Making outdoors encounters more interesting.
- Thread starter hailstop
- Start date
what kind of outdoor areas is it?
in a forest, you can litter some underbrush around as difficult terrain. or briar patches that will be difficult terrain and minor damage.
on a mountain road, one side of the road slopes down/off making a drop (either to a lower road or down the mountain).
but beyond some difficult terrain, there isn't much you can do that isn't specific to the environment (maybe some pits in plains if you want to say hunters set that up for routine game, and so on)... but it all feels a little forced..
in a forest, you can litter some underbrush around as difficult terrain. or briar patches that will be difficult terrain and minor damage.
on a mountain road, one side of the road slopes down/off making a drop (either to a lower road or down the mountain).
but beyond some difficult terrain, there isn't much you can do that isn't specific to the environment (maybe some pits in plains if you want to say hunters set that up for routine game, and so on)... but it all feels a little forced..
Whenever I go out in nature, I always get the urge to make an outdoor encounter. Real terrain is very interesting and complex. One issue with interesting outdoor terrain is that the map will probably take a long time to draw, so you don't want to do it mid-session.
I want to play a battle that starts out in a heavily forested area and ends in a desolate wasteland
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Here's some stuff you could include:
Small trees - place on edges or corners of a square. Characters can't pass through them, and they may provide cover. Trees which take at least 20 damage are destroyed. Trees which take fire damage catch fire, and afterward deal 1d6 damage to creatures which start their turn next to it.
Large trees - fill squares and provide cover; characters can step diaganolly through corners. Trees which take at least 50 damage are destroyed: their stump becomes difficult terrain, their trunks fall in a random direction, creating difficult terrain where the trunk and branches land. Trees which take at least 5 fire damage catch fire, and deal 2d6 fire damage to creatures starting their turn next to them. Trees can be climbed (DC 15); a character in a tree can't be attacked by melee attacks, unless the attacker is larger than medium or wielding a reach weapon; characters in a tree have concealment, as do enemies they attack; characters in the tree when it falls take falling damage for falling 20 feet.
Bush - Difficult terrain. Bushes provide concealment. Bushes which take 20 damage are destroyed.
Ravine - Characters in a ravine have cover against enemies not adjacent to the ravine (a ravine which turns should be treated as two separate ravines for this. Exiting a ravine costs an additional square of movement.
Stream - Difficult terrain. Characters who start their turn in the river must make a balance check (DC based on river speed, DM should choose) or fall prone.
I think you want the terrain to be pretty full of stuff, or else if will be too easy to just ignore the terrain. You also want to have terrain they can interact with/destroy. You could also have animals which are neutral unless injured.
I want to play a battle that starts out in a heavily forested area and ends in a desolate wasteland
.Here's some stuff you could include:
Small trees - place on edges or corners of a square. Characters can't pass through them, and they may provide cover. Trees which take at least 20 damage are destroyed. Trees which take fire damage catch fire, and afterward deal 1d6 damage to creatures which start their turn next to it.
Large trees - fill squares and provide cover; characters can step diaganolly through corners. Trees which take at least 50 damage are destroyed: their stump becomes difficult terrain, their trunks fall in a random direction, creating difficult terrain where the trunk and branches land. Trees which take at least 5 fire damage catch fire, and deal 2d6 fire damage to creatures starting their turn next to them. Trees can be climbed (DC 15); a character in a tree can't be attacked by melee attacks, unless the attacker is larger than medium or wielding a reach weapon; characters in a tree have concealment, as do enemies they attack; characters in the tree when it falls take falling damage for falling 20 feet.
Bush - Difficult terrain. Bushes provide concealment. Bushes which take 20 damage are destroyed.
Ravine - Characters in a ravine have cover against enemies not adjacent to the ravine (a ravine which turns should be treated as two separate ravines for this. Exiting a ravine costs an additional square of movement.
Stream - Difficult terrain. Characters who start their turn in the river must make a balance check (DC based on river speed, DM should choose) or fall prone.
I think you want the terrain to be pretty full of stuff, or else if will be too easy to just ignore the terrain. You also want to have terrain they can interact with/destroy. You could also have animals which are neutral unless injured.
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Outdoor conflict works based on where it is set... and yes, while it is difficult to get things started, it isn't impossible.
-Use weather effects in storytelling, then use them in combat: Wet terrain, bowstrings going nutty due to the rain, thunder/lightning, snow banks, fallen timbers, weather-ravaged villages left for ghost towns... all of these things are unique terrain you're probably not seeing in most games. Weather effects over time are also useful; in many cases before the 'modern' period, casualties of war would come as heavily from the battlefield as from the battle.
-Terrain as traps: Ever walk into a farmer's field? Fallow land? Forests? Plenty of places for a horse to be lamed up, break an ankle, get hit with a deadfall. In a forest there can be all sorts of things cropped up to strike out, or startled by combat. Use this to your advantage as a DM. It seems as if parties walk through Hans Christian Anderson realities; the trees are all happy to see you, there is no mud, and the bright happy sun shines down on your upturned face. Primordial forests were scary places. Use it.
Ehh, the rest is up to personal opinion; build from here.
Slainte,
-Loonook.
-Use weather effects in storytelling, then use them in combat: Wet terrain, bowstrings going nutty due to the rain, thunder/lightning, snow banks, fallen timbers, weather-ravaged villages left for ghost towns... all of these things are unique terrain you're probably not seeing in most games. Weather effects over time are also useful; in many cases before the 'modern' period, casualties of war would come as heavily from the battlefield as from the battle.
-Terrain as traps: Ever walk into a farmer's field? Fallow land? Forests? Plenty of places for a horse to be lamed up, break an ankle, get hit with a deadfall. In a forest there can be all sorts of things cropped up to strike out, or startled by combat. Use this to your advantage as a DM. It seems as if parties walk through Hans Christian Anderson realities; the trees are all happy to see you, there is no mud, and the bright happy sun shines down on your upturned face. Primordial forests were scary places. Use it.
Ehh, the rest is up to personal opinion; build from here.
Slainte,
-Loonook.
Ydars
Explorer
It would help us if you could tell us more specifically what your problem is. Is your difficulty "making an interesting outdoor encounters" about problems with monsters and tactics, lack of hazards and interesting terrain or is it other issues? I am guessing you think that one problem is that the PCs can go anywhere and so avoid your interesting/difficult terrain?
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