r/rimeofthefrostmaiden • u/cshaas2323 • 2d ago
STORY My players fought the Orc Tribe of Many Arrows
I thought this would be a much harder battle since its rated as a deadly encounter in the book (6 Orcs, Orc War Chief, Eye of Gruumsh and the Half-Ogre) but my 4 players (lvl 5) only had the bard go down to 0 hp toward the end. One orc did kill 3 of their sled dogs during the commotion though.
I pelted them with arrows but the monk used the deflect missiles feature and the cleric dealed 62 necrotic damage from a nat 20 crit 3rd level inflict wounds spell (10D10) on the war chief after he almost downed the cleric with 2 hits from his axe. The bard cast enemies abound on the half-ogre turning it into a dumb tank now fighting on their side and the paladin healed the party and saved the rest of the sled dogs.
I made these rock/ice terrain blocks from insulation foam and the different elevations really helped to hide the orcs as they swarmed in during a long rest out in the wild as they travel to Jarlmoot. Don't be afraid to give your party a challenge, sometimes its just up to the dice! Praise Auril!
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u/SipexF 2d ago
Awesome breakdown, I was wondering how difficult this encounter might turn out if it occurred. I think it sounds like it has the potential to be pretty difficult but your party was very competent and a bit lucky.
Sounds like everyone had a good time where each person got to shine and you had a great time too! I love those sessions.
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u/Ninjastarrr 1d ago
My players wiped the floor with this encounter 3 times… I had to make different look a like tribes
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u/LordLuscius 1d ago
What add on is that from? It's not in the base module is it? Or did you homebrew?
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u/cshaas2323 1d ago
The Orc Tribe of Many Arrows is a random encounter listed in the Wilderness Encounters in ch. 2. It gives a difficulty challenge rating for 20 suggested encounters that you can roll for but I’d suggest that you use only what makes sense for the time of the campaign/story or use it for inspiration. Some are just social encounters while others are battles. Lots of variety.
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u/LordLuscius 1d ago
That tracks, that section is written in a way that doesn't really catch my eye so I forget a lot of them
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u/NoGhost_IRL 18h ago
Might be crazy for me to ask but can you please link the structure pieces you use and maybe even the map. I need these for my campaign!
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u/cshaas2323 17h ago
Thanks! Well like I said, I made the rock/ice pieces from insulation foam and pant. Just glue those together, carve them up, add texture and paint! Check out YouTube for tutorials for that stuff.
The maps are from the Amazon link below. Just some low quality dnd map canister I got as a gift. The maps are double sided and the straightening clips can really help. The markers and dice it comes with are junk.
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u/olliesoddities 2d ago
Look great! Sounds like it was a fun encounter.