My players are currently on a quest to find the second half of a magical dagger that strips creatures that are immune to radiant damage (gods and their angels) of that immunity, making it easier to kill them. The halves are locked away in temples and require the combined efforts of at least 2 followers of different gods to remove the dagger pieces from their vaults. The next piece is in the goddess of the wild's temple. They will enter the temple and be transported to a forest that is overrun with constructs. The goal of the temple would be to prevent the forest from burning down while excising the constructs. There are dragonleaf trees (Tome of Beasts) that must be protected, but will also attack the players. I would like to throw in some other kind of beasts (Maybe spiders? Very cliche, so I'm open to ideas) that will threaten the players (and enemies) for entering their territory but won't pursue them or attack them unless attacked. The constructs start fires all-around a very large map, and those fires spread. I need a mechanic to show the spreading of the fires.
The goddess finds hunting what you don't need to survive distasteful, and abhors technology and civilization. My players have not had much in way of interaction with this goddess so I need a way to subtly convey this information to them.
I need to nudge my players to protect the trees and put out the fires, while killing the constructs, while not killing the beasts. Any ideas?
For the beasts, I would suggest deer or some sort, and the first encounter with them should involve young- really bring in the awwww factor. Not sure about the fire. Maybe it doesn’t have to be exact- do the PCs have a way of knowing where they all are? You could roll dice to determine if there is one when the PCs enter a given area- a roll that has a growing chance of being true the longer the encounter. Or maybe fixed starting points and roll for how many squares the fire covers in a round.
What motivation do the PCs have to help the goddess? Is it a do this and I’ll give you the dagger thing? Or a sneak in and grab it mission? Wouldn’t she be automatically disposed not to like them if they want a dagger that could potentially harm her?
For conveying information about her- pictures/statues in the temple before they are teleported away could work.
For the nudge I Think I'd use gnomes, fairy creatures, tree spirits and such... the little plucky ones running around totally out of their depth valiantly trying to save their homes and the other forest inhabitants from a fiery demise... they could fill the party in on the wims and ways of the leafy lady If I was DM'ing it I'd be the mechanic that controls the weather and the spread of the fire... drawing ever dangerously closer to the players... though I would roll some dice and go "oh dear" and such.
Monster encounters... a stamped of burning wild boar heading towards the party?
“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
They've just gotten done with a different god's trials, so they know something is up upon entering the temple. The fire is magical in nature.
I like the cute deer, and then maybe ramping up from there. Draw the connection that from the cutest animal to the most grotesque, this goddess values them all.
I LIKE having gnomes and fairies and forest folk attacking the constructs and protecting the beasts as an example to the players. "We are favored by the goddess and this is how we act."
Does anyone have a huge forest battle map? I'd like to do something bigger than 25x25.
My players are currently on a quest to find the second half of a magical dagger that strips creatures that are immune to radiant damage (gods and their angels) of that immunity, making it easier to kill them. The halves are locked away in temples and require the combined efforts of at least 2 followers of different gods to remove the dagger pieces from their vaults. The next piece is in the goddess of the wild's temple. They will enter the temple and be transported to a forest that is overrun with constructs. The goal of the temple would be to prevent the forest from burning down while excising the constructs. There are dragonleaf trees (Tome of Beasts) that must be protected, but will also attack the players. I would like to throw in some other kind of beasts (Maybe spiders? Very cliche, so I'm open to ideas) that will threaten the players (and enemies) for entering their territory but won't pursue them or attack them unless attacked. The constructs start fires all-around a very large map, and those fires spread. I need a mechanic to show the spreading of the fires.
The goddess finds hunting what you don't need to survive distasteful, and abhors technology and civilization. My players have not had much in way of interaction with this goddess so I need a way to subtly convey this information to them.
I need to nudge my players to protect the trees and put out the fires, while killing the constructs, while not killing the beasts. Any ideas?
Ok, I don't have nearly enough information to get an appropriate opinion here so I will just share my thoughts.
If the constructs are spreading fires all over a very large forest, there isn't much the players can do unless they have access to high-level magic like Control Weather. Forest fires are, a force of nature, for lack of a better term, in real life they can burn for weeks, and fighting them requires the combined effort of thousands of well-equipped firefighters with access to vehicles and tools.
The bottom line is, if the constructs start a large-scale forest fire, I doubt there is much the party can do about it directly. I would introduce some meaningful ways to combat the fire like being able to cast the Control weather spell to summon torrential rain.
Maybe the constructs are imbued with some sort of elemental or divine power, and destroying them allows you to store some of that power inside of an item. After defeating a certain number of constructs you can cast Control Weather from the item.
I wouldn't stress too much about the Fire. I would simply describe how the fire is spreading and what effect that is having. The players would be essentially in a race against time to defeat the constructs.
What if the fire was a measure of the goddess' favor? Kill a construct, some fire goes out. Kill a beast, the fire gets worse. The dragonleaf trees damage indiscriminately, but if they are damaged by either the party or the constructs, the fire gets worse. If a dragonleaf tree dies, their max HP is reduced by 1/4 until they die.
What if the fire was a measure of the goddess' favor? Kill a construct, some fire goes out. Kill a beast, the fire gets worse. The dragonleaf trees damage indiscriminately, but if they are damaged by either the party or the constructs, the fire gets worse. If a dragonleaf tree dies, their max HP is reduced by 1/4 until they die.
Mmm... wouldn't that imply the goddess could put the fires out and stop the forest and its creatures from being killed by it... I don't think that works... unless the goddesses powers are focused on stopping the fires and the party can help her by eliminating the constructs thus stopping them from starting new ones...
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
“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
Ah, I don't think I've explained the temple properly.
Usually in the world, the gods take care of mostly everything. Not famine, war, or poverty beyond a little class structure. Harvests are always bountiful and the gods design the cities, so there's always adequate housing and everything. Some people want a life beyond the comfort given to them by the gods, and become adventurers. In a world of near-absolute peace though, adventures can be hard to come by. So the gods kinda make them. The primary source of conflict was demons escaping essentially hell, and the gods let it happen up to a point. But then the gods got sealed away, and the party is making their way in this new world ruled by the enemies of the gods.
So these temples are running on fumes of the gods' powers. It's all a test. A very real illusory forest. With very real constructs that get revived at the end of the test (usually, but now not so much).
Ah............. A very real illusory forest. With very real constructs that get revived at the end of the test (usually, but now not so much).
Ah.... quite possibly I just missed that about the scenario, my bad. OK then it makes perfect sense that fires intensify when the adventures are deemed to be failing at the test
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
“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
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
My players are currently on a quest to find the second half of a magical dagger that strips creatures that are immune to radiant damage (gods and their angels) of that immunity, making it easier to kill them. The halves are locked away in temples and require the combined efforts of at least 2 followers of different gods to remove the dagger pieces from their vaults. The next piece is in the goddess of the wild's temple. They will enter the temple and be transported to a forest that is overrun with constructs. The goal of the temple would be to prevent the forest from burning down while excising the constructs. There are dragonleaf trees (Tome of Beasts) that must be protected, but will also attack the players. I would like to throw in some other kind of beasts (Maybe spiders? Very cliche, so I'm open to ideas) that will threaten the players (and enemies) for entering their territory but won't pursue them or attack them unless attacked. The constructs start fires all-around a very large map, and those fires spread. I need a mechanic to show the spreading of the fires.
The goddess finds hunting what you don't need to survive distasteful, and abhors technology and civilization. My players have not had much in way of interaction with this goddess so I need a way to subtly convey this information to them.
I need to nudge my players to protect the trees and put out the fires, while killing the constructs, while not killing the beasts. Any ideas?
For the beasts, I would suggest deer or some sort, and the first encounter with them should involve young- really bring in the awwww factor. Not sure about the fire. Maybe it doesn’t have to be exact- do the PCs have a way of knowing where they all are? You could roll dice to determine if there is one when the PCs enter a given area- a roll that has a growing chance of being true the longer the encounter. Or maybe fixed starting points and roll for how many squares the fire covers in a round.
What motivation do the PCs have to help the goddess? Is it a do this and I’ll give you the dagger thing? Or a sneak in and grab it mission? Wouldn’t she be automatically disposed not to like them if they want a dagger that could potentially harm her?
For conveying information about her- pictures/statues in the temple before they are teleported away could work.
Only spilt the party if you see something shiny.
Ariendela Sneakerson, Half-elf Rogue (8); Harmony Wolfsbane, Tiefling Bard (10); Agnomally, Gnomish Sorcerer (3); Breeze, Tabaxi Monk (8); Grace, Dragonborn Barbarian (7); DM, Homebrew- The Sequestered Lands/Underwater Explorers; Candlekeep
For the nudge I Think I'd use gnomes, fairy creatures, tree spirits and such... the little plucky ones running around totally out of their depth valiantly trying to save their homes and the other forest inhabitants from a fiery demise... they could fill the party in on the wims and ways of the leafy lady
If I was DM'ing it I'd be the mechanic that controls the weather and the spread of the fire... drawing ever dangerously closer to the players... though I would roll some dice and go "oh dear" and such.
Monster encounters... a stamped of burning wild boar heading towards the party?
“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
They've just gotten done with a different god's trials, so they know something is up upon entering the temple. The fire is magical in nature.
I like the cute deer, and then maybe ramping up from there. Draw the connection that from the cutest animal to the most grotesque, this goddess values them all.
I LIKE having gnomes and fairies and forest folk attacking the constructs and protecting the beasts as an example to the players. "We are favored by the goddess and this is how we act."
Does anyone have a huge forest battle map? I'd like to do something bigger than 25x25.
Ok, I don't have nearly enough information to get an appropriate opinion here so I will just share my thoughts.
If the constructs are spreading fires all over a very large forest, there isn't much the players can do unless they have access to high-level magic like Control Weather. Forest fires are, a force of nature, for lack of a better term, in real life they can burn for weeks, and fighting them requires the combined effort of thousands of well-equipped firefighters with access to vehicles and tools.
The bottom line is, if the constructs start a large-scale forest fire, I doubt there is much the party can do about it directly. I would introduce some meaningful ways to combat the fire like being able to cast the Control weather spell to summon torrential rain.
Maybe the constructs are imbued with some sort of elemental or divine power, and destroying them allows you to store some of that power inside of an item. After defeating a certain number of constructs you can cast Control Weather from the item.
I wouldn't stress too much about the Fire. I would simply describe how the fire is spreading and what effect that is having. The players would be essentially in a race against time to defeat the constructs.
What if the fire was a measure of the goddess' favor? Kill a construct, some fire goes out. Kill a beast, the fire gets worse. The dragonleaf trees damage indiscriminately, but if they are damaged by either the party or the constructs, the fire gets worse. If a dragonleaf tree dies, their max HP is reduced by 1/4 until they die.
Mmm... wouldn't that imply the goddess could put the fires out and stop the forest and its creatures from being killed by it... I don't think that works... unless the goddesses powers are focused on stopping the fires and the party can help her by eliminating the constructs thus stopping them from starting new ones...
“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
Ah, I don't think I've explained the temple properly.
Usually in the world, the gods take care of mostly everything. Not famine, war, or poverty beyond a little class structure. Harvests are always bountiful and the gods design the cities, so there's always adequate housing and everything. Some people want a life beyond the comfort given to them by the gods, and become adventurers. In a world of near-absolute peace though, adventures can be hard to come by. So the gods kinda make them. The primary source of conflict was demons escaping essentially hell, and the gods let it happen up to a point. But then the gods got sealed away, and the party is making their way in this new world ruled by the enemies of the gods.
So these temples are running on fumes of the gods' powers. It's all a test. A very real illusory forest. With very real constructs that get revived at the end of the test (usually, but now not so much).
Ah.... quite possibly I just missed that about the scenario, my bad. OK then it makes perfect sense that fires intensify when the adventures are deemed to be failing at the test
“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