Help me plan a single shot for tonight!

[SMac8988]

So I am planning a single shot for tonight, due to missing several of my main party. And am kinda stuck on what to do.

The party will consist of 3, level 11, hill dwarf clerics. Two of them playing their main characters in an off shoot story and the third thinking it would be funny.

I want it to be a good challenge for them, and test both their combat and puzzle solving. But I feel with that much healing it would be a pain.....

So ya, help!!!!

[Quoxis]

The party will consist of 3, level 11, hill dwarf clerics. Two of them playing their main characters in an off shoot story and the third thinking it would be funny.

Same deity, same portfolio?

If not:
a magic McGuffin has recently been unearthed and they all want to claim it for their respective deity, but A) they gotta jump through some hoops beforehand and B) they must get it without violence against other dwarves (e.g. each other), lest the McGuffin disappears, breaks or becomes otherwise unusable by its magic?
Actually, why not take it a step further: let there be 4 challenges outside of combat, the PC that solves most of them is deemed most worthy - no real PvP, just competition.

If yes:
A temple of [insert their deity] is under attack by [insert stereotypical dwarf hating creature], the PCs have to defend it, and the attack reveals a hidden/forgotten subterranean passage below the temple (enemies catapulted a hole into the rock by accident, a wall breaks, something like that) that the PCs have to explore afterwards?

What kind of puzzles/challenges do you want?
Pushing statues into place etc. is an easy to prepare challenge for the players themselves, as it can’t be solved by stats and skills alone, for example. Word play riddles (gollum vs. bilbo) are also easy to google and implement without much hassle.

[SMac8988]

Same deity, same portfolio?

If not:
a magic McGuffin has recently been unearthed and they all want to claim it for their respective deity, but A) they gotta jump through some hoops beforehand and B) they must get it without violence against other dwarves (e.g. each other), lest the McGuffin disappears, breaks or becomes otherwise unusable by its magic?
Actually, why not take it a step further: let there be 4 challenges outside of combat, the PC that solves most of them is deemed most worthy - no real PvP, just competition.

If yes:
A temple of [insert their deity] is under attack by [insert stereotypical dwarf hating creature], the PCs have to defend it, and the attack reveals a hidden/forgotten subterranean passage below the temple (enemies catapulted a hole into the rock by accident, a wall breaks, something like that) that the PCs have to explore afterwards?

What kind of puzzles/challenges do you want?
Pushing statues into place etc. is an easy to prepare challenge for the players themselves, as it can’t be solved by stats and skills alone, for example. Word play riddles (gollum vs. bilbo) are also easy to google and implement without much hassle.

They are from different gods. I like the idea of the McGuffin. Maybe a temple of like a seal away good god. Like someone lost intime, whom can help them in their cause.

I need a way to knock a lot of hit points out of them without it being ruthless. 3 healers makes for a hell of a single shot.....

[tieren]

Do a plaguelands kind of thing.

The McGuffin is in a Temple deep in a fetid swamp, toxic fumes fill the air and disease runs rampant. This band of healers was chosen to retrieve it due to their amazing dwarven resilience and ability to heal and cure the diseases. Long Resting will be impossible due to the fumes and constant biting insects (unless they find some interesting way to solve that problem).

If you infect and and poison them enough you will create a new resource dynamic struggling to manage their spell slots to keep up/ahead of the attrition. The poisons will let them feel good about having some resistance to the damage and being tough dwarves, but even at half damage the poisoned condition alone will get annoying. You can give the diseases interesting effects like stopping the use of Hit Die to recover hit points or cutting any healing received in half.

Then when they have to fight, they will need to be real careful about how much of their spell resources they are willing to devote and risk not keeping up with the cleansing.

[dragoeniex]

Depending on their play style/preferences, have you considered a natural disaster or the aftermath of a raid/battle? Whatever is going on, if there are a lot of people who have been seriously injured, it's a good chance for Team Cleric to prioritize and help the people that need it most or the people they think are most necessary to be up right now.

This could give them an opportunity to feel like real, life-preserving heroes while also draining off some of those excess healing spells you're worried about.

Basically, casualties may help.

[sithlordnergal]

Well, you could do this:

For some reason all healing magic has temporarily gone haywire in a specific dwarven outpost. When magic is used to heal someone, it starts killing them instead. Those three are sent to find the source. Eventually they find out it was a rift that was accidentally opened to the Far Realm, and they need to close it with a mcguffin or magic.

For the mechanics, spells and items that usually heal, such as Healing Word or Health Potions, deal damage for the duration of the game while Inflict Wounds allows you to heal. That will give the players a neat little one shot, while also dealing with your healing concerns

[SMac8988]

I like two of those ideas.

How about while on an airship heading to a council meeting of greater gods, their ship goes down. One of them is there to view the others to see if they deserve the help of his church. So they find themselves stuck in a putrid swamp land, filled with biting insects and poison gas. They will need to heal the crew so they can start repairs on the ship to get out. Also due to the nature of the filth in the air healing magic only does half?

And while they are there they find themselves at an abandon temple, to some lost god. Delving in they will find this was once some holy temple that have been over run by a demon or fiend of filth and rot. Killing it will bring back the God to their temple? And slowly bring back the followers?

[DrowPiratRobrts]

Some of my favorite side quests are the ones that have nothing to do with combat or questing in the traditional sense. Consider some of the following approaches:

1. A Baking Competition where they have to find some rare ingredients from a nearby enchanted forest or botanical garden. Give them a thyme limit and a few logic/deduction puzzles to collect the right ingredients. If they bring back all the correct things in time, their head chef leads the team to victory and they all gain the title of Bronze Chef.

2. A wrestling tournament where no magic is allowed. This is really fun! Rip off famous professional wrestlers.

3. Alligator hunt in the bayou/shark hunt off of a popular beach/tiger hunt in the jungle. Local, crazed animal terrorizing nearby village.

4. They have to help someone prove their innocence in court.

With any of these things it's a lot of fun as a DM and a player to get nontraditional rewards as well (a house/manor for the party to use, an ornate carriage drawn by 6 horses, a small business, etc.).

[DrowPiratRobrts]

Alternatively you could do this: Chess-Boxing (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_boxing)

[Ganymede]

Something is killing seemingly random people in town: a town drunk, a member of the city watch, and some children from the local orphanage. The bodies are left mangled and mutilated, and some are found killed in their own locked homes.


Unbeknownst to the PCs, a necromancer's attempt to become a lich has gone awry and its spirit bound itself to an especially troubled and withdrawn boy at the orphanage. This necromantic spirit, now a Boneclaw, is killing those that it perceives as having wronged the boy.

The players must unravel the mystery of what is killing the townsfolk while not ending up on the boy's "kill list." They must also brave the necromancer's former lair in order to procure his corrupted phylactery and put the Boneclaw to rest for good.

[SMac8988]

Something is killing seemingly random people in town: a town drunk, a member of the city watch, and some children from the local orphanage. The bodies are left mangled and mutilated, and some are found killed in their own locked homes.


Unbeknownst to the PCs, a necromancer's attempt to become a lich has gone awry and its spirit bound itself to an especially troubled and withdrawn boy at the orphanage. This necromantic spirit, now a Boneclaw, is killing those that it perceives as having wronged the boy.

The players must unravel the mystery of what is killing the townsfolk while not ending up on the boy's "kill list." They must also brave the necromancer's former lair in order to procure his corrupted phylactery and put the Boneclaw to rest for good.

I have literally ran exactly that situation..... like word for word......

[Ganymede]

I have literally ran exactly that situation..... like word for word......

Let's take a moment to thank the 5e writers that put adventure hooks in every monster description.