I was a player in our adventuring party but after a swap round when the module changed from HotDQ to RoT, I'm now the DM and am fairly new to it.......... The wizard in the party has Leomund's Tiny Hut and this is now the go to for camping every night. Is there anything that can get into Leomund's Tiny Hut without being invited? I have heard about phase spiders, but having read their description and the Hut's description, I'm not at all sure they could.....
So, you think it is a "way too safe zone"? You can always have enemies take down trees next to the hut that will crush people inside, once the effect is over. You can have hay and branches stacked on top of "the hut" and set ablaze, flood the valley with water from the river.
And you can dispel the hut with Dispel Magic, if the players are bunkering down inside by a goblin shaman. :D
Really, the Hut is intended to stop random encounters during the night - or at least ensure the characters stay safe enough to get their 8 hour long rest before having to deal with any creatures smart enough to say, camp out beside the Hut.
The strategies DMGorani posted above would work, but they're not something I'd recommend doing often. Use them sparingly, at dramatically appropriate moments (oh, gods, they've got spellcasters! It's getting real guys). Done too often, it makes the players feel like they've wasted a spell (in the case of a ritual like Tiny Hut, either a page in a spell book, or even worse a spell known). That creates a game where the focus becomes players trying to outwit the DM instead of characters trying to outwit specific enemies or situations.
The hut sadly protects the party from nature and weather so in order to get in there you have to get creative. Usually things that can teleport like Blink Dogs or Boggles (if you have Volo's) can bypass the hut easily. Or if you want to have more intelligent enemies find the hut, they can recognize what spell it is and simply wait it out and ambush the party in the morning.
And then finally there's digging creatures. The hut doesn't protect the party from anything that attacks from below. XD
Although be careful not to do this too many times. If you're trying to find ways to circumvent the tiny hut than the players will feel disuadedfrom using it all together and just trudge through regular encounters. That might not make them too happy.
And then finally there's digging creatures. The hut doesn't protect the party from anything that attacks from below. XD
I believe there's a sage advice that clarifies the hut is a fully enclosed semi circle, with a base, so digging creatures could not get in RAW.
My players thought the hut was an invincible go to until they left alive an Oni that ambushed them from invisibility as they dropped the hut the next morning. They still use it but once they realized its limitations its no longer such a big deal to them anymore.
As others have already stated, the hut is useful but not invincible. It can protect the player characters from many environmental effects and random encounters, but don't forget that the players aren't the only people who can use magic. Dispel magic can get rid of it, and intelligent creatures could setup an ambush outside of it. That all said, there's another thing to consider; is it really a problem?
Leomund's Tiny Hut is a tool that your players are using to keep their characters safe. If you, as a DM, were to find an easy solution to the tiny hut, then the players would have no incentive to use it. If every passing creature could easily bypass the spell, then your players wouldn't feel safe in the hut, and they would simply not use the spell. Remember, the spell uses up resources (spell slots). If you really want to try to limit how often they use the hut, try to force them to use up more resources with tougher encounters during the day (more/stronger enemies, puzzles, mazes, etc). They might still end up being able to cast tiny hut at the end of every adventuring day, but you will force them to think smarter while they try to preserve their resources.
Monsters waiting to ambush you in the morning? Cast Rope Trick just before the hut disappears. The monsters see that nothing is inside and leave.
If you can cast the hut as a ritual, make multiple huts. For an enemy with dispel magic, it would be like the game with the three shells and a pea.
The instant the caster of the hut passes through the threshold of Rope Trick the hut vanishes and anyone watching will have time to see the rope get pulled up after it . Beasts with keen smell and any bad things that can track will smell or notice tracks of your presence. Sure dumb animals may lose interest after several minutes but those dumb animals are easy pickings, so better to just ready swords and cantrips. Smarter things will stay longer or even figure out what you've done. Good advice, but really cumbersome because it should be hardly ever needed and having to keep that prepared can be very limiting. Unless the DM is a dick it shouldn't be needed very often - and once you have tiny hut and able to cast as ritual you'll probably never really need rope trick ever again for anything else.
Making multiple huts will be difficult. As soon as the caster leaves the hut it vanishes and you cannot have the hut overlap with another so unless you have multiple people able to cast it as ritual or a way to be in multiple locations simultaneously it will not be possible to maintain multiple huts.
Smart foes will know what the Hut is and do things like smear the outside with mud (to block vision) and then pile heavy things on top (like tree trunks and rocks and animal carcasses). Then cast dispel magic and watch all the rocks and trees fall on the people inside. Optionally, they might set the trees on fire, so the people inside have heavy burning things fall on them. :-)
If the people inside start sticking their heads out to see through the mud then those outside will play whack-a-mole. :-)
Dumb foes, on the other hand, are just going to get confused and leave.
The Hut is supposed to make life easier for PCs when camping, not be an instant win. In the game I GM, they do use it almost every night.
Unless the DM is attacking the party with an army or other horribly unbalanced encounter, the fact that half of the enemy is cutting down trees, carrying mud or boulders, or doing something else that distracts them means that when the party decides to act, they will have a huge advantage.
This might be a interesting encounter to run once, but do this 3 or 4 times and the DM will just be making the game not fun. I think this can be a better encounter if the players are on the outside besieging the hut made by an enemy caster.
The dome is transparent from the inside, so the characters (who should still be keeping a watch rotation during the rest) can see the creatures outside when they examine and start acting around the dome, upon which the characters probably want to interfere. Basically you still get your nightly random encounter, but the characters aren't as easily surprised (still very much surrounded though).
Thanks guys for all the ideas - it's given me some things to line up to perhaps throw at the party on occasions here and there to break up the monotony of using the hut each night.
One of my players has this. I always ask what the domed hut looks like to determine if it is easily noticed. And then I prepare an ambush. Alternatively I have had very obnoxious neighbors just happen to camp near by. And force them to address the encounter or take 1 point of exhaustion because the obnoxious neighbors kept them up all night with loud music, shouting, drunken behavior, etc. This has had very interesting results.
One of my players has this. I always ask what the domed hut looks like to determine if it is easily noticed. And then I prepare an ambush. Alternatively I have had very obnoxious neighbors just happen to camp near by. And force them to address the encounter or take 1 point of exhaustion because the obnoxious neighbors kept them up all night with loud music, shouting, drunken behavior, etc. This has had very interesting results.
Always? Really?
The dome is smooth and made of force so even if you colour it right it can be easily noticed. So, basically you're saying you try to ambush them or exhaust them every time? Bit of a dick move, to be honest with you. I feel very sorry for your players.
You are aware it's not "the DM vs the players", right?
I had a thought yesterday that the hut becomes rather annoying if the Wizard has to, uh, relieve himself in the lavatory. Which doesn't exist. And the hut disappears if he leaves it...
Probably way too much realism, though.
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Blood Frenzy. The quipper has advantage on melee attack rolls against any creature that doesn't have all its hit points.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1 piercing damage.
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Hi
I was a player in our adventuring party but after a swap round when the module changed from HotDQ to RoT, I'm now the DM and am fairly new to it.......... The wizard in the party has Leomund's Tiny Hut and this is now the go to for camping every night. Is there anything that can get into Leomund's Tiny Hut without being invited? I have heard about phase spiders, but having read their description and the Hut's description, I'm not at all sure they could.....
Any suggestions gratefully received!
So, you think it is a "way too safe zone"?
You can always have enemies take down trees next to the hut that will crush people inside, once the effect is over. You can have hay and branches stacked on top of "the hut" and set ablaze, flood the valley with water from the river.
And you can dispel the hut with Dispel Magic, if the players are bunkering down inside by a goblin shaman. :D
Really, the Hut is intended to stop random encounters during the night - or at least ensure the characters stay safe enough to get their 8 hour long rest before having to deal with any creatures smart enough to say, camp out beside the Hut.
The strategies DMGorani posted above would work, but they're not something I'd recommend doing often. Use them sparingly, at dramatically appropriate moments (oh, gods, they've got spellcasters! It's getting real guys). Done too often, it makes the players feel like they've wasted a spell (in the case of a ritual like Tiny Hut, either a page in a spell book, or even worse a spell known). That creates a game where the focus becomes players trying to outwit the DM instead of characters trying to outwit specific enemies or situations.
The hut sadly protects the party from nature and weather so in order to get in there you have to get creative. Usually things that can teleport like Blink Dogs or Boggles (if you have Volo's) can bypass the hut easily. Or if you want to have more intelligent enemies find the hut, they can recognize what spell it is and simply wait it out and ambush the party in the morning.
And then finally there's digging creatures. The hut doesn't protect the party from anything that attacks from below. XD
Although be careful not to do this too many times. If you're trying to find ways to circumvent the tiny hut than the players will feel disuadedfrom using it all together and just trudge through regular encounters. That might not make them too happy.
I believe there's a sage advice that clarifies the hut is a fully enclosed semi circle, with a base, so digging creatures could not get in RAW.
My players thought the hut was an invincible go to until they left alive an Oni that ambushed them from invisibility as they dropped the hut the next morning. They still use it but once they realized its limitations its no longer such a big deal to them anymore.
As others have already stated, the hut is useful but not invincible. It can protect the player characters from many environmental effects and random encounters, but don't forget that the players aren't the only people who can use magic. Dispel magic can get rid of it, and intelligent creatures could setup an ambush outside of it. That all said, there's another thing to consider; is it really a problem?
Leomund's Tiny Hut is a tool that your players are using to keep their characters safe. If you, as a DM, were to find an easy solution to the tiny hut, then the players would have no incentive to use it. If every passing creature could easily bypass the spell, then your players wouldn't feel safe in the hut, and they would simply not use the spell. Remember, the spell uses up resources (spell slots). If you really want to try to limit how often they use the hut, try to force them to use up more resources with tougher encounters during the day (more/stronger enemies, puzzles, mazes, etc). They might still end up being able to cast tiny hut at the end of every adventuring day, but you will force them to think smarter while they try to preserve their resources.
A surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one.
Monsters waiting to ambush you in the morning? Cast Rope Trick just before the hut disappears. The monsters see that nothing is inside and leave.
If you can cast the hut as a ritual, make multiple huts. For an enemy with dispel magic, it would be like the game with the three shells and a pea.
The instant the caster of the hut passes through the threshold of Rope Trick the hut vanishes and anyone watching will have time to see the rope get pulled up after it . Beasts with keen smell and any bad things that can track will smell or notice tracks of your presence. Sure dumb animals may lose interest after several minutes but those dumb animals are easy pickings, so better to just ready swords and cantrips. Smarter things will stay longer or even figure out what you've done. Good advice, but really cumbersome because it should be hardly ever needed and having to keep that prepared can be very limiting. Unless the DM is a dick it shouldn't be needed very often - and once you have tiny hut and able to cast as ritual you'll probably never really need rope trick ever again for anything else.
Making multiple huts will be difficult. As soon as the caster leaves the hut it vanishes and you cannot have the hut overlap with another so unless you have multiple people able to cast it as ritual or a way to be in multiple locations simultaneously it will not be possible to maintain multiple huts.
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Invisible rope or darkness
*waves hand over head while making a whoosh sound.*
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Smart foes will know what the Hut is and do things like smear the outside with mud (to block vision) and then pile heavy things on top (like tree trunks and rocks and animal carcasses). Then cast dispel magic and watch all the rocks and trees fall on the people inside. Optionally, they might set the trees on fire, so the people inside have heavy burning things fall on them. :-)
If the people inside start sticking their heads out to see through the mud then those outside will play whack-a-mole. :-)
Dumb foes, on the other hand, are just going to get confused and leave.
The Hut is supposed to make life easier for PCs when camping, not be an instant win. In the game I GM, they do use it almost every night.
Unless the DM is attacking the party with an army or other horribly unbalanced encounter, the fact that half of the enemy is cutting down trees, carrying mud or boulders, or doing something else that distracts them means that when the party decides to act, they will have a huge advantage.
This might be a interesting encounter to run once, but do this 3 or 4 times and the DM will just be making the game not fun. I think this can be a better encounter if the players are on the outside besieging the hut made by an enemy caster.
The dome is transparent from the inside, so the characters (who should still be keeping a watch rotation during the rest) can see the creatures outside when they examine and start acting around the dome, upon which the characters probably want to interfere. Basically you still get your nightly random encounter, but the characters aren't as easily surprised (still very much surrounded though).
I am one with the Force. The Force is with me.
Thanks guys for all the ideas - it's given me some things to line up to perhaps throw at the party on occasions here and there to break up the monotony of using the hut each night.
One of my players has this. I always ask what the domed hut looks like to determine if it is easily noticed. And then I prepare an ambush. Alternatively I have had very obnoxious neighbors just happen to camp near by. And force them to address the encounter or take 1 point of exhaustion because the obnoxious neighbors kept them up all night with loud music, shouting, drunken behavior, etc. This has had very interesting results.
Always? Really?
The dome is smooth and made of force so even if you colour it right it can be easily noticed. So, basically you're saying you try to ambush them or exhaust them every time? Bit of a dick move, to be honest with you. I feel very sorry for your players.
You are aware it's not "the DM vs the players", right?
My Homebrew: Races | Subclasses | Backgrounds | Spells | Magic Items | Feats
Need help with Homebrew? Check out this FAQ/Guide thread by IamSposta
See My Youtube Videos for Tips & Tricks using D&D Beyond
I had a thought yesterday that the hut becomes rather annoying if the Wizard has to, uh, relieve himself in the lavatory. Which doesn't exist. And the hut disappears if he leaves it...
Probably way too much realism, though.
Blood Frenzy. The quipper has advantage on melee attack rolls against any creature that doesn't have all its hit points.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1 piercing damage.