Thanks for watching! I'm having to record remotely right now as I'm waiting to move into my new place, so recording audio is quite the pain at the moment. But we soldier on! If you enjoyed this video, check out the rest of the Let's Build an Encounter Series here: th-cam.com/play/PLN3EWMJpTElMPfoxgFTAMuY3qdC7sGz_7.html
I changed the encouter slightly be making so that a few pixies were being protected by a handful of sprites and if the party killed any of them a pixie would reveal itself and ask plead with them to stop fighting
Huh, In a campaign I was in, the Pixie boinked our Warlock. In fact, that's how he became a warlock. That said, Would have soooo gone with Ventris. Human/Orc/Dragonborn/Druchii lives >>>>>>>>>>>>>> some dingbat pixies.
I had to check stat blocks just in case a lone able bodied gnoll stood a chance against five 1:17 run of the mill pixies. No contest, that stinking snarling monster died the death of a thousands cuts lost in confusion, bled out like a gross little piggy. And the other one would have gotten some too if it wasn't for the vile stench of evil coming from that standing icon... 1:50
about to run this encounter today! really excited to see how my pcs handle it. I've made it so Ventris also has some vital information that will be very helpful for the pcs in the next town they were headed to. keep up the great work all of your stuff is great!
Hello and welcome to this comment from JNJtabletop. We love your channel and want to discuss your Hidden Nerdy Side. This is just fantastic. This adventure has everything to make players think about what's going on and make a definitive choice based on the kinds of characters they've made. Helping the pixies also helps to showcase just how much fun can be had using creative spells like polymorph. Having those animal friends in reserve in case things get out of hand somehow is a great way to create tension and have that spectacular moment when everything looks grim. How you could spice it up even more... Tinkering with Ventris' motivations! Perhaps the pixie dust is needed by a greater villain you want to place clues about. Ventris is only complying to save her own skin or perhaps the BBEG is threatening one of her loved ones or something else that makes what she's doing more complicated. That could really throw a monkey wrench into the morality of the entire situation! Great video, Matt! Simply the best!
Absolutely! I think the first few encounters in a campaign are sooo important for setting the tone. And if you want to encourage your players to think creatively and show them the magic insanity that can occur, and an encounter similar to this could do the trick.
@@HiddenNerdySide Yes! This felt like a great way to introduce to new players to the game and would probably be a fantastic one shot too. It can wrap up nicely but it also can leave the players wanting more
I think a mirror match would be cool, like copy the player characters with the monsters from Volo's and give them wacky items. Mirror of life tapping, horn of valhalla, daern's instant fortress, or have 1or 2 have a curse of were-creature or maybe be a dragon in disguise. Awesome video by the way!
Found your channel because you gave my DM some advice on a magical monocle for my wizard. Thank you for that. Also quick impression of the channel, very informative and well thought out videos. Can't wait for more content.
*chef kiss* I love it! The idea of Ventris having a very good reason was originally going to be a twist I put in, but I decided to make this one not as dark as it already can be. I salute your idea, good sir!
Do you want Flying T-Rexes? Because this is how you get flying T-Rexes. If I don't give the party that option they'd be upset for at least a week. So now I have to Google how to balance for Flying T-Rex. Nice encounter keep it up.
Hahaha thanks. And you can absolutely toss in flying t- rex’s if you want, but remember - the pixies are doing the polymorphing. If they have never heard of or seen t-rexs before, they would have no idea how to do that. I know that’s not entirely the point but if you turn your whole party into t-rexs, you’re going to have to bump up the strength of the baddies significantly or else they are going to get steamrolled. I’d personally steer away from any beasts over a CR 2. Because if you do bump up the baddies to compensate, then your low level players will get shit on if the polymorph drops. But that’s just my opinion. Do what you gotta do to make it fun!
This is great. If they side with the wizard, tortured pixies, but the people of the city will not die from that terrible disease. If they side with the pixies, grateful pixies, but over the next month, the good citizens of their home town die slowly and horribly. However, if they can get the parties to talk to each other, maybe a better solution is for the pixies to volunteer pixie dust without torture or capture, to save the people of the town.
Great video! This gives me tonnes of ideas. Since Bulettes (video when? lol) like to each just about anything they can catch, I bet Pixies and Bulettes wouldn't mix well, which could lead to some interesting encounters. Or, the one that I'm definitely gonna use in my campaign next session, a Pixie who's dust has somehow been corrupted, via a disease, or in my case, a strange mist, which means anything that uses her pixie dust has a chance of being affected by wild magic, which can only work well.
Love that idea! And a really good exercise is to take random monsters and try and make it work. Bulettes and Pixies? Maybe they are cave pixies who take care of the bulettes? Who knows. But every combo can become viable with the right idea!
@@HiddenNerdySide Yeah maybe! I meant pixies trying to get rid of the bulettes because they're destroying the forest, but them working together would be unique! Just imagine trying to fight an invisible, or flying bulette that the pixies control
I know this vid is a bit old, but I just wanted to say I think I am going to use this for my current campaign. but I think the ultimate spice up is its in waterdeep, middle of the worst winters in years in a particularly overgrown city of the dead (long story short minor zombie apocalypse in the city so it was abandoned for a while, thus the vegetation that was there, tho its dead from winter) I am thinking Ventris and co. will be part of the Zhentarim who have influtrated the emerald enclave of the city. very similar to your story otherwise.
Thanks for watching! I'm having to record remotely right now as I'm waiting to move into my new place, so recording audio is quite the pain at the moment. But we soldier on!
If you enjoyed this video, check out the rest of the Let's Build an Encounter Series here: th-cam.com/play/PLN3EWMJpTElMPfoxgFTAMuY3qdC7sGz_7.html
My firbolg player is going to love this encounter
I'm glad I could make their day!
I changed the encouter slightly be making so that a few pixies were being protected by a handful of sprites and if the party killed any of them a pixie would reveal itself and ask plead with them to stop fighting
Nice touch!
Eh! Thanks for that good aligned creature suggestion's. This is a very fun idea for my next Christmas one shot quest.
Christmas-themed pixies? I like the sound of that. Glad I could help!
The polymorph idea is genius
Merci! I did grin quite wildly when it came to me haha
This sounds like a blast! Keep up the great work, my dude
Thank you, m'lord!
Huh, In a campaign I was in, the Pixie boinked our Warlock. In fact, that's how he became a warlock.
That said, Would have soooo gone with Ventris. Human/Orc/Dragonborn/Druchii lives >>>>>>>>>>>>>> some dingbat pixies.
1:27 and bards love snorting pixy dust
"Petal gowns and acorn caps are so last summer"... lol nonetheless the pixie is very unique also don't forget about that CHA 15 (+2).
You could also add in Sprite Allies since it thematically fits into their roles as defenders
I had to check stat blocks just in case a lone able bodied gnoll stood a chance against five 1:17 run of the mill pixies. No contest, that stinking snarling monster died the death of a thousands cuts lost in confusion, bled out like a gross little piggy. And the other one would have gotten some too if it wasn't for the vile stench of evil coming from that standing icon... 1:50
Man I love that I found this channel, thanks for all that you do!
Thanks for the kind words!
about to run this encounter today! really excited to see how my pcs handle it. I've made it so Ventris also has some vital information that will be very helpful for the pcs in the next town they were headed to. keep up the great work all of your stuff is great!
Love it! Hope it goes well!
Hello and welcome to this comment from JNJtabletop. We love your channel and want to discuss your Hidden Nerdy Side.
This is just fantastic. This adventure has everything to make players think about what's going on and make a definitive choice based on the kinds of characters they've made. Helping the pixies also helps to showcase just how much fun can be had using creative spells like polymorph. Having those animal friends in reserve in case things get out of hand somehow is a great way to create tension and have that spectacular moment when everything looks grim.
How you could spice it up even more... Tinkering with Ventris' motivations! Perhaps the pixie dust is needed by a greater villain you want to place clues about. Ventris is only complying to save her own skin or perhaps the BBEG is threatening one of her loved ones or something else that makes what she's doing more complicated. That could really throw a monkey wrench into the morality of the entire situation!
Great video, Matt! Simply the best!
Absolutely! I think the first few encounters in a campaign are sooo important for setting the tone. And if you want to encourage your players to think creatively and show them the magic insanity that can occur, and an encounter similar to this could do the trick.
@@HiddenNerdySide Yes! This felt like a great way to introduce to new players to the game and would probably be a fantastic one shot too. It can wrap up nicely but it also can leave the players wanting more
I think a mirror match would be cool, like copy the player characters with the monsters from Volo's and give them wacky items. Mirror of life tapping, horn of valhalla, daern's instant fortress, or have 1or 2 have a curse of were-creature or maybe be a dragon in disguise. Awesome video by the way!
Oooo that could work quite well
@@HiddenNerdySide I believe we only fuel each other's imagination.
Found your channel because you gave my DM some advice on a magical monocle for my wizard. Thank you for that. Also quick impression of the channel, very informative and well thought out videos. Can't wait for more content.
I think I remember that actually haha. Never thought I'd hear anything from it.
I'm glad I could help!
Weird, I literally just did this kind of encounter last week. ovel timing.
Here a cool idea what if she Dying Of some type of disease that only fairy dust and cure
I like to put my player Into Hard choices like this
*chef kiss* I love it! The idea of Ventris having a very good reason was originally going to be a twist I put in, but I decided to make this one not as dark as it already can be.
I salute your idea, good sir!
Do you want Flying T-Rexes? Because this is how you get flying T-Rexes. If I don't give the party that option they'd be upset for at least a week. So now I have to Google how to balance for Flying T-Rex.
Nice encounter keep it up.
Hahaha thanks. And you can absolutely toss in flying t- rex’s if you want, but remember - the pixies are doing the polymorphing. If they have never heard of or seen t-rexs before, they would have no idea how to do that.
I know that’s not entirely the point but if you turn your whole party into t-rexs, you’re going to have to bump up the strength of the baddies significantly or else they are going to get steamrolled.
I’d personally steer away from any beasts over a CR 2. Because if you do bump up the baddies to compensate, then your low level players will get shit on if the polymorph drops.
But that’s just my opinion. Do what you gotta do to make it fun!
This is a really cool and entertaining concept and video. Great job!
Thank you!
I love this!! what a great idea!
Excellent video as always keep it up!
You got it!
Recently found your channel, love the content. Please keep up the awesome work!
Thank you and welcome to the party!
Thanks.
This is great. If they side with the wizard, tortured pixies, but the people of the city will not die from that terrible disease. If they side with the pixies, grateful pixies, but over the next month, the good citizens of their home town die slowly and horribly. However, if they can get the parties to talk to each other, maybe a better solution is for the pixies to volunteer pixie dust without torture or capture, to save the people of the town.
Absolutely! Great idea
Great video! This gives me tonnes of ideas. Since Bulettes (video when? lol) like to each just about anything they can catch, I bet Pixies and Bulettes wouldn't mix well, which could lead to some interesting encounters. Or, the one that I'm definitely gonna use in my campaign next session, a Pixie who's dust has somehow been corrupted, via a disease, or in my case, a strange mist, which means anything that uses her pixie dust has a chance of being affected by wild magic, which can only work well.
Love that idea! And a really good exercise is to take random monsters and try and make it work. Bulettes and Pixies? Maybe they are cave pixies who take care of the bulettes? Who knows. But every combo can become viable with the right idea!
@@HiddenNerdySide Yeah maybe! I meant pixies trying to get rid of the bulettes because they're destroying the forest, but them working together would be unique! Just imagine trying to fight an invisible, or flying bulette that the pixies control
@@joesphistalin2800 Both are great! I guess we are just too good at this ;)
@@HiddenNerdySide lol apparently
I know this vid is a bit old, but I just wanted to say I think I am going to use this for my current campaign. but I think the ultimate spice up is its in waterdeep, middle of the worst winters in years in a particularly overgrown city of the dead (long story short minor zombie apocalypse in the city so it was abandoned for a while, thus the vegetation that was there, tho its dead from winter)
I am thinking Ventris and co. will be part of the Zhentarim who have influtrated the emerald enclave of the city. very similar to your story otherwise.
Sounds like a good time!
...this is fucking cool. Definitely subscribing I want to hear all the cool encounter ideas
Welcome to the party!
Can you build an encounter for the winter wolf?
Oh, interesting. Never thought about doing that but after taking a peek, there is more to them than meets the eye.
I'll put them on this list!
@@HiddenNerdySide thanks
Hey, TH-cam algorithm, spread the word that Hidden Nerdy Side is awesome! Tell all your friends
The algorithm is pleased!
Darn it... Not first
It's okay. You'll get it next time. I believe in you!
@@HiddenNerdySide we believe in you too, but we also love Matt and his content so the race is on!! lol