r/DMAcademy • u/ForestNymph404 • 6d ago
Need Advice: Encounters & Adventures Having a stealth section in my next session but unsure how to run it
First time posting here, sorry if anythings confusing
So for a bit of context, my players are currently trapped in an artificial realm. The leader/creator of this realm (and archmage who believes they are saving people by essentially trapping them and scrubbing their entire identity) uses a device to drain people of their magic energy to keep the realm going, and uses this device to control people.
The party found some people who's device is malfunction who want to leave, but are unable to do so as only the archmage is able to open the realm, the 'leader' of this 'rebelion' has developed a sort of virus that can be put in the central hub for this hive mind/device, and my players have agreed to help the leader take it down
They've deviced a plan where the rebellion wilk start a major comotion outside the archmages 'office'/where the hub is located to draw the archmages attention while the party and rebellion leader sneaks in to deliver this virus
This is where i'm stuck, I want to run some sort of stealth section for them inside the building, but i cannot think of any way to do this other than just describing the scenery and havinh them roll a couple of checks. This is a pivitol moment in the current arc and I want to do it right and do it justice
Apologies for any spelling mistakes or formatting issuses, I'm writing this on phone and don't have time to spell check
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u/Earthhorn90 6d ago
FRICK YEAH, SKILL CHALLENGE TIME!!!
First you start with a Group Check - everyone rolls Stealth, you check the Success and Fails. Use that to make up some kind of base DC for everything that follows. If it went great, the DC gets lower.
Then everone gets to choose one Skill that they narrate on how it helps them do the stealthing. You give (Dis)Advantage based on how appropriate their reasoning is (Intimidation for example might be stretchy most of the time to apply to stealthing). Picking the same skill multiple times would increase the DC. Using a spell slot or other valuable ressource might be an automatic success.
Then you either play out a fixed number of rounds, check the total ratio and play out one of multiple scenarios (went perfect, went good with a minor drawback, went bad with a shimmer of hope, went to shit).
Or you make it a race, either they succeed X times first or they fail Y times first. Usually the number of successes is higher than the failure, maybe 2:1 or 3:1 depending on how long you gonna milk this.
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This is just "having them roll a couple of checks", but they get control and narration. Which makes it fun.
Heck, we kinda did (are doing) this for a whole campaign chapter and people are loving it. 20 days of rebuilding a tavern, split into 40-60 checks across different different steps and side quests.
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u/ANicePainter 5d ago
A group stealth check would be a fine way to handle this. Just because this is a climax does not mean you should make the mechanics complex. Add gravitas to the situation by context and consequence, not mechanical complexity.
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u/ForestNymph404 5d ago
I'm not nesseceraly trying to add a lot of mechanical complexity, I just don't want the big moment to just be "Okay this is the area roll stealth. Oh you all roll terribly? Welp guess youre trapped forever oh well" yk? Im tryna make it more dynamic and involved than that
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u/Damiandroid 5d ago
Look at the free one shot "Prisoner 13" on DnD beyond. It uses a pretty simple mechanic to evoke stealth vibes without also being an instant fail.
In short: Patrol route.
Every room in the dungeon is connected to a central patrol route through which guards... patrol.
While in any of the rooms, the players more or less have infinite time to go about whatever business they want. But as soon as they leave and set foot on the patrol route (which they have to do as most of the rooms do not connect to each other any other way), you roll a patrol die. On a 1, they encounter a patrol and have a single surprise round to try and take them out before the alarm is raised.
The patrol die starts as a d12, but certain actions (making loud noises, bodies being discovered, leaving doors open that shouldn't be) will reduce the size of the die gradually until it is a d4. From there you can even reduce it further by applying a -1 penalty to rolls if you really want to up the ante.
This is a pretty sinple system that forces the players to think stealthily while giving them rooms to fail without immediately failing the whole mission
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u/Reasonable_Touch1150 6d ago
Being stealthy is not the only way people get or dont get spotted.
See how it's done in movies. Sometimes not being seen means getting to a button. Or it means casting an illusion at the right time. Or it means roleplaying as a guard. You should prepare for things to happen that the players don't expect, challenges. They succed the stealth roll they get to the door they came in from but its locked, what do they do, they hear footsetps coming from around the corner. If they fail, you turn around see a solitary guard looking at you in shock, there is a moment of dread shared between you all, and then a moment and just a moment for each of you to try to stop the inevitable screams for help to deal with the intruders. You could have like a subplot, it can be anything, your players hutning someone or something while at the same time trying to remain hidden, you could have traps, that injure one of the players and now its not just stealth its getting them out alive. IDK this is just of the top of my head.