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How to spice up this chimera/trap encounter?
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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 6966533" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>Without being familiar with the text of the rest of the module, it's impossible for me to give you advice on building an overall theme or connecting the encounter to later ones as some sort of logical progression.</p><p></p><p>As presented though, the 'trap' doesn't present an interesting challenge. It's a 'brute' monster that needs to mix it up with a party of equivalent level, yet the encounter design means that a party can freely trap the monster in it's lair - at which point it can only respond with an occasional breath weapon versus the entire missile capability of the party (and there seems to be a theory that 5e is particularly bad at that). The trap seems to be designed so that there isn't many creative ways to bypass the trap, and the terrain means that if you set off the trap either its just a straight up fight with a brute that lacks battlefield control or a tedious take down against something that struggles to fight back. I feel that's too swingy and involves too few approaches to the encounter. I'm guilty of putting monsters in a dungeon just to abrade resources and dispense XP just as much as the next guy, but I can't endorse that as good design.</p><p></p><p>What do you want to get out of this encounter? A complex tactical challenge? A puzzle? A resources sink? A cakewalk to put the characters on their toes?</p><p></p><p>I'm curious though, is the 'solution' to this whole dungeon just having the NPC that might be accompanying the party keep his eye open the whole time? Because that sounds like it would make this dungeon a nightmare to run, and even more so if he has a lazy eye problem.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 6966533, member: 4937"] Without being familiar with the text of the rest of the module, it's impossible for me to give you advice on building an overall theme or connecting the encounter to later ones as some sort of logical progression. As presented though, the 'trap' doesn't present an interesting challenge. It's a 'brute' monster that needs to mix it up with a party of equivalent level, yet the encounter design means that a party can freely trap the monster in it's lair - at which point it can only respond with an occasional breath weapon versus the entire missile capability of the party (and there seems to be a theory that 5e is particularly bad at that). The trap seems to be designed so that there isn't many creative ways to bypass the trap, and the terrain means that if you set off the trap either its just a straight up fight with a brute that lacks battlefield control or a tedious take down against something that struggles to fight back. I feel that's too swingy and involves too few approaches to the encounter. I'm guilty of putting monsters in a dungeon just to abrade resources and dispense XP just as much as the next guy, but I can't endorse that as good design. What do you want to get out of this encounter? A complex tactical challenge? A puzzle? A resources sink? A cakewalk to put the characters on their toes? I'm curious though, is the 'solution' to this whole dungeon just having the NPC that might be accompanying the party keep his eye open the whole time? Because that sounds like it would make this dungeon a nightmare to run, and even more so if he has a lazy eye problem. [/QUOTE]
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How to spice up this chimera/trap encounter?
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