Hello. I am just wondering if anyone has advice about using beasts in DnD games, or making them more prominent and threatening towards the players. Maybe a small quest about stopping a beast from eating livestock or people? I just want a way to use animals in my setting.
At the least, such threats IMO, i.e. regular ole animals, are geared toward low level PCs. To make them more threatening, don't tell the players what the creature is, give it a theatrical description and let their imaginations work against them. :-)
Are you looking for story hooks so you can use them? I'm sure we can come up with some.
Are you feeling that they're too easy? Look for different statblocks. You can always rename them so they're fighting the statblock of a powerful creature but they're told that they're fighting a tiger or something.
Or are you after ways you can describe them so they seem more menacing?
If you're more specific, we can give more useful advice.
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If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
The core problem with beasts as enemies is that they're nonsentient so they're unlikely to have clever plots or diabolical schemes. Fortunately, there is a simple solution: evil druids.
Basically, I would like them to be some sort of problem in a town or village near whatever environment they live in. I would also like a better way to describe their appearance. Sorry for not being specific... The main thing is for them to be more of a threat towards a town with low defenses, and/or for a reason that wild predators are coming into areas with humanoids. I was thinking of undead beasts, but I feel that anyone can do that, there's probably no solid way to use them as a threat. Even just giving some advice about tactics for encounters with beasts would be helpful.
Basically, I would like them to be some sort of problem in a town or village near whatever environment they live in. I would also like a better way to describe their appearance. Sorry for not being specific... The main thing is for them to be more of a threat towards a town with low defenses, and/or for a reason that wild predators are coming into areas with humanoids.
The reason beasts don't generally attack humans is because we kill everything that tries; if for some reason humans and animals are coming into first contact, there will be plenty of instances of animals trying to eat humans.
However, the typical way that works for a village wouldn't be that animals come charging into town to break down buildings. What happens is that people going off by themselves or in small groups start disappearing. Town walls will help prevent that in town, but people need to go beyond the walls for a lot of purposes, most notably taking care of fields (that generally don't fit within the walls) and collecting wood (for construction or fuel).
Legendary beasts are pretty common in myth. They don't have descriptions of magic powers or anything they just hit hard and are hard to kill. In terms of how they are hyped up they are often described as being sent by gods, foretold to bring ruin, kill a legendary her or just cause damage to the country side.
For example the calydonian boar
Sent by the god Diana
Unusually large and strong enough to kill bulls
Destroys the farming land of a nation
A beast like that could definitely be a legendary creature with legendary resistances and possibly even legendary actions . If those are not enough some additional powers which are not clearly supernatural could work well like
Action surge
Self healing like second wind or regeneration to show great endurance
Divine protection for example. Good luck in the form of blessings, bad luck for those fighting it in the form of bane
An intimidating aura like a dragon's draconic presence
Sneak attack
Bonus action hide or dash
Reaction to dodge
additional reactions a turn
Bleed effects
stronger criticals
You can basically take anything from the less magicky player classes
1) Give the main villain a menagerie. This allows them to send beats out to challenge the party. 2) Create mounts and hunting companions for the oppositions. Have Ogres ride Dinosaurs. Why not? Or make an Owlbear a domesticated animal for a group of Druids. Seems reasonable. Create hunters in a competition chasing the party; and each hunter has a unique complimentary beast. 3) HUNT! After a long day of adventuring, make your party look for a meal. 4) Create a dungeon where beasts are the traps. Like if they party fails a puzzle they are transported to an another plane where they are surrounded by snakes. It is literally SNAKES ON A PLANE! Other options are pools of water with sharks, opening a box containing a swarm of insects, or having a wounded party being hunted by hounds. 5) Gladiatorial games or a Gauntlet. A series of challenges with beasts to achieve a level of success. 6) Have a beast be drawn to combats in the wilderness. Attribute to sound or blood. 7) The beast is tracking and hunting the party. Randomly have it attack in the night. 8) Have the party go on long travels where there is a high probability that beasts will encounter them. Consider this: Have a time sensitive adventure with your party is depleted of resources and running out of time. Now simple beasts can be a hinderance since they are on the clock to complete a mission.
Ogres riding dinosaurs is a pretty nice concept. I was going to put in some events within the battle arena. Maybe even a beast race? We shall see what comes up, will probably upload some sessions onto social media because why not? Hunting for food will definitely happen.
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Hello. I am just wondering if anyone has advice about using beasts in DnD games, or making them more prominent and threatening towards the players. Maybe a small quest about stopping a beast from eating livestock or people? I just want a way to use animals in my setting.
So what's stopping you? :D
At the least, such threats IMO, i.e. regular ole animals, are geared toward low level PCs. To make them more threatening, don't tell the players what the creature is, give it a theatrical description and let their imaginations work against them. :-)
What's the obstacle?
Are you looking for story hooks so you can use them? I'm sure we can come up with some.
Are you feeling that they're too easy? Look for different statblocks. You can always rename them so they're fighting the statblock of a powerful creature but they're told that they're fighting a tiger or something.
Or are you after ways you can describe them so they seem more menacing?
If you're more specific, we can give more useful advice.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
The core problem with beasts as enemies is that they're nonsentient so they're unlikely to have clever plots or diabolical schemes. Fortunately, there is a simple solution: evil druids.
Basically, I would like them to be some sort of problem in a town or village near whatever environment they live in. I would also like a better way to describe their appearance. Sorry for not being specific... The main thing is for them to be more of a threat towards a town with low defenses, and/or for a reason that wild predators are coming into areas with humanoids. I was thinking of undead beasts, but I feel that anyone can do that, there's probably no solid way to use them as a threat. Even just giving some advice about tactics for encounters with beasts would be helpful.
The reason beasts don't generally attack humans is because we kill everything that tries; if for some reason humans and animals are coming into first contact, there will be plenty of instances of animals trying to eat humans.
However, the typical way that works for a village wouldn't be that animals come charging into town to break down buildings. What happens is that people going off by themselves or in small groups start disappearing. Town walls will help prevent that in town, but people need to go beyond the walls for a lot of purposes, most notably taking care of fields (that generally don't fit within the walls) and collecting wood (for construction or fuel).
Legendary beasts are pretty common in myth. They don't have descriptions of magic powers or anything they just hit hard and are hard to kill. In terms of how they are hyped up they are often described as being sent by gods, foretold to bring ruin, kill a legendary her or just cause damage to the country side.
For example the calydonian boar
A beast like that could definitely be a legendary creature with legendary resistances and possibly even legendary actions . If those are not enough some additional powers which are not clearly supernatural could work well like
You can basically take anything from the less magicky player classes
Some options:
1) Give the main villain a menagerie. This allows them to send beats out to challenge the party.
2) Create mounts and hunting companions for the oppositions. Have Ogres ride Dinosaurs. Why not? Or make an Owlbear a domesticated animal for a group of Druids. Seems reasonable. Create hunters in a competition chasing the party; and each hunter has a unique complimentary beast.
3) HUNT! After a long day of adventuring, make your party look for a meal.
4) Create a dungeon where beasts are the traps. Like if they party fails a puzzle they are transported to an another plane where they are surrounded by snakes. It is literally SNAKES ON A PLANE! Other options are pools of water with sharks, opening a box containing a swarm of insects, or having a wounded party being hunted by hounds.
5) Gladiatorial games or a Gauntlet. A series of challenges with beasts to achieve a level of success.
6) Have a beast be drawn to combats in the wilderness. Attribute to sound or blood.
7) The beast is tracking and hunting the party. Randomly have it attack in the night.
8) Have the party go on long travels where there is a high probability that beasts will encounter them. Consider this: Have a time sensitive adventure with your party is depleted of resources and running out of time. Now simple beasts can be a hinderance since they are on the clock to complete a mission.
Ogres riding dinosaurs is a pretty nice concept. I was going to put in some events within the battle arena. Maybe even a beast race? We shall see what comes up, will probably upload some sessions onto social media because why not? Hunting for food will definitely happen.