I would like help with a chase sequence battle. The players are chasing a goblin caravan, when they realize the caravan is holding dangerous cargo! I need help with the following:
1. Should the caravan get away?
2. Should the chimera inside be released?
3. Who should the goblin’s leader be?
4. Is there an important NPC on board as well?
5. Will the goblins be attacked by the escaping chimera?
You can add things to the story as long as it complies with the start I made. By this I mean you can reply and form the battle in your idea through your reply
You just took a simple and straightforward encounter (players go after goblins) and added an element of complexity to it. I think this is great. You gave your players so much to deal with here. As a DM, I focus on creating problems and letting the players solve them. With that in mind, I might say:
The party learns about a goblin caravan. You decide how they learn about it.
The party needs a motivation to go after the goblins. Maybe there's a reward. Maybe the players hate goblins because of reasons. Maybe someone's precious cargo was captured and they beg the party to go get it back.
When the party gets to the caravan, at some point, they realize what the cargo is. Things just got more complicated!
Let the players take it from there. No need for you to script it.
Now as for your questions, I have a few suggestions.
Should the caravan get away? I say let the encounter play out naturally and see what happens.
Should the chimera inside be released? Again, let the encounter play itself out. You can use the chimera as a variable to control the pace of the encounter. Too many goblins? The chimera breaks out and attacks its captors. Party wiping out the goblins too fast? The chimera breaks out and attacks the party.
If you just want a boss goblin, you can either max the HP of a goblin and give him a slightly better set of armor and a weapon. If you want to beef it up more, you can make him a hobgoblin. The hobgoblin would likely know what the cargo was even if the goblins might not. Hobgoblins are clever that way.
Is there an important NPC with the goblins? That's up to you. That can be a story hook to carry things after the encounter. Maybe they captured the chimera and took its owner, a rich local nobleman, hostage as well. Maybe a few goblins get away and they will want revenge later on. Maybe the goblins were serving a powerful master who now knows the party has thwarted his/her plans.
Will the goblins be attacked by the chimera? this ties back into answer #2. I would use the chimera as a variable to control the pacing of the encounter and play it by ear.
You just took a simple and straightforward encounter (players go after goblins) and added an element of complexity to it. I think this is great. You gave your players so much to deal with here. As a DM, I focus on creating problems and letting the players solve them. With that in mind, I might say:
The party learns about a goblin caravan. You decide how they learn about it.
The party needs a motivation to go after the goblins. Maybe there's a reward. Maybe the players hate goblins because of reasons. Maybe someone's precious cargo was captured and they beg the party to go get it back.
When the party gets to the caravan, at some point, they realize what the cargo is. Things just got more complicated!
Let the players take it from there. No need for you to script it.
Now as for your questions, I have a few suggestions.
Should the caravan get away? I say let the encounter play out naturally and see what happens.
Should the chimera inside be released? Again, let the encounter play itself out. You can use the chimera as a variable to control the pace of the encounter. Too many goblins? The chimera breaks out and attacks its captors. Party wiping out the goblins too fast? The chimera breaks out and attacks the party.
If you just want a boss goblin, you can either max the HP of a goblin and give him a slightly better set of armor and a weapon. If you want to beef it up more, you can make him a hobgoblin. The hobgoblin would likely know what the cargo was even if the goblins might not. Hobgoblins are clever that way.
Is there an important NPC with the goblins? That's up to you. That can be a story hook to carry things after the encounter. Maybe they captured the chimera and took its owner, a rich local nobleman, hostage as well. Maybe a few goblins get away and they will want revenge later on. Maybe the goblins were serving a powerful master who now knows the party has thwarted his/her plans.
Will the goblins be attacked by the chimera? this ties back into answer #2. I would use the chimera as a variable to control the pacing of the encounter and play it by ear.
I hope this helps spark your creativity.
This really got my ideas flowing. Really helpful! I look forward to seeing more of your great advice!
Also, I was really worried about whether someone would actually post on this. You went above and beyond!
1. Should the caravan get away? The caravan is going to try to do whatever it's original goal was. Whether the players stop it or not is entirely up to their abilities, and the dice gods.
2. Should the chimera inside be released? - Do the goblins have to make it to a buyer/seller, will they risk the wrath of that person for releasing the chimera? - Is the chimera a tool for some other BBEG? If so, would releasing it be a risk for the goblins? - Is the chimera a force they're willing to reckon with? A caged animal will lash out at anything, chimeras are no exception and will probably lash out at it's captors.
3. Who should the goblin’s leader be? Depends on why the caravan was created in the first place. - A buyer/seller for the beast purchased the caravan; the goblins are simply hired hands, one of the goblins is the de facto leader trying to accomplish their task. - BBEG would make sure their asset is taken care of, I'd have a leader or three. Leader and lieutenants perhaps. - The goblins are doing this of their own accord; have a Hobgoblin leader? Scale up a goblin, and have a couple stronger goblins as their lieutenants.
4. Is there an important NPC on board as well? - Sure. Have an NPC who is there to make sure the cargo is safe and taken care of. You could also have some other NPCs who have caught wind of this and show up trying to save the "poor chimera" from it's life of captivity. Really get things messy as a bunch of commoners show up trying to promote the D&D version of PETA.
5. Will the goblins be attacked by the escaping chimera? - As I mentioned earlier, a caged animal will lash out and it's captors will probably be the focus of it's ire. However, that being said, the chimera may not stick around for long if it simply wants to head home. Maybe the goblins have a tool, a cattle prod of sorts, to force the creature into submission and make it do what is commanded? Perhaps there was a sedative used and the chimera is released but groggy and may not fight for a few rounds.
---
As TexasDevin pointed out, you don't really need to script much of this. Knowing these answers will help you react to the situation fluidly so whatever the players do, you have an idea of how to respond. Give the players the set up, know what the failure states are, chimera escapes, caravan escapes, players win, players die. The rest is up to the players and the dice gods, you just have the caravan and situation react to how the players choose to resolve the scene.
I would like help with a chase sequence battle. The players are chasing a goblin caravan, when they realize the caravan is holding dangerous cargo! I need help with the following:
1. Should the caravan get away?
2. Should the chimera inside be released?
3. Who should the goblin’s leader be?
4. Is there an important NPC on board as well?
5. Will the goblins be attacked by the escaping chimera?
please reply, help would be much appreciated
You can add things to the story as long as it complies with the start I made. By this I mean you can reply and form the battle in your idea through your reply
You just took a simple and straightforward encounter (players go after goblins) and added an element of complexity to it. I think this is great. You gave your players so much to deal with here. As a DM, I focus on creating problems and letting the players solve them. With that in mind, I might say:
Let the players take it from there. No need for you to script it.
Now as for your questions, I have a few suggestions.
I hope this helps spark your creativity.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
This really got my ideas flowing. Really helpful! I look forward to seeing more of your great advice!
Also, I was really worried about whether someone would actually post on this. You went above and beyond!
-WarAxe145
You could put a weight on actions the PCs succeed or fail.
Set a target number on when an event in the chase occurs.
So example at 20 points might be the threshold were the group is catching the caravan and so the goblins release the chimera.
start at 0.
add points for events that favor the PC and remove points for negative events.
if you go -10 or whatever you want the goblins get away.
1. Should the caravan get away? The caravan is going to try to do whatever it's original goal was. Whether the players stop it or not is entirely up to their abilities, and the dice gods.
2. Should the chimera inside be released?
- Do the goblins have to make it to a buyer/seller, will they risk the wrath of that person for releasing the chimera?
- Is the chimera a tool for some other BBEG? If so, would releasing it be a risk for the goblins?
- Is the chimera a force they're willing to reckon with? A caged animal will lash out at anything, chimeras are no exception and will probably lash out at it's captors.
3. Who should the goblin’s leader be? Depends on why the caravan was created in the first place.
- A buyer/seller for the beast purchased the caravan; the goblins are simply hired hands, one of the goblins is the de facto leader trying to accomplish their task.
- BBEG would make sure their asset is taken care of, I'd have a leader or three. Leader and lieutenants perhaps.
- The goblins are doing this of their own accord; have a Hobgoblin leader? Scale up a goblin, and have a couple stronger goblins as their lieutenants.
4. Is there an important NPC on board as well?
- Sure. Have an NPC who is there to make sure the cargo is safe and taken care of. You could also have some other NPCs who have caught wind of this and show up trying to save the "poor chimera" from it's life of captivity. Really get things messy as a bunch of commoners show up trying to promote the D&D version of PETA.
5. Will the goblins be attacked by the escaping chimera?
- As I mentioned earlier, a caged animal will lash out and it's captors will probably be the focus of it's ire. However, that being said, the chimera may not stick around for long if it simply wants to head home. Maybe the goblins have a tool, a cattle prod of sorts, to force the creature into submission and make it do what is commanded? Perhaps there was a sedative used and the chimera is released but groggy and may not fight for a few rounds.
---
As TexasDevin pointed out, you don't really need to script much of this. Knowing these answers will help you react to the situation fluidly so whatever the players do, you have an idea of how to respond. Give the players the set up, know what the failure states are, chimera escapes, caravan escapes, players win, players die. The rest is up to the players and the dice gods, you just have the caravan and situation react to how the players choose to resolve the scene.
You and TexasDevin really reshaped my view upon this sequence. Thanks for explaining to me I can figure it out as I go!
-WarAxe145