#encounter ideas

[magicthepathfindering]

Helica Glider

I wasn’t sure how I wanted to make this “pick a counter” for a monster. How’d it change, everyday? Upon birth? Would hybrids then exist? Those could all be fun to explore, but an idea hit me. Spells.

So for this I’d simply use the Squirrel from Ultimate Wilderness and give it the Advanced creature and Giant creature templates both from Bestiary 1 (because the thought of a stupidly strong squirrel amuses me) but I guess you can opt not too, if you want.

The key for this creature, is to give it 1 spell slot per day, and then only give it two spells: Haste and Fly. So once a day, the Helica Glider can cast Haste or Fly, but only on itself. If it comes up use Wisdom for its spell casting ability.

[dungeonsandkobolds]

Non-Combat Encounter Ideas

- dealing with bureaucracy 

- find this very specific herb for me

- answer me these riddles three

- turn based escaping falling down/burning buildings

- following an NPC 

- tavern competitions 

- this animal is my pet don’t kill it, please return it to me

- all my cows are loose in my neighbours yard and i don’t know how to get them back 

feel free to add more!!!

[trial-by-combat]

Heart Strings

Here are some fast and easy way to yank the unprepared hearts of your players.

-They run into a previously formidable NPC who has taken ill, causing said NPC to become a shell of what they once were

-They return to one of the early towns and discover that in their absence, a favorite store has closed due to the death of the shopkeep

-An NPC couple/family requests their aid: A family member or lover is in danger

-They find an abandoned town, and in the middle of the street is a child’s toy, left behind in haste. 

-They find an abandoned pet or animal, left with a note of some kind.

-They’re faced with meeting orphans left behind after a previous fight

[trial-by-combat]

Encounter Prompt

The party meets an old NPC, who’s life has changed drastically since the last time they met. What happened?

[definitelytransrpgideas]

@piraterey for the original Genderqueer vampire who finally has an answer when someone asks their gender. 
“are you a boy or a girl?”
“i am a vampire.” 
“but whats in your pants?”
“fangs.”

[wolfynsong]

cool encounter idea: goblin spidertaur witch who controls swarms of insects and arachnids to harass her enemies while she hexes them into submission

[chancerv]

So here’s an encounter “plan”.

As night approaches while the party travels through an elf-claimed forest, they come to a glade where the boughs of all the fruit-bearing trees sag under the weight of ripened fruits, and the leaves are a vibrant green in spite of the late autumn. Seems like the ideal camp site.

That night, however (howevers happen a lot when a party camps for the night), something stirs in the bushes, and as the party leaps to attention or not, a hagraven, witch, or similarly-connotated creature appears. It starts straight through the camp, but the party and what they carry aren’t their intent. When attacked, the hag will summon minions to deal with those who get in her way, but she’s actually headed for a particularly-healthy tree near the middle of the camp.

Inside that tree is a pregnant dryad, whose life force is responsible for the bloom and which the hag seeks to devour. Though it won’t be obvious to the party at first, they’re in a game of keep-away. Should the hag reach the tree she’s after, she’ll start to magically draw out the dryad by force, revealing the tree spirit to the party and adding urgency to the encounter. Could be made worse by having any minion the heroes strike down constantly be revived by the hag in the following round.