Part of the Winter Is Coming RPG Blog Festival.
A change in seasons can be a cue to change up your encounter style.
The
frozen fields of winter make a great setting for battles in most any fantasy
story. The problem lies in the fact that winter-themed encounters in Dungeons
and Dragons are often little more than a few enemies with ice-based powers and
more squares of difficult terrain on the battle map. To add a fresh twist to
your next wintry encounter, here are three new terrain powers specifically for
use in frozen surroundings.
Along with explanations of how these powers might work in an
encounter, they have also been designed for easy use with the Caverns of Icewind Dale dungeon tile
set. The dungeon tiles are not necessary for using these powers in any
encounter you design, but the extra help is there if you already own the set.
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| Click to enlarge, or download PDF below. |
Our
first power is Thin Ice. Anyone from
a cold climate can tell you that thin ice is dangerous. Thin ice kills people
who are not careful. With a little bit of help, thin ice can be a real hazard
in combat. With a well placed strike form a hammer or an axe, or even a Magic
Missile or Thunder Wave, one of your heroes can shatter the ice beneath their
enemies’ feet. If you want to turn the tables on the players, then your
monsters can use a mix of soldiers and controllers to force the PCs onto weak
ice themselves. Many of the Icewind Dale dungeon tiles have small, frozen ponds
on them. There is one two-by-two time in particular that has a small frozen
pond on one side and that same pond with broken ice on the other; just flip the
tile to show the terrain change on the field.
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| Click to enlarge, or download PDF below. |
Shattered Crystals gives an extra bit of
fun to any party member who can force a little movement. What wizard would not
enjoy pushing a giant into his throne of ice, breaking it and adding a little
extra damage at the same time? This power makes great use of several of the
tiles in the Icewind Dale set that contain objects made of ice. There are two
ice statues, an ice throne, and three ice “hills” in the tile set, and each of
those tiles has a shattered version of the original object on its opposite
side. This detail means that your battlefield can be dynamic as the heroes and
monster smash every ice structure in sight.
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| Click to enlarge, or download PDF below. |
Of course, no set of combat encounters would be complete
without a good old fashioned Snowball
fight. For a comic scene, you use this power in a battle where the heroes
defend a snow fort or a similar construction from an advancing horde of
minions. Non-controllers might really enjoy being able to take out three
enemies in a single round, if they roll well. If you want something a bit more
dramatic, you can have the heroes get pelted by snowballs from a crowd who
perceives them as traitors or failures. Deciding whether to lash out at the
peasantry or suffer their attacks in silence could be a moment that defines a
party in both their own eyes and the eyes of the populace they fight to
protect.
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Ye Olde Medieval
Snowballe Fighte Has Begun!
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Winter provides many opportunities for unique combat
scenarios. If you have a chance to take advantage of this setting, do not drop
the ball and just run standard encounters. Use the change in scenery as an
inspiration to change up your gamer a little. You players might enjoy the
breath of fresh winter air.
What terrain powers or
effects have you used in combat encounters during the winter? Do you already
own tiles that portray a wintry scene, or would you be building one from
scratch? What are other types of terrain powers you would like to see addressed
in the future?
- Download Terrain Powers
(319k PDF)
See more entries in the Winter Is Coming RPG Blog Festival.
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