Gorilla Problems

Yesterday’s initial entry for our new Dungeon Delve Wandering Monster table really got our RPG juices flowing, so we couldn’t resist picking our selection for the Wilderness Trek Table. Grab your Rogue and stealth forward!

The goal for each table is to create ten 3D-printed DnD miniatures for the two core environments: dungeons and wilderness. Each table will utilize a d20 roll with ten monsters and ten non-events (e.g., nothing is coming this way).

Why gorillas, you ask? Well, they protect their turf, and it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for the party to inadvertently wander off the beaten path into a wooded zone where they aren’t welcome. Plus, the initial description will paint a great picture as they’re going to fiercely charge at the group and throw some haymaker-type damage. Envision trees snapping, chests pounding, and roars a roaring sort of stuff!

So, we’re going to showcase a couple of 3D-printed DnD miniatures today because we wanted to give DMs some flexibility regarding their wandering outdoor gorilla encounter. Our ape foot soldiers are from Brite Minis (monthly Patreon), and our larger gorilla warrior is from EC3D Designs (Depths of Savage Atoll set).

We’re picking the number of monsters and their stats based on a fourth-level party of six characters. We found this cool DnD 5e online CR tool that might be handy for fellow DMs as a way to help you keep things balanced.

We take the position that wandering foes should lean towards the easy to medium difficulty level because the encounter is more about disruption. Typically, the party is rather weak when a long rest is desired, so disturbing that slumber and instilling some surprised panic is always the intent. Plus, the encounter intensity can ratchet up quickly if you require the party to be unarmored while sleeping.

Thus, we’re suggesting four Apes (AC 12, HP 19, Att +5/1d6+3) and one Great Ape (AC 12, HP 68, Att +6/1d0+4) from Draconis Memoria Bestiary (as D&D Beyond’s Giant Ape was just a bit too beefy here).

In terms of tactics and description, DM Ben wants the player on watch duty to get some vivid descriptions from his/her perception checks. Use phrases like periodic sounds of branches snapping and trees swaying in the brisk wind but with the sounds coming from numerous directions (like something might be closing in). Maybe sneak in a few false alarms sights and sounds until the real ambush commences.

Here’s the fun part: for each upcoming blog entry, we’ll continue to build out our handy DnD wilderness table until we have 20 rich results. Taking some sound Reddit advice, we’re also going to sprinkle in alternate encounters to combat, including unexpected hazards, new NPC interactions, weather events, etc.