D&D 5E Illusionist in a Theater: Help Me Design a Fun Combat

[robus]

[MENTION=6801286]Imaculata[/MENTION] - your imaginings for this encounter are amazing to behold. When I read theater, I went straight for the mundane - curtains dropping, battling up in the stage rigging, in other words: typical stuff. You've taken it to a whole new awesome level.

I'm hoping WotC calls you in to consult on their next adventure!

 

[Imaculata]

[MENTION=6801286]Imaculata[/MENTION] - your imaginings for this encounter are amazing to behold. When I read theater, I went straight for the mundane - curtains dropping, battling up in the stage rigging, in other words: typical stuff. You've taken it to a whole new awesome level.

I'm hoping WotC calls you in to consult on their next adventure!

Haha, thanks! That is a really nice compliment.

 

[Grumbleputty]

I started playing with a related idea a few years back- the (much lower level than you're considering) party had to interrupt an evil ritual being performed as part of a play, but the audience would be harmed if the play was disrupted. So in order to stop the villain, they had to throw on a costume, wait for a cue, walk onstage as that character and find ways within the plot of the play to thwart the villain's agenda. That would dovetail nicely with Imaculata's great suggestions.

 

[DeJoker]

Supernatural had something like this with their character Loki -- the brothers even believed they killed Loki in the end but all they killed was something that looked, sounded, etc... like Loki and after they left Loki appeared tsk tsking the two and commenting on how fun it had been

But a big part of illusions is how you define their usage -- I hate the disbelieve and the illusion basically disappears crap -- my illusions are fake sensory input -- which means while they are not real they seem real to sight, sound, smell/taste, and to some degree touch they just cannot do any direct harm to anyone as they are not real. This means if you encounter an illusionary bridge while it will not hurt you falling through it and plummeting 100 feet to the chasm floor is gonna hurt... a lot. Further falling through it for the others that see you do it may indicated (depending on whether the illusion is static or dynamic) to them that the bridge is an illusion however it still looks real. This minor change makes illusions rather nasty and yet completely harmless.

Oh and no phantasm are not illusion they are by definition Enchantments because Enchantments are mind affecting magic and Phantasm are mind affecting magic.

 

[jayoungr]

AngryGM had a good one about this.

Do you have a link, by chance?

EDIT: Was it this post?

 

[jayoungr]

These are all great ideas, and I love them! Thanks, everyone!

Does anyone have suggestions on the more crunchy side of the encounter? Which illusion spells are most effective in combat, or which spells combine well with illusions?

 

[Thurmas]

If you're willing to divert a bit more from spells, and use them as abilities, you could do an illusory legendary action. One legendary action to summon an illusory monster, 33% chance of the monster being real. Make the first few not real to lull them into a false sense of security before a real one attacks.

I'm more simple in my machinations I guess.

 

[Grumbleputty]

Some ill-considered, unconnected and potentially ridiculous additional thoughts:

a) Helpless "Extras"- innocents trapped in costumes or concealed under illusions, with Magic Mouths cast on them to deliver their lines. Part of the challenge is knowing who is a real threat and who is just a helpless pawn.

b) Make the whole stage a Portal to a series of demi-planes that are the "sets". The whole cast gets transported when the scene changes (this way your players won't need to waste a bunch of time trying to disbelieve every feature they try to interact with- most of it can be real)

c) Involve the audience- have the actors draw mystical energy from the crowd to power their attacks and defenses. This would force the characters to "role-play" within the play and find ways to do whatever they're trying to do within the plot of the scene they're in.

d) Have a bunch of minions hidden above the stage inside the pocket dimensions of a dozen Rope Trick spells- on their cue, ropes drop down all around the party out of mid-air and their assailants slide down onto the stage

e) Related to (c): If the whole play is some sort if ritual, perhaps the audience will suffer some sort of psionic backlash if the play is interrupted. Again, it keeps the party from just crashing onto the stage and jumping into melee- they need to do a bunch of skill challenges along the way to keep the plot of the play moving before they get to the big battle scene at the climax.

f) A big musical number.

g) Overall (and I know this messes with your core idea), I'd avoid relying on illusions too much. From the player's standpoint, it might be fun for a short encounter, but after a while it could feel limiting. Usually it's good to encourage the players to say "I'm going to jump onto that table, use the chandelier to swing over the Otyugh and free the Duke from the guillotine trap"- if any of those elements might not exist, it dampens their incentive to use the elements around them in creative ways.

h) Another idea that dovetails with (c) and (e)- Imagine a giant, knock-down drag-out battle going on backstage between the party and the villain and his minions (I know you said he didn't have any minions, but bear with me). Since "The Show Must Go On", at any given point one or two of the characters and some of the minions might need to go onstage and play their roles. You'll have this battle where all throughout different combinations of party members and bad guys need to disengage from the combat, throw on a costume and perform in the play, while their fellows are still duking it out behind the scenes.

...I hope any of this helps!

 

[jayoungr]

Getting ready to run this weekend, and I'm trying to think about lair actions.

In my game, there's been a previous reference to The Tragedy of King Uth--a play about King Uth VII, who asked the lich Iniarv for help in repelling an army and had his kingdom flooded instead, creating the Mere of Dead Men in the Forgotten Realms. This would be a good opportunity to bring it back into the game, so I'm thinking that will be the theme of the battle once they get back into the theater. (The Tsunami spell seems particularly appropriate, even though it's a druid spell.)

So, lair actions? I was thinking of having the illusionary audience cheer for the bad guy and/or boo the PCs; they'd need to make charisma saves to avoid taking psychic damage.

Any other ideas?