Lake encounter for level 6 party

[username1]

We are crossing a icy lake and I need an encounter. Any ideas?

[stoutstien]

how large of a party?
how hard of encounter?
is the lake frozen solid?
hows the weather?
when are they likely going to reach this point? right off a rest or end of day?
is this a hack n slash style game or heavy RP?

good encounters take effort

[MeimuHakurei]

Few ideas:

-An assortment of skeletons with hide armors and axes from the remains of a tribe who lived there formally.
-Saber-Toothed Tigers eagerly to tear into the party.
-A frost giant hunter looking to get supplies for his fort.
-A young white dragon defending its territory.

[SpanielBear]

A knight attempting to convince a watery bint to favour him in some farcical aquatic ceremony in hopes of attaining supreme executive power.

/S

In all seriousness, stumbling upon a ritual in progress could be very interesting. All the party knows is what they see, so the trappings could be as esoteric or sinister as you like, and the outcome could vary from a simple local tradition to awakening a dormant spirit that will flood the landscape. Make the players make decisions and investigate, or play up consequences if they are regular murder-hobos.

[Tvtyrant]

We are crossing a icy lake and I need an encounter. Any ideas?

The lake was recently seperated from the sea and there is a trapped Kraken/Aboleth/Super powered sea monster who was napping and is now trapped. They are willing to trade the party a treasure map for a lift to the ocean, but a no will be taken poorly.

You can also have an Ahab/Old mand and the Sea proxy hunting it who will pay the party to kill yon beasty.

[rahimka]

Assuming this is a big lake (or else why are they walking across it, frozen or not...):

The party sees a small island not far off. As they get closer, they spot a lone figure on the edge of the icy shore, waving frantically but with the biting winds its too far away to hear what he is shouting unless they can pass a moderate/difficult Perception check. (DC15 to recognize something about "...off the ice...can track...", DC20 "Get off the ice! The creatures underneath it can track your footsteps!")

At that point anyone watching the ice (or with high passive perception) might notice a large shadowy form shift beneath the surface...

They have a few rounds (no more than 2-3 actions each) to respond and/or try to reach the island. If they book it, they can get within another couple rounds of the shore before the Young White Dragon bursts through the ice to attack! (tactically positioned to cut them off if they did a sh*t job of responding, or behind them if they did well in your opinion)

Now a single CR6 creature against a 6th level party of any size is gonna be at a disadvantage in terms of action economy. So let it use some form of the Lair actions described in the Monster Manual. And have it try to toy with them like the cruel predator it is: cutting them off from escape with ice walls, cracking the ice beneath their feet to try and send them into the freezing cold water, etc

If its getting wailed on, it will retreat below the ice again and use those same tactics to strike at the ground beneath their feet from a position of safety, forcing them to retreat or fly or SOMETHING

If they can take it down in a fun challenging battle, great! If the battle goes lopsided either way, use the Dragon's terrain advantage to nudge them into retreating onto the island. It seems the beast isn't interested in pursuing if it doesn't have the upper hand that fighting on the ice grants it, so they can find some refuge there with the poor humanoid that tried to signal them.

On the island, this person can lead them to a small shelter/cave where they can rest, hear the tale of how he too ended up trapped here by the Dragon, and plan their rematch / daring escape across the ice.

But the next time they venture out onto the ice, the Dragon has also had time to consider what to do, and maybe it's brought a few ice mephits or other minions to make things even more interesting...

EDIT: Or instead of the Dragon, throw a 2-3 Young Remorhazes at them. Lacks some of the "WOW!" factor of the Dragon, but mechanically its probably a better balance, and these things actually do have the Tremorsense I was kind of handwaving the Dragon to operate with (though neither option can technically breath underwater but, meh, DM fiat for a better encounter; if it bothers you, find something that DOES)

[Kaibis]

We are crossing a icy lake and I need an encounter. Any ideas?

I know I pretty much say "use a hag" in answer to every question... but hags are the best most underrated mobs. They are intelligent, and truly chaotic evil. They will mess with a party in crazy ways that make zero sense for any other mob... just because they are getting a kick out of it. They will undertake twisted convoluted plans because they are enjoying the mess it creates.

E.g. Have a sea hag send a brown bear to harass them, when they kill the bear have her curse them and show up with her coven, threatening them unless they make bargains. Hags love to trick people into doing their biding (maybe, they have to bring a sacrifice in 1 month). Hags will let their prey go just so they can harass it later.

[stoutstien]

I know I pretty much say "use a hag" in answer to every question... but hags are the best most underrated mobs. They are intelligent, and truly chaotic evil. They will mess with a party in crazy ways that make zero sense for any other mob... just because they are getting a kick out of it. They will undertake twisted convoluted plans because they are enjoying the mess it creates.

E.g. Have a sea hag send a brown bear to harass them, when they kill the bear have her curse them and show up with her coven, threatening them unless they make bargains. Hags love to trick people into doing their biding (maybe, they have to bring a sacrifice in 1 month). Hags will let their prey go just so they can harass it later.
i have the same feeling about mephits being under used.

what if the lake is actually a colony of water elementals that are protecting something truly horrid.

[Malifice]

We are crossing a icy lake and I need an encounter. Any ideas?

Ice covered lake = difficult terrain (half movement). A creature that takes the Dash action must first attempt a DC 15 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check or fall at the start of their movement. A creature that fails the above check by 5 or more breaks through the ice and falls into the frozen lake (see below).

The ice can be broken (a 5 x 5 foot sheet has AC 15, 10 HP, immune to cold, necrotic, acid, poison, resistant to piercing and slashing, vulnerable to fire and thunder). A creature standing on an area of broken ice must attempt a DC 15 Dexterity save or fall in the freezing water, taking 1d6 cold damage, and a level of exhaustion unless they are resistant or immune to cold damage. At the start of each turn they remain immersed, they take an additional 1d6 cold damage.

On a succesful save, they instead leap clear to the nearest available space.

Conditions: A blizzard whips up, providing disadvantage to Perception, and limiting visibility to 30'.

From there just throw in any monsters you want.

[Trustypeaches]

I had a fun encounter with my character crossing through a Bayou on a boat with a bunch of forest gnomes riding lilypads and poking at them with spears and blowdarts.

[Mjolnirbear]

Basing this on AngryGM's two recent articles...

For random encounters, either choices or setbacks work. A choice involves options, and the your choice determines if things go well or badly. A setback is a cost, like a fight or an environmental effect.


* a bear protecting the carcass of a recent kill. You can fight her or go the long way around
* a hobgoblin dying of exposure. Heal him or let him die. The hob can return the favour, or take advantage, whatever you think helps the story.
* the wind has picked up. Anyone not properly bundled has to roll to avoid exposure
* a blizzard hits with blinding speed. Forge though or wait it out? What precautions do the characters take?


For a main encounter, you'll want something deadly. A fight in a frozen wasteland can be nothing else. I'd say a rescue from a raid. You need a victim: a family's homestead; a dog sled teamster; a wounded silver dragon

Then you need the enemy: frostbitten desperate raiders; orc war party; a frost giant hunting party. Make the enemy level appropriate.

Give the enemy a goal: steal firewood and food; hunting the sled dogs for meat; the giants are waging their eternal war

And add a twist: the raiders are dying and need the supplies; the orcs are on the last leg of their journey and carry important info (they badly need the protein); the giants are coming of age, and need to kill the dragon to become adults.

[Laserlight]

* a hobgoblin dying of exposure. Heal him or let him die. The hob can return the favour, or take advantage, whatever you think helps the story.


If you do the "heal the hobgoblin and it stabs you" your players probably won't ever trust a surrendering monster again.

Back to the orginal question: My players were crossing a frozen river and found a gnomish cargo ship trapped in the ice and abandoned. They got into the forward cargo hold and disturbed Something Bad--I showed them a pic of a Necron Wraith with no explanation. They instantly Banished it and ran...or rather "crawled", because it was a gnomish ship. And the hatch they tried to escape out of was iced shut. And the paladin didn't quite realize how deep the hold was, so he tried to chop his way out and discovered that he was below the waterline. And when the cleric realized they were trapped in a pitch black corridor in a sinking ship with the Bad Thing coming out of Banishment in a few rounds, he started cussing in Deep Speech, because Common just wasn't adequate. And then the new PC said "Deep Speech! Mindflayer minions!" and shot him. Good times.

There was also a point where they were fighting on ice floes. Jumping from one to another (and when you jump, the floes move). Sliding off them. Melting them with fire spells. Paddling with a halberd.

[Mjolnirbear]

If you do the "heal the hobgoblin and it stabs you" your players probably won't ever trust a surrendering monster again.
.

Crucially in my games alignment means diddly. Hobgoblins are not automagically evil.

Also, the players should never trust anything you do as a DM. If they have not learned this, a backstabbing humanoid can teach it fast. Their suspicion and caution adds layers and depth and intrigue to the game.

But most importantly, wariness doesn't mean not helping. You can still help and keep an eye on it. This is why a choice can be amazing. It can add complexity to your world and the story you're running so very easily.

Lastly, I like intrigue in my games. If you or your players don't like it, a backstabbing rescue might not be the best choice.

[SpanielBear]

Crucially in my games alignment means diddly. Hobgoblins are not automagically evil.

Also, the players should never trust anything you do as a DM. If they have not learned this, a backstabbing humanoid can teach it fast. Their suspicion and caution adds layers and depth and intrigue to the game.

But most importantly, wariness doesn't mean not helping. You can still help and keep an eye on it. This is why a choice can be amazing. It can add complexity to your world and the story you're running so very easily.

Lastly, I like intrigue in my games. If you or your players don't like it, a backstabbing rescue might not be the best choice.

Well I mean, I’d say it needs to at least make narrative sense. Healing a wounded individual who turns out to be a vampire and attacks the party makes some sense- vampires are cunning and arrogant, and may think they can take out a whole group as long as they identify the cleric first.

A lone hobgoblin faced with a whole party that includes a spell caster? A sullen grunt and hightailing it out of there before they change their minds.

A lone hobgoblin acting as bait so the party moves into his warband’s kill-zone? Now we’re talking.

The point is, if every creature just lashes out at the party for no reason, murder-hoboism is inevitable. But if there is a coherent underlying motivation and narrative, and it doesn’t happen all the time, yeah it adds a layer.

[Vogie]

I would love to have some sort of encounter in the middle of the ice... you'd need some sort of map or minis

Regardless the monster they're fighting, add a mechanic where:

attacks that miss the PCs definitely crack the ice
Certain things that miss the monster(s) may also crack the ice
Dashes, dodges and fire spells also require a dexterity Saving throw to avoid making more cracks
at the top of initiative, the cracks splinter
When the cracks connect, the ice opens into the freezing lake, and another dex saving throw to dive away from falling in the water.
Being in freezing water gives the same debuff as Poisoned unless you succeed a Constitution save, and ending your turn in the freezing water gives a level of exhaustion.


If you're not looking for a fight encounter, using the mechanic of a 4e Skill challenge to get across the ice as it starts to break up. This could be due to a malignant force, an avalanche, or just an ex machina change of weather.