Designing Exotic Encounters in D&D

Does it sometimes seem like encounters in exotic locales fall kind of flat in your D&D game? In this video, I discuss several ways dungeon masters can make exotic encounters more interesting and fun for their Dungeons & Dragons players.
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[@theDMLair]

What tips do you have for running encounters in exotic locales? PATREON ▶▶ www.patreon.com/thedmlair MY D&D 5E ADVENTURES ▶▶ www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/11812/Luke-Hart

[@supersmily5811]

If a character is chucked into lava and dies you're going to need more than a Revivify scroll...

[@theDMLair]

True... 😬

[@RevengeofGothzilla]

My player characters are from a jungle, how do I make rolling hills and grasslands seem exotic and memorable?

[@cthulhufhtagn2483]

@@RevengeofGothzilla Emphasize flatness and how far they can see. Maybe give them advantage on Perception checks because of their increased visibility, but disadvantage on Stealth checks because of the alien environment. The strange shapes of the creatures and buildings, which function primarily in 2 dimensions rather than 3, is also something you could include. Plants in grasslands are smaller, but many animals are bigger, and the people are bigger, too. Those are just some of my thoughts, you could probably think of others.

[@corberus3119]

@@cthulhufhtagn2483 real world story: a group of people from a jungle were brought to a wide open area. there were cows or some sort of large animals in the distance, the natives swatted at their faces like trying to get rid of flies. they had never seen a large creature at such a distance so assumed they were small creatures that were much closer.

[@cthulhufhtagn2483]

"What's that? Aboleths don't have blindsight? Well, we just gave it blindsight. Welcome to being the dungeon master and wielding Absolute Power."

[@Bluecho4]

Underwater adventures lend themselves to so many interesting encounters: - A fight in the middle of a school of giant jellyfish with toxic stings; think that one scene from Finding Nemo - A fight in the masts of the sunken ship, the torn sails creating curtains of obscuring fabric that ripple and swell with the currents - A collapsing rock formation on the sea floor, that sucks everything (and everyone) down with it by the force of its displacement - Any time a character is wounded in a fight, sharks start homing in on the scent of blood - Thick beds of kelp, in which enemies hide; halfway through, a huge ocean herbivore swims in and bites off a huge section of the plants - Giant octopuses that use their adaptive camouflage to appear like coral or seaweed, ambushing the party - Volcanic vents that erupt into black clouds of scalding water - A petrified forest, from a time when the sea levels were below the particular area - The macguffen needed by the party is on a skeleton settled in a giant sea anemone, which is both toxic and protected by poison-resistant giant fish (or merfolk) - A fight that starts in the jaws of an enormous shark skeleton; then, the skeleton turns out to be undead - Depths so deep no light can reach; party must navigate around, looking for lights (that might be giant angler fish)...and hoping their own light sources don't attract other predators

[@TheSirBrainbug]

Every single one of these ideas is brilliant!

[@BigMisterApple]

*A collapsing rock formation on the sea floor, that sucks everything (and everyone) down with it by the force of its displacement* This made me feel weird.

[@KSGClive]

This video gave me a +1 to intelligence

[@theDMLair]

Does that even you out or put you at that odd number like 13 or 15 that doesn't really help?

[@arcanavoresmanavault2637]

I know I should go with the circlet of intellect for a static 19.

[@theodorebs7512]

the DM lair uploads another "how to" video? *Creativity Lvl rises*

[@theDMLair]

Power Up! 😁

[@Stopcontactgamesenvlogs]

Not do much exotic, but I had a sorcerer in the party who wanted to make a nice staff that was able to cast Aganazzar's Scorcher without the material component. This lead the party on a quest to chip a scale off a sleeping Ancient Red Dragon called Lohikäärme. So when they ventured into it's layer which was in a thermal cave they encountered all manner of creatures and hazards related to it, which killed multiple of the NPC's they had following them around. Very exciting adventure it was! Atleast untill they failed 6 ability checks in a row and the last one with a natural one, leading into the dragon waking up and seeing a level 5 party in its treasure pile, someone chipping his scales off and about 20 hobgoblin soldiers carrying off bags of loot, helping the party. 30 named characters died that day, only 2 PC's made it out alive and they wisely retired after that.

[@anthonymccormick6248]

For underwater encounters, there's a magic item in Ghosts of Saltmarsh called the Helm of Underwater Action. It gives you darkvision, a swimming speed, and waterbreathing. Nothing like making your party each buy one for 500 gold just to go on an underwater adventure to slay an Aboleth

[@theDMLair]

That's a powerful magic item! 😯

[@anthonymccormick6248]

@@theDMLair I thought so too! It's only labeled as uncommon but with all of that, I feel like it should be rare or even very rare

[@TheodoreMinick]

Yeah, it's a little OP for uncommon, but outside of the water, it's just a helmet of darkvision. It's going to be either mostly useless, or necessary just to be in the environment. Edit: Plus it takes up an equipment slot. Can't wear two helmets at once.

[@shadowscall7758]

I play a Triton UA ranger and that stupid helm means that the path of the storm herald barbarian is going to be faster underwater than him, unless he takes Longstrider, because he can't allow a landlubber to be faster than himself underwater, even with the aid of a magical item. :)

[@BlackJar72]

Magic items sure go for cheap in your game. I'd have them pay at least a few thousand just for a simple sword +1.

[@shadowscall7758]

You can also use effects of objects to create interesting fights in mundane locations. For example, I had a necromantic object found in some farmlands turn a herd of cows into undead cows that the players had to fight.

[@FinalFayt1]

I think my favorite exotic encounter was also the first session of my last campaign. Bit long to set up the setting. It was set on Zendikar and the party was hired to explore a new ruin, so the patron hired Cloud manta rays to get them there faster. They had to fly through a floating hedron field, and the drakes attacked. They could use animal handling to increase or decrease speed, but the rays always went forward. Grappling hooks to swing off of hedrons or their allies, and jumping on the drakes to eviscerate them before jumping off. Players really got into it. One of their allies messed up his animal roll, and the ray crashed into a hedron and fell. Two players roped themselves and bungee jumped after him, saving him.

[@theDMLair]

That sounds really cool. :-)

[@cthulhufhtagn2483]

Ooooh...That's cool. Where's Zendikar?

[@FinalFayt1]

@@cthulhufhtagn2483 the Magic the Gathering setting. Had to do a bit of digging and piece the map and such together based on cards, but we were all into the card game at the time.

[@cthulhufhtagn2483]

@@FinalFayt1 Sweet! Didn't know there was official MtG lore etc.

[@tinrobot8115]

Don't bully the barbarian

[@theDMLair]

Poor barbarian. He's just misunderstood...

[@TJTrickster]

7 was he debuffed with a lower intelligence

[@vadaritis]

The sahuagin priestess casts dispel magic on the players water breathing magic. >:)

[@jm-nf8xf]

Dam even the barbarian has better intelligence than me. Mine is that weird one that comes after 4

[@danieljennings9617]

2?

[@jm-nf8xf]

@@danieljennings9617 yeah that one

[@theDMLair]

I mean the Barbarian could share some of his intelligence. It's not like he uses it at all.

[@danieljennings9617]

Barbarians don't have an intelligence score

[@cthulhufhtagn2483]

When my players fight underwater, I double the effectiveness of Thunder damage and halve that of Radiant damage. I also increase the range of spells like Thunderwave.

[@pn2294]

Don’t you mean “Electric” damage?

[@cthulhufhtagn2483]

@@pn2294 Also Lightning damage - though a) that's an old edition term and b) I do mean Thunder damage, sound travels through water pretty well.

[@RPGGamer]

Just began DM'ing D&D again after a break of more than 30 years (I've been GM'ing other games in the meantime), and enjoyed watching and getting some ideas to freshen my game up a little. Nice work.

[@theDMLair]

Thanks happy to help! You're coming at the perfect time DND 5e is awesome.

[@radianceguardians]

The intro was awesome and hilarious. I was not expecting the barbarian to take the wizard’s spot. I loved it. The rest of the video was very helpful. Thank you, Luke.

[@theDMLair]

Thanks the Barbarian is slowly taking over the entire party. Soon he'll be sitting in every chair. :-)

[@cthulhufhtagn2483]

@@theDMLair But isn't he already....?

[@cthulhufhtagn2483]

This was super cool! I was planning to take my players to another plane sometime soon, and this gave me tons of awesome ideas. Thanks!

[@datjatv3838]

Your videos are so useful :) i recently started DM'ing and they are a big help :D

[@Sp4ceDx]

Awesome video Luke! :D

[@theDMLair]

Thanks! Now go forth and subject your players to exotic torture...er entertainment...er...

[@AdamFalconer9]

Perfect timing on this, I'm just starting to try and build an elemental plane of air adventure for our ranger who essentially fell from it

[@BlackRainRising]

Patreon subbed by Strahd huh, pretty awesome DM when even a level 20 BBEG from Ravenloft looks to you for answers and supports your efforts :P

[@WiIICheck]

Luke, you are an early bird to be posting so early in the morning! 😆

[@theDMLair]

I filmed, edited, and scheduled this nearly a month ago. 😁 But I'll take credit for industrious early rising, too.

[@Matt-md5yt]

man that skit in the beginning is funny. great topic today.

[@theDMLair]

Thanks! 😁

[@jgr7487]

I know it would take a darn long time to produce a game with all your alter egos, but it would be amazing! I love the intro sketches!

[@theDMLair]

LOL yes that would take a long time. It probably takes me about an hour to film the sketch and then probably about another hour to edit it. And we're talking about 30 seconds to 1 minute of the sketch. That means doing an entire game like that would be crazy. Oh and I didn't mention the scripting. The scripting is lots of work to and making sure that I get the shots right and don't screw it up and have something I can't use. LOL

[@cthulhufhtagn2483]

@@theDMLair Why does it take so long to film? I would think it would take less than twice the length of the sketch, because not all the shots have 2 Lukes in them. I mean, clearly there's reshoots and all that, but even that doesn't come out to an hour of filming.

[@ratman505]

Thanks, so much. I usually give my own opinion or spin on the topic at hand but this time, I can't really do that. I had huge problems in the past with exotic locations of all types and an elemental plane would turn elemental plain, if you allow the pun. So I found this very helpful and will try to incorporate it into my own games a little better now. Thank you

[@theDMLair]

You are very welcome. Happy to help!

[@berktheblack9812]

Best line of the video? “Yes, please.”

[@twilightgardenspresentatio6384]

Oh I’m gonna remember the domestic freshwater Chinese carp I find at the edge of the challenger deep. Nobody notice that two hundred foot cactus in the frozen wastes either

[@15098D]

I’m very proud of my recent Lizardfolk encounter c: It happened near the Lizardfolk’s failed pit trap and they kept trying to push the PCs into the pit while the PCs tried to push them in

[@wonderfurret8223]

Wait, the barbarian has a high enough intelligence to know his intelligence? Well, I really don't want to get on the bad side of an expert in metagaming. I stand with the barbarian.

[@theDMLair]

The barbarian is smarter than he acts...

[@DaggersandDiplomacy]

It has been seven years and we still sometimes talk about the legendary monster "The Tuna"

[@adam8688]

Love your skits.

[@theDMLair]

Thanks a lot! :-)

[@MarvelX42]

If they are going to be travelling to the ocean depths don't forget damage from the crushing pressure and the bone chilling cold, also not being able to see in the dark depths and avoiding the bends. Water breathing potions let you breath under water, that's it.

[@chriskaschafsky5846]

Thanks for the tips

[@theDMLair]

Anytime my dude. :-)

[@claytrimble4599]

Abnormally strong djinni could fling PCs into boulders like bowling balls

[@GiblixStudio]

having such effects is easy enough to come up with. now.. how to run them ? keeping track of every rock block moving in x motion in y direction and even adjusting its heights... without having the DM go mad with everything he needs to remember and consider.

[@theDMLair]

Agreed. The devil is in the details. It helps to play it a little lose with specifics/rules and go for narrative flavor with these sorts of things, IMO.

[@hordehorde0168]

My first ever session as a DM starts next week. I watched a lot of videos on how to DM, many of which are yours, and I must say they are really helpful and I feel prepared! Im in high school right now... One of these days, ill also be able to say "Ive been a dungeon master since high school"

[@theDMLair]

That's awesome! Well I'm to have been able to help. 😁

[@hordehorde0168]

@@theDMLair Yeah, you definitely helped. had 2 sessions so far and it went very well. A bit of mistakes here and there on the rules. But no issues with the people in the game thanks to one of your advice on setting expectations.

[@theDMLair]

Awesome happy to hear it!

[@anthonynorman7545]

Brilliant!

[@RikkuTakanashi]

Poor Bard... Everybody always picks on the bard...

[@theDMLair]

Well bards make it so easy... So hard to resist... 😂

[@claytrimble4599]

How will he dazzle lords and ladies with stunts?

[@cthulhufhtagn2483]

@@theDMLair *charm person* *thunderwave*

[@kuchenkurbis7943]

I love your Intros 😂

[@theDMLair]

Thanks! 😁

[@creeperproductionsbr573]

I have 6 lvl 20 pcs, they are going to the fire giant kingdom, so there's lava everywhere , so i told them that they have fire vulnerability, and the giants have pet fire fire elementals.

[@donblack1571]

Very helpfull

[@RichardDuryea]

My adventure takes place underwater.

[@mirjanastevanovic-radojevi6432]

The enviroment, in my opinion, one of the 3 most important things in dnd!

[@theDMLair]

Yes! What are the other two important things for you?

[@mirjanastevanovic-radojevi6432]

@@theDMLair characters/story + encounters/fights.

[@jeffsmith40]

I'm new to D&D and I've never understood advice like plunging the party into a volcano with a red dragon. Like ok, you've just killed two party members... now what?

[@RocketCouch]

I have a question for a possible future video, or even if you just want to reply here that's fine too. I know you've spoken out against homebrew monsters in the past, since they don't often match the suggested CR value. That said, if we need to have a homebrew monster, how would we go about setting an accurate CR Rating for it?

[@theDMLair]

The best way I feel is to compare it with other official monsters to get it in the right CR range.

[@Spiceodog]

Red dragons are immune to fire , but I assure you, your bard and paladin arent” Me* playing a bard with a ring of fire immunity * 👁👄👁

[@dakotaruppel6707]

Its also important to scope out your players. My friend made an investigation campaign to a group of murderous fighters, who didn't give a crap about the roleplaying aspect. PS: the roleplaying was 95% of the campaign. Make a campaign around the players wants.

[@theDMLair]

True that. Did your friend end up changing the focus of the campaign?

[@dakotaruppel6707]

No. He realized he had to star all new. Which is sad. Because it was fun, but when only a few people are having fun, you must make sacrafices.

[@LostFunocity]

An ice kingdom and not the proper gear, fights will be awkward when the laws of physics come in to play

[@RIVERSRPGChannel]

Good thoughts Any ideas for the plane of Limbo?

[@theDMLair]

Can you describe how you envision the plane of Limbo?

[@RIVERSRPGChannel]

the DM Lair from the 3.5 book manual of the planes unstable terrain very chaotic, things floating about in states of chaos.

[@TheodoreMinick]

I'd do something like the earth motes in the plane of air, where there's a lot of rocks that you have to jump between, but each one is a different terrain. "You leap from the branches of the tallest tree on the mote, and fly through the air towards the next one. As you land, your feet sink into the squelching muck of a swamp. A foul smell rises as you disturb the rotten vegetation." And IIRC, Limbo is a windy place, with ever-shifting gusts. Dex or Str saves every once in a while, as the winds shift. It's also a very mutable place. Perhaps the BBEG has mental control over the mote he's on, and can change the terrain type. Maybe a character can wrest control from him with a contested wisdom check. Lots of fun stuff you can do with Limbo.

[@RIVERSRPGChannel]

Theodore Minick thank you, good ideas

[@StarDash1]

Luke giving idees for the Red dragon. Me. I'm try to entertain my players, not execute them!

[@rodrigoluzz7534]

I did a adventure on a temple in the botton of the sea once. Half the party died. 🌚

[@reubenconner1679]

"Oh this is going to be fun" *dunks PC's in lava*

[@theDMLair]

LOL fun for me... 😁

[@mysterkr5495]

Wait I'm confused about patreon is it a campaign your running or adventures we buy only?

[@theDMLair]

patreon is a way for people to support the channel and get extra benefits. One is to play in a game with me. There is a link in the description to my patreon where you can learn more.

[@mysterkr5495]

@@theDMLair ok thank you buddy I wouldn't mind joining a game your campaigns sound really fun.

[@antoniorezik4072]

If you really want to stand out from the other youtube channels, start dubing your videos in Spanish. I saw your last twitch hang out and you speak it very well!

[@theDMLair]

Thanks! Yes, one day I'll have more time to be able to do cool stuff like that. Great idea.

[@Spiceodog]

“There’s no way the angels are going to put up with your bard” Me * playing a devoutly religious aasimar bard, but my angel is disappointed in me because I’m a pacifist and don’t kill evil people * 👁👄👁

[@BrickInTheHead]

the barbarian grows more powerful by the video

[@theDMLair]

I mean his goal is to take over the entire world one wizard at a time. :-)

[@ataberkdedemen9802]

Which class is the skull mask refering to?

[@theDMLair]

Warlock 😁

[@ataberkdedemen9802]

@the DM Lair, he (you) could make some eldritch blast jokes to distinguish him. (Is he a kenku? Because he never talks))

[@SylviaDragon]

if i encountered a goldfish down in the ocean depths i would absolutely be scared of it and i would 100% remember it. Goldfish are freshwater fish and they are not built to survive the pressure of the deep ocean. that sure as *hell* is not a real goldfish. its something *pretending* to be a goldish.

[@williamturner6192]

That isn't how the elemental plane of air works.

[@MyrrdynWhitefall]

Just curious, what does your shirt read out exactly?

[@TheodoreMinick]

This. I'm pretty sure the next word is "Death," but no idea what the rest of it is. Not even Google helped.

[@kendrickrochelanzot2053]

@@TheodoreMinick that's actually it.

[@TheodoreMinick]

@@kendrickrochelanzot2053 thanks. Like I said, couldn't find it on Google, so I wasn't sure.

[@kendrickrochelanzot2053]

@@TheodoreMinick no problem

[@theDMLair]

DM = Death Maker 😈

[@daveford5683]

Why the Bard-hate?

[@daveford5683]

Again with the Bard-hate

[@theDMLair]

I love bards. I just enjoy picking on them. (It's actually paladins I hate. 😁)

[@nathanielsteward2221]

the DM Lair why do you hate paladin? They’re great!

[@arcanavoresmanavault2637]

Speaking of Lava here is a great resource for you on what it would be actually be like to suffer the consequences of adventuring around lava. dmsworkshop.com/2018/04/27/falling-into-lava/

[@-alexanderhosch-4828]

Dire seagulls muhahahahahahaha

[@theDMLair]

Oh yeah that's terrifying. Three times the size of a person with a beak that can Pierce a man's skull with one prick. All right now you got to stat that out for us

[@shadowscall7758]

I put a herd of Undead cows into one of my campaigns that dealt with a necromantic object found in some farmlands.

[@agsilverradio2225]

Bards need legs to dance with.

[@theDMLair]

Well he has one leg remaining. So we can kind of like hobble around and jump on one leg right?

[@ticonofruger573]

But what about DRAGONS?!?!

[@theDMLair]

Dragons? Dragons? What game are you playing? This channel is about Dungeons and... Okay good point.

[@ticonofruger573]

@@theDMLair Precisely.

[@Skare75]

I thought this said "erotic encounters" and now I'm disappointed.