Instilling fear

[Vennettai]

Ok guys im new. Been playing D&D for bout 6 years. Now im DM'ing a group. And so far its been a semi serious game. most of the players take it seriously. Then some dont. But thats how it goes.

I usually have encounters that they will most likely when. So far none of them have died. And i dont really like to kill charecters. But it will end up happaning. Until then how do i Make them fear the creatures they fight. I want them to be challanged by the stuff they fight and not just walk through it.

There group makeup is.
Fighter4 Halfgiant
Rogue2/fighter2 Human
Ranger 4 Human
Monk 3 Half Elf
Fighter3 Human
Illusionist 4 Gnome

I understand they dont have a cleric and that they are going to have to rest more often. And i told them id feel better if they had one but they didnt want one. What would there party lvl be im thinking 5 or so.
I would like to instill fear in that they can come really close to death without me having to to do much fudgeing or have to save them do to my messup.

 

[Whisper72]

A lack of cleric also means a lack of countering undead. Have them face undead with resistances to certain weapons. Make it so that maybe the undead are not dealing tons of lethal damage to them, but make it clear that all the attacks by the players are not (at least noticeably) having any effect.

People fear what they do not know and what they do not understand.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

Welcome to ENWorld!

With no cleric and being fighter-heavy, negative levels, poisons, diseases, and ability damage are going to be especially scary.

 

[Janx]

Ok guys im new. Been playing D&D for bout 6 years. Now im DM'ing a group. And so far its been a semi serious game. most of the players take it seriously. Then some dont. But thats how it goes.

I usually have encounters that they will most likely when. So far none of them have died. And i dont really like to kill charecters. But it will end up happaning. Until then how do i Make them fear the creatures they fight. I want them to be challanged by the stuff they fight and not just walk through it.

There group makeup is.
Fighter4 Halfgiant
Rogue2/fighter2 Human
Ranger 4 Human
Monk 3 Half Elf
Fighter3 Human
Illusionist 4 Gnome

I understand they dont have a cleric and that they are going to have to rest more often. And i told them id feel better if they had one but they didnt want one. What would there party lvl be im thinking 5 or so.
I would like to instill fear in that they can come really close to death without me having to to do much fudgeing or have to save them do to my messup.

I play in plenty of cleric-less parties. Buy healing potions, lots of them.

My personal party level measurement tool is to add the levels together, then divide by 4. Things gets you the party average if there were 4 PCs, not 6. In you're case, that yields a party level of 5.5. If you're using encounters with less than CR5, that explains the cakewalk mentality.

Use a CR 6 or CR7 monster. Roll the dice in the open. Pick your targets intelligently (like the bad guy would). This means avoiding the meatshields. It means circling the enemy so the wimpier ones are between you and the tougher ones. If you have to, focus on the PCs that think your encounters are wimpy, when one of them dies, they'll rethink that perception. Make sure you use your lucky dice.

 

[Agent Oracle]

There group makeup is.
Fighter4 Halfgiant
Rogue2/fighter2 Human
Ranger 4 Human
Monk 3 Half Elf
Fighter3 Human
Illusionist 4 Gnome

Ouch, okay, here's the first thing: Use an Encounter Calculator it'll help a great deal with divvying up exp, and this one even provides a little challenge box. Your effective party level is 4.9 (about 5 is right) I don't know what the level adjustment is on the half giant though...

If you want to make them afraid in a purely mechanical sense, sure, you could throw out some CR 6 or 7 monsters (entirely within the realm of possibilty), But your party is lacking where it counts... versatility. Since you've got a fighter-heavy group, throw out a collection of lesser undead, backed by a higher-CR undead. (like a shadow backing a dozen CR 1/3rd zombies)

Now, putting fear into them...

learn the "Dm's smirk". It's a way to stare out over the screen and look down on the players. it should express "You are going to die by your own stupid actions tonight" to players. Then, back it up.

Create meaningless details which are threatening. These are the equivalence of a foam rubber tombstone on Halloween, momentarily distracting, serving only to add to the atmosphere...

For example, one of my favorites is to have the players (in a dungeon environment) pass through a section where a trap had already been sprung, leaving a corpse (or several) in some state of decay. Now, this has put the players at caution. Back the sprung trap up with other dangeorus traps further into the dungeon, master the art of saying "no you don't find any traps" in various states of suggestion ("No, nothing here" implies that it is genuinely safe. "You don't find anything" implies minor caution. "You failed to find the tra- oh darn it!" makes the players laugh and try another room)

anther favorite detail of mine is "ominous markings". I never actually explain these to my players, but i have a bunch of nifty symbols drawn up that mean nothing. They vary from "an animal skin, nailed to a tree" to "a lizard-shaped carving in the rocks" Whenever my players run across one of these, they do one of two things. Stop and study it (I stay silent, allowing them to fill in their own details about it, only answering questions in them most general manner.) or panic and move on (in which case i re-use the same symbol again whenever i want them scared).

 

[LostSoul]

I would go with an EL 7 encounter. Maybe EL 8 if the players are kick-ass. Also depends how much you want to risk killing a PC.

I'd make the main bad guy a cleric. Then give him some undead to act as a buffer.

Maybe a 5th level cleric and 4 zombie bugbears.

 

[Fat Daddy]

Roll the dice in the open. Pick your targets intelligently (like the bad guy would). This means avoiding the meatshields. It means circling the enemy so the wimpier ones are between you and the tougher ones. If you have to, focus on the PCs that think your encounters are wimpy, when one of them dies, they'll rethink that perception. Make sure you use your lucky dice.

I agree with Janx. In our group, the DM always rolls in the open. If you use bad tactics and you die, well then, you die. If they think the DM will always 'make sure' their characters win the encounter, it takes away a lot of the excitement. On the other hand, if they know that the 'wimpy' orcs could take them out with tactics and a few lucky rolls, then every encounter is more exciting and tense.
You might also consider using a Cloistered Cleric or Bard as an NPC in the party. I always use a character like that as a DM tool. They don't usually take away the spotlight from the characters and are useful for buffing and healing (keeps the pace swifter without all the stopping and resting). Plus you can gently herd the PC's when they get a little too crazy for you.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Pick your targets intelligently (like the bad guy would). This means avoiding the meatshields.

A small sidenote to this advice: I'd also advise that you use caution if you follow this advice, not to attribute tactical excellence to creatures which would not reasonably have it. It's fine to have the crafty bugbear chieftain know to avoid the fighter and go straight for the wizard. Not so kosher when the dire tiger does the same thing.

 

[Nightfall]

Run Age of Worms. That will give them something to fear!

 

[pawsplay]

Remove the sense of certainty. Have their enemies impersonate their employer successfully, using magic, then let them discover this at a later time. Let them wonder who they've been dealing with the whole time.

I've gotten good mileage out of shapechanging villains. In one case, they faced a "drow wizard" who turned out to be an ogre mage sorcerer. It completely weirded them out, and left them in a very ticklish position when it came time to leave the keep he had been ruling, mostly populated by drow and goblins. In another case, the PCs have twice "rescued" a succubus. She used her charm abilities on them during the night while most of them were sleeping and absconded with a powerful magical item. They attempted to fireball her; I described her wrapping her wings about her and shrugging it off when they failed to penetrate SR. That put some fear into them.

Ambiguity also creates fear. An undear warrior on a skeletal horse could be ANYTHING, most of them not good.

Some PCs are nervous about not having backups. They talk to the local cleric, describe their problem, and he replies that they know more than him, and asks for their help in dealing with the problem. Now the PCs know the cavalry aren't coming; they ARE the cavalry.

I also exploit my player's psychology. One of my players has a fear of spiders...