I'd love to hear about some interesting mechanics either you or your Dms have used to spice up the terrain itself in your campaigns combat senarios. Right now I'm looking less at interesting creatures and more at the physical settings the combat itself took place. Things like peculiar geography, setting, moving parts and added time pressure. How was this mechanic incorporated? Did it work well? If not, what could have been done to make it work well? I can't wait to hear your stories!
Here's what I did for a 4e campaign I ran back in the day:
The adventurers were travelling through a mountain range to reach the elf city hidden in a grove on the other side of the mountain. At the base of the mountain, the party encountered a group of hobgoblins that are blocking the pass (this isn't a well enough traveled pass to warrant anyone caring about this group camping out at it). They fought their way up the mountain pass which goes through caverns inside the mountains). The last area inside the caverns consists of multiple levels of platforms that rise a varied (but survivable) distance from the floor of the area. The hobgoblins, after hearing sounds of the previous battles echoing through the caverns set up defensive positions while removing the planks that served as walkways from platform to platform. They extinguished many of the torches on each of the platforms, leaving only the faint sunlight that reaches in from above to cast the room in a low light (Bugbears in 4e had low-light vision, so they could still see fairly well, but any PCs without low-light or dark vision were at a disadvantage - not in the 5e advantage/disadvantage vernacular).
The PCs had to jump/float/be thrown from one platform to the next and set up the planks so that the less athletic characters could make it across. If they fell they could climb up one of the platforms (a few of them had ropes leading to the top of the platform). Meanwhile, there were defenders on most of the platforms to either attack any characters who made the jump, to attack any players trying to climb up from the floor of the cavern, or continue shooting at them with whatever ranged weapons they had (I think they had crossbows).
After defeating this challenge they found themselves at the mouth of the cavern high up in the mountains and came across a well built (something like, 200 foot long) bridge between the mountains (the path down was on the other side). There were more hobgoblins on this bridge who began fighting them as they tried to cross. Unbeknownst to the players, the hobgoblins were actually in service to a red dragon whose lair is at the peak of an inactive volcano in this mountain range. Upon discovering that the PCs were killing his minions (aka providers of meals/treasure) the dragon took flight and began strafing the bridge with its breath weapon.
At the end of the very first round, I had the dragon roar, echoing through the mountain range, and at the end of the second round I had it roar again (closer this time) and fly the length of the bridge using it's breath weapon the entire distance. Only those who were behind cover in the direction the dragon was flying were safe. At the end of every round after that I had it make it's recharge roll (setting it to 4-6 instead of 5-6), and when the breath reset, I had the dragon roar again. At the end of every round (after it reset) the dragon would roar again and would strafe the bridge (coming from the opposite direction of the last time). And repeat. The PCs had to make their way across the bridge, defeating the hobgoblins and putting themselves in position to avoid the breath (the roar at the end of the previous round was a sign it was coming). The hobgoblins also had to deal with potentially being in the path of the breath weapon (because red dragons don't care).
Now, any red dragon that can bully an entire clan of bugbear into serving it is going to be pretty powerful and their breath weapon will absolutely destroy any PCs who are still low enough level to be fighting hobgoblins, BUT since the dragon was strafing the entire bridge, I decided the flames aren't as strong and just reduced it to the equivalent of a hazard equal to their level (or maybe it was equal to a lower level dragon's breath weapon - I can't remember exactly). It was meant to be something that added challenge to an otherwise mundane fight against a fairly meh opponent, not something that would outright destroy them. If I wanted to do that, the dragon would have merely landed there and used its real breath weapon (or picked up the PCs one by one and dropped them over the side of the bridge).
At the end of the bridge, I didn't make them end up fighting the dragon, I described its lair in a way that made them think, "NOPE!" I believe it was that when they got to the split, one direction was blistering hot (they would take damage at the start of every round if they didn't get the hint, but that never happened) and the other direction was obviously the way down. Since they were low on healing surges (4e version of Hit Dice) and they still had a task to do (their whole reason for coming this way), they decided to call it good. But, now they knew there WAS a dragon to fight in this range if they wanted to come back at a higher level and go for the dragon's hoard, they could (buuuuut the campaign never got that far).
“It is a better world. A place where we are responsible for our actions, where we can be kind to one another because we want to and because it is the right thing to do instead of being frightened into behaving by the threat of divine punishment.” ― Oramis, Eldest by Christopher Paolini.
There was another time in that campaign where they were travelling through the woods/swamp to try to find the elvish city (after passing through the mountains). The elves guarding that area told them to leave . They hated the elvish NPC cleric that was with the PCs as a guide, because he used to live in this city, but was basically shamed into leaving (not exactly exiled, but not exactly welcome back). So they were attacked by elves the entire way through the forest. The PCs were here looking for help, so they had to subdue the elves, not kill them.
One of the encounters, the entire area was filled with brambles which were rough terrain for all but the elves (including the NPC cleric). Also, among the brambles was some sort of bramble trap (I don't remember exactly what it was, but I think it was something like the entangling roots spell in 5e). The encounter would've been a lot easier if the wizard was able to just fireball the whole thing, but again, they needed the elf city's help, so burning down a section of the forest was kinda out of the question.
To get the elves help the party had to uncover what happened to the clerics who went off to worship at a temple deeper in the forest. So, the PCs all go off and come across a slow moving river and find a point along the river where a tree fell across. Two really young black dragons (whelplings or juvenile I believe) end up attacking the party and damage the log with their acid breath, causing the center of the tree to basically collapse in the middle - leaving enough of a gap that they can easily swim/jump across. Meanwhile a giant crocodile lies in wait for some sort of food to fall into the river. Both the dragons are easily killed but they die on the land/log, so the crocodile doesn't get to eat them (thus giving the PCs no hint that it's there, as I originally planned). The players spend about 20 minutes talking about how they can get across because they don't trust what might be in the water (half of them are new players, so I haven't even given them a reason to not trust me yet!). So, one of the players decides to just jump across and they all decide to follow. Another of them successfully gets across and now it's the wizard's turn to try to jump. Of course, she rolls a 1 and basically face plants RIGHT into the water, where the crocodile has been continuously using the ready action, waiting for something to fall in so it can bite it. It bites down on that attack (grappling her), and is ready to do it's roll attack on the next turn, which will almost certainly kill her. Luckily for her, the druid hadn't gone yet, managed to cast a spell that causes the target to get pushed or pulled, which means she's no longer grappled. They kill the thing and now literally ANY TIME there is water ANYWHERE on the battlefield, they avoid it like it's the plague.
“It is a better world. A place where we are responsible for our actions, where we can be kind to one another because we want to and because it is the right thing to do instead of being frightened into behaving by the threat of divine punishment.” ― Oramis, Eldest by Christopher Paolini.
Adding to the previous replies, on top of adding flare to the terrain/map itself, you can:
Add time-pressures: an important NPC being attacked in a difficult-to-access part of the map; enemies trying to ring a bell which may call a big creature who lives nearby, flash floods, fire consuming the terrain and closing in on the PCs;
Add creatures mid combat: hidden spider webs, if the PC fail Dex Save he stumbles on the web, making a Giant Spider climb down and attack);
Make meaningful, out-of-combat choices, mid-combat: a visible adorned chest on a crumbling part of the map, almost falling in the abyss, the PCs have 2 rounds to retrieve it while they're being attacked (let them know how many rounds it'll take to fall OR keep it secret and teach them that adorned chests may fall in the abyss mid-combat making them lose the precious loot).
Put some beast lair mid map, if any creature gets close, the beast attacks to protect its lair, but only while its lair is under clear threat, ex: Giant Scorpion nest; Griffon nest, etc.
Difficult terrain and cover spots are great tricks to spice up a combat map. It takes you longer to scramble over a briar patch or a crumbling pillar. And, you can hide behind this other pillar to get cover from enemy fire. Makes you think a lot more about positioning beyond simple flanking and protecting the squishies.
I'm also a fan of reinforcements, when it makes sense. Intelligent enemies can raise the alarm, which alerts enemies in nearby rooms to the presence of intruders. If the PCs don't dispatch the current group quickly enough, they may soon be overwhelmed and perhaps forced to retreat.
I've always been a fan of environmental triggers -
Maybe a flammable gaseous cloud a player/enemy could ignite, or a large puddle of water waiting to conduct electricity and stun. Sometimes I will have these observable to a perceptive player prior to combat encounters, other times they could be triggered and enter an encounter mid-battle. I feel it introduces a few extra tactics for the players, and allows me to tailor 'hard' encounters that are made 'normal' by utilizing the environment around them.
I'd love to hear about some interesting mechanics either you or your Dms have used to spice up the terrain itself in your campaigns combat senarios. Right now I'm looking less at interesting creatures and more at the physical settings the combat itself took place. Things like peculiar geography, setting, moving parts and added time pressure. How was this mechanic incorporated? Did it work well? If not, what could have been done to make it work well? I can't wait to hear your stories!
For the combat, a complete map is very fun to play with. There are three aspects that you can add to your map:
1) Difficult terrain: there the speed is halved. There some exceptions of course
2) Cover: with half and three-quarters cover you have bonus to AC and DEx saving throws.
3) Visibility: bright light, dim light, darkness, fog and whatnot. Heavily obscured area impose disavantge on attack rolls and Perception checks.
So in the end you can play with those to add some flavour to the map and make things more tactical.
Here's what I did for a 4e campaign I ran back in the day:
The adventurers were travelling through a mountain range to reach the elf city hidden in a grove on the other side of the mountain. At the base of the mountain, the party encountered a group of hobgoblins that are blocking the pass (this isn't a well enough traveled pass to warrant anyone caring about this group camping out at it). They fought their way up the mountain pass which goes through caverns inside the mountains). The last area inside the caverns consists of multiple levels of platforms that rise a varied (but survivable) distance from the floor of the area. The hobgoblins, after hearing sounds of the previous battles echoing through the caverns set up defensive positions while removing the planks that served as walkways from platform to platform. They extinguished many of the torches on each of the platforms, leaving only the faint sunlight that reaches in from above to cast the room in a low light (Bugbears in 4e had low-light vision, so they could still see fairly well, but any PCs without low-light or dark vision were at a disadvantage - not in the 5e advantage/disadvantage vernacular).
The PCs had to jump/float/be thrown from one platform to the next and set up the planks so that the less athletic characters could make it across. If they fell they could climb up one of the platforms (a few of them had ropes leading to the top of the platform). Meanwhile, there were defenders on most of the platforms to either attack any characters who made the jump, to attack any players trying to climb up from the floor of the cavern, or continue shooting at them with whatever ranged weapons they had (I think they had crossbows).
After defeating this challenge they found themselves at the mouth of the cavern high up in the mountains and came across a well built (something like, 200 foot long) bridge between the mountains (the path down was on the other side). There were more hobgoblins on this bridge who began fighting them as they tried to cross. Unbeknownst to the players, the hobgoblins were actually in service to a red dragon whose lair is at the peak of an inactive volcano in this mountain range. Upon discovering that the PCs were killing his minions (aka providers of meals/treasure) the dragon took flight and began strafing the bridge with its breath weapon.
At the end of the very first round, I had the dragon roar, echoing through the mountain range, and at the end of the second round I had it roar again (closer this time) and fly the length of the bridge using it's breath weapon the entire distance. Only those who were behind cover in the direction the dragon was flying were safe. At the end of every round after that I had it make it's recharge roll (setting it to 4-6 instead of 5-6), and when the breath reset, I had the dragon roar again. At the end of every round (after it reset) the dragon would roar again and would strafe the bridge (coming from the opposite direction of the last time). And repeat. The PCs had to make their way across the bridge, defeating the hobgoblins and putting themselves in position to avoid the breath (the roar at the end of the previous round was a sign it was coming). The hobgoblins also had to deal with potentially being in the path of the breath weapon (because red dragons don't care).
Now, any red dragon that can bully an entire clan of bugbear into serving it is going to be pretty powerful and their breath weapon will absolutely destroy any PCs who are still low enough level to be fighting hobgoblins, BUT since the dragon was strafing the entire bridge, I decided the flames aren't as strong and just reduced it to the equivalent of a hazard equal to their level (or maybe it was equal to a lower level dragon's breath weapon - I can't remember exactly). It was meant to be something that added challenge to an otherwise mundane fight against a fairly meh opponent, not something that would outright destroy them. If I wanted to do that, the dragon would have merely landed there and used its real breath weapon (or picked up the PCs one by one and dropped them over the side of the bridge).
At the end of the bridge, I didn't make them end up fighting the dragon, I described its lair in a way that made them think, "NOPE!" I believe it was that when they got to the split, one direction was blistering hot (they would take damage at the start of every round if they didn't get the hint, but that never happened) and the other direction was obviously the way down. Since they were low on healing surges (4e version of Hit Dice) and they still had a task to do (their whole reason for coming this way), they decided to call it good. But, now they knew there WAS a dragon to fight in this range if they wanted to come back at a higher level and go for the dragon's hoard, they could (buuuuut the campaign never got that far).
Click Here to Download my Lancer Class w/ Dragoon and Legionnaire Archetypes via DM's Guild - Pay What You Want
Click Here to Download the Mind Flayer: Thoon Hulk converted from 4e via DM's Guild
“It is a better world. A place where we are responsible for our actions, where we can be kind to one another because we want to and because it is the right thing to do instead of being frightened into behaving by the threat of divine punishment.” ― Oramis, Eldest by Christopher Paolini.
There was another time in that campaign where they were travelling through the woods/swamp to try to find the elvish city (after passing through the mountains). The elves guarding that area told them to leave . They hated the elvish NPC cleric that was with the PCs as a guide, because he used to live in this city, but was basically shamed into leaving (not exactly exiled, but not exactly welcome back). So they were attacked by elves the entire way through the forest. The PCs were here looking for help, so they had to subdue the elves, not kill them.
One of the encounters, the entire area was filled with brambles which were rough terrain for all but the elves (including the NPC cleric). Also, among the brambles was some sort of bramble trap (I don't remember exactly what it was, but I think it was something like the entangling roots spell in 5e). The encounter would've been a lot easier if the wizard was able to just fireball the whole thing, but again, they needed the elf city's help, so burning down a section of the forest was kinda out of the question.
To get the elves help the party had to uncover what happened to the clerics who went off to worship at a temple deeper in the forest. So, the PCs all go off and come across a slow moving river and find a point along the river where a tree fell across. Two really young black dragons (whelplings or juvenile I believe) end up attacking the party and damage the log with their acid breath, causing the center of the tree to basically collapse in the middle - leaving enough of a gap that they can easily swim/jump across. Meanwhile a giant crocodile lies in wait for some sort of food to fall into the river. Both the dragons are easily killed but they die on the land/log, so the crocodile doesn't get to eat them (thus giving the PCs no hint that it's there, as I originally planned). The players spend about 20 minutes talking about how they can get across because they don't trust what might be in the water (half of them are new players, so I haven't even given them a reason to not trust me yet!). So, one of the players decides to just jump across and they all decide to follow. Another of them successfully gets across and now it's the wizard's turn to try to jump. Of course, she rolls a 1 and basically face plants RIGHT into the water, where the crocodile has been continuously using the ready action, waiting for something to fall in so it can bite it. It bites down on that attack (grappling her), and is ready to do it's roll attack on the next turn, which will almost certainly kill her. Luckily for her, the druid hadn't gone yet, managed to cast a spell that causes the target to get pushed or pulled, which means she's no longer grappled. They kill the thing and now literally ANY TIME there is water ANYWHERE on the battlefield, they avoid it like it's the plague.
Click Here to Download my Lancer Class w/ Dragoon and Legionnaire Archetypes via DM's Guild - Pay What You Want
Click Here to Download the Mind Flayer: Thoon Hulk converted from 4e via DM's Guild
“It is a better world. A place where we are responsible for our actions, where we can be kind to one another because we want to and because it is the right thing to do instead of being frightened into behaving by the threat of divine punishment.” ― Oramis, Eldest by Christopher Paolini.
Adding to the previous replies, on top of adding flare to the terrain/map itself, you can:
Add time-pressures: an important NPC being attacked in a difficult-to-access part of the map; enemies trying to ring a bell which may call a big creature who lives nearby, flash floods, fire consuming the terrain and closing in on the PCs;
Add creatures mid combat: hidden spider webs, if the PC fail Dex Save he stumbles on the web, making a Giant Spider climb down and attack);
Make meaningful, out-of-combat choices, mid-combat: a visible adorned chest on a crumbling part of the map, almost falling in the abyss, the PCs have 2 rounds to retrieve it while they're being attacked (let them know how many rounds it'll take to fall OR keep it secret and teach them that adorned chests may fall in the abyss mid-combat making them lose the precious loot).
Put some beast lair mid map, if any creature gets close, the beast attacks to protect its lair, but only while its lair is under clear threat, ex: Giant Scorpion nest; Griffon nest, etc.
Difficult terrain and cover spots are great tricks to spice up a combat map. It takes you longer to scramble over a briar patch or a crumbling pillar. And, you can hide behind this other pillar to get cover from enemy fire. Makes you think a lot more about positioning beyond simple flanking and protecting the squishies.
I'm also a fan of reinforcements, when it makes sense. Intelligent enemies can raise the alarm, which alerts enemies in nearby rooms to the presence of intruders. If the PCs don't dispatch the current group quickly enough, they may soon be overwhelmed and perhaps forced to retreat.
I've always been a fan of environmental triggers -
Maybe a flammable gaseous cloud a player/enemy could ignite, or a large puddle of water waiting to conduct electricity and stun. Sometimes I will have these observable to a perceptive player prior to combat encounters, other times they could be triggered and enter an encounter mid-battle. I feel it introduces a few extra tactics for the players, and allows me to tailor 'hard' encounters that are made 'normal' by utilizing the environment around them.
Keeps things interesting, that's for sure.
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Yes and also traps. A lot of traps.