Crisis scenes — D&D 5e style
I’ve been playing home-brew games and old editions for a very long time. I don’t often feel the need to go out and buy all the books for some system again when the publisher releases a new version. But my friend is running a Dungeons & Dragons game using fifth edition, and he wanted me to Costorytell on it — so now here I am, Costorytelling fifth edition D&D for the first time, trying to figure out the system and help my friend build a world and a story.
Our role-playing group loves crisis scenes. D&D is great at combat — its war game roots are deep and strong — but skill checks can pretty easily fall by the wayside, getting either boring or forgettable. But a crisis scene is a skill challenge with a shot of adrenalin. In the systems that I’ve run before, I know the skills available for crises, how to manipulate the difficulty, and have a bunch of consequences for failure at my disposal. But for this new edition of Dungeons and Dragons, I had to figure out that stuff all over again. Let’s take a look at what I’ve learned!
Examples!
So here’s what we have for a party of four: a half-orc monk, a tiefling artificer, a human wizard, and a half-elf warlock. All first level. Pity them.
In the midst of a busy festival, the characters are cheated at a game of chance. The carnie takes off with the character’s gold, giving the party a chase scene!
- DC 12 Acrobatics check to avoid taking 1d4 damage from tripping or running into things in the crowd.
- DC 13 Wisdom check to spot a way through the throng or a shortcut to head the thief off. Success means the carnie’s cohorts aren’t hidden.
- DC 14 Dexterity save to avoid slipping and falling in a muddy puddle that imposes Disadvantage on Charisma checks until cleaned off.
The party ends up running into an ambush by the carnie’s cutpurse gang, so you can see where the crisis adds an element of danger. Do they begin combat down a few hit points? Are the enemy’s friends going to get a surprise round or not? And afterward, when the characters are pleading self-defense to the town watch, Disadvantage on Charisma checks might make a big difference.
Later, the characters are venturing into an enchanted forest, trying to stop a kobold sorcerer from plundering the woods’ magic. They have to trek through pathless brush, avoiding magical spores, dangerous terrain, and an enchantment trying to keep them out of the heart of the forest.
- The PCs can climb down the slope, but must leap a large gap in the rocks. DC 12 Athletics check to clear it. A character who jumps first may aid other jumpers, catching them as they leap down.
- Characters who fail take 1d4 damage. - The stones on this side are slippery and the PCs must make a DC 14 Acrobatics check to walk safely.
- Characters who fail lose 1 Hit Die. - They feel the trees and rock shimmer and a giddy sense of magic overtakes them. DC Wisdom save to push through the illusion and trickery.
- If a character fails, they find themselves back on the other side of the gap in the rocks and must jump the gap, then cross the slick stones again.
By reaching the heart of the forest with several skill checks, this crisis makes it more rewarding to arrive and the process feels more challenging. And when the player characters confront the sorcerer, they may be carrying some consequences from the crisis to arrive. We’re trying out using the loss of a Hit Die as a failure consequence — if the PCs take a short rest, they won’t be able to use it to heal up!
A couple of chapters and levels further into the story, the party will find themselves trapped between a bulette and an orcish war band. They’re hurrying through a gorge on foot, taking a shortcut to head off the mounted orcs, and as they round a bend in the gully, nearly run into the monster.
- Each character must make a DC 13 Perception check to notice a bulette sleeping in the rocky gorge before they walk right into it!
- Characters that succeed gain Advantage on the Stealth check. - The characters can make a DC 14 Nature check to see what they know about this beast. The monk has Advantage because of his Outlander background.
- Those who succeed gain Advantage on the Stealth check. - They also know that a well-fed bulette will sleep for days, before moving to a new area and eating everything.
- The characters must sneak past the bulette, minding its tremor sense. DC 16 Stealth check with Disadvantage to avoid awakening it.
- Two failures will awaken Stonetooth!
The consequences here are all about that final Stealth check. I mean, once the bulette’s awake, that changes everything. So the Stealth check is made at Disadvantage, but the PCs have a chance to gain Advantage by spotting the monster before stumbling into its lair, which makes it a straight-up roll.
In the second stage, we give them info on the bulette and warn them about the tremor sense. PCs who failed on the Perception check have an opportunity to even out that Stealth Disadvantage, and if anyone can succeed in both, they might even be able to hit that last stage with Advantage.
And after getting past the bulette, we’re going to have another bit where the PCs can attempt to lure the orcs into the bulette, or get the bulette to charge the orcs. There might be some Animal Handling skill rolls to rouse the bulette and get it charging the right direction, then probably Athletics and/or Acrobatics to get the hell out of the way and not get mangled when monster meets war band.
What I learned
It took us a little while looking through the system to come up with some ideas for failure consequences, and what’s represented in our first few crises aren’t the only possibilities.
Maybe in a wilderness crisis — trekking across a desert, searching for water and fleeing a relentless sun — failure on a Survival check means taking a level of Exhaustion. Other status effects might work, too. If the crisis was getting through a poisonous swamp instead of a baking desert, maybe the characters risk being poisoned during the crisis, weakening them as they head into their next encounter. A trap crisis before a combat might leave them Blinded, Restrained, or Prone.
Failing and suffering Disadvantage on the next check can give a crisis weight. Maybe a character is fleeing across the rooftops with a stolen scroll. A failed check jumping down to a lower roof might mean that they twist an ankle, and have to roll with Disadvantage on the Athletics check to jump over an alley to the next roof.
You can play with Advantage the same way. A Wisdom check to spot a good hiding place might mean Advantage on the Stealth roll to hide in a rain barrel until pursuit passes them by.
I still think that those Hit Dice could be fun to play with as a Storyteller. Maybe during a crisis in which the characters must deliver a rousing speech, convincing the court to lend them aid against the villain, they can spend a Hit Die for their success, rallying themselves physically just as they succeed in rallying the court. Losing a Hit Die might be the result of crises where the character stumbles, falls, or breathes in scalding smoke.
And fifth edition D&D has introduced Inspiration, which I don’t see played with very often. But I love it! Inspiration lets a player roll with Advantage, or gives that Advantage to someone else!
If the PCs pull off something great — something inspirational — maybe they get Inspiration. It might represent a magical boost in an arcane puzzle, the favor of a god if they face a challenge on behalf of their deity, or just a surge of confidence and self-esteem for accomplishing an important goal.
Doing a few HP damage is always an option during a crisis, but far less exciting and interesting. It works some places and helps to keep the consequences of a crisis varied, but you get to take down the party’s hit points in combat anyway, so try some different stuff out in crises.
And always remember that players might have their own ideas in a crisis scene. Maybe while chasing that carnival worker, the wizard wants to cast Levitate to move over the crowd. How about letting them use Arcana instead of Athletics there? Maybe a spell-caster wants to use Speak with Animals on the bulette. That will be some edge-of-the-seat Charisma checks instead of all the Stealth rolls! Scattering ball bearings or caltrops behind the group while they run is basically what those items are for, and maybe earns them Advantage on that Athletics check because their pursuit has to slow down.
RPGs are all about clever problem solving! Tactical war games are a part of it, yes, and there’s the puzzles and riddles that D&D is also famous for. But crises can be a sort of in-between ground — not combat, but a little more pulse-pounding than a riddle. The skills and rules that I have to work with in the fifth edition Dungeons and Dragons makes crises a little different, but the goal remains the same — a flexible, moving skill challenge that gives the party a chance to use their non-combat abilities in exciting ways.
