The Hanging Tree, does it work?

[Bjarkmundur]

I really love the idea of the Hanging Tree as a random encounter. Where a song in the woods lures in curious passersby, until they see a large dried out tree. The tree had dozens of bodies hanging from its branches. As soon as the party realizes what they're seeing, the tree casts as spell that mind controls them to climb the tree and hang themselves.

It's such a great, thematic, scary Frank Miller-esque idea, but I don't see any way to turn it into an interesting Encounter.

If not all of the party is mind control, the remaining PCs can either grapple the ones that are, or just start whacking at the tree.

This is especially problematic in my particular group, where one is a wisdom saving throw specialist, and one is a pyromancer.

Is there any way to make the Hanging Tree an interesting Encounter, and not just an interesting story?

The only thing I can think of is having Dominate Person being cast with a 17 DC (50% chance of success for the specialist), and maybe some zombies awake from the ground, just to add a different source of danger than just the tree?

[pwykersotz]

Well, you wouldn't exactly want them all to be mind controlled. That would be a TPK pretty quick.

Adds or environmental hazards work well for static encounters. I ran a Gulthias Tree encounter for a high level party, and I gave it anti-magic field and control of its roots. It was also among other trees, so extreme range wasn't an option. The party managed a couple of impromptu Molotov cocktails and eventually slugged it out.

Maybe the hanged individuals could be undead to drop for more enemies? Maybe you could try a Globe of Invulnerability since you want the magical charm? Illusions are often helpful for stationary monsters too. It could be defended by a couple treants, or maybe an evil Druid or evil Dryad tends the tree.

One thing that was very apparent to me very quickly was the party needed a reason to be dealing with the tree beyond just encountering it to keep it interesting, otherwise they'd just walk away. For the Gulthias tree, they needed the fruit it produced to heal someone important to them. Maybe one of the hanged bodies has an item that desperately needs to be recovered, or maybe they need to save a person to be able to resurrect them for important reasons. Or maybe the tree holds some twisted secret that will give the party wealth or further adventure.

[Kane0]

Have the tree deposit the dead bodies to animate and drag them in forcibly if the control effect doesnt work. That way the party have to contend with two methods of getting strung up and have some convenient targets to beat up and/or burn.

[Lord Vukodlak]

You could always add an NPC the party is escorting who will either
A:Fail his save and have to be rescued
B:Succeed his save if all other PC's fail and smack some sense into one PC.
Otherwise you could have the tree only able to effect a couple people at a time, ensuring no possible TPK.

Have the hanging dead become the walking undead as needed for combat encounter.

One thing that was very apparent to me very quickly was the party needed a reason to be dealing with the tree beyond just encountering it to keep it interesting, otherwise they'd just walk away. For the Gulthias tree, they needed the fruit it produced to heal someone important to them. Maybe one of the hanged bodies has an item that desperately needs to be recovered, or maybe they need to save a person to be able to resurrect them for important reasons. Or maybe the tree holds some twisted secret that will give the party wealth or further adventure.

Your party would really see a tree with dead bodies hanging from hit and just shrug and walk on?

[JellyPooga]

Often when designing encounters, it's easy to think of a good idea (often inspired by mythology or other stories) and try to replicate it faithfully. In this case, the myth of the hanging tree is pretty clear; it's a tree that charms folk into climbing it and hanging themselves. Seems easy enough, as a terrifying and cautionary tale to stop children from straying to far into the forest, it works, but as you recognised it doesn't actually make for a compelling encounter for a party of adventurers. So trick is to break down why it's not a great encounter and then resolving the issue(s) without compromising the story. So let's take a look;

(1) Single foe. Encounters with a single foe are problematic and 5e's approach of adding Legendary Saves, Actions and Lair effects is certainly one avenue to explore. You've suggested another fix, which is using the previous victims as undead, but this actually corrupts the original story; not a bad thing per se, but it can be jarring or feel forced if the narrative is compromised too much.

(2) Inanimate Enemy. The tree is stationary and doesn't actually do anything. Bringing the fantasy to life for the players is much harder when there's nothing they can see or really interact with. In this case, for those that are unaffected by whatever charm or domination effect you use, they're just chopping down a tree. Hardly an exciting visual for the encounter; in another media (such as a film) you might be able to build tension with dramatic music and cinematography, but we as GM's don't have as much luxury in that regard!

(3) Incentive. Aside from being affected themselves, what's the incentive to actually engage the encounter? In this case, if everyone passes their save, they can just...walk away.

(4) Binary effects. The domination effect is binary and that's an issue; either you're affected or not and there's no middle ground. To build a good encounter, there needs to be a sense of being able to push and pull at success and recognise it in the narrative.

So let's look at the problems and relate them to the narrative we're looking for.

(1) Single Foe. The Hanging Tree in the narrative charms its victims into hanging themselves, but the visual impact is a tree with dead bodies suspended from its branches. Nothing really suggest that it has to be a single entity doing all the work. I would personally look closer to home than straying over to Undead. What about Plant creatures?

(2) Inanimate. Many plant creatures in D&D are walking and talking. If we stray from the source material to include a number of plant creatures, then we can resolve the "just chopping down a tree" image into something more dynamic.

(3) Incentive. Moving creatures can move wealth too and victims have goods that might not be wanted or needed by the tree/creatures. A big ol' pile o' treasure in plain sight is a big incentive. This is also where we might be able to introduce the charm and dominate effects; not to force victims to hang themselves, per se, but to lure them in like a bee to nectar for the active elements of the encounter to do their thing (i.e. kill the victim and do the hanging).

(4) Binary. With the addition of additional critters, the encounter is no longer binary, even if we still have some "save or die/suck" effects in there.

Here's my barebones suggestion using easy-to-access material; I suggest tinkering with it to suit.

The Hanging Tree itself does nothing/little more than emit a constant Compulsion effect (DC: you decide), with the direction "towards the tree". Passing a Save would render the target immune for a period of time (I suggest 1 minute, if you want the possibility of a victim being affected again, or 24 hours if you don't).

Housed within the branches of the tree are a number of Assassin Vines (or similar creatures) that can reach out and grapple victims, dragging them off the ground to be suffocated/strangled/poisoned to death. Once dead, the victims are slowly digested by the vines, giving the impression of hanged victims.

This, I think, stays true to the core elements of charming victims and the imagery of hanging while avoiding the pitfalls of a) having the encounter be static and b) corrupting the source material too far.

If you want to add a further element to the narrative, you could have the Hanging Tree turn out to be a dormant Treant (or similar) that has been corrupted or subjugated into being what it is. Weave a tale about a love-lorn Treant wishing for nothing more than company in its millennia long existence (hence the Compulsion effect), only to find itself paralyzed and dominated by the predatory vines that infest it like a parasite. Once the vines are gone, the Treant could awaken from its slumber, tell its tale and reward the players to give a sense of resolution to the encounter.

[Bjarkmundur]

Here's my barebones suggestion using easy-to-access material; I suggest tinkering with it to suit.

The Hanging Tree itself does nothing/little more than emit a constant Compulsion effect.

Houed within the branches of the tree are a number of Assassin Vines (or similar creatures) that can reach out and grapple victims, dragging them off the ground to be suffocated/strangled/poisoned to death. Once dead, the victims are slowly digested by the vines, giving the impression of hanged victims.

If you want to add a further element to the narrative, you could have the Hanging Tree turn out to be a dormant Treant (or similar) that has been corrupted or subjugated into being what it is. Weave a tale about a love-lorn Treant wishing for nothing more than company in its millennia long existence (hence the Compulsion effect), only to find itself paralyzed and dominated by the predatory vines that infest it like a parasite. Once the vines are gone, the Treant could awaken from its slumber, tell its tale and reward the players to give a sense of resolution to the encounter.

This. This is absolutely beautiful.

Can you do all my Encounters ?😂😂😂

I already had a "good" random Encounter planned, where the group meets a circle of druids meditating in the forest. I can use them to foreshadow a lot for this :0

[yellowrocket]

I love the corrupting vines idea.

Also for a reason they're sent to find a person. Turns out they're one of the victims. And they have a letter, artifact, something they need. That brings them close enough to the tree.

Spores ware another affect that can impact players and keep them in the area if they occur around the field of battle with the tree.

Animals could also be in play. Maybe it only attacks huminoids.

[kazaryu]

Here's my barebones suggestion using easy-to-access material; I suggest tinkering with it to suit.

The Hanging Tree itself does nothing/little more than emit a constant Compulsion effect (DC: you decide), with the direction "towards the tree". Passing a Save would render the target immune for a period of time (I suggest 1 minute, if you want the possibility of a victim being affected again, or 24 hours if you don't).

Housed within the branches of the tree are a number of Assassin Vines (or similar creatures) that can reach out and grapple victims, dragging them off the ground to be suffocated/strangled/poisoned to death. Once dead, the victims are slowly digested by the vines, giving the impression of hanged victims.

overall i like your idea, and have a couple of ideas to build on it.

for the compulsion effect, why have them be immune at all? i mean if it was a full on save or die effect then sure, but if its just forcing them to move closer i don't think there's any need for that. i'd say something like:
'at the start of your turn make a DC x wisdom saving throw. on a success you're unaffected. on a failure, you immediately use half your movement to move closer to the tree. until the beginning of your next turn, you cannot willingly move away from the tree'. it still lets them have most of their turn (although would cause them to provoke OA's if other combatants were to be included) but its a new save every turn, which typically are the types of effects that don't have the 'immune for x amount of time' clause.

building on that idea, you could add a few extra layers if you're up for it. things like 'if you're x feet away from the tree when you fail you're save, you're also slowed until the beginning of your next turn'. so now failure causes them to lose movement for that round unless they dash (they spend half their movement to move closer then lose the other half). and theres some soft CC. obviously it makes the encounter more complicated, but its also a decent way (imo) to project that getting closer is more dangerous.

i wouldn't have the person be paralyzed prior to getting attacked by vines. once they get moved into vine range (via failed saving throw) i'd have them be somehting like 'charmed until the beginning of your next turn, while charmed you can take no actions or reactions as you stare at the tree' admittedly, i don't like deploying hard CC against my players...

then something to note about the vines. if they succeed on their grapple, they specifically grapple the throat, which is a great opportunity to prevent speech...like an actual hanging. but it also has the added benefit of preventing casters from just...blinking away from the tree, since most short range teleports have a verbal component.

[JellyPooga]

overall i like your idea, and have a couple of ideas to build on it.

for the compulsion effect, why have them be immune at all? i mean if it was a full on save or die effect then sure, but if its just forcing them to move closer i don't think there's any need for that. i'd say something like:
'at the start of your turn make a DC x wisdom saving throw. on a success you're unaffected. on a failure, you immediately use half your movement to move closer to the tree. until the beginning of your next turn, you cannot willingly move away from the tree'. it still lets them have most of their turn (although would cause them to provoke OA's if other combatants were to be included) but its a new save every turn, which typically are the types of effects that don't have the 'immune for x amount of time' clause.

building on that idea, you could add a few extra layers if you're up for it. things like 'if you're x feet away from the tree when you fail you're save, you're also slowed until the beginning of your next turn'. so now failure causes them to lose movement for that round unless they dash (they spend half their movement to move closer then lose the other half). and theres some soft CC. obviously it makes the encounter more complicated, but its also a decent way (imo) to project that getting closer is more dangerous.

i wouldn't have the person be paralyzed prior to getting attacked by vines. once they get moved into vine range (via failed saving throw) i'd have them be somehting like 'charmed until the beginning of your next turn, while charmed you can take no actions or reactions as you stare at the tree' admittedly, i don't like deploying hard CC against my players...

then something to note about the vines. if they succeed on their grapple, they specifically grapple the throat, which is a great opportunity to prevent speech...like an actual hanging. but it also has the added benefit of preventing casters from just...blinking away from the tree, since most short range teleports have a verbal component.

The reason for the immunity upon saving vsm the Compulsion effect is threefold; to avoid the uneccesaary complication of having to continue rolling every turn to save against the effect; second, to give a satisfactory resolution and avoid the frustration of constant failure and third to align with existing game effects such as a dragons Frightful Presence which also functions similarly.

[kazaryu]

The reason for the immunity upon saving vsm the Compulsion effect is threefold; to avoid the uneccesaary complication of having to continue rolling every turn to save against the effect; second, to give a satisfactory resolution and avoid the frustration of constant failure and third to align with existing game effects such as a dragons Frightful Presence which also functions similarly.

frightful presence only functions like that due to the nature of the effect. its a duration based effect that you'd otherwise be saving against every turn. on top of being pretty significant CC. the immunity is there so that you're not completely shutdown permanently. essentially, if you didn't get immunity by saving from it, then failing a save would put you at disadvantage for the next save. Thats why i proposed weakening the effect the save had. So you're not risking running into a stun lock, but the tree remains an ever present danger in the encounter.

[stoutstien]

I really love the idea of the Hanging Tree as a random encounter. Where a song in the woods lures in curious passersby, until they see a large dried out tree. The tree had dozens of bodies hanging from its branches. As soon as the party realizes what they're seeing, the tree casts as spell that mind controls them to climb the tree and hang themselves.

It's such a great, thematic, scary Frank Miller-esque idea, but I don't see any way to turn it into an interesting Encounter.

If not all of the party is mind control, the remaining PCs can either grapple the ones that are, or just start whacking at the tree.

This is especially problematic in my particular group, where one is a wisdom saving throw specialist, and one is a pyromancer.

Is there any way to make the Hanging Tree an interesting Encounter, and not just an interesting story?

The only thing I can think of is having Dominate Person being cast with a 17 DC (50% chance of success for the specialist), and maybe some zombies awake from the ground, just to add a different source of danger than just the tree?

Approximately what level is your party and how many encounter are going to be before and/or after the chance for this random to occur?

**One issue with static random encounter tables is the nature of player progression. A fun and exciting encounter for a level four party quickly becomes a chore and a face roll one level later. If you want to make sure it stays somewhat interesting as a challenge then you might have to give it something like a blight based revenant (reven*ENT" if you may) feature so it has some mobility after death and opens up lots of hooks for the players to deal with it permanently. **

[Pex]

For atmosphere, I recommend you play this version of the song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJISG67FjeM

[Sorinth]

I definitely like the suggestion of assassin vines in the tree and the tree itself simply siren calls people to it. The tree might even normally be beneficial and so people who sleep next to it get Temp HP when they wake. So if the PCs could kill the vines a local Druid could come in and start taking care of it. If going the corruption/evil nature route then I would be very tempted to add modified Dryad(s) that have the Thorn Whip cantrip added to their list as that helps greatly with the mobility issues of the assassin vine.


In terms of "charm" ability the simplest is to probably reuse an existing ability like the Harpy's Luring Song and just adjust the DC (With Harpies the expectation is many will sing so it's a low DC due to probably making multiple rolls). Though a low DC and a save every round with no immunity has it's advantages, especially if you want to up the difficulty/fear factor.

[BerzerkerUnit]

Have the tree itself animate and swing the bodies like wrecking balls which themselves turn out to be zombies that grapple on a hit.

Quick and dirty, use a roper’s stats, replace Bite with “Hang”
Meaning a player drawn into and hit by the Hang attack gets trussed up by the zombies to swing, while hung they are restrained 5- 15 feet above ground and away from the tree and suffocating.

[loki_ragnarock]

I think this is coming from a slightly different direction but what if:

Maintain the compulsion effect, characters hang themselves from the vines in the tree...

But the people hanging there aren't actually dead. They are sustained in a state of suspended animation, the vines working into their circulatory system to deposit nutrients and oxygen that keep them alive basically in perpetuity, the plant itself feeding off of their dreams while they are so suspended.

I think you could work that to add a different dynamic; it could be you need to "harvest" an NPC with important information. It could be that someone you "rescued" is irate that not enough centuries have passed to see the fruits of their long term research. Or that one of those rescued is dismayed and bewildered to discover that they are a person out of time. It adds some potential for world building you wouldn't necessarily get from pure bad guy tree stuff; it has potential to make the aftermath more interesting, letting you use it as a tool to build stories instead of being itself the story.

It also takes it into the realms of the weird, which is something I like from magic.

EDIT:
It also leaves open the potential that a "TPK" is more akin to accelerated time travel as they themselves might be harvested, mitigating the risk of characters being deleted and opening a weird story potential.

[Talionis]

You could have the tree cast illusory terrain so that you walk in circles back to it, so everyone would feel trapped.

[ad_hoc]

You could have the forest around the tree close in on the party preventing escape.

[ftafp]

I feel like this has a few requirements

• All players must be effected, otherwise the others can stop them
• To capture the horror, the players much have a certain amount of agency removed: they can't choose not to approach the tree and they don't get a save
• The players still need to be able to act, so their action and bonus action would still be under their control except when putting the noose around their neck
• The tree needs a scapegoat, otherwise the players will just unload on the tree

Here's what I suggest: the as the players hear the music they find they are still fully conscious but their legs will not listen to them. As they walk through the trees (which they can attempt to grab onto, effectively making a grapple attempt against themselves that the are forced to use their action to attempt to break at the start of each turn), they see their target come into view. It's an elf maiden hovering in front of the tree singing like a pop star and drawing the players in. injuring her does nothing but injuring the tree forces it to make a concentration save. If the players end their turn within 5 feet of the tree she tosses them a garland of flowers that they are forced to use their action to put on at the start of their next turn. Once it's on the illusion is broken and so is the enchantment. The elf maiden is just another inanimate corpse hanging from the tree, the garland is a noose, and now they're grappled, restrained, 10 feet off the ground and can't speak or breathe. They have a number of rounds equal to their con mod (min 1) to escape or they drop to 0 hp and begin dying. They can attempt to slip out, cut the noose or attack the tree. Whatever they do, the other players who haven't put on the garlands yet see their fellow player rise into the air and join the song

[nickl_2000]

For atmosphere, I recommend you play this version of the song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJISG67FjeM

and now I'm down a full day rabbithole :)