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Out of the Abyss: number of encounters per day in the Underdark?
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<blockquote data-quote="CapnZapp" data-source="post: 6722086" data-attributes="member: 12731"><p>There is another way of making the Underdark voyage more challenging: </p><p></p><p><strong>Take away the 100% assured long rests every night.</strong></p><p></p><p>To me, one obvious problem with any wilderness trek (and definitely including the OotA underdark travels) is that if each night is equal to a long rest that completely destroys the DMG "expected" 6-8 encounters per long rest.</p><p></p><p>On the other hand: if you populate each day's travel with 6 encounters, that would turn the Underdark into a crowd, which we don't want. Furthermore, it would make the various described caravans and other travelers utterly implausible - that many encounters would overwhelm such small bands of NPC travellers. (And beefing up their security would only make them untouchable by the player characters...)</p><p></p><p>One way out of this dilemma and to make a slow drip of mostly non-deadly encounters challenging games-wise (not talking about story or world-building here; but D&D as a challenging game experience) is to not allow the players to insert long rests whenever and whereever they go.</p><p></p><p>Even the tiniest risk your night's rest is unfulfilling (counting as a short rest only) should transform the "one encounter a day for 30 days" monotony and keep the players on their toes.</p><p></p><p><strong>Suggestion:</strong> Make the players believe the module is stipulating that Long Rests don't "work" automatically while in the Underdark. How? </p><p></p><p>An excellent ruse is to use the "Bad Dreams" as an excuse why. That is, save the following description for the first time the escaped characters sleep out in the Underdark:</p><p></p><p><em><p style="margin-left: 20px">The characters’ sleep [] is troubled and</p></em></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><em>fitful, filled with strange dreams and disturbing images.</p></em></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><em>Dark shadows seem to move and reach out toward them</p></em></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><em>as the characters wander lost through endless mazes of</p></em></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><em>tunnels. Oily tentacles slide to brush up against them,</p></em></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><em>while a great buzzing and howling rises in the distance.</p></em></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><em>Suppurating wounds burst open in clouds of spores or</p></em></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><em>crawling masses of maggots or insects. At least one or</p></em></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><em>more of the characters should wake in a cold sweat from</p></em></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><em>these nightmares after every rest, feeling as though</p></em></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><em>something is out there in the dark depths—something</p></em></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><em>far worse than the drow.</p><p></em>-- Out of the Abyss page 9 (or you can get it on page 12 of DDEN3)</p><p></p><p>I am toying with the idea to make this a Saving Throw you need to make every night to be allowed to benefit from a Long Rest. </p><p></p><p>Failure means you have slept fitfully; you are not outright sleep deprived (no conditions, no exhaustion), but while your 8 hours' worth consumes that "Long Rest" it actually only counts as a Short Rest for you. Since you can only make one Long Rest per 24 hour period, you will have to go the entire day with no Long Rest (which is the point of having this rule in the first place).</p><p></p><p>The DC should be medium to easy. I am thinking DC 10 but each character can choose him- or herself which ability to use (this way no character is penalized more than any other). Con and Wis saves are self-explanatory, but if the player comes up with a good story, they can make Str-saves, Dex-saves, Int-saves or Cha-saves!</p><p></p><p>I am expecting many PCs (but not necessarily all of them) to be able to use a +3 ability modifier coupled with a +2 proficiency bonus to have a 75% chance of making the save: granting them 3 out of 4 Long Rests on average. </p><p></p><p>If you go the traditional route (and have everybody make the same Con or Wis save) the DC should probably be lower than 10 or you will have some characters miss every other long rest; which is probably a tad too harsh especially on spellcasters.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="CapnZapp, post: 6722086, member: 12731"] There is another way of making the Underdark voyage more challenging: [B]Take away the 100% assured long rests every night.[/B] To me, one obvious problem with any wilderness trek (and definitely including the OotA underdark travels) is that if each night is equal to a long rest that completely destroys the DMG "expected" 6-8 encounters per long rest. On the other hand: if you populate each day's travel with 6 encounters, that would turn the Underdark into a crowd, which we don't want. Furthermore, it would make the various described caravans and other travelers utterly implausible - that many encounters would overwhelm such small bands of NPC travellers. (And beefing up their security would only make them untouchable by the player characters...) One way out of this dilemma and to make a slow drip of mostly non-deadly encounters challenging games-wise (not talking about story or world-building here; but D&D as a challenging game experience) is to not allow the players to insert long rests whenever and whereever they go. Even the tiniest risk your night's rest is unfulfilling (counting as a short rest only) should transform the "one encounter a day for 30 days" monotony and keep the players on their toes. [B]Suggestion:[/B] Make the players believe the module is stipulating that Long Rests don't "work" automatically while in the Underdark. How? An excellent ruse is to use the "Bad Dreams" as an excuse why. That is, save the following description for the first time the escaped characters sleep out in the Underdark: [I][INDENT]The characters’ sleep [] is troubled and fitful, filled with strange dreams and disturbing images. Dark shadows seem to move and reach out toward them as the characters wander lost through endless mazes of tunnels. Oily tentacles slide to brush up against them, while a great buzzing and howling rises in the distance. Suppurating wounds burst open in clouds of spores or crawling masses of maggots or insects. At least one or more of the characters should wake in a cold sweat from these nightmares after every rest, feeling as though something is out there in the dark depths—something far worse than the drow.[/INDENT][/I] -- Out of the Abyss page 9 (or you can get it on page 12 of DDEN3) I am toying with the idea to make this a Saving Throw you need to make every night to be allowed to benefit from a Long Rest. Failure means you have slept fitfully; you are not outright sleep deprived (no conditions, no exhaustion), but while your 8 hours' worth consumes that "Long Rest" it actually only counts as a Short Rest for you. Since you can only make one Long Rest per 24 hour period, you will have to go the entire day with no Long Rest (which is the point of having this rule in the first place). The DC should be medium to easy. I am thinking DC 10 but each character can choose him- or herself which ability to use (this way no character is penalized more than any other). Con and Wis saves are self-explanatory, but if the player comes up with a good story, they can make Str-saves, Dex-saves, Int-saves or Cha-saves! I am expecting many PCs (but not necessarily all of them) to be able to use a +3 ability modifier coupled with a +2 proficiency bonus to have a 75% chance of making the save: granting them 3 out of 4 Long Rests on average. If you go the traditional route (and have everybody make the same Con or Wis save) the DC should probably be lower than 10 or you will have some characters miss every other long rest; which is probably a tad too harsh especially on spellcasters. [/QUOTE]
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