On Being Off Line and Bandit Pie!

I didn’t intend to go off line for that long, but life took a rare swing towards the pleasant for a change and I decided to take full advantage. Nothing earth shattering, but a few good positive pieces of good news and the reminder that good friends can go a hell of a long way (in this case, close to 1500kms).

It's filled with Pecans!

One of those friends is the GM of his own D&D3.14159 (D&Dpi) campaign and he has run the party into an area plagued by bandits. However, the party has a few battles under their belts, has gone up a level or two and is pretty confident they can take regular bandits, so he asked me if I had any ideas on how to make the bandits more of a challenge.

1)         Cannibals: A nearby wild magic zone, or ancient artefact has infected a nearby village, turning the residents into mutant cannibals.

2)         Merry Men: A band of outlaws fighting against a corrupt Baron/Shereiff/Prince.

3)         Cursed Beastmen: a vindictive sorcerer has cursed a nearby village, something the party does not discover until they kill a beastman and watch it transforms back into a child.

4)         Lepers: a group of plague victims left to die have teamed up to rob travellers

5)         Starving farmers: A drastic crop failure has turned a once peaceful town starving and desperate.

6)         Conan and Company: a band of skilled mercenaries (or a group of deserters) who have fallen on hard times.

7)         Cultists: A nearby town has fallen under the sway of a dark cleric and the cult of the Obsidian Tongue. A night a band of cultists go out hunting disguised as bandits, but are actually looking for sacrifices for their depraved ceremonies.  

8)         Knights: Bandits normally don’t have plate armour and destriders. These bandits are actually a group of knights on a quest.

9)         Monks: A group of students from a local dojo/monastery have decided to use the skill they have learned and use them for monetary gain by ambushing travellers (or possibly, are told to do it by a corrupt Master).

10)       Backed by some serious firepower: The bandits have recruited a powerful, but drunken mage who will sling fireballs at whoever they tell him to, so long as they keep plying him with delicious boozes.