D&D 5E Non-combat Myconid Encounter

So I've got this idea to design an encounter with Myconids where the PCs interrupt their mind meld, but the sovereign telepathically invites the PCs to join in. It will be a little like that one scene in Avatar. I'm going to include ~20 Myconid Adults and ~30 sprouts in addition to the Sovereign. I may even throw in a Spore Servant troll to make it uber clear that this is not a time to pick a fight.
Instead of fighting, the PCs inhale the psychedelic spores and start tripping with the the mellow mushroom dudes. But I'm trying to think of a way to incorporate some form of non-violent challenge within the trip that I can award exp for. Now the Avatar thing, where the goal is reviving someone, or reincarnating them is a cool line of thought, but I'm not sure how it would work mechanically, and it's just one possible goal, so I'm looking for ideas. This encounter should take as much play time as a combat but have its own rules. I definitely won't feel satisfied with a simple ability check.

So youre basically looking to trip the players?

Well you could go for an imaginative fight for each player separately. Basically do a combat, except some could use intelligence or wisdom checks instead of attack rolls. Some others could do attqck rolls if they reacted violently. All this would happen in theit minds only.

Make the players go turn by turn, use initiative with wisdom instead of dex if you like, but make it so that each obstacle goes after their player. This way they get immediate responses if someone likes to go by talking, instead of just striking.

The myconid sovereign is dying due to an infection brought on under suspicious circumstances. Now the colony is in the meld trying to decide on a new ruler but are deadlocked. There are two contenders: Phalloides and Muscaria. While Muscaria would see the legacy of the current sovereign Cubensis continue, Phalloides wants to aggressively expand the colony - which would entail conflict with other Underdark denizens - in order to protect against future threats. Myconids generally abhor violence, but the assassination of their sovereign has half of them thinking that Phalloides' plan is prudent. To overcome the deadlock, it is agreed that a third party should be brought in to decide the matter. Enter the PCs.

The challenge is to figure out which is the best ruler for the colony and possibly to expose Phalloides' involvement in the death of Cubensis. An investigation may ensue. If the PCs accuse Phalloides of fungicide or side with Muscaria, Phalloides and several hardliners including the powerful spore servant attack them. If the PCs side with Phalloides, it is grateful for now but future encounters will be hostile as the colony expands into neighboring territories. If Muscaria prevails, it provides the characters with powerful visions that give them significant insights into events soon to come.

No additional rules are needed for this scenario, just ability checks and possibly attack rolls and the like.

An important NPC from another faction nearby also accidentally joined the meld, and the myconids need the party's help to locate them in the psychedelic landscape and extract them from the meld. If they are not successful, the NPC becomes a vegetable and the myconids send them off with thanks for trying. If they are successful, however, the NPC becomes an ally and/or rewards them. In either case, the mind trip reveals one secret or ugly truth from each PC, sometimes in the form of a violent monster and sometimes in the form of an unusual obstacle. After the meld, give XP for overcoming these challenges as normal, then enjoy the role-playing fallout. (That was your MOTHER?)

A couple of questions:

Is this part of an on going adventure or just a scene that you have playing in your head that you want to flesh out?

To really set this up you need to ask yourself:
Why are the PCs seeking the myconids? What do they want from them? Do the PCs need their help/information?

Why do the myconids allow the PCs to join in? What do they want from the PCs?

Once you have that all established, you shouldn't need any new rules.

If the scene is to have the PCs trip with the myconids, a simple hallucination sequence where the PCs are faced with a challenge or something they fear would work well. A few combat rolls or social rolls for each PC would have them overcome their fears....and defeat the hallucination.

Of course should the PCs fail, then they won't get what they need from the myconids, or the myconids would still help but the price is much higher now.

This is a perfect place to have the PCs undertake an adventure in a dream world using cartoon laws of physics. Anything goes and the rules don't have to make sense. Pass the hash brownies around and have fun with it.

If you're looking to trip out the players, you could change the basic assumptions of the game. I would switch over to full-on collaborative story-telling mode.

Have the players take turns describing what their characters are doing and everything else (including other characters' actions). You bookend it with your own turns at this; kick it off as the spores start to take effect (and to provide an example) and wrap it up as the spores wear off (taking the opportunity to clear up the myconids' intentions and the PCs' role in them).

Bonus points if you can tie in details from the players' turns at storytelling.

iserith said:

The myconid sovereign is dying due to an infection brought on under suspicious circumstances. Now the colony is in the meld trying to decide on a new ruler but are deadlocked. There are two contenders: Phalloides and Muscaria. While Muscaria would see the legacy of the current sovereign Cubensis continue, Phalloides wants to aggressively expand the colony - which would entail conflict with other Underdark denizens - in order to protect against future threats. Myconids generally abhor violence, but the assassination of their sovereign has half of them thinking that Phalloides' plan is prudent. To overcome the deadlock, it is agreed that a third party should be brought in to decide the matter. Enter the PCs.

The challenge is to figure out which is the best ruler for the colony and possibly to expose Phalloides' involvement in the death of Cubensis. An investigation may ensue. If the PCs accuse Phalloides of fungicide or side with Muscaria, Phalloides and several hardliners including the powerful spore servant attack them. If the PCs side with Phalloides, it is grateful for now but future encounters will be hostile as the colony expands into neighboring territories. If Muscaria prevails, it provides the characters with powerful visions that give them significant insights into events soon to come.

No additional rules are needed for this scenario, just ability checks and possibly attack rolls and the like.

Click to expand...

I LOVE everything about this. It sounds a bit like Autobots and Decepticons. Just need to add "Prime" to "Cubensis" to hammer it home, but the names are perfect for the character of each Myconid. You obviously know your shrooms. It might be cool to add just a touch of hawkishness to Muscaria (although he is a dove next to Phalloides), a symptom of his youth and lineage, since Muscaria was the shroom of choice for Viking berserkers. Maybe the two rivals are 'brothers' in a sense. Lots of potential here!

fuindordm said:

An important NPC from another faction nearby also accidentally joined the meld, and the myconids need the party's help to locate them in the psychedelic landscape and extract them from the meld. If they are not successful, the NPC becomes a vegetable and the myconids send them off with thanks for trying. If they are successful, however, the NPC becomes an ally and/or rewards them. In either case, the mind trip reveals one secret or ugly truth from each PC, sometimes in the form of a violent monster and sometimes in the form of an unusual obstacle. After the meld, give XP for overcoming these challenges as normal, then enjoy the role-playing fallout. (That was your MOTHER?)

Click to expand...

I really like this road too. After my OP, I thought about it some more and decided that the challenges should be based off of the PCs' backgrounds, especially bonds and flaws. I'm still wondering how to actually run those challenges, whatever they end up being, so that they span multiple rounds/turns and have ups an downs like a combat encounter would. Maybe instead of a combat analog I should think of these as either a complex trap or a chase in terms of mechanics.

phantomK9 said:

A couple of questions:

Is this part of an on going adventure or just a scene that you have playing in your head that you want to flesh out?

To really set this up you need to ask yourself:
Why are the PCs seeking the myconids? What do they want from them? Do the PCs need their help/information?

Why do the myconids allow the PCs to join in? What do they want from the PCs?

Once you have that all established, you shouldn't need any new rules.

If the scene is to have the PCs trip with the myconids, a simple hallucination sequence where the PCs are faced with a challenge or something they fear would work well. A few combat rolls or social rolls for each PC would have them overcome their fears....and defeat the hallucination.

Of course should the PCs fail, then they won't get what they need from the myconids, or the myconids would still help but the price is much higher now.

Click to expand...

Those definitely sound like the right question to ask, but yeah, it's really just the kernel of an idea, which is why I'm soliciting suggestions. Here is what I know so far. The Myconid colony is going to be located in a subsurface level of a MASSIVE tree dungeon I'm working on. There are Druids occupying the surface levels of the tree. They are the focus of the adventure. The PCs are there to either destroy/drive out the Druids. The underground root tunnel levels will feature giant ants, spiders, and more powerful crawling things for the PCs to fight. The Myconids are a neutral faction that the party may encounter so think of this encounter as a side quest.

PnPgamer said:

So youre basically looking to trip the players?

Well you could go for an imaginative fight for each player separately. Basically do a combat, except some could use intelligence or wisdom checks instead of attack rolls. Some others could do attqck rolls if they reacted violently. All this would happen in theit minds only.

Make the players go turn by turn, use initiative with wisdom instead of dex if you like, but make it so that each obstacle goes after their player. This way they get immediate responses if someone likes to go by talking, instead of just striking.

Click to expand...

I love the suggestion to use the WIS modifier instead of Dex for initiative rolls. Definitely using that one. And I'm also keen on the personalized vision quest idea but the mind melt of essentially a communal practice so there has to be something to glue the various threads together. Myconids abhor violence, so I really want to steer the players away from any attacks or striking while in the psychedelic landscape. I want that to be the guiding principle of this encounter. Any hint of violence in the mind meld would result in a bad trip for everyone, and reduced rewards or even consequences.

The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of eschewing xp rewards altogether and awarding things like "+1 to insight for 1d20+4 hours", or "+2 passive perception for 1d4 days" or charming them with True Seeing for 1 hour. Stuff like that.

lumenbeing said:

I LOVE everything about this. It sounds a bit like Autobots and Decepticons. Just need to add "Prime" to "Cubensis" to hammer it home, but the names are perfect for the character of each Myconid. You obviously know your shrooms. It might be cool to add just a touch of hawkishness to Muscaria (although he is a dove next to Phalloides), a symptom of his youth and lineage, since Muscaria was the shroom of choice for Viking berserkers. Maybe the two rivals are 'brothers' in a sense. Lots of potential here!

Click to expand...

Thanks. I love me some 'shrooms. The link I provided in that post will help you set up the mystery. Then all you need are the trappings of tripping to hit at the theme and you're good for probably a couple hours of content.