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Post by buckeyejoe on Feb 9, 2014 17:58:58 GMT
I see this more of a Kobold-esq trap. A trip wire that drops a swarm albeit spiders, rats, snakes, bees etc on the PCs. Heck you could say that caused trauma and now whenever those who are affected are around whatever type of swarm it was they suffer penalties. I don't know about you all, but if someone dropped hundreds of snakes, rats, spiders or whatever on me I would be mortified. Heck one bat is enough to do me in.
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Jayzhee
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Post by Jayzhee on Mar 22, 2015 14:17:10 GMT
In a previous campaign, the party was just a fighter and a barbarian. Swarms were their worst nightmare!
DMG recently had a YouTube video about making a sack. That may be a good piece to use. Perhaps the swarm takes a turn to get out of the bag? This could be a great encounter if there were several tripwires and sacks.
I'll be starting a new campaign soon, there will be kobolds!
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leolad72
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Post by leolad72 on Mar 22, 2015 17:25:55 GMT
I don't know about you all, but if someone dropped hundreds of snakes, rats, spiders or whatever on me I would be mortified. Heck one bat is enough to do me in. Excellent idea; look what happened to Indy ....but it's a sound idea. Willingly acting against your alignment can cause and alignment shift, why not add some long term psychological trauma? Your alignment shift, in the case of a LG Paladin, requires a penance of sorts, your PTSD can be cured with a good mix of herbs and many visits to Dr. Westtide.....Eladrin Head Shrink!
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Post by tauster on Mar 22, 2015 17:45:37 GMT
I see this more of a Kobold-esq trap. A trip wire that drops a swarm albeit spiders, rats, snakes, bees etc on the PCs. Heck you could say that caused trauma and now whenever those who are affected are around whatever type of swarm it was they suffer penalties. I don't know about you all, but if someone dropped hundreds of snakes, rats, spiders or whatever on me I would be mortified. Heck one bat is enough to do me in. Great idea! People sometimes forget what a trauma standard adventuring situations might cause to 'normal people'. I was once making a night trip in an indian overland bus. In the middle of the night, the inside got swarmed by hundreds or htousands of cockroaches, coming all of a sudden out of every crevice. I remember the chaos like yesterday, even if it was almost ten years ago. *shudders*
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Post by onethatwas on Mar 23, 2015 22:48:07 GMT
In any game I run, I require players to either devise a good "fear" for their character (Even Paladins...), or else I will devise one for them. It is good fodder for campaigns and plot ideas...it requires the players to imagine creative ways to work through scenarios.
So, +1 for this idea.
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Post by Grey Tower Games on Apr 21, 2015 16:52:27 GMT
In any game I run, I require players to either devise a good "fear" for their character (Even Paladins...), or else I will devise one for them. It is good fodder for campaigns and plot ideas...it requires the players to imagine creative ways to work through scenarios. So, +1 for this idea. I will have my players roll percentile dice whenever they encounter a new possible phobia for the first time (spiders, heights, close environment, snakes, undead, etc.) Their target is rolling over 5 while adding their wisdom modifier to the roll. This being said, 01 always fails. If they fail the roll, they note it on their player card and will be adversely affected by these types of environments in the future. The players seem to like it and I think it adds a little bit of realism to tone down the invincible hero. Hell, Indiana Jones is even petrified by snakes!
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Post by dragon722 on Apr 22, 2015 3:55:33 GMT
Ya the original 1st-Edition character sheets actually had a space for just these fears and phobias
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Post by michka on Apr 22, 2015 4:36:56 GMT
In the second chapter of Rise of the Runelords there's a decrepit old house filled with evil fungus. Ever since that game my players avoid anything that looks like fungus, and they keep an eye out for it where ever they go. They don't make WILL checks, and I've never had to ask them to. I'm lucky enough to have players who enjoy role playing their fears as well as their heroics.
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Post by lordmorbius on May 20, 2015 6:42:13 GMT
I see this more of a Kobold-esq trap. A trip wire that drops a swarm albeit spiders, rats, snakes, bees etc on the PCs. Heck you could say that caused trauma and now whenever those who are affected are around whatever type of swarm it was they suffer penalties. I don't know about you all, but if someone dropped hundreds of snakes, rats, spiders or whatever on me I would be mortified. Heck one bat is enough to do me in. Great idea! People sometimes forget what a trauma standard adventuring situations might cause to 'normal people'. I was once making a night trip in an indian overland bus. In the middle of the night, the inside got swarmed by hundreds or htousands of cockroaches, coming all of a sudden out of every crevice. I remember the chaos like yesterday, even if it was almost ten years ago. *shudders* From my perspective, adventurers aren't "normal" people. They fit into the same category as battle ready marines, rough and tumble, out looking for a fight with monsters and villains, to specifically kill them for their valuables. They are tough, lean and more than willing to slay monsters. On the other hand, it could be comedic role-playing gold to have overly sensitive adventurers: "I'm not going out in the rain, my armor will rust!" "Do I really HAVE to try and turn the wight? Can't I just say a few prayers and pass a collection plate around...or something?" "Really Dave? What kind of self respecting, Dwarf, dungeon crawler suffers from claustrophobia? You big sissy!" "Who ever heard of a Drow Elf that was afraid of spiders?" "Dammit Elias! You had to wait until were were 5 levels deep into this dungeon, in the dark, in the cold, with no air ventilation...to start with that anxiety, nervous, stress farting...AGAIN! Jeez! You must live on beer and beans!" "Heh...Remember that time ole Mothgar ran screaming out of that mineshaft, when that caterpillar crawled up his boxers! That was a HOOT!" "Hail Barkeep! Me and my hearty, adventurer fellows are fresh in from the wilds, with tales of bravado and coins o' plenty to spend. I'll have a beer, better make that a small beer because I'm watching my weight. Falstaff here will have an ale, but he wants to make sure it is caffeine free and no sugar cuz it affects his gout. Thelsoraz just wants milk, his ulcers are acting up in that wizard belly of his. Lobo wants some bread, but only if its organic, and some cheese, but not the processed kind...oh, at make sure its reduced salt as well. Jonas, that dwarf that just went up to his room, wants a dinner plate of what ever is on sale, but nothing spicy, because it gives him the runs".
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Post by DnDPaladin on May 20, 2015 10:20:56 GMT
Lord, i had a player elf drow scared of spiders... of course being covered by spiders swarms did help him play that flaw a lot.
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Post by tauster on May 20, 2015 17:32:06 GMT
lordmorbius, I just smiled until the upper part of my head almost fell away because the corners of my mouth almost joined at the back of my head! The characters of my players, me included, almost always have some weekness. Phobias are a very popular. We have a level 10 wizard with a severe fear of darkness. The campaign started at level 1. Around level 5 the plot led them... in the underdark. You can imagine he's got a very tight grip on his magical infravision lantern! In another campaign with a party of only 4 PCs, 2 of them have extreme fear of undead. Guess who the master villain behind 90% of the story is, and which kind of enemy they meet regularly. So in short: Phobias are extremely valuable, both for the fun at the table and as story hooks for the DM.
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Post by lordbryon on Jun 3, 2015 22:35:26 GMT
Genius... Can't stop thinking about a dwarf with the runs... "Cast Iron Stomach my arse..." I love the idea of dropping swarms on PC's never thought about that trick before. My PC's are going to hate the things I'm cooking up for them.
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Post by lordmorbius on Jun 12, 2015 14:11:06 GMT
In any game I run, I require players to either devise a good "fear" for their character (Even Paladins...), or else I will devise one for them. It is good fodder for campaigns and plot ideas...it requires the players to imagine creative ways to work through scenarios. So, +1 for this idea. My character has a terrible phobia of being wealthy and possessing many magical items. ...and I think I deserve bonus role-play experience points if the party is successful, just for my character facing his fears and overcoming them. =D
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Post by lordbryon on Jun 12, 2015 14:41:47 GMT
In any game I run, I require players to either devise a good "fear" for their character (Even Paladins...), or else I will devise one for them. It is good fodder for campaigns and plot ideas...it requires the players to imagine creative ways to work through scenarios. So, +1 for this idea. My character has a terrible phobia of being wealthy and possessing many magical items. ...and I think I deserve bonus role-play experience points if the party is successful, just for my character facing his fears and overcoming them. =D LOL.. I can just picture the scenario of treasure and riches falling on the party. At first they think its amazing, except your character. Then I say now you take 20d10 bludgeoning damage from all the treasure 1/2 damage on a dexterity save. I'm literally laughing about it. Then lordmorbius' PC says with his dying breath "see.... I told you guys... Treasure is dangerous.... ugggg" *pc death*
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Post by onethatwas on Jun 12, 2015 15:33:38 GMT
In any game I run, I require players to either devise a good "fear" for their character (Even Paladins...), or else I will devise one for them. It is good fodder for campaigns and plot ideas...it requires the players to imagine creative ways to work through scenarios. So, +1 for this idea. My character has a terrible phobia of being wealthy and possessing many magical items. ...and I think I deserve bonus role-play experience points if the party is successful, just for my character facing his fears and overcoming them. =D I had a player adamantly state he was afraid of nothing once. nothing in the sense of absense of something...boredom, in essence. It wasn't a very good idea for him to taunt me that way. His character had nervous anxiety for a looong time after I hit him withhis fear.
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sotf
Advice Guru
Posts: 1,084
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Post by sotf on Jun 12, 2015 19:36:47 GMT
Actually, I pulled something similar a while back with a "natural hazard" of a bee hive while the party was trying to capture a crow that took off with the heirloom ring they were looking for on a battlefield (The major war plot, though the fight had broken up with both sides and they'd been asked to get the signet ring from one of the nobles that died for his heir in order to handle things)...bird took off into the woods and they went after it.
Chance for a stun, and a reflex save or they're flatfooted against the swarms first attack on them
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Post by lordmorbius on Jun 12, 2015 20:14:23 GMT
My character has a terrible phobia of being wealthy and possessing many magical items. ...and I think I deserve bonus role-play experience points if the party is successful, just for my character facing his fears and overcoming them. =D LOL.. I can just picture the scenario of treasure and riches falling on the party. At first they think its amazing, except your character. Then I say now you take 20d10 bludgeoning damage from all the treasure 1/2 damage on a dexterity save. I'm literally laughing about it. Then lordmorbius' PC says with his dying breath "see.... I told you guys... Treasure is dangerous.... ugggg" *pc death* Um...actually...something close to that did happen once, in game... After a particularly nasty fight with an adult red dragon, where I was one of the two surviving heroes and frightfully wounded myself...the other hero opens a secret door that...shall we say..."unleashed"...the dragon's treasure hoard. A veritable tidal wave of coins (mostly copper and silver), the sheer weight of which, forced the door open when the thief triggered the opening mechanism of the secret door, just sort of..."WASHED"...into the room. The DM envisioned the players in front of the doors being washed back into the room by the huge wave of coins, taking 2d12 points of damage. He thought it was funny...I and my remaining 8 hit points, didn't think it was funny at all as I took 22 hit points of damage and was crushed to death. However, the DM did give me a role playing experience bonus for my fateful last words... *Gasp* "Mama...always said... *cough* ...that...living the adventurer's life... *cough* ...would...one day...kill me". *Player life force exits stage right...and proceeds to the outer planes* Fortunately, the dragon's hoard was more than enough to pay for raising all the dead heroes. =D
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Post by lordbryon on Jun 12, 2015 21:29:53 GMT
Nice... you never know what is lurking behind that secret door. I might have to try that one. Just not sure I want the survivors keeping all that coin.
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Post by DnDPaladin on Jun 13, 2015 5:00:56 GMT
you simply say they can't take it all.
one day i placed a magic door, back in 2nd edition where you actually had a chance of knocking magic doors off its hinges. when the fighter kicked it in... he got a crit... i said, was the lever on or off there ? he said on... i laughed hard. and then i said you kicked the door off... bad news, lava comes out of the door rushing out. dex save. which he missed and he pretty much died there. he said... why punish me for doing my job man ? and i showed him my notes... the lever was to stop the flow of lava in the next room for those wanting to pass thru the system in order to get to the elemental down below.
priceless, he was like... well i'll be damned !
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Post by lordbryon on Jun 15, 2015 15:22:25 GMT
Never underestimate the power of notes.
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