So I am running Rise of Tiamat within my home world with variations. They basically cleared the top level of the lair and decided to take a long rest cause they were 'low" (Mind you they are level 8 and most were over half of their spell resources left or more).
How badly should I stack this against them as the place they rested is a place they will likely be spotted during a long rest?
I personally make 'dungeons' as a place to run through inside a long rest with multiple short rests. They are resting in a Tiny Hut so attacking is kind of pointless. Now that the dragon and his allies will KNOW the bad guys are coming... what kind of surprises do you think I can use.
Resources available:
A dragon, a fairly powerful spellcaster and a couple trolls (The players are expecting to have the caster with the dragon from what they have been told).
So I am running Rise of Tiamat within my home world with variations. They basically cleared the top level of the lair and decided to take a long rest cause they were 'low" (Mind you they are level 8 and most were over half of their spell resources left or more).
How badly should I stack this against them as the place they rested is a place they will likely be spotted during a long rest?
I personally make 'dungeons' as a place to run through inside a long rest with multiple short rests. They are resting in a Tiny Hut so attacking is kind of pointless. Now that the dragon and his allies will KNOW the bad guys are coming... what kind of surprises do you think I can use.
Resources available:
A dragon, a fairly powerful spellcaster and a couple trolls (The players are expecting to have the caster with the dragon from what they have been told).
What kind of spellcaster doesn't have dispel magic? If it's not on his list, add it. Then blow up the hut, drop the rest of the lair on their heads, beat them senseless, capture them, and send them off to be sacrificed to Tiamat.
So I am running Rise of Tiamat within my home world with variations. They basically cleared the top level of the lair and decided to take a long rest cause they were 'low" (Mind you they are level 8 and most were over half of their spell resources left or more).
How badly should I stack this against them as the place they rested is a place they will likely be spotted during a long rest?
I personally make 'dungeons' as a place to run through inside a long rest with multiple short rests. They are resting in a Tiny Hut so attacking is kind of pointless. Now that the dragon and his allies will KNOW the bad guys are coming... what kind of surprises do you think I can use.
Resources available:
A dragon, a fairly powerful spellcaster and a couple trolls (The players are expecting to have the caster with the dragon from what they have been told).
Lots of options. In fizbans allot of the dragons got additional lair and environmental effects you could trigger those to up the power. Like if its an adult green dragon they gain a lair action to raise things as zombies using creeper vines. It could be fun to have an angry dragon raise all the dead minions with creeper vines and have them just waiting around the hut. Alternatively a white dragon could use the ice wall it gains and poisoning gas as well as it's ability to intensify the cold to give disadvantage on attacks. I also have other more generalized suggestions which ill list below.
Reinforcements
Dragons have allot of ways to get reinforcements. Their lairs are usually surrounded with monsters attracted to their magic and often subservient to the dragon. They also have considerable ability to summon and create monsters particularly elementals. It depends on the kind of dragon but some examples are.
Flooding the room with magma, water, toxic gas or acid.
Collapsing the tunnel/room
monsters setting up a trench or barricade near
monster use consumable items from the hoard to grow stronger
Dispel and other magical shenanigans
Depending on it's age a dragon or it's minions likely has access to dispel magic that can remove it. Sage advice also says dragons breath ignores tiny hut as would their lair actions. For something to get inside a tiny hut it needs to be not a creature, object, spell or magical effect. This means quite allot of creature abilities and lair actions do as long as it doesn't involve a weapon, spell or line of sight. There are also some spells like dream which due to how they work can probably effect creatures inside. If a spell doesn't target anything inside and doesn't require you to see inside it probably gets through.
Hide treasure or flee
During an 8 hour period a dragon could easily move or hide a good chunk of it's hoard potentially burying it deep under ground or blocking off areas with it to be dug up again later. The dragon could also leave with its most valuable items only to come back later with an army.
Not sure how close you are to running the adventure as written, but isn't the party's incursion part of a larger multi-pronged battle between the Dragon Cult and basically "the rest of the world" with the PCs having the pivotal job?
So ... the rest of the battle is just going to stop for 8 hours so the PCs can get shuteye?
Solution: They wake up in a world transformed having slept through the ascension of Tiamat.
My game actually is set after Tiamat "won" Tyranny of Dragons, with planescape shaking consequences. The party was actually in a time distorted Shadowfell when it happened, but I like the idea of somewhere in the back story there was this party that was charged with doing the thing that would stop the ascension ... but called a long rest and the world got overrun during the sleep.
Yeah, there is habit of over using tiny hut that players get into. It cant be a solve all problems to rests and always having players at full power really buffs casters.
You can also do some really cool atmospheric stuff like the adult green dragon
An example is imagine they wake up to find their hut surrounded by the green dragons mist ability:
"Magical fog billows around one creature the dragon can see within 120 feet of it. The creature must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or be charmed by the dragon until initiative count 20 on the next round."
they exit and have to save or be charmed and all they hear is the dragons whispers persuading them to come to them and if they are charmed then the dragon has advantage on persuasion.
"Inviting Whispers. Whispers rustle in the foliage within 1 mile of the dragon’s lair. The words are indistinct, but a creature with an Intelligence score of 5 or higher interprets them as an invitation to move deeper into the greenery."
Another green dragon example:
maybe they are woken up by the dragons poisonous fog breath seeping into the hut because it doesn't block air and dragon breaths are non magical, so they run out into the fog to find they are surrounded by these sleeping plant zombie which if they alert they will need to refight zombie versions of some of the monsters they killed .
"Creeper Vines. The dragon can use the vines and roots within its lair to animate up to three Humanoid corpses, which become zombies (see their entry in the Monster Manual). The zombies take their turn immediately after this lair action. Each one reverts to an inanimate corpse after 1 minute, when the dragon uses this lair action again, or when the zombie is destroyed."
This is also really only the tip of the ice berg and they are horrifying encounters players will never forget.
This is where your first job as DM (give the players the most enjoyable game possible) conflicts with your other job (run the world in a fair, logical manner), because of the players' choice of actions. Because the two may not work together, go with the second: run the world fairly.
You need to decide how or if the tiny hut is discovered. It's visible, and potentially if not opaque then those that discover the PCs can see them.
So what would the creatures discovering them do?
How will they react when it's clear there are enemies there?
Who would they inform?
The PCs are clearly intruders, and therefore the denizens of the lair will try to ensure they die.
Build a great big bonfire on and around the tiny hut. When the PCs come to leave it, they have to step straight into an inferno of fireball proportions
Build up quick defensive structures around it (remember the baddies can't know how long the hut will last)
Make a bunch of noise - the PCs cannot conduct a long rest a few feet away from enemies that they know to be there
If the hut is in an area that the dragon can reach, it should come and attempt to deal with them personally. Use its breath weapon on them; the hut does not block it.
Do not allow the long rest to succeed; you need to sleep/trance to LR, and I don't believe that is possible when you know that there are enemies and possibly a dragon just outside within a few feet.
If the bad guys know where the party is and what they are doing then they will react. There are many possibilities.
The caster uses fog cloud to fill the room with the hut with impenetrable fog. The trolls and maybe some summoned elementals enter the room unseen and start piling rocks on the tiny hut. They might even collapse the ceiling of the room onto the hut. The folks inside would see the fog then they would see bits of the rock leaning on the hut. If they decide to continue their rest and ignore it, the mage casts dispel magic on the hut once there are several tons of rock on it. The rock falls on the sleeping party doing 10d10 damage (dex save for half). (Collapsing the ceiling might only be a stone shape or earthquake spell away - or a summoned earth elemental might be able to pull it down).
This is a reasonable response for the bad guys with their capabilities against a party whose location is known choosing to long rest in a tiny hut.
However, as DM, you should really point out to the CHARACTERS things that they would know - they KNOW that they have left traces of their presence, they KNOW that the dungeon isn't empty, they KNOW that they haven't hidden their campsite, they KNOW that the hut isn't camoflaged or otherwise difficult to spot, the characters would KNOW that they are likely to be noticed, the characters also KNOW that a tiny hut is not safe, just safer. The characters do not know what the likely response might be from the creatures in the dungeon, the characters also do not know what other creatures are present or could be called upon by the inhabitants (thinking they know everything is not a mistake a character would make but is easily one that a player makes). As DM, I think you need to make the situation completely clear to the players by making sure that they know what their characters know - then the players can decide whether the characters would really decide to take a long rest and any consequences then result from that decision and not from the players having a lack of information and operating under different assumptions than the DM.
(e.g. the players could be thinking that there are only a couple of monsters in the dungeon, that they won't notice them and that a tiny hut makes them invincible - the characters would likely know that all three of these are false but players often fall into traps like that and it is useful for the DM to ensure that everyone is picturing the situation the same)
I agree with many here that there should be a reaction to the party being present in the lair. Regardless of hut or resting condition. By default they are making a dynamic entry with well armed inhabitants. And, absolutely, the world continues without them. That's the sense of verisimilitude and realism that makes dungeon delving dangerous. Should they get stuck, lost, killed or otherwise trapped in the lair, the rest of the world continues on without them. If you have a success condition, there is inherently a failure condition that can be met just as, if not more easily.
The party definitely needs to understand that time is a resource that they do not enjoy the benefits of. They may have the spell slots, HD pool, ammo and all the combat effectiveness that they can muster, but they don't have the time required to stop the world so they can have a snack-pack and a nap. Out of game conversation with the players might be warranted, to allow them the opportunity to change their minds about this course of action. Time is one of the many functions that the DM can control in game. You can pause the scene long enough to have this conversation. I highly suggest that you do so.
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“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
Rules As Written, PCs can only get one long rest in a 24 hour period. What time of day is it? Can they get a long rest right now?
Think of the dragon’s lair as a large building like a grocery store, only it’s the dragon’s home. Could someone hide in a grocery store or a department store and successfully sleep for 8 hours without being discovered by the employees? If they’re discovered, how would the employees respond? Throw in the challenge for the employees of dealing with a Tiny Hut spell and make the people hiding in the Tiny Hut shoplifters and ask yourself how they would deal with the shoplifters?
I’m not sure what I would have the dragon and it’s minions do, but I’d roll to see if they found the Tiny Hut and if they did I’d have them prepare something for the PCs to deal with when they left it.
Another thought to maybe boost the verisimilitude challenges of "right here right now" long rests: Whether with tiny hut or just bunking down with weapons of warning and a watch, when that's declared have some [skill]survival[/spell] checks or make your martials make some sort of check on tactical viability. What you're doing is not denying the long rest, but making the characters to do tactical/risk assessment of the scene. Sure they cleared the level, but there's egresses to other levels and they don't know what's down there, or what might be coming through this level to get there. And always end the assessment, "you're pretty sure this will likely be a dynamic environment for the next 8 hours..." and set the check DC at 5.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
So I am running Rise of Tiamat within my home world with variations. They basically cleared the top level of the lair and decided to take a long rest cause they were 'low" (Mind you they are level 8 and most were over half of their spell resources left or more).
How badly should I stack this against them as the place they rested is a place they will likely be spotted during a long rest?
I personally make 'dungeons' as a place to run through inside a long rest with multiple short rests. They are resting in a Tiny Hut so attacking is kind of pointless. Now that the dragon and his allies will KNOW the bad guys are coming... what kind of surprises do you think I can use.
Resources available:
A dragon, a fairly powerful spellcaster and a couple trolls (The players are expecting to have the caster with the dragon from what they have been told).
Attacking is not pointless, having an enemy attack, realsie they can't be hit, then go away and return with more enemies and just wait is something I have done in the same situation. Also remember tiny hut can be dispelled, I can't imagine there are not magic users with dispel magic about.
If the dragon is arrogant and mischevious/tricksy, they might block the easy routes in the lair to force them to go through traps. They might make several traps for them - if they spend half an hour on each, that's 16 traps for the party to have to go through!
They might even send them a messenger inviting them "to dinner".
I would say that a dragon is intelligent enough to use the knowledge that the party will be there for some time to their advantage, rather than just trying to rush the tiny hut! Maybe they will find the lair oddly deserted, and the dragon has used a teleportation circle (along with their minions) to clear out of the lair whilst the party were resting, diddling them out of their gold and their fight.
Personally I would make a lot of hastily improvised traps (make them good ones if there are Kobolds) and have that be the consequence - yes, you get your rest, but now you need to expend more resources because the enemy spent 8 hours making stuff to kill you!
I've had players leave a dungeon located under a graveyard and get a long rest in a temple in charge of said graveyard. This also allowed the enemies (all humanoids) in the dungeon to get their long rest (they even have a room full of beds), as well as plenty of time for them to prepare for when the players return. When the players did return, they faced ambush after ambush. It eventually resulted in a TPK, but the enemies were actually good guys (the players were misguided) so they captured them alive. They did however execute one of the players for having murdered a child (the father was the executioner), but he bargained with Orcus to come back as an undead warrior and proceeded to slaughter a pregnant woman who was running and screaming for her life. He also wanted to kill a baby, but another player persuaded him otherwise. The quest ended with a true TPK, as the only sane player remaining (the one against killing a baby) committed suicide at the end of the story. It's poetic how the undead warrior was destroyed by a member of the very temple that sheltered the players. If you haven't figured it out, the temple worships Kelemvor.
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Age: 33 | Sex: Male | Languages: French and English | Roles: DM and Player
well I would interrupt their sleep over in a Dragon's Lair with initially a minion noticing the tiny hut encampment maybe bashing the Tiny hut abit if its a Troll and then running off... if the players don't break off nap time the Dragon returns with it's minions and starts collapsing the cave on the tiny hut
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“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
sounds like you had murderhobos not players Flaxo lmfao
The child in question was actually hostile. She was trying to kill the PCs because they had killed her mother during a previous encounter. She was a rebellious little brat who didn't listen to her father who repeatedly told her to get to safety while they were all in the middle of combat. She had a younger brother who was also a fighter, but he listened to his father after he was hurt once. The girl was seeing red and wouldn't listen to reason. The fight was pretty chaotic. Some of the enemies were even trying to get between the PCs and the girl to safeguard her. The father did everything to grapple her and move her out of the way.
Smart players could have called for a ceasefire in order to help the enemy get the kids to safety. But they didn't. They showed no reason to their enemy that they were good guys. Both sides thought the other was basically chaotic evil. I wanted to help my players out by giving one of them the opportunity to show mercy. The father had finally grabbed his daughter and was moving out of the way. This triggered an attack of opportunity. I asked the player if he wanted to use his reaction to attack the father, stating that doing so might instead hit the child as she was basically acting as cover. He basically told me that he wanted to hit the child. The hit killed her instantly (no death saving throws). The father was obviously angered and went all out to kill the PC. But the players managed to escape. They came back later, but this time they were defeated and captured. While he was unconscious, the child killer had a dream: Orcus offered him power in exchange of his servitude.
Here's a bit of exposition that the players knew at this point. A long time ago, fanatics of Velsharoon (lich god of the undead) profaned a mausoleum built in honor of the founder of a temple of Kelemvor. His body is now resting inside a sarcophagus placed inside a mausoleum. The fanatics built an underground shrine under the mausoleum. They have since been taken care of and the entrance to that shrine was sealed. A group of bandits unsealed it and repurposed the shrine as their hideout. The enemy the players were fighting are those bandits. What the players didn't know yet is that they were actually a gang of chaotic good Robin Hoods. They only stole from corrupt merchants and nobles, using the money to rehabilitate criminals and thus reduce crime.
Earlier, the players had come across an idol of Orcus (demon lord of the undead) inside the dungeon, who was also being venerated by the fanatics. This link allowed the demon to sense the bloodshed, and so saw the opportunity to recruit a new servant. My player showed me that he wanted to be evil, so I offered him this. His alignment was Lawful Neutral, or rather Lawful Stupid. Anyway, the child killer was executed. Now dead, his soul was dragged into the Abyss where he met Orcus. I explained to the player that his character would return as an undead, that he retained his free will, but that he needed to kill at least one person per day in order to not turn into a mindless zombie. Each person killed added one point to his counter, while each day passed subtracted one. It was thus possible to keep a buffer and not have to kill every single day. I even gave him the zombie's poison immunity and undead fortitude, as well as the Abyssal language.
He came back normally with 1 hp according to the rules on unconscious but stable creatures. He then rescued the rest of his party imprisoned in a cell. The pregnant woman he killed counted as two points. He eventually failed his constitution saving throw and was defeated again. The only player still standing had a mental breakdown in character when she finally realized the consequences of their actions. The pregnant woman's husband was devastated and holding his death wife with her belly smashed open with an axe. The bandits were having a sad moment. They had noticed that the remaining player had protected the baby, so they were merciful toward her. However, she later committed suicide.
The undead player's corpse was dumped outside. He had succeeded on his undeath saving throws (see what I did there?) and woke up. An acolyte of Kelemvor saw him and finished him off for good with radiant damage. The player had tried to persuade the acolyte to help him, but it doesn't matter how high you roll your check, you can't persuade someone racist toward undead creatures to help one. The player thought the people at the temple would help him. I don't know what he was thinking. Orcus even warned him that Kelemvor was a sworn enemy.
I certainly surprised my players. They were used to mooks having no names or families. I subverted all of their expectations.
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Age: 33 | Sex: Male | Languages: French and English | Roles: DM and Player
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So I am running Rise of Tiamat within my home world with variations. They basically cleared the top level of the lair and decided to take a long rest cause they were 'low" (Mind you they are level 8 and most were over half of their spell resources left or more).
How badly should I stack this against them as the place they rested is a place they will likely be spotted during a long rest?
I personally make 'dungeons' as a place to run through inside a long rest with multiple short rests. They are resting in a Tiny Hut so attacking is kind of pointless. Now that the dragon and his allies will KNOW the bad guys are coming... what kind of surprises do you think I can use.
Resources available:
A dragon, a fairly powerful spellcaster and a couple trolls (The players are expecting to have the caster with the dragon from what they have been told).
What kind of spellcaster doesn't have dispel magic? If it's not on his list, add it. Then blow up the hut, drop the rest of the lair on their heads, beat them senseless, capture them, and send them off to be sacrificed to Tiamat.
Lots of options. In fizbans allot of the dragons got additional lair and environmental effects you could trigger those to up the power. Like if its an adult green dragon they gain a lair action to raise things as zombies using creeper vines. It could be fun to have an angry dragon raise all the dead minions with creeper vines and have them just waiting around the hut. Alternatively a white dragon could use the ice wall it gains and poisoning gas as well as it's ability to intensify the cold to give disadvantage on attacks. I also have other more generalized suggestions which ill list below.
Reinforcements
Dragons have allot of ways to get reinforcements. Their lairs are usually surrounded with monsters attracted to their magic and often subservient to the dragon. They also have considerable ability to summon and create monsters particularly elementals. It depends on the kind of dragon but some examples are.
Traps and ambushes
In their lairs creatures can often set traps and ambushes.
Dispel and other magical shenanigans
Depending on it's age a dragon or it's minions likely has access to dispel magic that can remove it. Sage advice also says dragons breath ignores tiny hut as would their lair actions. For something to get inside a tiny hut it needs to be not a creature, object, spell or magical effect. This means quite allot of creature abilities and lair actions do as long as it doesn't involve a weapon, spell or line of sight. There are also some spells like dream which due to how they work can probably effect creatures inside. If a spell doesn't target anything inside and doesn't require you to see inside it probably gets through.
Hide treasure or flee
During an 8 hour period a dragon could easily move or hide a good chunk of it's hoard potentially burying it deep under ground or blocking off areas with it to be dug up again later. The dragon could also leave with its most valuable items only to come back later with an army.
Not sure how close you are to running the adventure as written, but isn't the party's incursion part of a larger multi-pronged battle between the Dragon Cult and basically "the rest of the world" with the PCs having the pivotal job?
So ... the rest of the battle is just going to stop for 8 hours so the PCs can get shuteye?
Solution: They wake up in a world transformed having slept through the ascension of Tiamat.
My game actually is set after Tiamat "won" Tyranny of Dragons, with planescape shaking consequences. The party was actually in a time distorted Shadowfell when it happened, but I like the idea of somewhere in the back story there was this party that was charged with doing the thing that would stop the ascension ... but called a long rest and the world got overrun during the sleep.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Yeah, there is habit of over using tiny hut that players get into. It cant be a solve all problems to rests and always having players at full power really buffs casters.
You can also do some really cool atmospheric stuff like the adult green dragon
An example is imagine they wake up to find their hut surrounded by the green dragons mist ability:
"Magical fog billows around one creature the dragon can see within 120 feet of it. The creature must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or be charmed by the dragon until initiative count 20 on the next round."
they exit and have to save or be charmed and all they hear is the dragons whispers persuading them to come to them and if they are charmed then the dragon has advantage on persuasion.
"Inviting Whispers. Whispers rustle in the foliage within 1 mile of the dragon’s lair. The words are indistinct, but a creature with an Intelligence score of 5 or higher interprets them as an invitation to move deeper into the greenery."
Another green dragon example:
maybe they are woken up by the dragons poisonous fog breath seeping into the hut because it doesn't block air and dragon breaths are non magical, so they run out into the fog to find they are surrounded by these sleeping plant zombie which if they alert they will need to refight zombie versions of some of the monsters they killed .
"Creeper Vines. The dragon can use the vines and roots within its lair to animate up to three Humanoid corpses, which become zombies (see their entry in the Monster Manual). The zombies take their turn immediately after this lair action. Each one reverts to an inanimate corpse after 1 minute, when the dragon uses this lair action again, or when the zombie is destroyed."
This is also really only the tip of the ice berg and they are horrifying encounters players will never forget.
This is where your first job as DM (give the players the most enjoyable game possible) conflicts with your other job (run the world in a fair, logical manner), because of the players' choice of actions. Because the two may not work together, go with the second: run the world fairly.
You need to decide how or if the tiny hut is discovered. It's visible, and potentially if not opaque then those that discover the PCs can see them.
The PCs are clearly intruders, and therefore the denizens of the lair will try to ensure they die.
Do not allow the long rest to succeed; you need to sleep/trance to LR, and I don't believe that is possible when you know that there are enemies and possibly a dragon just outside within a few feet.
If the bad guys know where the party is and what they are doing then they will react. There are many possibilities.
The caster uses fog cloud to fill the room with the hut with impenetrable fog. The trolls and maybe some summoned elementals enter the room unseen and start piling rocks on the tiny hut. They might even collapse the ceiling of the room onto the hut. The folks inside would see the fog then they would see bits of the rock leaning on the hut. If they decide to continue their rest and ignore it, the mage casts dispel magic on the hut once there are several tons of rock on it. The rock falls on the sleeping party doing 10d10 damage (dex save for half). (Collapsing the ceiling might only be a stone shape or earthquake spell away - or a summoned earth elemental might be able to pull it down).
This is a reasonable response for the bad guys with their capabilities against a party whose location is known choosing to long rest in a tiny hut.
However, as DM, you should really point out to the CHARACTERS things that they would know - they KNOW that they have left traces of their presence, they KNOW that the dungeon isn't empty, they KNOW that they haven't hidden their campsite, they KNOW that the hut isn't camoflaged or otherwise difficult to spot, the characters would KNOW that they are likely to be noticed, the characters also KNOW that a tiny hut is not safe, just safer. The characters do not know what the likely response might be from the creatures in the dungeon, the characters also do not know what other creatures are present or could be called upon by the inhabitants (thinking they know everything is not a mistake a character would make but is easily one that a player makes). As DM, I think you need to make the situation completely clear to the players by making sure that they know what their characters know - then the players can decide whether the characters would really decide to take a long rest and any consequences then result from that decision and not from the players having a lack of information and operating under different assumptions than the DM.
(e.g. the players could be thinking that there are only a couple of monsters in the dungeon, that they won't notice them and that a tiny hut makes them invincible - the characters would likely know that all three of these are false but players often fall into traps like that and it is useful for the DM to ensure that everyone is picturing the situation the same)
I agree with many here that there should be a reaction to the party being present in the lair. Regardless of hut or resting condition. By default they are making a dynamic entry with well armed inhabitants. And, absolutely, the world continues without them. That's the sense of verisimilitude and realism that makes dungeon delving dangerous. Should they get stuck, lost, killed or otherwise trapped in the lair, the rest of the world continues on without them. If you have a success condition, there is inherently a failure condition that can be met just as, if not more easily.
The party definitely needs to understand that time is a resource that they do not enjoy the benefits of. They may have the spell slots, HD pool, ammo and all the combat effectiveness that they can muster, but they don't have the time required to stop the world so they can have a snack-pack and a nap. Out of game conversation with the players might be warranted, to allow them the opportunity to change their minds about this course of action. Time is one of the many functions that the DM can control in game. You can pause the scene long enough to have this conversation. I highly suggest that you do so.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
Rules As Written, PCs can only get one long rest in a 24 hour period. What time of day is it? Can they get a long rest right now?
Think of the dragon’s lair as a large building like a grocery store, only it’s the dragon’s home. Could someone hide in a grocery store or a department store and successfully sleep for 8 hours without being discovered by the employees? If they’re discovered, how would the employees respond? Throw in the challenge for the employees of dealing with a Tiny Hut spell and make the people hiding in the Tiny Hut shoplifters and ask yourself how they would deal with the shoplifters?
I’m not sure what I would have the dragon and it’s minions do, but I’d roll to see if they found the Tiny Hut and if they did I’d have them prepare something for the PCs to deal with when they left it.
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Another thought to maybe boost the verisimilitude challenges of "right here right now" long rests: Whether with tiny hut or just bunking down with weapons of warning and a watch, when that's declared have some [skill]survival[/spell] checks or make your martials make some sort of check on tactical viability. What you're doing is not denying the long rest, but making the characters to do tactical/risk assessment of the scene. Sure they cleared the level, but there's egresses to other levels and they don't know what's down there, or what might be coming through this level to get there. And always end the assessment, "you're pretty sure this will likely be a dynamic environment for the next 8 hours..." and set the check DC at 5.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Attacking is not pointless, having an enemy attack, realsie they can't be hit, then go away and return with more enemies and just wait is something I have done in the same situation.
Also remember tiny hut can be dispelled, I can't imagine there are not magic users with dispel magic about.
Depends on the personality of the dragon.
If the dragon is arrogant and mischevious/tricksy, they might block the easy routes in the lair to force them to go through traps. They might make several traps for them - if they spend half an hour on each, that's 16 traps for the party to have to go through!
They might even send them a messenger inviting them "to dinner".
I would say that a dragon is intelligent enough to use the knowledge that the party will be there for some time to their advantage, rather than just trying to rush the tiny hut! Maybe they will find the lair oddly deserted, and the dragon has used a teleportation circle (along with their minions) to clear out of the lair whilst the party were resting, diddling them out of their gold and their fight.
Personally I would make a lot of hastily improvised traps (make them good ones if there are Kobolds) and have that be the consequence - yes, you get your rest, but now you need to expend more resources because the enemy spent 8 hours making stuff to kill you!
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I've had players leave a dungeon located under a graveyard and get a long rest in a temple in charge of said graveyard. This also allowed the enemies (all humanoids) in the dungeon to get their long rest (they even have a room full of beds), as well as plenty of time for them to prepare for when the players return. When the players did return, they faced ambush after ambush. It eventually resulted in a TPK, but the enemies were actually good guys (the players were misguided) so they captured them alive. They did however execute one of the players for having murdered a child (the father was the executioner), but he bargained with Orcus to come back as an undead warrior and proceeded to slaughter a pregnant woman who was running and screaming for her life. He also wanted to kill a baby, but another player persuaded him otherwise. The quest ended with a true TPK, as the only sane player remaining (the one against killing a baby) committed suicide at the end of the story. It's poetic how the undead warrior was destroyed by a member of the very temple that sheltered the players. If you haven't figured it out, the temple worships Kelemvor.
Age: 33 | Sex: Male | Languages: French and English | Roles: DM and Player
well I would interrupt their sleep over in a Dragon's Lair with initially a minion noticing the tiny hut encampment maybe bashing the Tiny hut abit if its a Troll and then running off... if the players don't break off nap time the Dragon returns with it's minions and starts collapsing the cave on the tiny hut
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
Pantagruel666 is 100% right give them the good old rod it would be hilarious.
sounds like you had murderhobos not players Flaxo lmfao
The child in question was actually hostile. She was trying to kill the PCs because they had killed her mother during a previous encounter. She was a rebellious little brat who didn't listen to her father who repeatedly told her to get to safety while they were all in the middle of combat. She had a younger brother who was also a fighter, but he listened to his father after he was hurt once. The girl was seeing red and wouldn't listen to reason. The fight was pretty chaotic. Some of the enemies were even trying to get between the PCs and the girl to safeguard her. The father did everything to grapple her and move her out of the way.
Smart players could have called for a ceasefire in order to help the enemy get the kids to safety. But they didn't. They showed no reason to their enemy that they were good guys. Both sides thought the other was basically chaotic evil. I wanted to help my players out by giving one of them the opportunity to show mercy. The father had finally grabbed his daughter and was moving out of the way. This triggered an attack of opportunity. I asked the player if he wanted to use his reaction to attack the father, stating that doing so might instead hit the child as she was basically acting as cover. He basically told me that he wanted to hit the child. The hit killed her instantly (no death saving throws). The father was obviously angered and went all out to kill the PC. But the players managed to escape. They came back later, but this time they were defeated and captured. While he was unconscious, the child killer had a dream: Orcus offered him power in exchange of his servitude.
Here's a bit of exposition that the players knew at this point. A long time ago, fanatics of Velsharoon (lich god of the undead) profaned a mausoleum built in honor of the founder of a temple of Kelemvor. His body is now resting inside a sarcophagus placed inside a mausoleum. The fanatics built an underground shrine under the mausoleum. They have since been taken care of and the entrance to that shrine was sealed. A group of bandits unsealed it and repurposed the shrine as their hideout. The enemy the players were fighting are those bandits. What the players didn't know yet is that they were actually a gang of chaotic good Robin Hoods. They only stole from corrupt merchants and nobles, using the money to rehabilitate criminals and thus reduce crime.
Earlier, the players had come across an idol of Orcus (demon lord of the undead) inside the dungeon, who was also being venerated by the fanatics. This link allowed the demon to sense the bloodshed, and so saw the opportunity to recruit a new servant. My player showed me that he wanted to be evil, so I offered him this. His alignment was Lawful Neutral, or rather Lawful Stupid. Anyway, the child killer was executed. Now dead, his soul was dragged into the Abyss where he met Orcus. I explained to the player that his character would return as an undead, that he retained his free will, but that he needed to kill at least one person per day in order to not turn into a mindless zombie. Each person killed added one point to his counter, while each day passed subtracted one. It was thus possible to keep a buffer and not have to kill every single day. I even gave him the zombie's poison immunity and undead fortitude, as well as the Abyssal language.
He came back normally with 1 hp according to the rules on unconscious but stable creatures. He then rescued the rest of his party imprisoned in a cell. The pregnant woman he killed counted as two points. He eventually failed his constitution saving throw and was defeated again. The only player still standing had a mental breakdown in character when she finally realized the consequences of their actions. The pregnant woman's husband was devastated and holding his death wife with her belly smashed open with an axe. The bandits were having a sad moment. They had noticed that the remaining player had protected the baby, so they were merciful toward her. However, she later committed suicide.
The undead player's corpse was dumped outside. He had succeeded on his undeath saving throws (see what I did there?) and woke up. An acolyte of Kelemvor saw him and finished him off for good with radiant damage. The player had tried to persuade the acolyte to help him, but it doesn't matter how high you roll your check, you can't persuade someone racist toward undead creatures to help one. The player thought the people at the temple would help him. I don't know what he was thinking. Orcus even warned him that Kelemvor was a sworn enemy.
I certainly surprised my players. They were used to mooks having no names or families. I subverted all of their expectations.
Age: 33 | Sex: Male | Languages: French and English | Roles: DM and Player