Joke Encounters

[Thrawn183]

So I've been trying to add joke encounters into my current D&D campaign to provide some moments of levity because my group likes to play for around 8 hours straight and we can get into a real hack'n slash fest if I don't watch myself.

So far I've been using random traps to try and see if the party will waste resources on something that isn't a threat (like a poison gas trap that puts you to sleep for 5 min. when there are no enemies around)

I had a room where one character got charmed by the desk (made their save ) and another got dominated by a leg lamp so he carries it around now. This of course being a blatant Anchorman reference.

I had a gnome frenzied berzerker that was introduced as the son of the dwarven king and enterred a frenzy if anybody tried to tell him he was actually a gnome.

I grabbed one off the wizards boards where two ogre psychic warriors, one with fling enemy and one with knockback, play baseball with you. I added a merciful weapon so my players wouldn't murder them in half a round.

I had a flock of griffons dive bomb the party on the road and try and hit them with "biological waste."

I'm currently building a character that is extremely resistant to harm because of high AC, and saves combined with evasion and mettle.

My greatest plan yet? I was talking with one of the players after the last session about the rules for being in water and how if you are chest deep in water you have improved cover granting you +8 to AC and +4 to reflex saves. We we joking about standing in a 5 foot tank of water to try and abuse the rules which eventually evolved into a riding around in a water tank mounted on a tricycle. The entire thing would be shoddily made but have a decanter of endless water so the thing is constantly spraying water all over the place but stays full.

Then, while brainstorming, I was struck by inspiration. I could make the tank a special mount for a paladin, giving it easily made stats. It would move by peddling and spraying water. Add in some nozzles that swivel in opposite directions and the thing spins around when the Paladin uses Whirlwind Attack. I'm debating using a mount with attacks and flavoring them as targetted jets of water. Anyhow, I think I can make it absolutely hilarious.

What are your best joke encounters?

[Canadian]

Anything that happens in a tavern.

[Michaelos]

The PCs found an effect that was similar to a Mirror of Opposition. One of the PCs pointed out that they knew a frail princess who had 0 max hp. We then tried to think "How would an unarmed princess, who can't take a standard action without beginning to bleed to death, attempt to kill an unarmed princess who can't take a standard action without beginning to bleed to death?" The best result I could come up with was to say nasty things at the other person and hope they get depressed enough to suicide.

[KillianHawkeye]

The PCs found an effect that was similar to a Mirror of Opposition. One of the PCs pointed out that they knew a frail princess who had 0 max hp. We then tried to think "How would an unarmed princess, who can't take a standard action without beginning to bleed to death, attempt to kill an unarmed princess who can't take a standard action without beginning to bleed to death?" The best result I could come up with was to say nasty things at the other person and hope they get depressed enough to suicide.

Huh??

Don't the characters in your world get the minimum 1 hp per Hit Die??

[afroakuma]

Thrawn: try this one out.

It's a living dungeon complete with shifting walls and a plethora of illusions whose only goal is to annoy your party and waste their time. It's also filled with illusory harems and enjoys teasing its "guests."

[PrismaticPIA]

Wall of Insults. Best...encounter....ever.

[Kurald Galain]

A classic one, I once had a party of level 8 or so ambushed by a group of first-level rogues, who had a lot of bravado but not much else in the way of a threat.

Another time, there was a magical gem as treasure, that granted the possessor one wish. No, not a Wish. The catch is that the party didn't know that, so the first time the fighter who carried it expressed a desire for something, it would appear.

[Totally Guy]

Ogre miniatures carrying pieces of a gingerbread house that I'd bought.

The players had to assemble it with icing sugar at gaming table.

[Flickerdart]

You see a well groomed garden. In the middle, on a small hill, you see a gazebo.

[afroakuma]

You see a well groomed garden. In the middle, on a small hill, you see a gazebo.

/thread

[BobVosh]

You see a well groomed garden. In the middle, on a small hill, you see a gazebo.

A gazebo? What color is it?


Hmm, I had fun with a doppelganger chameleon once. Queen Doppolpopolus. My favorite thing to do with it was to use my pants enchanted with Blinding. I would grab my crotch, do a pelvic thrust, and activate the blinding function :D

[Celeres]

we found an axe that was neutral good aligned.

if you failed your will save, you became neutral good.

it was called "The Axe of Random Kindness"

[Prometheus]

Selling the PCs cursed or fake items is always fun (give them outrageous deals so that a) they don't waste that much money and b) a healthy dose of skepticism could have saved them).

Have a drug that simultaneously produces powerful hallucinations and dramatically enhances magical power. Throw like three illusions (with Will saves) at him a round and keep the description of events to that player and the other PCs separate. It could even become a major plot device if it is used or sought by some NPC.

[TheCountAlucard]

...Queen Doppolpopolus...

!!!

(bashes with a wrench)

One I had that was rather fun had the PCs finding this massive, ornate key. They carried the key with them into the dungeon, where they eventually found a massive, iron door. As they approached it, the door cried out, "Ah, you brought the key! Hurry, unlock me!" Once they unlocked the door, it burst free of its hinges and fled from the dungeon, screaming, "I'm free, I'M FREE!"

[MCerberus]

One time our DM had us going back in time. We, naturally, screwed with the timeline in a way he did not anticipate. When we got back to the present, he told us,

"You've created a time Pterodox. You can't go changing the future like that. Roll for initiative."

[theMycon]

An encounter I call "The Alamo". The specifics are interchangable. It's more an experiment in group psychology than a joke encounter.

Make it clear there are well-defended "enemies" in a fortress, cave, slightly out of the way. Make it clear they have no intention of leaving, and pose no threat to the world around them, even tangentially. Make these "enemies" only bad guys by relation, who are entirely sidesteppable with almost no negative consequences, but there's no need to make them good. Part of the point of this thought experiment is that there is no real plot existing beforehand, so they have no special reason to go in. Consider giving them a time-sensitive objective if you want to lead them away for a while (they may mean to come back & forget about it).

Ideally, attacking them head-on should be about an even fight, and trying to be clever should produce a long battle where none of the PC's die, but they lose a lot of resources*. At least one person in a group will always be willing to waste a day on it. About 1 in 10 will say "we can come back to it later." Almost no-one can avoid the allure of loot & XP (and maybe our own summer-fortress, for retirement or vacation!). About half will, once their inside and hurting-but-not-gonna-die, suddenly realize they have no reason to be here. Most of those will still finish the job regardless.

Take notes on reaction, planning, & discussion. Once you have the "party thought process" written down**, then it makes planning the rest of the campaign much easier.



*darkness, invisibilty & non-threatening traps help. So does fudging rolls so PCs get in the "oh god I'm gonna die... run" range a long while before they die. Leave a slightly obvious opening so the PC's take the one "expected clever" route. Try for fallback positions, so either side can leave the moment things go sour.
**I'd call it the "gestalt mind of the party", but Gestalt has a different meaning in D&D.

[Knaight]

I've had a few involving guards. The first was negotiation, and not an encounter, where a player put an acidic sword down in the ground, point first, and it started burrowing when they weren't looking until they grabbed the handle at the last minute. The player had two swords which were both pretty fancy and semi-magical, and this sort of thing was a running joke. The second was when the players had managed to run afoul of some grunt guards when infiltrating a palace. The guards attacked in a pretty empty, dark corridor, with lots of hall ways, and everybody was coming out of hallways for a while hitting people. Then one of the players proceeded to light three guards on fire and one of the others busts out with a "screw it I'm not paid enough to see these guys". The rest immediately started looking in the wrong direction, and they left.

Giving guards funny lines is always entertaining, and usually works.

[Tam_OConnor]

Well, one of my campaigns is a refuge in audacity sort of deal. While crossing an ocean of blood on a tendon-bridge, they proceeded to harpoon a white blood cell and ride it. Let me emphasis that point: THEY HARPOONED AND RODE A WHITE BLOOD CELL!

[Kesnit]

You see a well groomed garden. In the middle, on a small hill, you see a gazebo.

I know this is a reference to some campaign, but can't for the life of me think what it means.

[Muad'dib]

I know this is a reference to some campaign, but can't for the life of me think what it means.

Google "eric and the Gazebo" and it should be the first five links.

[Ernir]

Well, I had my group recently run into a band of tree-cows. Bison stats, except with a climb speed of 20' and a huge racial bonus on climb checks. And they were coloured a bright green.

The encounter began as the cows jumped at them from the treetops. Nearly killed two 7th level characters, too...

(bashes with a wrench)

Remove the "r" from that and it becomes more appropriate for the thread.

[Kesnit]

Google "eric and the Gazebo" and it should be the first five links.

(snicker) There's even a Wikipedia page about that.

Poor Eric...

[Darth Stabber]

Three Words: Mindflayer Barbershop Quartet. That is all.

[Bugbeartrap]

One time our DM had us going back in time. We, naturally, screwed with the timeline in a way he did not anticipate. When we got back to the present, he told us,

"You've created a time Pterodox. You can't go changing the future like that. Roll for initiative."

is a time Pterodox a large flying dinosaur that attempts to reconcile fraying timelines by devouring those who would mess with the original timeline?

[Deth Muncher]

is a time Pterodox a large flying dinosaur that attempts to reconcile fraying timelines by devouring those who would mess with the original timeline?

Actually, it means it rides around time in a phonebooth, having crazy adventures, fighting B-Movie-esque robots and uses odd devices like Sonic Screwdrivers.

[Hal]

You see a well groomed garden. In the middle, on a small hill, you see a gazebo.

If I ever get to sit in the DM's chair again, I intend for my players to fight a Paladin with a gazebo mount.

[Zen Monkey]

A few that I've reused:

1. A group of ogres are standing in a field. When the PC's approach, one holds out his hand and states "toll bridge." There is no bridge within sight, and the monsters have no concept of what the phrase means, just that it results in people giving up money somehow. The PC's usually explain the concept, often by just walking around them to demonstrate the point, before negotiations break down.

2. If you take players from level one to mid or high level, have them get randomly ambushed by low level bandits. It's a fun reminder of how far they've come from what used to be a tough encounter.

3. Ransom demands for a missing villager are made in crude handwriting and signed "not the goblins"

[Tempest Fennac]

I'm running a solo game for a friend who's a new player*. They wanted a really easy fight while escorting a peasant child back to his home village after the kid was rescued from a couple of random demons. I decided to have what I described as a Wild Sammich attack the player and the only way to defeat it was to grapple it and bite it (the peasant child figured this out after the first time it split in 2 due to being attacked with a hammer). The player was then shocked by the lack of cake, so I sprung this enemy on them earlier:

Giant chocholate cake with strawberry icing and cherries and 100s and 1000s as topping. (Medium Construct).

Str: 20. Dex: 12. Con: - Int: - Wis: 10. Cha: 18.

HPs: 79. Saves: +3 for Fort and Will, 4 for Reflex. BAB: 6.

Special Attacks: Cherry Shot (same as Magic Missile), Icing Line (20' line, Reflex save vs. DC 15 for half damage, deals 5d6 damage).

Can Levitate in order to slam down on opponants to grapple them. Grappling didn;t provoke an AAO, but the cake needed a normal attack rather then a touch attack to grapple. Once grappled, the victim took 1d10+ BAB damage/round due to the weight.


BAB reduced by 1 whenever 2 Slashing attacks hit it in consecutive rounds due to a slice being removed.

Damage Reduction 15/Slashing.

When the player decided to have their character lick the icing sugar off themselves before cleaning themselves with a Prestigitation I decided that if the character failed a DC 15 Fort save, their scales would turn bright red until a Remove Curse spell was used. The only other effects of this would have been itching during the change.

*He's playing as an LA 0 Lizardfolk Battle Sorcerer with full Sorcerer spell Progression and Abjurant Champion levels. The character is level 9 at the minute.

[MCerberus]

is a time Pterodox a large flying dinosaur that attempts to reconcile fraying timelines by devouring those who would mess with the original timeline?

It was some kind of inevitable that summoned snakes and was shaped as a flying dinosaur.

[herrhauptmann]

Never done it, but I'm planning on throwing out the head of vecna next time I go home.