D&D General Monsters as Puzzles

[Reynard]

Another thread got me thinking: do you like the "monsters/enemies as puzzles" paradigm of encounter design.

That is, if a monster only has specific weaknesses that have to be sussed out, of there is a solution to the encounter built into the creature or location or something else in the setup? More generally, are you okay with having to think outside the box and your character sheet to solve an encounter or beat a monster?

Should the expectation of a dungeon exploration game (just by way of example) be that you will need a gold bag full of different weapons, a backpack full of rope and spikes, and a whole lot of luck to make it through and get the loot?

All this as opposed to being able to consistently rely on what you built your character to do? I know that each version/edition of the game expects and allows for different degrees of that kind of "building" and each GM allows/expects different levels of improvisation and creative application of abilities, so I am asking about PREFERENCES, not rules.

 

[aco175]

My preference would be to have this for bigger monsters or maybe more rare in occurrence. Constructs and elementals may be better suited for this. There are also stories where demons are being summoned and cultists are chanting and a special dagger or such to stop things, but getting to more of a puzzle would be best sparingly.

Some things are already in the game to some degree like trolls and fire or elementals and opposite elements. I can see some sort of guardian construct that is powerful and blocks entrance to the next level. Maybe you need to collect pieces of a gem or such to insert into the constructs chest to deactivate it or make it loose its main ability and make the fight more fair and not deadly at least. There also needs to be some clues about the bypass though. It is not only less frustrating, but makes thing fun for the players when they can get the a-ha moment thinking about the weird gem pieces and how the empty socket in the chest of the golem looks like it would fit something.

 

[iserith]

I think monsters as puzzles are fine. Really, any monster with resistances, vulnerabilities, or immunities is effectively a puzzle and there's a lot of them in the Monster Manual. Ideally these traits are telegraphed in my view so that they show up a part of the DM's description about which players can make deductions rather than just be a pure guessing game.

 

[Li Shenron]

More generally, are you okay with having to think outside the box and your character sheet to solve an encounter or beat a monster?

Yes! Tricky monsters that can't be beaten by attrition are interesting. An old favourite of mine is ghosts which you can apparently kill normally but only temporarily, because they keep coming back again until you figure out the reason why they can't move on to the afterlife.

Should the expectation of a dungeon exploration game (just by way of example) be that you will need a gold bag full of different weapons, a backpack full of rope and spikes, and a whole lot of luck to make it through and get the loot?

No the golf bag is not what makes monsters as puzzles, and is possibly even more boring than a single weapon and damage attrition.

 

[Quickleaf]

Absolutely!

We had a blast with the nilbog dilemma in the goblin village that I ran my players through. The goblin PC ended up taking the nilbog into himself in a partial possession deal.

My low-level party facing mummies (deadly to the 3rd level PCs with low hp) did an organized retreat and lured the mummies into the pit trap the party safely passed over earlier.

In our last couple games, if the party managed to pin down and isolate a fledgling nabassu it would have been a much less challenging and prolonged fight – but as it played out, its ability to drain cultist's lives to regain hit points made it a brutal 23 round endeavor played across three sessions.

 

[CleverNickName]

I use a device in my boss battles, where there is always an "easy way" to beat them and a "hard way" to beat them.

The "hard way" is through the same boring attack rolls and cantrips that the party uses over and over (and over, and over) again in every battle. Sure, this will work, but it'll take 10-20 rounds and the party will take on substantial damage in the process. The "easy way" is through clever use of environment or specific combinations of attacks.

For example, let's say the "boss monster" of this dungeon is a flame salamander. Using their usual firebolts and flaming weapons will take them a while, but they can get it done (the hard way). But if the dwarf spends an action to examine the cave, he'll notice that the ceiling is so unstable that a few firebolts might be enough to cause a small cave-in (the easy way).

 

[Charlaquin]

I love puzzle monsters, as a player and as a DM. But I do think the solutions need proper telegraphing to work well. Putting the pieces together and figuring out how to kill the monster is cool. Blindly guessing until you land on the right damage type is boring.

 

[Tonguez]

I love puzzle monsters, as a player and as a DM. But I do think the solutions need proper telegraphing to work well. Putting the pieces together and figuring out how to kill the monster is cool. Blindly guessing until you land on the right damage type is boring.

Yeah, thats my issue with puzzles too. In a theatre of the mind game, how do you telegraph the loose beam in overhead balcony without explicitly telling the Players “oh look the beams in the overhead balcony are really rotten and ready to break wink”

 

[Rob Kuntz]

Yeah, thats my issue with puzzles too. In a theatre of the mind game, how do you telegraph the loose beam in overhead balcony without explicitly telling the Players “oh look the beams in the overhead balcony are really rotten and ready to break wink”

Well. The idea of a trap is to catch people unaware. So I would say that it falling on them is proper enough telegraphing of intent.

 

[Charlaquin]

Yeah, thats my issue with puzzles too. In a theatre of the mind game, how do you telegraph the loose beam in overhead balcony without explicitly telling the Players “oh look the beams in the overhead balcony are really rotten and ready to break wink”

It’s actually quite doable without being that blatant, and honestly even when you are that blatant, players still don’t always pick up on it. Telegraphing is a fantastic tool that makes games much better, but too many DMs are too afraid of “giving away the game” to use it.