Jungle encounters, traps and pitfalls are a must, whether you’re trekking through Eberron’s Q’barra, Faerun’s Chult, or Exandria’s Quoraska Jungle. While there are countless interesting plants, beasts, and enemies to hinder your players, sometimes you won’t want to interrupt a session’s flow by entering initiative.
You don’t always need to have your party battle baddies to keep them on their toes. Here are some non-combat encounters for you to try out in any jungle setting:
With sample encounter text descriptions in boxes like this one.
1. Assassin Vines
An Assassin Vine is indistinguishable from a normal plant when not moving. As your players traverse through the jungle, randomly have them (those within a 15 foot square) make a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw to avoid being snared by these tricky buggers.
As you continue walking through the jungle, everyone make a Dexterity saving throw. You hear tree branches snap as thick vines animate above your heads. The vines lash out and attempt to wrap themselves around you.
Anyone who roles a 12 or less is restrained by entangling vines, one restrained creature taking 11 (2d6 + 4) bludgeoning damage per “round”.
To escape, your players can succeed on a DC 13 Strength (Athletics) check or kill the plant, with HP of 85 (10d10 + 30). If the plant takes more than 1/4 or more of its remaining HP on a turn, allow the restrained character to make the Strength check with advantage to escape.
2. Quicksand
Your players are probably expecting quicksand on some level, but it’s a classic wilderness hazard at any rate. Have your players make a perception check for each leg of their journey. If they beat a DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check, they can spot the quicksand before walking into the trap.
The ground ahead of you is surprisingly barren, it causes you to hesitate and you approach it slowly. About 10 feet across, this patch of earth moves ever so slightly and you know to avoid walking over it.
But, if any of the players in the front couple rows of the marching order fail the save, they walk straight into the quicksand area, immediately sinking 1d4+1 feet.
You go to take your next step, but your foot won’t move. You look down and can’t see your feet anymore. Slowly but surely you feel yourself sinking into the earth.
Assume the ‘pit’ is a 10 foot cube (10 feet deep). If a player fails their perception check and enters the quicksand, they become restrained, sinking an additional 1d4+1 feet per “round”. To escape, a creature must succeed on a DC 10 + (number of feet they have sunk) Strength (Athletics) check. If they are completely submerged, they begin suffocating. If another creature is helping them, you can give them advantage on their Strength check or allow the other player to also role a Strength check.
3. Trap floor
Whether the players find themselves in an abandoned structure, an excavated ruin, or in the thick brush without any signs of civilization, you can have them role saves for avoiding a trap floor. Similar to the quicksand example, have them first make perception checks (this can be as part of their general perception checks they make throughout the day). On a successful DC 14 Wisdom (Perception) check, they spot hints that there seems to be a trap hidden in the floor.
If more than 50 pounds of force is applied to anywhere on the designated space (eg. 15 foot square), have everyone the area make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw.
The grating noise of heavy stone against stone pierces the otherwise quiet atmosphere. Make a Dexterity saving throw as the floor suddenly opens up beneath you.
Have anyone who fails their Dexterity save take 1d6 bludgeoning damage from falling 10 feet into the pit below.
This is a small encounter ‘tax’, that reminds them they’re not safe here, but isn’t overly time consuming or deadly.
4. Everything is Poisonous
Warm weather jungles often have the perfect environment for cultivating diseases to those unfamiliar to the area. Try using one of these examples to force the players into make a Constitution save or are subject to being poisoned.
- Eating something from the jungle without first
purifying food and water– DC 12 Constitution saving throw - Toxins entering their bloodstream from bug bites throughout the day – DC 12 Constitution saving throw
- In a long or short rest location, there are poisonous fumes coming off nearby plants – DC 13 Constitution saving throw
5. Mudslide
Mudslides can be used as a tool if your group is being indecisive. Force them to act and do anything, or suffer great consequences.
You hear the snapping of tree trunks, something is moving quickly down the slope. Looking back, you see it, a gigantic wall of mud and forest debris is flowing towards you. It will be upon you any second. What are you doing?
Reward quick and creative thinking here. Something like “I use my magical cape to cast dimension door taking me and my one friend 100 feet away”, “I fly into the air”, or use of a spell like control water or stone shape. Otherwise, have them make a DC 18 Dexterity saving throw, suffering 4d6 bludgeoning damage from the debris and half that on a successful save.
6. Ancient Maze Ruin
Some players get a kick out of solving puzzles. You can create a maze using theatre-of-the-mind or give them a real puzzle to solve. Use a maze puzzle to block the way into an ancient shrine.
You come to a small clearing. There is a single-story stone structure. It’s thick stone walls are covered in overgrown greenery. Moss, vines, and weeds poking out of cracks in the stone. The structure has no windows, there is one door with a curious maze design is carved into it.
Upon further investigation, they can glean it’s likely an ancient shrine. Does this tie in to your story? or is it a random place with no ties? If the second, it could be a relic of the past, some long forgotten religion and civilization long extinct.
In order to solve the maze, have one of your players make an intelligence check DC 14. If one of them has a background, history, or compelling reason that could feasibly help, have them make the check with advantage or allow them to add their investigation or proficiency bonus.
On a successful check:
You run your finger along the stone grooves of the maze, successfully connecting the starting point with the center. A slow grating noise begins, and the door slides up revealing steps down into a dark hallway.
From here you can put more challenges in their way, or you can have them navigate the maze to a prize in the center of it. This is a good opportunity to present a magical item as a belated reward, or an adventure hook if you’re looking for one.
7. Dead Adventurers
One thing I discovered while DM-ing in jungle terrain, was that being in a super remote crazy jungle also meant next to no opportunities for players to spend their hard earned coin. It’s therefore important to allow for other opportunities to level up or refresh their armour, weapons, or spell components. Stumbling upon less fortunate adventurers is one way to do this.
Three humanoid individuals slouch around a long burned out cooking fire. As you get closer, you can see and hear flies buzzing around the figures, the smell of slowly decomposing flesh overwhelms your sense of smell.
If your party investigates the bodies or camp, they can find items applicable to their characters and level. Such as a +1 bow, plate mail, 300 gp diamond. This is also a way to skip over shopping sessions, if you aren’t a fan of those.
8. Enhanced Dreams
If you’re like us at the Skyline Tavern, and you like to have opportunities for character development and story progression in your adventures, you might use dream sequences once in a while. Dreams can be used to progress certain character or storyline developments, they also can be used to award certain abilities or items.
During a long rest, single out one of the players and describe an enhanced dream sequence.
Here’s an example
Nemesis. As you slip into a deep sleep, familiar screams fill your mind. They are the cries of your community, your family, being slaughtered in the night. The sky is dark overhead, the smell of singed flesh and hot metal is ripe in the air, and it’s cold – oh so cold. You’re alone. Your friends aren’t here, neither are your belongings. What do you do?
Encourage the player to come up with something creative. You’re trying to award them something, either a magical weapon, special ability, or information to further their quest.
As our example is a Dragonborn Paladin, here are some things she could encounter:
- She may run towards the screams to defend the weak, unarmed, using naught but her fists and breath weapon. Nemesis can make a Strength saving throw to ward off the attackers, and if successful receive an enhanced breath weapon.
- Or she may look for something to help defend the villagers. You can show her a path to a shimmering weapon through some obstacle. Nemesis can make a Charisma saving throw to power herself past the mental and physical difficulties in retrieving the magical greatsword hidden behind magical veil.
Whatever path your player carves for themself in the dream, get them to roll a saving throw in something they are proficient in order to succeed in acquiring the object or wisdom. You won’t want to overdo enhanced dreams, but they are a great way to reward your players for role-playing their characters and getting them some short spotlights within your adventures.
9. Pictograph Riddle
During jungle travel, things can get repetitive, and the ways to deliver the next adventure arc or clue can start to feel pretty cliche or implausible. One way to avoid this, is to give your party riddles. Whichever jungle setting you’re in, it’s likely there was some sort of ancient, alien, or mysterious civilized impact on the area at some point in time. Take advantage of this to layer in more clues without having to create a whole NPC for your party to interact with.
A pictograph riddle works great, because you can describe what it looks like and have them make intelligence or wisdom based checks to discern it’s meaning. For this, you’ll want to deliver your messaging clearly so as to avoid leading your party down a false path. Actually, you could also purposely layer in a riddle as a red herring too.
10. Psionic Plants
For the last suggestion in this Top 10 series, we have psionic plants. This can work if there’s a “big bad” in your adventure, that you aren’t ready for your players to meet just yet. Instead of a physical encounter, have them interact with or meet this villain with it briefly entering their minds. Utilize any of the nearby vegetation for this delivery. Consider if the vegetation is specifically connected to them or it’s just they were in the right place at the right time.
The jungle goes quiet for a moment. The chorus of birds has suddenly gone silent; the wind that was just a moment ago rustling branches overhead, has stopped. Even the squishing of the mud under your boots is muted. Then you hear it, it isn’t aloud, it’s in your mind and you’re not sure how…
Use this opportunity to spook your players a bit, add urgency in their quest, or perhaps give them a hint to something you want to lead them down. Once the message is delivered, have each of them make a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw. If they fail, have them be subjected to the stunned condition for the next hour or until it is magically lifted.