High-Stakes Encounters in Practice

Previously: Why is the Dragon Frightening?

I have six simple rules for high-stakes encounters and fights that create tension.

• Use established rules when possible. If a monster swallows PCs, start with a bite-and-swallow creatures in the Monster Manual as a template. If a special ability is similar to a spell, use the spell description rather than creating something from scratch. Homebrewing is sturdier when it’s applied judiciously.
• There’s a logic to the monster that can be unlocked. A tough monster is a puzzle. It should be possible to observe what makes it dangerous, what it wants, how it acts, and to introduce an appropriate strategy. The DM should reward PCs who intelligently engage in this way, particularly if they “risk” deviating from their tried-and-true combat loop to try something clever.
• The monster is not precious. Building upon the previous point, the DM should not try to “save” the monster or worry about a PC “ruining” an encounter. Monsters are cheap; players engaging with the fiction are precious. Weight accordingly.
• A bad choice is much better than no choice at all. A monster that incapacitates a PC is not much fun. A monster that gives a PC a choice between incapacitation and serious damage is more interesting. Players are much more engaged in tough fights if they get to make choices, even (especially?) choices between two terrible options.
• Escape is usually an option, but with consequences. Be ready to shift out of tactical, square-by-square maneuvering if the PCs turn from fighting to fleeing. Reward clever escape plans, and be clear about the costs of conventional ones. A roll of the dice is usually appropriate, but it should typically be made to measure the magnitude of the cost of escape, rather than a pass/fail on escape itself.
• Break reality, but don’t break the game. You can have monsters that subvert, invert, attack, or transform the way fights work in the game… as long as the players trust that the DM is adjudicating the situation fairly.

What does this look like in practice? The following are examples of monsters from our 5E game that wrapped up earlier this year. These monsters attacked things beyond HP, and brought their own strange logic and challenge to the encounters.

The Fiction Manifester. The mischievous intruder in the mystical library is attuned to books buried in an enormous pile in the center of the room. For example, one book makes him so nimble that he has a +10 to his AC, for a total of 28, making him supremely difficult to hit by conventional means. Another gives him immunity to most conditions. The books briefly flash with light similar to Faerie Fire when he draws upon their magic.

It’s possible, but difficult, to beat him through conventional attacks and spells. Finding and destroying the books will cut off his power, but will draw the ire of the library guardian golems. Reshelving the books in their proper places will break the magic without incurring the guardians’ wrath. 

The Time Manipulator. Commit an anachronistic crime, and a Timekeeper will hunt you down in 12 days, 12 hours, 12 minutes, and 12 seconds to punish you for your crime against chronality. Every time the Timekeeper hits, its target must save, or their initiative drops by 1d12, and the Timekeeper’s initiative increases by an equal amount. For every interval of 12 by which the Timekeeper’s initiative exceeds the initiative of the next-highest enemy initiative in the encounter, it gains an extra turn per round.

The Fate Eater. This fate-spinning spider can steal whole vistas of possibility, literally devouring possible timelines stretching out before a character. On a failed saving throw, a character must roll on a prompt table; the DM then gives them a choice of two (very broadly outlined) paths in their future. One is gone forever, and the spider heals some amount of damage in the process. 

The Wish Granter. This demon prince first uses Dark Gift, a signature ability that allows a saving throw; those that fail learn the Wish spell and gain a 9th-level spell slot that can only be used to cast Wish, with various caveats, principally that it cannot be used to replicate lower level spells, but must instead be a true “wish” in the classic sense. The wish also cannot harm the prince. The prince then uses the spell Command – upcast to hit as many PCs as failed the first save – with the command word “wish.” The wishes follow the normal logic of the spell, but with a greater emphasis on the monkey’s paw downsides.