty of D&D! As long as you can imagine it (and its fair to your players) you may do whatever you want. If the current D&D spells don't sound like what your creature would, do you can simply fudge a new spell. Just don't forget to add stats to your spell like spell resistance and check DC and all that.

ya i'm def gonna be fair, its like 6players in my group, so 6 players of being level 3 can take out a 5th lv creeper lol
Okay its my first time attempting to dm, so i didn't want to be without out of book rules for him bc i didn't know if there were matching stuff to what i wanted exactly.

[BlueInc]

I think a good think to do would be to roll up stats for the character as if he were a 4th or 5th level zombie with the special ability "Can only be harmed by natural weapons."

Also, it's a little more complicated to DM, but fights with multiple enemies are often more interesting and rewarding for players. I think you said that there were going to be multiple baddies, but consider adding several standard "Human commoner 1" skeletons or zombies or possibly a low level necromancer cleric or wizard to the side of Mr. Fleshless.

[Larpus]

Well, as the DM you don't have to even give the rulebook a disinterested look with the corner of your eye, it's pretty much just there for reference, so for reference you should use it.

Explaining a bit better: feel free to do the monsters any way you envision and want them to be, but it can be a good idea to compare them a little against existing monsters and creatures to see how balanced for better or worse your creation is, making sure it's neither way too hard or way too easy for the players to fight it.

Being an horror-themed campaign means things work better being a bit more relentless, but all your hard work would be spoiled if you misjudge a creature's difficulty and your players manage to bring it down in a single round just by staring at it.

[oh-no-noob]

I think a good think to do would be to roll up stats for the character as if he were a 4th or 5th level zombie with the special ability "Can only be harmed by natural weapons."

Also, it's a little more complicated to DM, but fights with multiple enemies are often more interesting and rewarding for players. I think you said that there were going to be multiple baddies, but consider adding several standard "Human commoner 1" skeletons or zombies or possibly a low level necromancer cleric or wizard to the side of Mr. Fleshless.

i had him down as a possible cleric/rouge gone evil, idk. ya he is an underling to the big boss baddie; which is another one i have to come up with to match book work.
he is ageless, have ruled over a town for generations without aging. where in the story plot he take up sacrifices (the players who don't know it in the beginning) and sucks the life out of them slowly

[oh-no-noob]

Well, as the DM you don't have Being an horror-themed campaign means things work better being a bit more relentless, but all your hard work would be spoiled if you misjudge a creature's difficulty and your players manage to bring it down in a single round just by staring at it.

for sure, i've seen it happen twice to two fellow dms, where we manage to win very easily, and all their planning/work kinda went down the drain.
i wont make it impossible to defeat the bad guys, but not super easy as well. in the story plot there will be allies to help/hint of how to go about things

[LansXero]

(idk if this was suppose to go into homebrew or not but oh well) Okay, i'm basically new to d&d, but i do know the basics. I'm wanting to run a mini campaign of 1-3sessions. I was describing it to a fellow gamer and it seems its a horror style plot.
I had all the characters be 3rd level gestalt with fun mixes.
They are all going to be girls(kinda revenge in a way bc i'm the only girl in my group and i play mostly female characters and well its not always pleasant being a girl with my group ugh)
anywho.
i have templates for the badies/bosses, but here are the Qs:
do i have to pick actual 'powers' out of the books for the bad guys. like i know what i want them to do exactly (out of my imagination) but do i have to find the matching thing from the rules/books etc.

thanks :3

Not necesarily, but you should at least put them in a format that makes sense for the system (range in feet, duration in rounds, saves/SR allowed or not, etc) and try to somewhat balance them against similar effects of the same level (i.e. an attack for 12d6 damage wouldnt be reasonable at level 3, Id guess). That at least would give your players a fighting chance. (now, if said powers are meant to be unavoidable death and thats the king of game you and the players want, you dont even have to do that xD)

[Larpus]

for sure, i've seen it happen twice to two fellow dms, where we manage to win very easily, and all their planning/work kinda went down the drain.
i wont make it impossible to defeat the bad guys, but not super easy as well. in the story plot there will be allies to help/hint of how to go about things
You sound like you're set to go then, as I said, if anything just compare the enemies you make to existing ones in all the different books to have a bit of extra hindsight.

[vanyell]

a possibility on the "can only be damaged by natural attacks" bit, could be something along the lines of a "corrupted" vow of peace. he has to be constantly harming people (ie. slowly draining the life out of them), but any man-made weapon has to make a save or be destroyed when it strikes him.

and for attacks? give him a custom eldrich glaive, with a custom vampiric blast modifier.

so warlock 5 with a custom blast enhancement and a custom feat.
would be scary as heck.

might help you out