I like to share real game experiences. I can find a million ideas on the web, but I think its always more fun to see how an idea actually played out.
So here is a thread for DM's to share tricks they played on their player's characters and how it turned out. I'll go first.
I'm defining tricks as: a challenge, spell, device, encounter, whatever that is designed to obfuscate, confuse, hide, or misdirect the players. Please avoid metagame tricks as I don't think they are very legit: for example, purposely overly describing mundane and unimportant objects to trick players into thinking they actually are special.
One I just did recently which was very simple but worked surprisingly well:
SETUP
Two of the items are fake: the jewelry and the crocodile. The merchant is wearing well made costume jewelry designed to fool casual appraisals, and the crocodile is actually a permanent illusion cast on a chest.
The merchant is rich and he doesn't trust anyone, as he has been robbed before; so, he keeps his actually wealth in the crocodile chest.
The crocodile is programmed to snap at things tossed at it, like food, and to raise its head in a sort of friendly manner when the merchant approaches. It will growl and hiss at anyone else getting close, but never bites. The merchant doesn't want the crocodile being attacked which could damage the illusion.
At night, the merchant will pry the crocodile's mouth open, wider than possible with a real crocodile, and access his chest. Even his guards don't know about the illusion.
The merchant has exotic birds in his tent so the crocodile doesn't seem out of place. However, the birds aren't affected by the illusion, and the peacock will walk over it, sleep on it, or eat any food laying about it. The crocodile also never focuses its eyes on anyone, including the merchant, nor does it have any type of odor or leave any scales on the ground; clues for observant players.
Casting detect magic operates as the DM sees fit. There is some contention on how Detect Magic and illusions work in various editions, but I personally think it would be a bad idea to tell the players they detect illusions as it would give the trick away.
WHAT HAPPENED
The encounter was tangent to the real adventure, so I kept the NPCs low level. The merchant was a slaver and had many guards and slaves around his tent. Through some clever distractions and luck, my players managed to bypass many of the guards and cast sleep on the occupants of the tent. This put everyone asleep, merchant, guards, women, animals.. except the crocodile, something none of them took note of.
The players killed the guards, bound and gagged the merchant (who was later sold into slavery as a sort of ironic justice), freed all the slaves, and then looted the place. They put the rugs, carpets, slaves, the hookah, and even the birds on a wagon to take back to civilization. Then they looked at the crocodile and decided it would be a bad idea to put it in a wagon with everyone else. They dragged the unresisting crocodile by its tail and tossed it into a nearby ditch.
Was difficult to keep myself from smirking.
So here is a thread for DM's to share tricks they played on their player's characters and how it turned out. I'll go first.
I'm defining tricks as: a challenge, spell, device, encounter, whatever that is designed to obfuscate, confuse, hide, or misdirect the players. Please avoid metagame tricks as I don't think they are very legit: for example, purposely overly describing mundane and unimportant objects to trick players into thinking they actually are special.
One I just did recently which was very simple but worked surprisingly well:
SETUP
- a large pole tent
- a rich arabian merchant, covered in sparkly jewelry with golds and various expensive looking gems.
- large pillows and rugs
- a hookah
- 2 slave girls
- a tame peacock
- 2 songbirds in a cage
- a lazy, fat, half-asleep crocodile in the back, chained to a pole.
- two well armed guards
Two of the items are fake: the jewelry and the crocodile. The merchant is wearing well made costume jewelry designed to fool casual appraisals, and the crocodile is actually a permanent illusion cast on a chest.
The merchant is rich and he doesn't trust anyone, as he has been robbed before; so, he keeps his actually wealth in the crocodile chest.
The crocodile is programmed to snap at things tossed at it, like food, and to raise its head in a sort of friendly manner when the merchant approaches. It will growl and hiss at anyone else getting close, but never bites. The merchant doesn't want the crocodile being attacked which could damage the illusion.
At night, the merchant will pry the crocodile's mouth open, wider than possible with a real crocodile, and access his chest. Even his guards don't know about the illusion.
The merchant has exotic birds in his tent so the crocodile doesn't seem out of place. However, the birds aren't affected by the illusion, and the peacock will walk over it, sleep on it, or eat any food laying about it. The crocodile also never focuses its eyes on anyone, including the merchant, nor does it have any type of odor or leave any scales on the ground; clues for observant players.
Casting detect magic operates as the DM sees fit. There is some contention on how Detect Magic and illusions work in various editions, but I personally think it would be a bad idea to tell the players they detect illusions as it would give the trick away.
WHAT HAPPENED
The encounter was tangent to the real adventure, so I kept the NPCs low level. The merchant was a slaver and had many guards and slaves around his tent. Through some clever distractions and luck, my players managed to bypass many of the guards and cast sleep on the occupants of the tent. This put everyone asleep, merchant, guards, women, animals.. except the crocodile, something none of them took note of.
The players killed the guards, bound and gagged the merchant (who was later sold into slavery as a sort of ironic justice), freed all the slaves, and then looted the place. They put the rugs, carpets, slaves, the hookah, and even the birds on a wagon to take back to civilization. Then they looked at the crocodile and decided it would be a bad idea to put it in a wagon with everyone else. They dragged the unresisting crocodile by its tail and tossed it into a nearby ditch.
Was difficult to keep myself from smirking.
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