Hey guys, I'm looking for a mini game for my players as part of the conclusion of our campaign. The party consists of 5 level 11 characters, not particularly min/maxed as they have gone for what they think sounded fun rather than an optimal build.
Background - Bad guy has created a dracolich with the help of Zariel and is about to storm a castle that the player party want to protect. The demon forces have amassed outside the castle and are waiting for an infiltration from a thieves party prior to starting their siege. The players have gone off and recruited the help of the Yuan-ti from the east to bring an army to take down the demons. The players and yuan-ti army will charge in as soon as the siege begins, attacking from the rear. The players objective as laid out by them is to cut the head off the snake rather than take down the entire army outright, so BBE and his dragon are their focus.
The final fight will be in 3 stages, 1 - Dragon flies over head causing chaos, 2 - Dragon lands and BBE buggers off to do something, players fight dragon, 3 - BBE returns and final showdown takes place. I'm good with 2 and 3, that's all sorted, however to make the first stage more interesting, rather than me just describing the fight and struggles whilst they try to find or wait for BBE, I want this to be interactive.
Have you guys got any ideas for a mini game, or interactivity that I can include? The demons will have trebuches, battering rams etc. I'm thinking along the lines of arrows rain down from the ramparts and the players need to dex save out of the way, the dragon blasts it's breath weapon down creating small trenches, exploding the war machines, all hazards to avoid that could damage them. But I don't want it to just be a series of dex saves.
I tried to keep the description high level to keep the post fairly short, obviously the planning I have is much more detailed, I can give more info if needed, but really just wanted to focus on this first stage of the final fight
The first thing I wanted to mention before I get to your main question, in your game, has the Blood War ended? I ask as you mention that Zariel (who is a Devil) helped the BBEG create a Dracolich, so I assume that the BBEG is working with Devils. You mentioned that the army being commanded by the BBEG are Demons, which the Devils are at war with, so why would Zariel help?
Assuming that your setting has all of that sorted, I'll get to your main question.
With the players attacking from the Rear, they will be closer to the Siege Equipment that is typically in the back when a Siege begins (Archers in front with Cavalry and/or marching Solders behind ready to advance). Also, if the Attacking Army has been camped out getting ready for the Siege, there would be a city of tents and equipment that the Army is marching from towards the castle.
In my head, you have a few options for a mini game, or you can combine, and use what you want.
Depending on the size of the Yuan-Ti army, you could have a mini game of sneaking up behind the Devil Army as they pass through their encampment: Stealth for trying to stay hidden (Devil Army will be loud and their focus will be the castle, not behind them). Maybe a few 'helpers' (cooks, assistants, etc) are left behind in camp, and the group needs to unalive them so they can keep sneaking. They might even find some useful equipment as they advance through the camp.
Then the Dracolitch spots them and as they leave camp, to approach the devil army, they have to start dodging the Dragon Attacks and the trenches it makes from those attacks (as you mentioned). This would draw the attention of the rear Devils that are moving with the Siege Equipment. The players could then start attacking the Siege Equipment to prevent it from reaching the Castle.
Breathe, dragons; sing of the First World, forged out of chaos and painted with beauty. Sing of Bahamut, the Platinum, molding the shape of the mountains and rivers; Sing too of Chromatic Tiamat, painting all over the infinite canvas. Partnered, they woke in the darkness; partnered, they labored in acts of creation.
Hey Laird, thanks for the input. To answer the first point, we actually started Descent into Avernus and got bored pretty early so we went off script. The players aren't familiar with the D&D lore, so we bend it as we need to, there is no blood war. Basically, we took the start of the DiA book in that Thavious Kreeg helped Elturel, then the players discover he did it with assistance from Zariel, story happens, players kill Kreeg, but now he has returned as his amnizu variant with a gift from Zariel, the gemstone to create a dracolich. Leading an army of demons supplied by Zariel (she is confined to hell and using Kreeg to escape to the mortal plane) he is using teleportation circles to get the demon army in front of the walls of Irieabor. Iriaebor was part of a Trium, an agreement between themselves, Arabel and West Gate. The latter 2 have already fallen to the demon army, and the mortals in Iriaebor are preparing their defences. The party have gone off to seek assistance from the Yuan-Ti after seeing Arabel fall, and have returned with an army numbering hundreds. The Yuan-Ti will keep the demon army occupied, whilst the party deal directly with Kreeg and his dracolich. That's the lowdown, more politics have come into play (the trium was setup to protect the West from the Yuan-Ti, but this is an old hatred based on nothing, the Yuan-Ti want to rekindle the relationship. Yes I've deviated from Yuan-Ti being inherently evil).
The dragon raining down breath attacks is against the forces deployed from Iriaebor and the Yuan-Ti, it won't be (deliberately) aiming for the demons as Kreeg is their commander.
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Hey guys, I'm looking for a mini game for my players as part of the conclusion of our campaign. The party consists of 5 level 11 characters, not particularly min/maxed as they have gone for what they think sounded fun rather than an optimal build.
Background - Bad guy has created a dracolich with the help of Zariel and is about to storm a castle that the player party want to protect. The demon forces have amassed outside the castle and are waiting for an infiltration from a thieves party prior to starting their siege. The players have gone off and recruited the help of the Yuan-ti from the east to bring an army to take down the demons. The players and yuan-ti army will charge in as soon as the siege begins, attacking from the rear. The players objective as laid out by them is to cut the head off the snake rather than take down the entire army outright, so BBE and his dragon are their focus.
The final fight will be in 3 stages, 1 - Dragon flies over head causing chaos, 2 - Dragon lands and BBE buggers off to do something, players fight dragon, 3 - BBE returns and final showdown takes place. I'm good with 2 and 3, that's all sorted, however to make the first stage more interesting, rather than me just describing the fight and struggles whilst they try to find or wait for BBE, I want this to be interactive.
Have you guys got any ideas for a mini game, or interactivity that I can include? The demons will have trebuches, battering rams etc. I'm thinking along the lines of arrows rain down from the ramparts and the players need to dex save out of the way, the dragon blasts it's breath weapon down creating small trenches, exploding the war machines, all hazards to avoid that could damage them. But I don't want it to just be a series of dex saves.
I tried to keep the description high level to keep the post fairly short, obviously the planning I have is much more detailed, I can give more info if needed, but really just wanted to focus on this first stage of the final fight
Greetings Tlawrence84,
The first thing I wanted to mention before I get to your main question, in your game, has the Blood War ended?
I ask as you mention that Zariel (who is a Devil) helped the BBEG create a Dracolich, so I assume that the BBEG is working with Devils.
You mentioned that the army being commanded by the BBEG are Demons, which the Devils are at war with, so why would Zariel help?
Assuming that your setting has all of that sorted, I'll get to your main question.
With the players attacking from the Rear, they will be closer to the Siege Equipment that is typically in the back when a Siege begins (Archers in front with Cavalry and/or marching Solders behind ready to advance).
Also, if the Attacking Army has been camped out getting ready for the Siege, there would be a city of tents and equipment that the Army is marching from towards the castle.
In my head, you have a few options for a mini game, or you can combine, and use what you want.
Depending on the size of the Yuan-Ti army, you could have a mini game of sneaking up behind the Devil Army as they pass through their encampment:
Stealth for trying to stay hidden (Devil Army will be loud and their focus will be the castle, not behind them).
Maybe a few 'helpers' (cooks, assistants, etc) are left behind in camp, and the group needs to unalive them so they can keep sneaking.
They might even find some useful equipment as they advance through the camp.
Then the Dracolitch spots them and as they leave camp, to approach the devil army, they have to start dodging the Dragon Attacks and the trenches it makes from those attacks (as you mentioned).
This would draw the attention of the rear Devils that are moving with the Siege Equipment.
The players could then start attacking the Siege Equipment to prevent it from reaching the Castle.
This would then lead into stage 2 at some point.
Hope these random ideas helped :)
Cheers!
Breathe, dragons; sing of the First World, forged out of chaos and painted with beauty.
Sing of Bahamut, the Platinum, molding the shape of the mountains and rivers;
Sing too of Chromatic Tiamat, painting all over the infinite canvas.
Partnered, they woke in the darkness; partnered, they labored in acts of creation.
Hey Laird, thanks for the input. To answer the first point, we actually started Descent into Avernus and got bored pretty early so we went off script. The players aren't familiar with the D&D lore, so we bend it as we need to, there is no blood war. Basically, we took the start of the DiA book in that Thavious Kreeg helped Elturel, then the players discover he did it with assistance from Zariel, story happens, players kill Kreeg, but now he has returned as his amnizu variant with a gift from Zariel, the gemstone to create a dracolich. Leading an army of demons supplied by Zariel (she is confined to hell and using Kreeg to escape to the mortal plane) he is using teleportation circles to get the demon army in front of the walls of Irieabor. Iriaebor was part of a Trium, an agreement between themselves, Arabel and West Gate. The latter 2 have already fallen to the demon army, and the mortals in Iriaebor are preparing their defences. The party have gone off to seek assistance from the Yuan-Ti after seeing Arabel fall, and have returned with an army numbering hundreds. The Yuan-Ti will keep the demon army occupied, whilst the party deal directly with Kreeg and his dracolich. That's the lowdown, more politics have come into play (the trium was setup to protect the West from the Yuan-Ti, but this is an old hatred based on nothing, the Yuan-Ti want to rekindle the relationship. Yes I've deviated from Yuan-Ti being inherently evil).
The dragon raining down breath attacks is against the forces deployed from Iriaebor and the Yuan-Ti, it won't be (deliberately) aiming for the demons as Kreeg is their commander.