D&D 5E attrition mechanic

[pukunui]

Hi all,

As you may know, I am running an episodic campaign. We've been going for just over a year now, and in that time, I've found that I generally skimp on the exploration side of things in order to get to the meat of any given adventure. That is to say, I don't tend to use wandering monsters or allow for the characters to get lost in the wilderness or whatever.

So like, I'm about to run an adventure that involves going into a city sewer to find a hidden mind flayer lair. The adventure states that the characters have to succeed on a random number of tracking checks to find the lair, and there is, of course, a chance for random encounters while they're searching.

I get that the sewers and the random encounters serve a purpose. They help the location come alive, as it were, and they also serve to soften up the PCs (that is, use up some of their resources) before they get to the mind flayer. The thing is, the thought of spending valuable game time having the PCs fight swarms of centipedes and spend hours wandering in circles because they keep failing their ability checks just doesn't appeal to me.

I want to fast-forward through all that, but at the same time, I'd still like to at least acknowledge that it happened. And to that end, I'm thinking some kind of handwavey attrition mechanic could be useful. Like maybe, each time they fail a check, they don't lose their way ... instead they take damage or lose hit dice or have to start making Con checks to avoid exhaustion because they have to keep backtracking and it's tiring work slogging through literal crap and fighting off swarms of diseased rats and the like.

Anyone doing anything like that already? Anyone got any good ideas on how to handle it?


Thanks in advance!


EDIT: Would it be worth accounting for the expenditure of other kinds of resources besides HP/HD? Like spell slots and ki points and such?

 

[pukunui]

I suppose one could adapt the chase complications tables for something like this. Instead of trying to chase someone, you could just have it be that the PCs start at the bottom of a ladder, and they have to make checks to move up the ladder. The party can make group checks, and each success means they move up one rung on the ladder. When they get to the top, they've reached their destination. Each time they make a group check, though, they make a separate roll on the complications table to see if they encounter anything. Rather than playing through every random encounter, though, you can just allow for checks to avoid taking damage or whatever.

And you could have separate tables for sewers, the Underdark, jungles and forests, etc.

 

[Ath-kethin]

I really like your idea; that is, a "stuff happened" result with actual game consequences. Though I am curious: does your group like the idea?

Off-camera action with negative game results have not gone over well with any group I've run.

 

[pukunui]

I really like your idea; that is, a "stuff happened" result with actual game consequences. Though I am curious: does your group like the idea?

To be honest, I haven't specifically talked to them about it, but I don't think they'd have any qualms about it.

Off-camera action with negative game results have not gone over well with any group I've run.

Well, but it's not so much "off camera" as it is merely handwaved. That is, it happens on-screen, as it were, but not in any great detail. It's abstract attrition, and it comes about due to failed skill checks. It's instead of them getting lost or being unable to locate the lair due to poor rolls. I want to get away from the idea that a single failed skill check (or a series of failed checks) can prevent the adventure from proceeding. It's "success with a cost" on a broader scale.

 

[Ath-kethin]

To be honest, I haven't specifically talked to them about it, but I don't think they'd have any qualms about it.

. . . it's not so much "off camera" as it is merely handwaved. That is, it happens on-screen, as it were, but not in any great detail. It's abstract attrition, and it comes about due to failed skill checks. It's instead of them getting lost or being unable to locate the lair due to poor rolls. I want to get away from the idea that a single failed skill check (or a series of failed checks) can prevent the adventure from proceeding. It's "success with a cost" on a broader scale.

I think I understood your purpose in that sense. Where I thought you might get some pushback is the "softening up" aspect - it implies that based on your checks, your PCs would lose hit points, spell slots, limited-use class features, and magic item charges, all without having made any decisions themselves.

You know your players better than I do, obviously. But if my understanding of your "softening up" intent is correct, you might find the idea a tough sell.

 

[pukunui]

Well, that's where I'm hoping to get some advice. Should I limit it to hit point damage or hit dice loss, or should I include other resources as well?

 

[BoldItalic]

Why not make a mini-game out of it?

The party rolls against DC 15 to find the lair knowing that if they fail, they will get a wandering monster encounter but they will be allowed to try again anyway when that is resolved. They know that they will succeed eventually but possibly at a cost.

Now allow them to "spend" hit dice or spell slots to increase their chance of success on the roll. For example, if a player sacrifices a hit dice, the party gets +1 on the roll; if a spellcaster sacrifices a Level X spell slot, they get +X.

Explain the rules and let the players work out a strategy.

 

[I'm A Banana]

You're gonna need a montage.
[video=youtube;-4jfGWP0gk8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4jfGWP0gk8[/video]

I think I'd vary my approach based on how comfortable my group was with the level of abstraction.

The "closest to the experience" way might be to have the party make a group navigation check (an Int check, or a Survival check, or something): if half of them fail the check, they've blundered off-course and into some hazard or other. You might roll randomly to determine what the "hazard" is just so you can describe it ("you fall into poo water" / "a swarm of rats tries to take your sandwich!" / "An otyugh offers to chew your face off"). To abstract out combat, just have everyone declare one spell or long/short rest ability "used" to overcome the fight. Have them roll the attack, or have the NPC's roll the saving throw, and if they miss, or the NPC's do well, they lose 2/3rds of their current hp, and if they hit, or the NPC's save poorly, the party loses 1/3rd of their current hp. You may also want to cause other long-term effects (rats carry disease, etc.) if you want to mimic that. Either way, after one "round" that only involves the party attacking, the battle is over.

Then, it pretty much works the same as random encounters, but montage'd. The party can still choose to short or long rest when they want per normal (assuming that this is a place where that's possible).

If you'd like to go another route, Exhaustion is nice. If they fail the "getting lost" group check, the party gains a level of exhaustion as they spend another four hours lost in the dungeon of farts. Easy peasy.

 

[aco175]

Why not make a mini-game out of it?

The party rolls against DC 15 to find the lair knowing that if they fail, they will get a wandering monster encounter but they will be allowed to try again anyway when that is resolved. They know that they will succeed eventually but possibly at a cost.

Now allow them to "spend" hit dice or spell slots to increase their chance of success on the roll. For example, if a player sacrifices a hit dice, the party gets +1 on the roll; if a spellcaster sacrifices a Level X spell slot, they get +X.

Explain the rules and let the players work out a strategy.

I really like this idea. If the party makes the group check then nothing happens and you simply move to the main lair. Failure equals each character must lose a certain target number of points. I could see groups allowing one character to sacrifice all his resources and leave the rest of the group at max, which may be fine in level of power taken away from the group total. You could also decide if the group will be able to take a short rest before finding the main lair since a power like 2nd wind can be worth 15hp and it is a non-factor if you allow them to gain these back.

I was first going to say to just take HP away, say 10-20% of each total. Allow them to use spells or hit dice to recover and be done. I do like the other way better but it will take more time to devise a system and having the group figure out how to pay for it, which may take as long as an encounter in the first place.

 

[LordEntrails]

The problem I see with any of these methods of removing or limiting the mundane or boring parts of the adventure is this;
Without variety, the dramatic moments are not dramatic because they have no context or relative value.

If all you ever bother with is fighting BBEGs, then BBEGs are just the same as if all you ever do is fight common guys.

If all you eat is your favorite dessert, it gets boring.

Without context, variety and pacing, the exciting moments are not very exciting.

I know your play time is limited and precious, therefore pacing and variety is, imo, even more important.