Non-Combat Random Encounters

[hydroplatypus]

Basically I don't want the party to be bored by traveling meaning randomly fighting something. These have their place, but I think that a really good non-combat situation that is encountered traveling from place to place would be really cool. I would like some Ideas for these encounters.

[Glimbur]

Environmental obstacles can be fun at low levels. A raging river they have to cross, the rope bridge across a chasm is out, they have to cross a large natural chimney with high winds... at low levels these can be a legitimate challenge.

[hydroplatypus]

Environmental obstacles can be fun at low levels. A raging river they have to cross, the rope bridge across a chasm is out, they have to cross a large natural chimney with high winds... at low levels these can be a legitimate challenge.

My players are low level, and the campaign will be fairly short, going from levels 3 to 8ish, depending on how often we play, so this is the target group.

Cleric
Rogue
Druid
Fighter

starting in about a weekish, and I forget all other details. Very low optomization, as it is their (and my) first time playing D&D

[some guy]

Here is the last part of my random encounter table of a hilly/wooded area. This part consists mostly of social encounters. The first 30% of that table consists of animal encounters which can be avoided/observed/hunted/fought.

Spoiler

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84 ranger
85 druid
86 person, victim of baleful polymorph, tries to catch attention
87 patrol of nearby city, 1d3+1 mounted warriors, led by Paladin (lvl 3)
88 halfling family
89 halfling caravan
90 halfling bandits posing as caravan (1d4 rogs+1d4 warriors)
91 2d4 bandits + rog 2 leader
92 traveling sage/archivist
93 traveling farmer
94 traveling cabbage seller
95 traveling bard
96 traveling merchant + lvl 2 fighter
97 traveling merchant + lvl 4 fighter/rogue
98 cleric of Farlanghn
99 bandit posing as cleric of Farlanghn/ his bloody robes
100 Farlanghn

Probably gonna throw some hermit in there, too.

[GolemsVoice]

As Glimbur said, environmental challenges work nicely, especially if your group likes being crafty and resourceful. I certainly know one or two players who could spend hours trying to cross a river, even though we're all level 20+ and can fly, teleport, or just drain the river.

Toll houses at borders and bridges are also nice. Perhaps the adventurer look suspicious, and must endure some questioning.

Or they come across a travelling band of merchants/ a faire, and they could decide to travel with them, though this would mostly be a nice way to make the journey something else than "you travel north for 5 days".

But speaking of travelling north, maybe they'll lose their way, and have to navigate by themselves? This should also give players with some RL knowledge of orienteering a way to shine, if their character would also know this.

[Jay R]

A four-year-old child, crying, "I want my mommy!"

Several ways you can go from here:

A. Nobody else around for twenty miles.
B. Nobody else around, partially eaten body nearby.
C. Village a few miles away, villagers a bit stand-offish until they see the child, at which point they ALL run home and lock their doors.

The point is that a lost child problem cannot be solved by melee.

[Totally Guy]

Make sure it's something the players care about. Some situations will be ignored if the players and characters have no reason to care about it. Have it related to the good stuff that the characters are trying to get to.

[Daremonai]

Ir

A four-year-old child, crying, "I want my mommy!"

Several ways you can go from here:

A. Nobody else around for twenty miles.
B. Nobody else around, partially eaten body nearby.
C. Village a few miles away, villagers a bit stand-offish until they see the child, at which point they ALL run home and lock their doors.

The point is that a lost child problem cannot be solved by melee.

...except in an evil campaign.

[Mastikator]

Roll 1D20

1, Traveling merchant
2, Some kind of building, dungeon or cave that is empty but has stuff in, loot or plot clues, or just interesting scenery
3, A messenger sent specifically after them with a letter
4, Some kind of obstacle, like a rangly bridge over a canyon
5, "Monsters" that are friendly
6, A location where a strange phenomena occurs that they can't explain
7, A starving family begging them for food or gold
8, A traveling lonely adventurer who is impressed and wants to join
9, The road disappears and the place looks nothing like on the map, the party is lost
10, A great wall with guards that demand taxes and forbids bandits from coming close
11, A hunter who knows the area well and warns the players that the road ahead is dangerous
12, An unexpected fork in the road that wasn't there on the map, the players don't know which path to take
13, Some kind of mining/digging/smelting operation and the workers want to trade with the players
14, An historical artefact, like a face carved into a mountain, or an abandoned temple
15, A caravan of merchants
16, A recently destroyed caravan with tracks leading off the road, perhaps a badly hurt survivor who claims they took prisoners and promises a reward if the prisoners are freed
17, A tribe of some kind who owns the land and demand a tribute for passage (and in return escorts the players through)
18, A harmless ghost trapped in the forest
19, Tracks that lead off the road and to some kind of magical tree or lake or whatever.
20, Roll twice, combine the two options somehow, reroll if it hits 20 again.

Some of these are challenging, but most are an opportunity to define the PC's personality, to roleplay!

[pasko77]

The point is that a lost child problem cannot be solved by melee.

Says who?

[Jay R]

The point is that a lost child problem cannot be solved by melee.

Says who?

Says me.

First of all, the DM is trying to set up a non-combat encounter. If the party would even attack a lost child, then a non-combat encounter would be impossible, and the DM would know it, so this thread wouldn't exist.

Secondly, if the party were entirely Evil, the DM would have told us, since that would be crucial to designing an encounter. So I conclude that there is at least one non-Evil character, who would not condone killing a child.

But I admit I never really considered the possibility. I am aware that there are people who would enjoy role-playing murdering a child, but I have never played with such people, so the idea just never occurred to me.

[Coidzor]

Depending upon the group, in-jokes or references during a social encounter may be something they'd enjoy, though it'd require a bit of tempering and improv to keep it up if they try to derail it if that's possible.

[Eldan]

Note that this was a Planescape game set in one of the poorest areas of Sigil. Still.


An Ettercap of unusual intelligence. He was dressed in a long leather coat and a top hat, though both grimy and worn out. Had a large black leather doctor's bag under one arm, full of surgeon's tools. Sadly, he was unable to speak any language other than his native Ettercap. Some magic later revealed that he was a mad scientist who had been banished from his home world for, basically, trying Dr. Frankenstein experiments on corpses. He now works as a doctor in the Hive.

A quasit comes up to one of the players and offers to be his familiar.

[pasko77]

Says me.

First of all, the DM is trying to set up a non-combat encounter. If the party would even attack a lost child, then a non-combat encounter would be impossible, and the DM would know it, so this thread wouldn't exist.

Meh. Met far too many "demon-children of impending doom". It's such an obvious cliche that I would be surprised if the child was actually a child.
Beware of railroading, btw.

[jebob]

Pick a couple of relatively high-level magic items out of somewhere, and have a travelling merchant (with bodyguard) pass them by and offer them at a 20-40% discount. Then, depending on your style, you can laugh mercilessly as the players panic and scrabble together the funds, or you can give it to them after some roleplaying and rollplaying.

[Fhaolan]

How wilderness-y of an area are they passing through? You could have an encounter be an abandoned farm, or a family attempting to reclaim an abandoned farm, a group of masons & guards building a new watchtower to guard the trade route, a couple of stripped wagons just off the road, etc.

A few things like this gives the illusion of change, that the setting is growing outside of the PC's view. There is nothing saying the characters need to interact with this kind of encounter, but if they do it's more for information's sake. Maybe the farmer/guards talk about how the local noble is trying to expand his/her holdings into the wilderness area, which puts them into conflict with the hobgoblin tribes tha normally occupy the area. Maybe the abandoned farm/stripped wagon was only from a few days ago, and whatever prompted this is still around?

[leakingpen]

a small village where the town is meeting in the town center. Two men have been accused of murder. the pc's are asked, as outsiders who would not be swayed by personal opinion, to judge. you can make a night of them walking around the village asking people questions.

[Trellan]

a small village where the town is meeting in the town center. Two men have been accused of murder. the pc's are asked, as outsiders who would not be swayed by personal opinion, to judge. you can make a night of them walking around the village asking people questions.

I gotta say that, outside of a group that REALLY enjoys RP and doesn't have a solid story already going on, this is a kind of iffy idea. I would be pretty cheesed off as a player if my DM decided to devote an entire night of game to some random murder trial instead of playing our normal game. That being said, if you do have the kind of group mentioned in the exception, they'd probably enjoy it quite a bit.

[Magesmiley]

I'll reiterate the environmental encounters. They make a nice change of pace.

Another "encounter" might be signs left by another random encounter. Perhaps there's an orc warband in the area which left members of their party and some travelers dead on the ground.

Small ruined or abandoned structures would be a third encounter of sorts.

Mixing other encounters (so that they are facing off against each other rather than the players) might work too - if the players are savvy they avoid the encounter entirely or talk their way through. If they are bullheaded they end up fighting both sides. Maybe a bear and several swarms of bees? Two bands of raiders facing off against one another?

There's always the trick of just leaving something odd laying in the middle of the woods too.

[Notreallyhere77]

A god, in physical form, is sitting on a flat-topped rock. He asks the first travellers who come by (the PCs, in this case) to go with all speed to the nearest town and tell them to build a temple around the rock he's currently sitting on. And that the temple should be dedicated to him.
If and when the PCs ask why, he can give whatever reason you wish. Maybe the rock is the center of a place of power, or where two ley lines intersect. Maybe he wants a temple by the road, and the rock is a suitable landmark for the construction crew.

[Dimers]

Some general non-combat encounter types:

• famous people
• famous sites
• merchants with items you can't get elsewhere
• somebody else's fight in progress
• somebody else's quest in progress
• emigrants fleeing some problem or condition
• a friendly local who the PCs can make into a contact
• silly stuff (please make sure they know it's merely silly)

The Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics computer games were full of these, especially the 'silly' sort of course. There's a person you can ask for directions, a non-combat encounter with the BBEG, landmarks, special sales, people who ask YOU for directions to find something they want, and really, just plenty of people who aren't out to kill you. Environmental encounters exist, too, like the gecko-filled toxic waste dump and the Bridgekeeper. But then they also have a crashed whale with a potted petunia, a tin woodsman, Buck Rogers, Riverdance ... yeah.

Er, right, I had a point to make. Point: check out your favorite video games for some examples of noncombat random encounters.

[leakingpen]

I gotta say that, outside of a group that REALLY enjoys RP and doesn't have a solid story already going on, this is a kind of iffy idea. I would be pretty cheesed off as a player if my DM decided to devote an entire night of game to some random murder trial instead of playing our normal game. That being said, if you do have the kind of group mentioned in the exception, they'd probably enjoy it quite a bit.

Yes, but if they WOULDNT want to make a night of it, then they get to speed it up and make a snap decision. and live with it if they are wrong.

[Trellan]

Yes, but if they WOULDNT want to make a night of it, then they get to speed it up and make a snap decision. and live with it if they are wrong.

And then the DM gets to feel frustrated that they prepared an entire murder mystery that their party just ignored. Sure, you could avoid that by not prepping the encounter in advance, but then you are probably looking at a pretty boring investigation if your PCs bite. Unless you know your group wants something like that, it just seems like a bit of a lose/lose situation to me.