Help with scaring my players

[Harrysonford]

Hello, all! (Please excuse the large amount of text)
I’m relatively new to DMing and I may have run myself into a wall here. We aren’t doing a campaign, rather, we’re taking turns DMing a series of adventures that are loosely related.
I was the first to DM and I started everyone at lv 5. Halfway through they leveled up to lv 6, which made sense for the adventure I was running.
The problem is that I like to make my sessions creepy, but one PC has an ability that doesn’t allow for a sense of uncertainty. He’s playing a shadow sorcerer, and with his hound of ill omen ability, he always knows where a creature is after he encounters it (if he uses that ability). In the first session, I sort of had to BS it since the boss fled several times, and I had to keep the party on their toes. I said that since the boss was in it’s lair, it was hard to distinguish where exactly she was. The player did not like this, he was rather upset and I worry that I cannot do this again without ruining his build or the session.
Unfortunately, however, I wish to use another hit and run creature because of this specific creature’s lore and creep factor. What should I do to prevent this PC from using his hound on the creature?
Any input is appreciated:)

[Unoriginal]

What is the boss?

[sophontteks]

Sorcerers are pretty good at foiling a good DM plan. I wouldn't try to get around the hound, he's paying a lot for that hound and its one of his premier abilities.

[Treantmonk]

Honestly, the best way to scare your players doesn't involve game mechanics at all. Turn down the lights. Maybe light a candle. Play some creepy background music. Take your time to describe the creepy details of the environment and the creature. Here's the big one, that sounds obvious, but is often overlooked: TELL THE PLAYERS THAT THEIR CHARACTERS ARE SCARED!

So, it would go something like this:

You and the players huddle around a table, a candle illuminates the room dimly. You lean in, the candlelight flickers on your face. Spooky background sounds eminate from your tablet on the table.

"Decending the stairs slowly, you notice a low pitched creaking, as if the wood is old and dry. The basement is pitch black, with your darkvision you can make out a room that appears out of a nightmare. A table in the middle has chains attached by rusted bolts on the side, like a crude mechanism for restraint, and the table itself is caked in old dry blood, and bits that you can only assume are old bones and rotted flesh. The rest of the basement is in dissaray, chairs, broken and ancient, lie scattered on the floor with other debris. Old webs hang from the ceiling, but the walls are wet, as if the creek outside has created a perpetual leak, and you can hear the water dripping. The scene sends shivers down your spine. A shadowy figure at the end of the room quickly slips towards the cover of an old bookcase filled with rotting tomes."

"I summon my hound of ill omen to track it!"

"Your hound rushes towards the figure, but you hear it whimper as it gets close and sees the target. As your hound approaches, you see something white, it is the white of misshapen teeth as the creature smiles, then giggles like the sound of a mind that is shattered. You can't make out its features, but you immediately realize it is much larger than you initially believed, and each of it's 4 arms seem to be holding what look like battered kitchen cleavers. Roll initiative."

[The Pilgrim]

Unfortunately, however, I wish to use another hit and run creature because of this specific creature’s lore and creep factor. What should I do to prevent this PC from using his hound on the creature?
Any input is appreciated:)

Provide your creature with an amulet whose magic blocks the sorcerer's ability to locate it.

[Boci]

Provide your creature with an amulet whose magic blocks the sorcerer's ability to locate it.

That will definitly frustrate the sorceror's player more than scare them.

To the OP: What's the bosses damage output like? How quickly can they reliably do 40 damage to a AC 14 target?

[Sigreid]

The Private Sanctum spell is a legit way to hid. So is an amulet of non-detection.

You have to do more than just hide to cause fear though.

[Boci]

The Private Sanctum spell is a legit way to hid. So is an amulet of non-detection.

Legit in that they aren't homebrew, but it will still be clear to the sorceror that the boss was given that to screw his clasds feature over....again.

[Sigreid]

Legit in that they aren't homebrew, but it will still be clear to the sorceror that the boss was given that to screw his clasds feature over....again.

I suppose. But I come from it as Private Sanctum was one of the first spells my evoker picked up because it provides a lot of security. And I'm not saying every major enemy should have one or the other. Maybe 1 in 3 or 5 will have the means to counteract detection.

[Boci]

I suppose. But I come from it as Private Sanctum was one of the first spells my evoker picked up because it provides a lot of security. And I'm not saying every major enemy should have one or the other. Maybe 1 in 3 or 5 will have the means to counteract detection.

The problem is this just happaned. I think if the DM can't kill the hound though regular HP damage, then they need to skip any attempts to work around it. Wait a bit, then use the spell or amulet.

[Sigreid]

The problem is this just happaned. I think if the DM can't kill the hound though regular HP damage, then they need to skip any attempts to work around it. Wait a bit, then use the spell or amulet.

Oh, on that I totally agree. As a DM and player I never think it's kosher to have th opponents have any form of plot armor.

[Boci]

Oh, on that I totally agree. As a DM and player I never think it's kosher to have th opponents have any form of plot armor.

Wait, would sanctum even work? It blocks divination, and the hounds ability to locate the target isn't called a divination.

[Wryte]

Hound of Ill Omen can only track one creature at a time.

Throw two at them.

They think they're safe, tracking the hounded creature, secure in the knowledge that it's several rooms away. They pause for a moment to rest, or inspect something. The Hound is still telling them the creature is far away, and they have nothing to worry about.

Then the other one strikes.

Maybe they kill it. Maybe they escape from it. But something's changed now. They're tracking one of these things... but they have no idea how many more there may be.

[Berenger]

They can locate the enemy and sense that it draws near? That's horror gold.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bqSgvEZNtY

[Sigreid]

Wait, would sanctum even work? It blocks divination, and the hounds ability to locate the target isn't called a divination.

When I suggested it I had not looked up the hound yet. Having read it, it would not be particularly useful. Even if the sanctum itself would prevent detection by the hound from beyond the barrier, there is nothing in the description that would prevent the hound from simply entering the protected area and soldiering on.

Seems the best defense from the hound is teleporting the heck out of there to a distance so far that it would take the hound days to get to you and you could have a trap set up.

[Boci]

Since its relevant to this thread and some people are a bit unclear how the ability works, the Shadow Sorceror can summon a hound which is a direwolf with some neat bonus abilities. One of them is:

"At the start of its turn the hound automatically knows its target's location. If the target was hidden it is no longer hidden from the hound."

[DeTess]

Since its relevant to this thread and some people are a bit unclear how the ability works, the Shadow Sorceror can summon a hound which is a direwolf with some neat bonus abilities. One of them is:

"At the start of its turn the hound automatically knows its target's location. If the target was hidden it is no longer hidden from the hound."

Does it have a way to clearly communicate this to the sorcerer?

Anyway, the scariest session I've ever had involved a creature that just couldn't be killed. We had to avoid it to get to what we anted, and then had to run like hell while it chased us on our way out. Not knowing how far it could follow us and wondering when it would pop up again (it could become ethereal, allowing it to literally pop out of walls ore the floor). Knowing where it was wouldn't have helped much in this case.

Of course, this is a kind of circumstance you should sue no more than once, or it'll turns tale instead of scary.

[Boci]

Does it have a way to clearly communicate this to the sorcerer?

Doesn't seem so, it just move towards the target, through solid objects and creatures and attacks it.

But honestly, any messing with the hound after the BS of last's sessions "its in its lair, so the hound doesn't know" is going to be taken badly, even legitimate. I think the DM needs to pay their dues and skip the hit and run monster in recompense.

[Laserlight]

Hound of Ill Omen can only track one creature at a time.

Throw two at them.

They think they're safe, tracking the hounded creature, secure in the knowledge that it's several rooms away. They pause for a moment to rest, or inspect something. The Hound is still telling them the creature is far away, and they have nothing to worry about.

Then the other one strikes.

Maybe they kill it. Maybe they escape from it. But something's changed now. They're tracking one of these things... but they have no idea how many more there may be.

That's how I'd handle it. You think you're safe and it comes out of the wall at you. You kill it, it's waiting around the corner for you. When they get to the final boss fight, you show the boss splitting into several separate entities, or the several of them mash together into one as The Final Form.

Or "It's that way. And also the other way. And way over there. And to the southwest,"

[GorogIrongut]

Sounds like your Big Bad needs minions. Or better yet, needs to bring in his wife. As previously mentioned, two Big Bads are better than one.

As for the question about scaring your players, I would do the following:
1. It's not about the Big Bad. Have it lead them into an area where the very terrain is hazardous.
2. This terrain takes them out of their comfort zone. Imagine them chase the big bad only to see it disappear in a flash. When they get to where it was and start investigating, they notice a jewel. If they look closer it has 4 equidistant, tiny cracks in it. Upon touching it, anything within 10' of it is instantaneously sucked into it.
Fast forward to those who were sucked in. They're inside the gem. Except now it's an enormous cavern and they're standing/swaying on a rusted, 5' thick chain. This chain (and if they can see good another 3) all lead to an enormous Titan Skull being held in the air by the chains. Immediately start make them take dexterity checks to not fall off the chain.
By doing this you have a creepy environment that becomes the opponent. It's less about hp and more about not catapulting yourself into a bottomless pit.
When I ran a similar scenario, I decided to go clockwork. The first sign the players had was the metallic clank of tiny feet moving along the rusted iron chain (think Replicators from SG1). This preceded them being attacked from all directions by clockwork spiders. There was a section where gravity dissipated and they could float/hover. They had great fun until one of them almost died. Then gravity returned and I unleashed the most evil part of my plan.
Clockwork simians... racing down the chain on all fours. Which initially doesn't seem that bad. Until they start grappling your character. If they can't throw you off the chain, then they're programmed to kamikaze dive off while holding you as tight as possible.
When my players played this, they'd obviously gotten freaked out by the environment. But with each change, I tweaked it and turned it against them so that they were never emotionally stable. First you try not to fall off. Then you have to get used to being attack from all directions. Then being attacked by flyers while not falling off. Then dealing with 'hovering' over an abyss. By the time the monkeys suicided off the chain, they thought they'd figured everything out and were completely floored.
It was at this point that all of the laborious tying the party together with ropes (so that if one fell the others could help him up) paid off. There's nothing freakier than being tied together with your party, fighting off mechanically hooting scimians while trying to save fallen teammates before rope snaps.

I was also evil enough where I decided to terminate Day 1 of this session after the first character was dangling over an abyss while a robot monkey was simultaneously squeezing them as tightly as possible while also trying to snap the rope.

There are obviously more details to flesh it out. But my guys were talking about that two session arc forEVER after.


p.s. After they completed this adventure arc, the party's wood elf druid laid claim on this gem. She was a bit hippyish and not very big on pockets so she stuffed it wherever she could... which was usually in her pants. Which led to a longstanding joke that she kept the door to hell in her trousers.

[Unoriginal]

How about this: let the Sorcerer shine, this time. Let them be effective. Let them beat the bad guy.


This situation is one of the only where this Hound will be this handy. It'd be a shame to declare "nope it doesn't work".

There will be more encounters and bad guys. Let things run their course, and next time they'll be harassed by a scarier spook.

[Personification]

What about the ethereal plane? Give your boss an ability with a several minute to an hour recharge that allows it to go to the ethereal plane for a few hours or minutes and then return to the material. Fill the dungeon with phase spiders and that ilk, and make item drops include ethereal plane related magic (like oil of etherealness). Instead of the boss teleporting or running away, they just pop into the ethereal and spend several minutes observing the characters from there. The hound (which only lasts 5 minutes) either can't detect it, or (to max out freakiness) goes to its exact location and starts whining and growling and flailing and scratching at the ground to no effect. It is telling the sorc that the boss is right on top of it, but nobody is there. when all of the characters are looking around confused, one of them hears a quiet scratching noise. If they turn around they see "DON'T BLINK" etched into the wall by an invisible hand as they watch (a (not very) subtle reference to the spell "Blink"). If anybody in the party watches Dr. Who, add some non-magical but very creepy statues with their eyes covered. It will cause them to freak out, and make them get scared for entirely the wrong reason as hey do everything in their power to keep the statues in sight and or destroy them, while your main villain continues to randomly pop into and out of existence with a bunch of giant teleporting spiders and attack them.:smalleek::smalleek::smalleek: [maniacal laugh]:belkar:

[lordarkness]

I would suggest that you use the hound to help make it scary.

Make your strengths into weaknesses and all that.

Create a boss that will obviously TPK the adventurers until they find a special way to stop/kill/banish it or a special means to protect them. Until that time BBEG will hunt them down relentlessly forcing the party to flee for their lives.

Here the PC with the hound gets to shine as they have an ability that lets the party know when to hurry up or to run and which direction to run from.

[Keravath]

I don't really understand the problem.

"The hound disappears if it is reduced to 0 hit points, if its target is reduced to 0 hit points, or after 5 minutes." XgtE P51

"he always knows where a creature is after he encounters it" ... for the shadow sorcerer from Xanathar's this is completely wrong.

The hound lasts 5 minutes or until it is dead. Yes the hound will be able to keep tabs on the bad guy during ONE combat. Assuming the bad guy doesn't just kill it.

The bad guy could also run through a door and lock it behind him. The hound has to follow through the door. The bad guy kills it off while laughing at the PCs trying to break through the door.

The hound does not last across encounters. It might be useful during a chase scene but when 5 minutes are up it is gone. It costs 3 sorcery points to cast which is 1/2 of the allotment for a level 6 sorcerer.

Also, since the hound gives the bad guy disadvantage on spell saves from the sorcerer .... it is very likely to be the prime target for the bad guy's minions. Which does ease the pressure on the party but the wolf won't last long. This is actually the main practical use of the hound as a substitute for the heighten meta-magic and an extra target on the field. The sorcerer summons a hound and follows up with hold person at disadvantage for example. It is a powerful tool but it doesn't let the sorcerer know where the bad guy is all the time.

Finally, if you have a bad guy that likes to hide during combat ... the wolf can still follow him. "At the start of its turn, the hound automatically knows
its target's location. If the target was hidden, it is no longer hidden from the hound." This is pretty clear ... THE HOUND knows where the target is ... no one else. The hound doesn't tell the sorcerer, the sorcerer has no clue. In fact, if the target is still hidden from the sorcerer then he can't even directly target it. He could target the mostly likely square based on where the hound is going or attacking ... but the target is still hidden from the PC if it was hidden previously.

So, overall, it doesn't seem encounter breaking. It applies only to the hound and the hound lasts a maximum of 5 minutes.

[Segev]

Duplicates. Doppelgangers. Twins. "There's more of them."

Sure, he knows the monster, the big bad, the whoever is... over THERE. Then what is that breathing down his neck right behind him?



The hound approaches the creature, following it...and it disappears. The sorcerer no longer knows where it is...somehow. And now, there it is again, out of the corner of his eye, and his hound isn't telling him about it. It might take them a while to test to see if it's an Illusion.



A hound of ill omen is tracking the party. They only see it out of the corners of their eyes. Or hear it when they stop moving, briefly failing to cease its own movement fast enough. At night, they hear it whuffling around the edge of camp, or outside their window. Creepy by itself. If the Sorcerer recognizes it, who is tracking them, and why?



In the vein of doubles, the bad guy works through patsies. Many of whom are suggested to act like and dress up as him, and do what he would have done had he been there to see them. The bad guy does this to protect himself and his identity, but it also has the advantage of having the Hound track the wrong person. Best case scenario: they track him back down while the Hound still is on him only to find the innkeeper or the miller is who the Hound is pointing at, not the bad guy. After 2-3 of these, they'll wonder how he's foiling the Hound, rather than assuming they've found the bad guy's secret ID. At least one worse case scenario is that they find the the innkeeper or the miller or whoever dead, as the real bad guy cleans up after himself by murdering his mind-whammied impersonators.



The key here is not to cheat his Hound, but to make it work exactly as advertised...only the scenario isn't what he thought it was. Don't make the hound useless, either. It should work on a lot of things. but every now and again, its failure to work as expected will be spooky. It has taken something they know and rely on and made it iffy. Questionable. And it's not even the DM pulling rule 0 stunts or homebrew direct-thwarting. It makes for a good mystery, and like any magic trick, it fools the audience into thinking something is happening that isn't.