So. A PC that is kinda possessed by a dragon has been kidnapped by mystical Dragon Hunters. The leader of the Hunters is going to attempt an exorcism. I'd like to make an encounter around the PCs mind protecting itself.
The plan:
The idea is that the kidnapped PC's subconscious will manifest as 4 dragons (one for each player) and fight off the manifestation of the exorcist. So while in the "real" world it just looks like this one PC is staring at this Dragon Hunter, in her mind there will be a battle between 4 dragons and....something.
The actual question:
How would you go about this? Would you just hand the players an Adult Dragon stat sheet? Maybe I can give each dragon a special ability that reflects the Players classes? What the hell should I have them fight against? I'm imagining some giant version of the Dragonborn Monk that is preforming the exorcism. How do I make this concept cool and fun mechanically.
If it helps, the party is a Tiefling Assassin (it's her mind), a Half-elf Enchanter, a Halfling Battle Master, and a Dwarf Order Cleric.
I mean....dragons are cool. Getting to BE a dragon for a session could be a lot of fun for your players, so just offering them some adult dragons in a variety of colors and letting your players pick a stat block could make them REALLY excited!
If you don't think they'll find that fun, or are invested enough in the abilities their own characters have to not want to play a "simple" monster stat block (even if it IS a dragon), maybe your PCs show up as themselves but get a few dragon-like abilities; a breath weapon, the fear effect, flying, ect... Or maybe the PCs are controlling a dragon and they get the best of both worlds.
Whatever you decide to go with I'd suggest keeping the rules as simple as possible for both you and the players, and focusing on what THEY find fun. It might even be a good idea to just offer them the choice of a few options to see what they prefer. Maybe one player is excited to play a dragon, while the other just wants to be able to fly and have a breath weapon. This is a battlefield in someone's mind, let their imagination run wild!
I think it would be fun, but don't do it to often.
I have an NPC cleric in my campaign that is actually a fulcrum for the entire epic. However, part of his power or his part in the story is that he can only cast beneficial spells. However, when running a combat I often forget to use him to help party members, so I started letting party members take turns running him in combat. Granted all he is doing is healing and blessing etc.
But sometimes I also let my two more advanced players run a monster in combat when it is a large scale combat, and they really get a charge out of it.
Well, the obvious way to solve the challenge problem is to use Young dragons, multiple adult dragons are a tad more than any solo boss is designed to deal with, plus you don't need to worry about stuff like legendary actions. To make it a tough fight I'd probably use something around challenge 15-20 for 4 young whites, 30 or so for Adults.
First, decide if you want this to be an RP encounter, or a combat encounter?
How prevalent are dragons in your world, and how important do you want them to be? Is there lore or information you want to impart?
Since there are 5 people involved, I think you as the DM can play the role of the inquisitor, posing questions to the subconscious, and the 4 players then get a sheet with dragon preferences. By dragon preferences, I think 2 chromatic and 2 metallic, perhaps they are younger dragons, or older ones (depending on if you want to introduce these into your campaign). On each sheet, have some motivations for the dragon persona, then your players get to RP that. Let the character whose mind this is in choose first.
This lets you establish some dragon lore potentially, and give a different type of encounter. In my experience, some players get confused that they are "rping a dragon" and not their character.
No idea what the resolution is, that's for the character (dragon) dialogue to decide.
Hope this helps !
PS. In an earlier campaign I had a "council of wizards" which were really elder dragons. I handed each player a sheet with a name, "what they know" and "what they want" for the "wizards" motivations and let them RP it out, while one character addressed the council. It was interesting, and ceded a lot of control to the players, but that's also the fun.
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"An' things ha' come to a pretty pass, ye ken, if people are going to leave stuff like that aroound where innocent people could accidentally smash the door doon and lever the bars aside and take the big chain off'f the cupboard and pick the lock and drink it!"
Dragons are rare-ish in this world. Bahamut preached that humans have souls and should not be treated as cattle and his followers instigated a Civil War. Bahamut's last act before confronting Tiamat was to create Dragon Born from willing humans that today live as nomadic tribes that hunt down Dragons. They are also know as bankers, sort of like the Knight's Templar. Anyway, Dragons live in hiding or in the far corners of the world.
This encounter is part of my build up to Red Hand of Doom where a cabal of Dragons plan to use Goblinoids as a sort of Anti-Dragon Born to carve out a safe Haven for Dragons. One of the players is possessed by a White Dragon (She killed the Dragon in The Sunless Citadel and it should have been cloned, but its soul got trapped in her because she is a soulless Tiefling. It will turn her into an Abishi if she doesn't deal with it.) that was betrayed by the Cabal (known as the Red Hand).
Anyway, all that unnecessary information is to tell you that the Dragonborn is going to foreshadow that their are other Dragons in the Vale and the Dragon that is possessing the Player will make contact with her for the first time.
I intend this to be a combat encounter, but bookended with Roleplaying.
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The context:
So. A PC that is kinda possessed by a dragon has been kidnapped by mystical Dragon Hunters. The leader of the Hunters is going to attempt an exorcism. I'd like to make an encounter around the PCs mind protecting itself.
The plan:
The idea is that the kidnapped PC's subconscious will manifest as 4 dragons (one for each player) and fight off the manifestation of the exorcist. So while in the "real" world it just looks like this one PC is staring at this Dragon Hunter, in her mind there will be a battle between 4 dragons and....something.
The actual question:
How would you go about this? Would you just hand the players an Adult Dragon stat sheet? Maybe I can give each dragon a special ability that reflects the Players classes? What the hell should I have them fight against? I'm imagining some giant version of the Dragonborn Monk that is preforming the exorcism. How do I make this concept cool and fun mechanically.
If it helps, the party is a Tiefling Assassin (it's her mind), a Half-elf Enchanter, a Halfling Battle Master, and a Dwarf Order Cleric.
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InsiderI mean....dragons are cool. Getting to BE a dragon for a session could be a lot of fun for your players, so just offering them some adult dragons in a variety of colors and letting your players pick a stat block could make them REALLY excited!
If you don't think they'll find that fun, or are invested enough in the abilities their own characters have to not want to play a "simple" monster stat block (even if it IS a dragon), maybe your PCs show up as themselves but get a few dragon-like abilities; a breath weapon, the fear effect, flying, ect... Or maybe the PCs are controlling a dragon and they get the best of both worlds.
Whatever you decide to go with I'd suggest keeping the rules as simple as possible for both you and the players, and focusing on what THEY find fun. It might even be a good idea to just offer them the choice of a few options to see what they prefer. Maybe one player is excited to play a dragon, while the other just wants to be able to fly and have a breath weapon. This is a battlefield in someone's mind, let their imagination run wild!
Find me on Twitter: @OboeLauren
I think it would be fun, but don't do it to often.
I have an NPC cleric in my campaign that is actually a fulcrum for the entire epic. However, part of his power or his part in the story is that he can only cast beneficial spells. However, when running a combat I often forget to use him to help party members, so I started letting party members take turns running him in combat. Granted all he is doing is healing and blessing etc.
But sometimes I also let my two more advanced players run a monster in combat when it is a large scale combat, and they really get a charge out of it.
I appreciate the feedback! I think I'm just going to give them Adult White Dragon Stat sheets with a few tweaks to make them more player friendly.
Any suggestions on how to run the combat? Anything I could Reflavor or make Gargantuan to challenge 4 Adult Dragons?
Well, the obvious way to solve the challenge problem is to use Young dragons, multiple adult dragons are a tad more than any solo boss is designed to deal with, plus you don't need to worry about stuff like legendary actions. To make it a tough fight I'd probably use something around challenge 15-20 for 4 young whites, 30 or so for Adults.
First, decide if you want this to be an RP encounter, or a combat encounter?
How prevalent are dragons in your world, and how important do you want them to be? Is there lore or information you want to impart?
Since there are 5 people involved, I think you as the DM can play the role of the inquisitor, posing questions to the subconscious, and the 4 players then get a sheet with dragon preferences. By dragon preferences, I think 2 chromatic and 2 metallic, perhaps they are younger dragons, or older ones (depending on if you want to introduce these into your campaign). On each sheet, have some motivations for the dragon persona, then your players get to RP that. Let the character whose mind this is in choose first.
This lets you establish some dragon lore potentially, and give a different type of encounter. In my experience, some players get confused that they are "rping a dragon" and not their character.
No idea what the resolution is, that's for the character (dragon) dialogue to decide.
Hope this helps !
PS. In an earlier campaign I had a "council of wizards" which were really elder dragons. I handed each player a sheet with a name, "what they know" and "what they want" for the "wizards" motivations and let them RP it out, while one character addressed the council. It was interesting, and ceded a lot of control to the players, but that's also the fun.
"An' things ha' come to a pretty pass, ye ken, if people are going to leave stuff like that aroound where innocent people could accidentally smash the door doon and lever the bars aside and take the big chain off'f the cupboard and pick the lock and drink it!"
Dragons are rare-ish in this world. Bahamut preached that humans have souls and should not be treated as cattle and his followers instigated a Civil War. Bahamut's last act before confronting Tiamat was to create Dragon Born from willing humans that today live as nomadic tribes that hunt down Dragons. They are also know as bankers, sort of like the Knight's Templar. Anyway, Dragons live in hiding or in the far corners of the world.
This encounter is part of my build up to Red Hand of Doom where a cabal of Dragons plan to use Goblinoids as a sort of Anti-Dragon Born to carve out a safe Haven for Dragons. One of the players is possessed by a White Dragon (She killed the Dragon in The Sunless Citadel and it should have been cloned, but its soul got trapped in her because she is a soulless Tiefling. It will turn her into an Abishi if she doesn't deal with it.) that was betrayed by the Cabal (known as the Red Hand).
Anyway, all that unnecessary information is to tell you that the Dragonborn is going to foreshadow that their are other Dragons in the Vale and the Dragon that is possessing the Player will make contact with her for the first time.
I intend this to be a combat encounter, but bookended with Roleplaying.