D&D General Monsters as Puzzles

[Xetheral]

More generally, are you okay with having to think outside the box and your character sheet to solve an encounter or beat a monster?

I'm fine with monsters that require out-of-the-box solutions, but only if the DM is open to a variety of possible out-of-the-box solutions. Trying to guess the one particular out-of-the-box solution that the DM is looking for tends to either be trivial (if it's telegraphed well) or maddening (if it's not). If you want your players to get creative, you have to actually let creative solutions work.

 

[CleverNickName]

I love puzzle monsters, as a player and as a DM. But I do think the solutions need proper telegraphing to work well. Putting the pieces together and figuring out how to kill the monster is cool. Blindly guessing until you land on the right damage type is boring.

Yeah, thats my issue with puzzles too. In a theatre of the mind game, how do you telegraph the loose beam in overhead balcony without explicitly telling the Players “oh look the beams in the overhead balcony are really rotten and ready to break wink”

The best advice I can give is to look at how your favorite fiction writers telegraph these cues to the reader, and try to do the same. Use foreshadowing, metaphors, and careful word choices to convey the message subtly. It takes practice but the payoff is pretty fun.

So the boss monster is vulnerable to slashing damage? Describe the wind as "cutting through you like a knife" on the way to the dungeon. Talk about how the merchant is "slashing his prices," and describe the bard's vicious mockery as a "cutting insult," etc. Occasionally describe slash marks on walls and doors, and place boobytraps that deal slashing damage. And so forth. When the time comes, everyone will have "slashing" on the brain but won't know why.

 

[Charlaquin]

The best advice I can give is to look at how your favorite fiction writers telegraph these cues to the reader, and try to do the same. Use foreshadowing, metaphors, and careful word choices to convey the message subtly. It takes practice but the payoff is pretty fun.

So the boss monster is vulnerable to slashing damage? Describe the wind as "cutting through you like a knife" on the way to the dungeon. Talk about how the merchant is "slashing his prices," and describe the bard's vicious mockery as a "cutting insult," etc. Occasionally describe slash marks on walls and doors, and place boobytraps that deal slashing damage. And so forth. When the time comes, everyone will have "slashing" on the brain but won't know why.

That’s an interesting approach, though definitely not how I do it.