So I have this idea for an arena battle that was inspired from a certain adventure boardgame, and I'm hoping to get some opinions and possibly some suggestions.
Basically the setup is that one party member will enter into the arena while the other party members must stay in the stands with the rest of the crowd.
The solo party member must take on waves of enemies by themselves, however, the crowd influences the fight by a series of buffs to whomever they are cheering for the most.
The other party members can affect who the crowd is cheering for, as well as the solo combatant and the monsters. This is what I have so far.
A crowd member will start cheering for the player under the following conditions:
-arena player kills an enemy
-arena player deals a critical hit (x2 people cheering for them)
-another party member succeeds on a DC 13 charisma or other related skill check to a crowd member
-provides healing to a crowd member
A crowd member will start cheering for the enemies under the following conditions:
-the enemy hits the player
-the enemy crits the player (x2)
-the enemy is injured by another party member who is not the solo combatant
-the player is healed by another party member
-when a new monster appears
If the PC has the majority of the audience on their side, they get resistance to all damage, and deal double damage with their spells and attacks
If the monsters have the majority, then they get a bonus to their damage
Does this seem too stacked against the solo PC? I want it to be a bit of a strategic puzzle for the group without being too overbearing.
The solo combatant would be lvl 9. Party consists of a celestial warlock, cleric, bloodhunter and rogue/ranger. No idea who would actually step up to the plate for it.
rather than deal double damage, I would give the buff for the crowd cheering be an addition to hit and disadvantage to spells saves, or crits on 17+, that way you don't deal spike damage unexpectedly and drop your player. - small edit, I wrote that before realising you were doubling the damage for the PC not monster, but maybe adjusting the to hit roll could be a mechanic that works both ways. Advantage for the attack if the crowd is on their side, disadvantage if not, for both the monster and PC
The other players in the crowd would need to be part of the turn order also to allow for the healing as you've mentioned. But maybe consider some environment things that could be used, ie a wall sconce happens to fall off in the arena causing damage or a distraction (cheeky mage hand being used). Possibly a bad example, but the other players will likely want to be involved too, and giving them a sneaky way to impact the combat through the environment would add to the puzzle element you're going for.
Do have a scan through their spell list though, as someone is bound to try something like deafening the monster to negate all benefits it gets from the crowd cheering them
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So I have this idea for an arena battle that was inspired from a certain adventure boardgame, and I'm hoping to get some opinions and possibly some suggestions.
Basically the setup is that one party member will enter into the arena while the other party members must stay in the stands with the rest of the crowd.
The solo party member must take on waves of enemies by themselves, however, the crowd influences the fight by a series of buffs to whomever they are cheering for the most.
The other party members can affect who the crowd is cheering for, as well as the solo combatant and the monsters. This is what I have so far.
A crowd member will start cheering for the player under the following conditions:
-arena player kills an enemy
-arena player deals a critical hit (x2 people cheering for them)
-another party member succeeds on a DC 13 charisma or other related skill check to a crowd member
-provides healing to a crowd member
A crowd member will start cheering for the enemies under the following conditions:
-the enemy hits the player
-the enemy crits the player (x2)
-the enemy is injured by another party member who is not the solo combatant
-the player is healed by another party member
-when a new monster appears
If the PC has the majority of the audience on their side, they get resistance to all damage, and deal double damage with their spells and attacks
If the monsters have the majority, then they get a bonus to their damage
Does this seem too stacked against the solo PC? I want it to be a bit of a strategic puzzle for the group without being too overbearing.
The solo combatant would be lvl 9. Party consists of a celestial warlock, cleric, bloodhunter and rogue/ranger. No idea who would actually step up to the plate for it.
rather than deal double damage, I would give the buff for the crowd cheering be an addition to hit and disadvantage to spells saves, or crits on 17+, that way you don't deal spike damage unexpectedly and drop your player. - small edit, I wrote that before realising you were doubling the damage for the PC not monster, but maybe adjusting the to hit roll could be a mechanic that works both ways. Advantage for the attack if the crowd is on their side, disadvantage if not, for both the monster and PC
The other players in the crowd would need to be part of the turn order also to allow for the healing as you've mentioned. But maybe consider some environment things that could be used, ie a wall sconce happens to fall off in the arena causing damage or a distraction (cheeky mage hand being used). Possibly a bad example, but the other players will likely want to be involved too, and giving them a sneaky way to impact the combat through the environment would add to the puzzle element you're going for.
Do have a scan through their spell list though, as someone is bound to try something like deafening the monster to negate all benefits it gets from the crowd cheering them