Dungeons & Dragons Encounter Design
Here you can find some of my ideas for encounters the players can come across within my campaign. I have designed the maps myself within 'Dungeondraft'. Each map has a 1 inch square grid, which represents 5ft x 5ft in game. A 5ft square is large enough for one medium sized creature, such as a human adventurer.
Gnoll ambush;
Gnolls (silver tokens) are 8ft tall, hyena like humanoids who attack and slaughter people, before eating them. They can move 30ft (6 squares) and attack, or they can move up to 60ft (12 squares).
They follow a Pack leader (gold token), who is much stronger than its counterparts.
Once a player character passes the ambush threshold, the Gnolls will attack. The ones in the building rush to the road, whilst the 2 outside will run north to flank the players.
If a Gnoll is spotted before the players reach the ambush threshold, they will have to attack prematurely. This gives the advantage to the players as some of the Gnolls won't be able to attack in their first turn, as they have to spend their action moving.
This encounter is balanced for an adventuring party of 4, at 4th Level. The Pack lord is equivalent to 2 adventurers, and the regular Gnolls are equivalent to 1/2 an adventurer. I can also run this encounter with the same amount of players at 3rd level, by removing the Pack Lord (who is now worth 4 adventurers), as each Gnoll is equal to one adventurer at this level.
Gnolls (silver tokens) are 8ft tall, hyena like humanoids who attack and slaughter people, before eating them. They can move 30ft (6 squares) and attack, or they can move up to 60ft (12 squares).
They follow a Pack leader (gold token), who is much stronger than its counterparts.
Once a player character passes the ambush threshold, the Gnolls will attack. The ones in the building rush to the road, whilst the 2 outside will run north to flank the players.
If a Gnoll is spotted before the players reach the ambush threshold, they will have to attack prematurely. This gives the advantage to the players as some of the Gnolls won't be able to attack in their first turn, as they have to spend their action moving.
This encounter is balanced for an adventuring party of 4, at 4th Level. The Pack lord is equivalent to 2 adventurers, and the regular Gnolls are equivalent to 1/2 an adventurer. I can also run this encounter with the same amount of players at 3rd level, by removing the Pack Lord (who is now worth 4 adventurers), as each Gnoll is equal to one adventurer at this level.
Bandit Camp;
Bandits (silver tokens) have formed a gang and have set up a fortified camp in a field. The camp has a lot of open space, and is surrounded by tall wooden palisades. The south entrance has two raised platforms for guards to look out from.
As the location of this camp is known, the players can choose what side they approach the camp from. They will also choose on how to enter the camp, their choices being; Climb the tree and jump in, burn a hole in the wall, sneak around to the gate and lock pick it or fight their way in.
Alongside the bandits is a Bandit captain, a berserker (both gold tokens) and two mastiffs. The captain and the berserker are equivalent in challenge rating (2) and so are the regular bandits and the mastiffs (1/8).
This encounter is designed for an adventuring party of 5 at level 4. The gold tokens are worth 2 adventurers each, and all 8 silver tokens are equivalent to 1 adventurer at this level.
Bandits (silver tokens) have formed a gang and have set up a fortified camp in a field. The camp has a lot of open space, and is surrounded by tall wooden palisades. The south entrance has two raised platforms for guards to look out from.
As the location of this camp is known, the players can choose what side they approach the camp from. They will also choose on how to enter the camp, their choices being; Climb the tree and jump in, burn a hole in the wall, sneak around to the gate and lock pick it or fight their way in.
Alongside the bandits is a Bandit captain, a berserker (both gold tokens) and two mastiffs. The captain and the berserker are equivalent in challenge rating (2) and so are the regular bandits and the mastiffs (1/8).
This encounter is designed for an adventuring party of 5 at level 4. The gold tokens are worth 2 adventurers each, and all 8 silver tokens are equivalent to 1 adventurer at this level.