D&D 5E How dangerous are your wildnernesses?

[Minigiant]

There's no variable option as the poll and question is about the normal potential of danger in your preferred wilderness.

If the players aren't specifically told about the danger or the DM doesn't place dangers there ahead of time, how dangerous can it get? Would characters think a blue dragon is a likely occurrence in some deserts or would they see the chance of that encounter as low if no one directly mentions it?

What is the percentage rate of bumping into a legendary monster or a horde of weaker monsters once you leave civilization?

 

[Panartias]

I voted for moderate. It becomes easy, if the party has a ranger or druid with them, but may be deadly without.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

If the players aren't specifically told about the danger or the DM doesn't place dangers there ahead of time, how dangerous can it get?

Very. Nearly as dangerous as a dungeon can get.

Would characters think a blue dragon is a likely occurrence in some deserts or would they see the chance of that encounter as low if no one directly mentions it?

If blue dragons inhabit that desert, you might see some while traveling through it, and the characters likely wouldn't be surprised that they did because people tend to pass warnings of "here be dragons" on for generations even if it has already been generations since anyone actually saw one.

What is the percentage rate of bumping into a legendary monster or a horde of weaker monsters once you leave civilization?

Legendary monster is probably less than 1% unless traveling in or very near the actual lair/hunting grounds. A horde of weaker monsters, such as a small army of orcs or goblinoids, is more of a "If you go into the Dymrak Forest and you don't see some goblins, you are either blind or were the first to die in the ambush."

 

[Li Shenron]

I'd say easy, but that's grossly averaging...

To most people in the fantasy world, the wilderness is probably moderately dangerous, because wild beasts, natural hazards and just getting lost are real possibilities. You don't go in the wilderness alone at night for example, and you don't stay there longer than half a day unless you know how to find food and shelter.

To the PCs, even at low levels the danger is generally small enough for them to handle it.

But then of course every place in the fantasy world is different. The civilized regions don't have a whole dangerous wilderness, but might have an enchanted forest or a deadly swamp. But you could have an orc kingdom here or a land ruled by undead there, where roaming around is pretty much deadly unless you are in fact an adventurer of high level enough. High-level PCs are probably often questing exactly in lands and territories which lesser heroes couldn't stand for long. At some point, it's quite iconic to even go roaming around in Hell or the Abyss or another place like that, where "wilderness" might assume a meaning on a whole new scale

 

[Edwin Suijkerbuijk]

To me there is no single awnser, ad how dangroes the wild is depends on how dangroes the wild is in the setting.
It can wildly swing between campaigns

 

[discosoc]

My wildernesses are generally the most dangerous places to travel, but I often paraphrase the journey in the same way that movies have a sort of montage for characters going from point a to point b. My players do, however, understand just how dangerous the wilds are, and before every such journey they hopefully stock up on supplies, hire a few guards, and setup basic watch rotations/etc..

In these cases, I may not have specific encounters in mind, but I will require some survival checks to get an idea of how the trip goes, and describe it accordingly. The condition they arrive at their destination is usually influenced by this, so if they traveled for 3 weeks over a bog, and didn't roll well enough on survival, they may have lost a guard, 2 pack mules, went through 3 times the normal rations and water, and arrive on the steps of the dungeon with exhaustion. That kind of thing.

 

[Minigiant]

It would be only fair if I answered.

How do I like it.
EXTREME


Sure if you're near a major town or city, you're fine. Mostly the usually wild animals, bandits, handful of orcs, forest fires, and coldsnaps. A local guard or fort can discourage most one major threats from risking themselves on a hail of arrows.

But I pity those who dare to venture to far from civilization. Young dragon etch out their mini duchies and hide their hoards. Demon cults are preparing their rituals safe from the persecution of normals. Giants dig their lairs into the land. Royal fey hold court and parties uninterrupted by the common folk. Supernatural weather rains wild animals from the sky and channels the elements in usual ways. Hermit wizard who ran from kingdom politics to work alone int the towers with their experiments.

And if you stray too far into the wilderness, you'd bump into it. That's why no one plundered that dungoen yet.

Imagine a druid, ranger, nature cleric, sorcerer, or barbarian who lives hundreds of miles away from civilization. No back up from humanoids. No traditional armies to call for aid. Said person has to deal with these things alone. The things out there have to deal it each other alone. Natural selection deems that the weak would be slaughtered. All the dragons, tower mages, giants, demon cults, orc armies, archdruids, ranger lords, barbarian kings, and fey queens would be in equal power ever in an arms race of escalating ferocity and danger. Each keeping each other in check and keeping the eyes off the civilized world. All in a Mexican standoff.

Then random chance hamstrings or kills one of the deadly threats and all hell breaks loose.

And that's why the orcs appear. They didn't just appear. They ran from someplace else. MWAHAHAHA!!

 

[MechaPilot]

It really depends on the campaign that I'm running. In most typical D&D settings, I go with Moderately in most locations, and Deadly in locations specifically stated to be more dangerous than the norm.

However, my Wildwood setting focuses on the power of nature; in that setting the wilderness is very dangerous, ranging from Deadly to Extreme.

 

[redrick]

Much like above, "Moderate" = variable.

In my most recent campaign, the wilderness was calibrated to be more dangerous than the low-level adventure sites. Traveling short distances during the day was probably ok, but spending the night in the woods was very unwise for low-level parties.

The wilderness also provides lots of options for running away, so I have no qualms throwing a deadly adversary in the path of the adventurers. If your lowlevel party sees an adult dragon fly overhead, hide.

 

[pming]

Hiya!

I'm with [MENTION=63508]Minigiant[/MENTION] on this: EXTREME when you venture out into the wilds. One caveat, however, by "wilds" I mean just that. No roads, hamlets, keeps, towers to guard the border, etc. As one gets closer to "frequently civilized areas", it goes down a notch or two. That said, the "big, dumb, deadly creatures" still roam into roadways and lay waste to caravans. Then, the lord assembles a contingent of his army and/or adventurers, tracks the beast down, and slays it. The more "big, SMART, deadly creatures" tend to stay away from civilizations precisely for this reason. They are smart enough to know that if they poke the nest of humans/elves/dwarves/gnomes/whatever, they will gather together and retaliate. Not worth it to the big smart monster (most of the time anyway).

Precautions for wilderness travel go a l-o-o-o-n-g way! Specifically taking time to bathe in nearby springs/lakes, cooking hard rations over natural game meat, camping in defensible areas, etc. all can literally be life or death when getting farther and farther away from civilization. I don't like the idea of players just shrugging their shoulders and saying Whatever. I'm 10th level and have the HP's to survive just about any surprise attack...besides, I have this ability, that ability, and all these magic items and stuff. And then proceeding to just camp wherever without a care in the world other than a simple one-person watch.

Dungeons? Yeah, after the first couple rooms/caves, you have a pretty good idea of what kind of monsters may lair there. Edge of a dark forest along a snow-topped mountain range? Who the F knows what's around the next corner, or living up in the next cliff/bluff, or down in the next box canyon? Bear...wolves...deer...another bear...wolverine...SURPRISE!: Pair of ancient Red Dragons! ... Next party please!

^_^

Paul L. Ming