Well, how would a physically and/or mentally sick animal behave? It could be making strange noises, either an excited yipping, or growling at every blade of grass, or seeming to choke or cough with little puffs of shadowy necrotic energy being expelled from it's mouth. It could be acting aggressively not just toward other animals, but toward trees and rocks and such, to show the paranoia infecting its mind. It could have a manic behavior, like frequently rubbing it's side against rough tree bark, even to the point of causing torn flesh and bleeding. It could have wisps of shadow trailing from its form as it moves. It could be sitting, gnawing on its own leg, even drawing blood and giving it a limp.
If one of the characters speaks either Abyssal or Infernal, you could say that the animal is barking or otherwise making noise, and occasionally that character thinks a bark or growl here and there sounds a lot like a word in a fiendish language. The animal could be approaching the party, growling menacingly, but then - if the party does not attack right away - the animal just walks right past the party, still growling menacingly, as if it didn't even notice them. Or the animal could be disfigured or malformed in some way, like maybe its eyes have been gouged out, but it still seems able to see where it's going. Or maybe its fur seems to be sharper, like needles. It could have patches of scabs or lesions. Maybe the animal has no visible injuries and yet it leaves bloody footprints wherever it walks.
Dice rolls are useful in situations where there is a risk of failure or a reward for success. But this is just narration. This is just setting the stage and describing the scenery. Your goal in this situation should be to creep the players out as much as possible. Even if the animal (according to its stat block) isn't really much of a direct threat to the party, the players should feel so creeped out by your description of the animals that they don't even want to fight them.
Make the players question their own resolve. Make them wonder if their mission is really worth dealing with this level of creepiness. It's easy to make characters scared, but it's more fun to make the players scared. You have permission to be scary. Be as scary as you possibly can (while still respecting the Red Lines of the people at your table).
I do have a q for you all if you can help me work it out...
So I am starting out with the crazed animal concept and my players have already killed a dire wolf that would have fallen into this category. They were trying to figure out what the issue with the wolf was and I was racking my brain about how they would do that. It's dead so they can't just do a check but they tried an investigation and I played it off as if it was more a physical check than a mental one.
Are there any particular ways you guys can think, or items that you know of, that would be able to tell that kind of thing? I was thinking it if was alive an insight check on the creature would discern its intentions. I also thought if they ever did a lesser resto on an animal they would sense a sort of darkness that would be affecting parts of its mind, in turn making it aggressive. Please give me your suggestions! I appreciate you all!
If it is a key piece of information to the story do not hide it behind a dice roll, just make it part of your description. As for the right roll, animal handling is the one. As a stat it doesn’t get enough love anyway.
Also be aware, it is very easy as a dm to think your being clever and making it a big secret and simply be confusing the players. If they don’t seem to be getting the clues then give them more, or reiterate the things you think they missed from your description. You know all of it because it is in your head, they only get the tiny pieces of information about the world you give them so sometimes as a dom you may think they have had enough when really you need to give a lot more.
If I’m totally honest with you, I think the best place to garner inspiration from is probably the characters themselves. No matter how awesome your central plot line, it will serve you and your players better if it links to their characters in some way. An evil undead overlord that is trying to conquer the world is cool, but an evil undead overlord that is trying to conquer the world, AND ALSO was the one who masterminded the bandit raid that resulted in the enslavement of the bugbear fighter and the death of their daughter is much cooler. A demon prince trying to become a god is fun, but a demon Prince trying to become a god WHO ALSO is the patron of the orphaned wizards estranged warlock father is much more interesting. Tailor each campaign to the players, and everyone will enjoy themselves more.
I love this discussion, as someone who is finally piloting their own homebrew campaign and world. We're only a few sessions in and already it's been super fascinating to see what the players do and think about things. I had the initial event down when I started, I know basically how the campaign will end, and I know some big hooks to follow to provide a backbone to the campaign, but a lot of the rest I will let the players help fill in. I told them as such too when we started, that they would have a hand in building the world some.
I'm not afraid of using other one-shots or parts of published adventures if they fit the narrative and seem useful. As they say, why reinvent the wheel? Just an example: The Dungeon of the Mad Mage is a huge crawl on its own, but maybe I just borrow one level for a short dungeon in my world? Heck some of them are already tailored to certain character levels. Perhaps then I just need to reskin a few things, or tweak some mobs or numbers a little, but otherwise it's good to go.
One thing I have decided to do as well, since I'm using milestone leveling, is to lay out the milestones for myself, so I have a general idea of when to progress the players, but most of them aren't super specific. It's like, "stop the blood plague". Okay, how do they do that? Who knows! But when that is handled, then I'll know that's a good spot for a level up. We'll see how that feels in the long run. I just didn't want to let the players wander for 15 sessions wondering if they were ever going to level up again. ^-^
I love this discussion, as someone who is finally piloting their own homebrew campaign and world. We're only a few sessions in and already it's been super fascinating to see what the players do and think about things. I had the initial event down when I started, I know basically how the campaign will end, and I know some big hooks to follow to provide a backbone to the campaign, but a lot of the rest I will let the players help fill in. I told them as such too when we started, that they would have a hand in building the world some.
I'm not afraid of using other one-shots or parts of published adventures if they fit the narrative and seem useful. As they say, why reinvent the wheel? Just an example: The Dungeon of the Mad Mage is a huge crawl on its own, but maybe I just borrow one level for a short dungeon in my world? Heck some of them are already tailored to certain character levels. Perhaps then I just need to reskin a few things, or tweak some mobs or numbers a little, but otherwise it's good to go.
One thing I have decided to do as well, since I'm using milestone leveling, is to lay out the milestones for myself, so I have a general idea of when to progress the players, but most of them aren't super specific. It's like, "stop the blood plague". Okay, how do they do that? Who knows! But when that is handled, then I'll know that's a good spot for a level up. We'll see how that feels in the long run. I just didn't want to let the players wander for 15 sessions wondering if they were ever going to level up again. ^-^
From my experiance as long as the players feel they are achieving things in the world and being rewarded in other ways (gold, magic items, building a knowledge of the world and feeling that they are impacting it) then levelling can be slowed down. I am on session 66, we try and play every week, but I would say reality we play 2 weeks in 3, 4 hour sessions and the party just reached level 6 on session 61. I did milestone levelling but it was very much based on when I felt they had achieved enough to level and the players never once asked if they where close to levelling.
For sure. Just because I have a general idea of some markers doesn't mean it is all paced the same. And it isn't locked in stone, so if things really go off a different direction it isn't a big deal, that system is really just for my own thought process.
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Well, how would a physically and/or mentally sick animal behave? It could be making strange noises, either an excited yipping, or growling at every blade of grass, or seeming to choke or cough with little puffs of shadowy necrotic energy being expelled from it's mouth. It could be acting aggressively not just toward other animals, but toward trees and rocks and such, to show the paranoia infecting its mind. It could have a manic behavior, like frequently rubbing it's side against rough tree bark, even to the point of causing torn flesh and bleeding. It could have wisps of shadow trailing from its form as it moves. It could be sitting, gnawing on its own leg, even drawing blood and giving it a limp.
If one of the characters speaks either Abyssal or Infernal, you could say that the animal is barking or otherwise making noise, and occasionally that character thinks a bark or growl here and there sounds a lot like a word in a fiendish language. The animal could be approaching the party, growling menacingly, but then - if the party does not attack right away - the animal just walks right past the party, still growling menacingly, as if it didn't even notice them. Or the animal could be disfigured or malformed in some way, like maybe its eyes have been gouged out, but it still seems able to see where it's going. Or maybe its fur seems to be sharper, like needles. It could have patches of scabs or lesions. Maybe the animal has no visible injuries and yet it leaves bloody footprints wherever it walks.
Dice rolls are useful in situations where there is a risk of failure or a reward for success. But this is just narration. This is just setting the stage and describing the scenery. Your goal in this situation should be to creep the players out as much as possible. Even if the animal (according to its stat block) isn't really much of a direct threat to the party, the players should feel so creeped out by your description of the animals that they don't even want to fight them.
Make the players question their own resolve. Make them wonder if their mission is really worth dealing with this level of creepiness. It's easy to make characters scared, but it's more fun to make the players scared. You have permission to be scary. Be as scary as you possibly can (while still respecting the Red Lines of the people at your table).
Be scary!
Anzio Faro. Protector Aasimar light cleric. Lvl 18.
Viktor Gavriil. White dragonborn grave cleric. Lvl 20.
Ikram Sahir ibn-Malik al-Sayyid Ra'ad. Brass dragonborn draconic sorcerer Lvl 9. Fire elemental devil.
Wrangler of cats.
If it is a key piece of information to the story do not hide it behind a dice roll, just make it part of your description. As for the right roll, animal handling is the one. As a stat it doesn’t get enough love anyway.
Also be aware, it is very easy as a dm to think your being clever and making it a big secret and simply be confusing the players. If they don’t seem to be getting the clues then give them more, or reiterate the things you think they missed from your description. You know all of it because it is in your head, they only get the tiny pieces of information about the world you give them so sometimes as a dom you may think they have had enough when really you need to give a lot more.
If I’m totally honest with you, I think the best place to garner inspiration from is probably the characters themselves. No matter how awesome your central plot line, it will serve you and your players better if it links to their characters in some way. An evil undead overlord that is trying to conquer the world is cool, but an evil undead overlord that is trying to conquer the world, AND ALSO was the one who masterminded the bandit raid that resulted in the enslavement of the bugbear fighter and the death of their daughter is much cooler. A demon prince trying to become a god is fun, but a demon Prince trying to become a god WHO ALSO is the patron of the orphaned wizards estranged warlock father is much more interesting. Tailor each campaign to the players, and everyone will enjoy themselves more.
Be Excellent to one another. Rock on dude.
I love this discussion, as someone who is finally piloting their own homebrew campaign and world. We're only a few sessions in and already it's been super fascinating to see what the players do and think about things. I had the initial event down when I started, I know basically how the campaign will end, and I know some big hooks to follow to provide a backbone to the campaign, but a lot of the rest I will let the players help fill in. I told them as such too when we started, that they would have a hand in building the world some.
I'm not afraid of using other one-shots or parts of published adventures if they fit the narrative and seem useful. As they say, why reinvent the wheel? Just an example: The Dungeon of the Mad Mage is a huge crawl on its own, but maybe I just borrow one level for a short dungeon in my world? Heck some of them are already tailored to certain character levels. Perhaps then I just need to reskin a few things, or tweak some mobs or numbers a little, but otherwise it's good to go.
One thing I have decided to do as well, since I'm using milestone leveling, is to lay out the milestones for myself, so I have a general idea of when to progress the players, but most of them aren't super specific. It's like, "stop the blood plague". Okay, how do they do that? Who knows! But when that is handled, then I'll know that's a good spot for a level up. We'll see how that feels in the long run. I just didn't want to let the players wander for 15 sessions wondering if they were ever going to level up again. ^-^
From my experiance as long as the players feel they are achieving things in the world and being rewarded in other ways (gold, magic items, building a knowledge of the world and feeling that they are impacting it) then levelling can be slowed down. I am on session 66, we try and play every week, but I would say reality we play 2 weeks in 3, 4 hour sessions and the party just reached level 6 on session 61. I did milestone levelling but it was very much based on when I felt they had achieved enough to level and the players never once asked if they where close to levelling.
For sure. Just because I have a general idea of some markers doesn't mean it is all paced the same. And it isn't locked in stone, so if things really go off a different direction it isn't a big deal, that system is really just for my own thought process.