D&D 5E How to Run Combats in a Cavernous Dungeon Without Alerting All NPC's?

[pontinyc]

Just like the title says, I'm confused about the best way to go about this. I'm running a published module/AP and the party is in a massive underground lair for Stone Giants (this particular tribe is extremely warlike, unlike the usual ones in the MM). The caverns have many large open areas where various giants sleep, kennel their dire bears, use as a mess hall, etc. There are no doors in the lair but many potential combat encounters.

EDIT: here's the map with key at the bottom. . .

1 sq.=10ft. (makes things a bit easier)


1.) Party enters here.
2.) Kobold barbarian
3.) Tannery, 3 Ogre Berzerkers
4.) Armory, 2 Stone Giants
5.) Small barracks, 4 Stone Giants
6.) Hallway, 2 Troll Guards
7.) 2 Lamia Priestesses
8.) 2 young red dragons (chained, waiting to be sacrificed). Will probably change this as it minimizes the power of dragons in the world imo.
9.) Hill Giant basically on steroids (challenging encounter)
10.) Stone Giant Ghost (yep)
11.) 4 Stone Giants
12.) 4 Stone Giants
13.) Forgot to put a 13 lol.
14.) Pit entrance to area from above and 4 Dire Bears
15.) Stone Giant General (challenging encounter)

The party will need to use stealth, of course, but the the adventure clearly wants them to have these combat encounters. It makes no mention, however, of what might happen if a single giant yells out during a combat or runs for help, which of course they would do. In that scenario, the party is going to have way more giants on them than they can handle and will TPK.

How do you handle the noise of battle in an environment like this which requires numerous combats but has "rooms" that are near each other with no doors? Feels like one explosive fireball cast by the giants and the party is going to attract forty more.

Many thanks as always for any help!

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Badly written adventure is badly written. Clearly the original author would have run it without that level of realism. But you might be able to salvage it by having a high level of background noise, such as a crashing waterfall.

 

[pontinyc]

Badly written adventure is badly written. Clearly the original author would have run it without that level of realism. But you might be able to salvage it by having a high level of background noise, such as a crashing waterfall.

Your point is a good one, thanks, but I have to say that I see these maps frequently. Similar to this one:
View attachment 0s8s7nh31bl71.jpg
There are no doors on that map but I assume that the designer intended it for use as a battle map. Outside of building in good covers like the one you suggested, I don't really understand how to make use of these kinds of maps if there are going to be combat encounters in them.

Thanks to you and to any others who've got some thoughts!

 

[DrJawaPhD]

First I'd say completely ignore realism and determine whether you think it's more fun for the combats to string together or you want the PCs to get time in between combats. Then once you know how you want it to go, figure out how to make that be realistic.

Let's say you want the giants to hear nearby combat and come running (encourages stealth or at least some careful planning; also ramps up the challenge). Maybe they hear combat but it takes a couple minutes for them to realize what's going on and come help. DnD combat turns are 6 seconds, so 2 minutes is an eternity.

Let's say you want the combats to be a more relaxed pace (simplifies things for the DM and players alike). Maybe no one nearby hears because they're sleeping, or busy gambling, or reading a good book. Or maybe they do hear but have been instructed to hold their post, or maybe they just can't stand Greg and hope the PCs kill him.

There are any number of creative ways you can make either method seem realistic.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Your point is a good one, thanks, but I have to say that I see these maps frequently.

Sure. There is a lot of bad stuff out there!

 

[Tonguez]

Do the caverns have flat, featureless floors? or do they have different elevations, low walls and stone benches that make the caverns difficult terrain for giants but NOT for medium sized PCs? (Remember what constitutes a narrow trench for a giant, might be a wide corridor for PCs). Low ceilings, narrow paths, archways and uneven ground helps to create barricades and corridors between active Zones - use them.

Make up excuses for why giants might not hear a ruckus happening around the corner and then be delayed and diverted the long way around to reach a spot.

 

[Horwath]

Silence spell,
telepathic communication,
subtle spell metamagic

 

[Paul Farquhar]

There is always the gygaxian approach. It’s up to the players to kill the giants stealthily. If they fail to do so and find themselves fighting an overwhelming number of giants, then they fight an overwhelming number of giants.

 

[Autumnal]

Include natural sources of noise. In particular, falling water. Have there been many, or at least several, streams that take plunges from time to time. If it’s a very magical area, include some streams that fall upward. To get a general feeling for the resulting acoustics, stand in your bathroom and run the tub and/or shower taps, the sink tap(s), and flush the toilet. While they run, recite poetry.

Include occasionally noisy wildlife and plants. Climbing and scurrying creatures, plants with metal-rich stalks and petals that sometimes clatter while opening and closing, amphibians that surface every half hour to breathe with airholes that sound like leather rubbing leather, and so on.

Give PCs a bit of magical or extraordinary help with quietness. Creatures that eat sound and can be raised as pets, maybe?

Just, in general, make the giants’ homes and workplaces as noisy as they’d be in a busy city’s residential and commercial quarters.

 

[Hriston]

I don't know what the scale of your caverns is, but I use this table to determine how far sound travels:

Audible Distance
Trying to be quiet	2d6 x 5 feet
Normal noise level	2d6 x 10 feet
Very loud	2d6 x 50 feet

I generally put combat in the "very loud" category. The distances on the table might not be realistic, but it serves its purpose.