CRNFAllyKat
Commoner
Posts: 23 
Favorite D&D Class: Seeker
Favorite D&D Race: Shifter
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Post by CRNFAllyKat on Aug 3, 2016 22:30:51 GMT
Hey All
I am working my current campaign and my PC are very soon going to encounter a dark and scary (undead) forest. I would love to throw some encounters at them are not just fighting. I have a few battle encounters and I plan of also including fog that will cause them to get lost (or try to get them lost-sometimes the dice are in their favor). But I was hoping for some other things but alas I can't seem to come up with anything. Like the forest attacks or there is a fey type creature that ensnares them.
Thanks Guys
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Post by dmdeejay on Aug 4, 2016 16:17:25 GMT
A couple ideas that come to mind that may or may not lead to anything.
-Perhaps the mist/fog begins to cloud their ability to remember and that is how they get lost. The denser it gets, they have to perform saving throws or begin to lose wisdom points, or suffer similar effects to that of exhaustion.
-The forest begins to consider them a threat, weather real or imagined, and the trees begin to move just beyond sight, forcing them to go into traps or certain doom.
-At some point in time they come to a sheer rocky cliff, one that the dense forrest hid from all eyes and would require a Dex Saving throw unless spotted with a high enough perception. To continue they'd either have to risk going across an old, rickety rope bridge or construct a means to cross on their own.
-There's a youtube video of a forrest floor that appears to be breathing (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njTmKCPEXwY) that has always kinda creeped me out. This was really just the wind blowing in the trees which caused the tree roots to lift in the soft soil, but the idea of the forrest ACTUALLY breathing might be something to play with. Perhaps pairing it with a large living entity (fungus like) that has become one with the forrest itself. It could be what emits the fog.
-At some point in time, they come across some ruins of some sort or another containing a puzzle or riddle.
-Finally, they begin to hallucinate for (fill in the blank) reasons. Some characters see one thing while others do not and it is unclear who is sane and who isn't.
Hope this helps. Good luck to ya!
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Post by blakeryan on Aug 5, 2016 9:25:27 GMT
Since there will be some areas in the forest with less visibility...
Courtesy of the DMG -
- Feywild zone - Time Warp, Pg 50
- Yellow Mold - Pg 105
- Quicksand or Razorvine - Pg 110
- Falling net/Hidden Pit traps, Pg 122 - hunter or tribe of humanoids lives in the area
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CRNFAllyKat
Commoner
Posts: 23
Favorite D&D Class: Seeker
Favorite D&D Race: Shifter
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Post by CRNFAllyKat on Aug 5, 2016 19:17:37 GMT
Ah these are wonderful! My PC's wont know what hit them! Thanks so much!
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Post by joatmoniac on Aug 6, 2016 23:53:46 GMT
The idea that came to mind for me would be having the group under a tree and it beginning to grow down around them, trapping them. I think a cross of the trees from Avatar and the end scene of Guardians of the Galaxy, and you could have it be a timed puzzle that they need to get out of. Breaking out, finding a secret passage in the trunk to who knows where, whatever works best for you. The other element could be either that it drains life when touched and/or has undead within its branches to terrorize your players. I almost feel bad for your players, haha.
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Post by randosaurus on Aug 11, 2016 6:31:38 GMT
Who needs Cthulu? You do!
I will not re-print the entry in full, but Call of Cthulhu books are chock a block with horrifying aberration creatures that all cause sanity loss on viewing. Here for instance is the Dark Young of Shub Niggurath from the Call of Cthulhu d20 modern. Somehow, it is unaccountably mistaken for a tree and is left to guard unholy altars and cult sites:
Attacks - tentacles & trample
Speial attackes, improved grab, constrict, strength drain
Qualities - DR, blindsight, immunities
Feats - power attack, stealthy
You can look up statistics & info online, but these things are random, weird, nasty, and like all Cthulu monsters, just really nightmarish. The Strength Drain is especially horrific-
... Monte Cook wrote some weird books, but I think you could employ this in your undead woods quite well.
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dmtreat
Squire
Posts: 48 
Favorite D&D Class: Ranger
Favorite D&D Race: Dwarf
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Post by dmtreat on Aug 18, 2016 15:42:22 GMT
The thing that came to mind for me was an old encounter I got when I was a kid for AD&D 2e. The players are walking through the forest and trying to find a place to set camp for the night. Its been a long day and all they want is a nice cozy place. Provide that. Give them a cave, a bent copse of trees, maybe a large hole under the root structure of a giant tree. Either way when they go in, the floor is lined with a soft green moss and the cave is large enough to accommodate them all comfortably. Have a perception/investigation check to see if the players notice the bones under the moss in the middle of the night, but make it hard. After the players go to sleep it takes 1 hour for the moss to slowly work its way over them, Set a DC for the person on guard to notice, if there is one, as well as a DC for the sleeping players to wake up and notice. If any player rips their way out or the person on guard helps them out, it immediately summons a moss-man version of the person who it had been trying to encase. You can make this more in depth with a percentage roll to see how much the moss copied, I did and it made this a hilariously awesome encounter. But there you have it, make a quick moss-man monster and copy your players with it. Im excited to hear what happens to your players in the forest actually, keep us updated.  |
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CRNFAllyKat
Commoner
Posts: 23
Favorite D&D Class: Seeker
Favorite D&D Race: Shifter
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Post by CRNFAllyKat on Aug 18, 2016 17:09:32 GMT
So here is what I did. (although they will be going thru a forest again in the future the so idea's I didn't use are on the list for that)
Forest fire. Almost Killed them. They dug a hole and created a small tunnel/cave. Everytime some went to check on the fire they ended up passing out from smoke inhalation. Our Rouge is normally the one who would help solve these problems but she is scared of fire and close spaces so she was just sitting in a cornor rocking. They did eventually recover and those passed out where saved and they waited out the fire.
Grab grass. Which was really funny cus our Bard couldn't get out of it. And ended up almost causing another forest fire.
They ran into a Wizard who was using spells to turn animals to stone and then shape said stone to build his house.
They came across a spot where the forest was breathing (see video above-which I showed them after they passed it.) They spent the better part of 15 mins trying to figure out what it was and what was causing it. Turns out it was just the forest breathing. I'm a jerk sometimes
And then some standing stones that after the solved the puzzle, they were lead out of the forest by an white stag. When they exited they discovered just how lost they had become. But of course they were able to overcome that pretty quick.
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