[RPG] How to engage players with melee monsters when players keep their distance

dnd-5eencounter-designtactics

So I am running a campaign as a DM, and one session my players were in a dungeon and spotted a Chuul in a water-filled area. The Chuul stayed deep in the pool, so the characters decided to drain the pool over time using a series of spells to over time expose the monster (Shape Water to turn some of it to ice, Mage Hand to bring it away). They also kept their distance. I felt a little bit frustrated, because if I ever attacked them with the Chuul, they would run away while blasting spells and arrows at it, and the Chuul wouldn't stand a chance.

I kind of got lucky in that situation, as the players strayed too close, but it got me wondering, as the players may have gotten out of the boss fight I had intended.

How can I engage players with a slow melee monster, when the players can keep a distance from the monster and use ranged attacks?

Please do not make your answers case specific (e.g. an answer that only applies in a dungeon).

Best Answer

Play the monster like the ambush predator it is

If a monster is slow and has no ranged attacks, then it is most likely an ambush predator that relies on the element of surprise to catch its prey. This seems to be the case for a chuul, which has many abilities well-suited to ambushing adventurers: it can sense magic (including the magic items that adventurers are usually carrying) from far away, it can hide underwater indefinitely, and it automatically grapples with its attacks, preventing its prey from fleeing. So, just by spotting the chuul, your players took away the chuul's most significant advantage. Once the chuul knew it had been spotted, it would have been best for it to run away and hide, trying to set a new ambush somewhere else. As the DM, you can design the map to facilitate this, for example by having the entire floor of the cavern dotted with numerous small pools that all connect to the same body of water under the cavern floor, enabling the chuul to pop out of any pool at any time. That way, even once the players are aware of the chuul's presence, it can still ambush them by popping up where they aren't expecting it. If done well, you'll have your players thoroughly spooked at the unseen predator hiding in the murky depths below their feet.

In any case, the general point is that a slow, melee-only monster is almost certainly an ambush predator, and you should play it accordingly. Think about how this monster gets the jump on its prey, and how it responds when it fails to get the jump on its prey. Even more generally, whenever you choose a monster to throw at your players, think about that monster's abilities and what kind of tactics the monster would employ to make the best use of those abilities. This includes the monster's choice of where to live: for example, an ambush predator will naturally gravitate to an area where ambushing prey is easy. So it's absolutely fine for you, the DM, to design an arena that plays to the monster's strengths. Don't worry if the monster has a low intelligence score, since even a beast with an intelligence of 1 can learn to hunt (or else possess natural hunting instincts). And of course, don't hesitate to search the established lore about that monster for hints.

Related Topic