User blog:Dragokar62/Dungeon Crawl 101

Dungeon Crawl 101

So your DM has told you that they are going to run a dungeon crawl adventure. Maybe even a dungeon crawl campaign, like Dungeon of the Mad Mage. So now it’s time to figure out what kind of character you’re going to play. During Session Zero, everyone needs to come to some sort of consensus on this, but to do that, you really need to understand the roles of each class to determine which you’d prefer to play.

In my 40 years of playing, I’ve been through more than my fair share of dungeon crawls. To this day, it’s still my favorite type of adventure, because of the danger involved and the opportunities for roleplay are greatly increased. A party can gel very well in a dungeon, because you rely on your fellow adventurers to help keep you alive. Everyone plays a part and if they don’t, most everyone can die.

Let’s discuss the classes and what role they can play in a dungeon crawl. A Bard can provide some much needed utility while performing a dungeon crawl. Depending on the archetype you choose, you can use your spells to boost the players, demoralize the monsters, offer some healing in a pinch, or create obstacles for the enemies to overcome. The one thing you should not do as the Bard is plan to engage in upfront combat. This is not your role. I’ve run through some dungeons with a Bard in the party and they are very good at a lot of things, but upfront combat is not one of those. So if you want to engage the enemy with swords, don’t play a Bard.

A Totem Warrior Barbarian could work as a tank in a dungeon, what with the Unarmored Defense and the Bear Totem abilities, but one thing to remember about this is, a Barbarian is not normally an underground character. They function much better outdoors. One thing they can be useful with is damage output. A raging Barbarian can be used as DPS (damage per second, which is a gamer term, not a D&D term). In my experiences, a Barbarian doesn’t do well in confined spaces and underground, so I would skip playing one in that situation.

Cleric. This is a must in a dungeon crawl. You don’t have to play a Life Domain cleric to be an effective healer, but you do have to be a healer. This means, you don’t jump in with your mace or hammer and attack anything, you sit back and heal. Cleric’s do have some utility spells that can benefit a party in a dungeon, but those should be used sparingly. The reason for this is, you need to reserve those spells slots for healing your allies. The marks of a good dungeon cleric is that they don’t get their weapon dirty, and they don’t run out of healing spells unless everything goes to hell. As I said, you don’t have to play a Life Domain cleric to be a successful healer, but they are the best healers in the game.

Druid. Druids don’t do well in underground settings for the most part. Yes, they have some very good and useful utility spells at their disposal, but being in an underground setting goes against their personality and roleplaying. Even though you need to think about what that class brings to the table, you also need to think about roleplaying that character and how this will affect them. In an emergency situation, a Druid can be a viable option in a dungeon setting, but to create one for the express purpose of a dungeon crawl is not thinking realistically. Druids would be good in overland campaigns, but not dungeon crawls.

Fighter. Having a fighter in the group is great, but not all archetypes are good for dungeon crawls. One of those is the Eldritch Knight. Their focus is not taking the brunt of the attack, but more utility in combat. A Battle Master is great in dungeon crawls, and they make excellent tanks. Champions are good in the tanking role as well. Though Fighters are good in the role of the tank in the dungeon, they aren’t the only option. I’ll talk more on this later.

Monk. Monk’s can provide some excellent damage in a dungeon setting, but that is really their only role. They can’t heal, they shouldn’t try to tank and they aren’t meant for picking locks and finding traps. But, with that being said, they can put out a great deal of damage in a dungeon setting, but they need room to maneuver to pull this off. Keep that in mind.

Paladin. This is another good alternative to playing a Fighter as the tank. They can wear heavy armor and they have higher hit points than some. But the one thing a paladin brings to the table that helps tip the balance for me is Smites. With bonus action smites, they can hold the enemy’s attention very well and make excellent tanks in a dungeon. Not only do they hold the attention of the enemy, in a pinch, when the cleric is busy with healing others, they can use Lay on Hands to heal themselves in mid-fight. Very useful.

Ranger. Rangers are much like druids in a dungeon setting, they are a fish out of water. Underground settings aren’t the ranger’s strong suit, and in some cases, renders them useless due to distance when it comes to firing a bow at the enemy. Without certain feats, a ranger can’t bring their bow into the equation, and this makes them a poor choice in dungeons.

Rogue. If there is one class that you must have in a dungeon setting, it’s the rogue. The classic layout of any dungeon revolves around traps, locked doors and chests and the ability to move silently. Without a rogue, this makes dungeons much more deadly than they normally would be. With no one to find the traps and unlock chests and doors, the dungeon crawl slows down and things get more dangerous.

Sorcerer. They can provide some much needed damage in a pinch, but they are really limited to just that. Sometimes you need more magical utility in a dungeon setting and the sorcerer isn’t built for utility, just damage. Their limitations make them a weaker link when it comes to doing a dungeon crawl and I would advise anyone who wants to play a magic caster to play a Wizard, not a Sorcerer, for this very reason.

Warlock. They have similar limitations when it comes to spellcasting in a dungeon setting as the sorcerer. Though they can dish out a good deal of damage with their spells, they don’t provide good utility in a dungeon setting. As I said with the Sorcerer, I would play a Wizard in a dungeon before I would play a Warlock.

Wizard. Though not entirely necessary in a dungeon setting, they do come in handy more often than not. Wizard spell lists are comprised of good utility spells that make them indispensable. Detect Magic, Read Languages, and Knock are just a few of the excellent spells they have at their disposal and make dungeon crawling much easier on everyone. They also bring a good amount of damage to the party in combat, but space requirements do limit them in some areas.

Ok, so I’ve talked about the classes, so let’s talk about how to play those classes in a dungeon setting. For example, you have a Fighter tank, a Rogue, a Cleric and a Wizard, and for damage output, you have Monk. Five characters in a dungeon crawl. I’m just using these as examples. Each character has a role in a dungeon and it’s wise if they stick to this throughout. I’ll explain why.

Say, for instance, your party as entered a dungeon and you come upon an ironbound door that is locked. If the Fighter grabs the knob and pulls, what could happen? It could set off a trap. It could set off an alarm that alerts monsters beyond the door and they lay an ambush for the party. It could take out your tank before you ever got beyond that first door! This isn’t the role of the Fighter, it’s the role of the Rogue when approaching an obstacle. So the Rogue steps up, checks for traps, makes sure it’s not locked, and if it is, they pick the lock. But the Rogue’s job is done now. They don’t open the door and step in, because what if there is a monster waiting for them just inside the door? That’s the Fighter’s job, to take on the monster and hold its attention. So the Rogue should do their job, then step aside so the Fighter can do theirs. All too often, I’ve seen rogues decide that they want to get the glory and go into the room first. Well, would you like to know how many dead rogues I’ve seen along the way? Too many.

The party finds an item in a room that they haven’t seen before. Someone asks, “is it magical?”

Who should find out? You have a cleric and you have a wizard, and both have Detect Magic. The one who finds out is the wizard and I’ll tell you why. Although it’s only a 1st level spell, spell slots to the cleric are precious and shouldn’t be wasted on finding out if something is magical. What if you need that 1st level Cure Wounds later and now it’s gone? This is really the Wizard’s role anyway. He’s a magic caster, therefore, he should be the one to Detect Magic.

The key to surviving in a dungeon, regardless of party make up is really filling the role you were meant to fill. If you decide you can get by with a Barbarian tank, then you need to remember your role and play it. Just because you rage doesn’t mean you abandon the party to slay a fleeing monster. That’s what a Barbarian might do, but it’s not the role you were assigned to play. The tank doesn’t leave the party behind, ever. Just like the cleric burning up utility spells when they shouldn’t and then running out of spell slots when they need to heal someone, the role is more important to party survival than the roleplay aspects of this.

When running through a dungeon crawl, the DM has done their best to make this setting as dark and dangerous as they can, so don’t spoil it with criticism or blowing off the dangers. It’s ok to let your character be cautious and afraid. This is the roleplay aspect I mentioned. Allow the DM to take you into this dark, dangerous, musty place and allow yourself to feel some fear of the unknown. Roleplay that fear. Think about it from your character’s point of view. It’s dark down here. You don’t know what’s around the next corner. Every step you take could be your last. Who wouldn’t have some fear? Now that doesn’t mean you should coward in the corner all the time, but when confronted with those tense moments, embrace them. When the monster finally reveals itself to the party, have that moment of hesitation before rushing in to defeat it. It’s survival of the fittest down here! Those are my favorite moments.

Dungeon mechanics are some of the most difficult to learn and relate to, but some of the most rewarding when you finally do. I’ve mentioned roles and this is the beginning of how the mechanics work, assuming your role in the party, but that’s not all there is to know. Combat is strained in a dungeon, because of the lack of room to maneuver and the chance of harming other party members. In a tight hallway, you might only have one person fighting because the others can’t due to space constraints. This is ok and you don’t to be directly involved, just indirectly involved. While the tank is dealing with the limited space, Wizards can be using utility spells to harass the enemy. The cleric can be standing close by to heal the tank while they fight. It is not required that everyone be in front of the monster, just remember that. Some fights require the full party cooperation and some don’t. Pick these battles wisely.

The rogue. This is the most thankless job in the game. If the rogue finds and removes all the traps, then that’s what they are there for, but let them miss one and they are the goat. But it’s an important job and damned near a necessity in a dungeon. The rogue can do so much in a dungeon setting that it’s hard to list them all. The one thing they should not do is gain the attention of the enemy. When in combat, the rogue should use Stealth immediately and look for an attack of advantage. Don’t rely on the fact that you might have Advantage on every or nearly every attack for that Sneak Attack bonus, think about the reality of the situation. Do you like pain and bleeding? Because ignoring your skill to Stealth will get you just that. A good rotation to remember is Stealth--Move--Attack (with Advantage)--Bonus Action Stealth. With this rotation, you can attack a foe, stealth, move to another and attack again, and gain Sneak Attack on your first attack every single time. But more importantly, you won’t get hit.

The wizard. Everyone would love to use Fireball and Lightning Bolt to destroy their enemies, but sometimes, you just have to be practical and use spells that make your enemies hate you from afar. The wizard has many utility spells that can make the enemy a complete pushover in a fight. Grease, Hold Monster, Feeblemind, the list is almost endless. Rather than risk harming your allies, use these spells to harass your enemies, and give your allies more of an opportunity to attack at advantage. If you’re in the wide open spaces with no one around, sure, blast them, but this is rarely the case in a dungeon, so it’s best to do what you can safely. The cleric will thank you.

The cleric. This is the most important role in the dungeon setting. Without the healer, someone is going to die. It is vital for the cleric to be paying close attention to what it happening during battle and to remain close enough to the combatants to be able to heal them when needed. Keep an eye on their hit points and consider your spell slots as you do this, because if you allow too much damage to accumulate, you might not have enough slots to heal them. And don’t wait until the end of battle to heal! This is a classic and rookie mistake that most clerics make. At the end of battle, you have two to four other characters standing there with various wounds, all looking at you imploringly to heal them. And guess what? You can’t heal them all. Lower level clerics struggle the most with this and it’s not their fault (I’ll discuss this in a moment). No tank should ever get down to half health with a cleric in the party, unless the cleric is out of spell slots. To me, this is unacceptable. If the tank goes down, you’ll all go down, and that should be the mindset.

The tank (Fighter or Paladin, or whatever qualifies). No matter how large the party is, this is the one who should take the lion’s share of damage in a fight. They have the hit points for it, let them. All damage dealers who join in the fight should do their level best to avoid a direct confrontation with the monsters, but instead should look at ways to attack what the tank is attacking so they gain Advantage on that attack. The faster that monster dies, the faster the tank can move to the next. All too often, I see players splitting the monsters among themselves and taking damage. This puts pressure on the healer and it puts pressure on the casters, too. Get on the one the tank is on, kill it fast and move to the next. Then the cleric has one player to heal and the casters can harass (not directly engage) or cripple the others until the tank can get free.

At the end of the rainbow is loot and this is where things get a little dicey for some. In some parties, they feel that they should get the biggest and the best for their efforts, even if it’s something they can’t use. So far, those playing in my game world are not this way, and for that, I am grateful. There’s nothing like seeing them cooperate when dividing up magic items and passing on something someone else can use more than they can. In a dungeon setting, this becomes even more important, because that item might make the difference somewhere down the road. As a DM, I try to make sure that there is something for everyone in the loot bag, but it does my heart good to see my players using their brains and sharing equally.

I mentioned roleplay in dungeons before, but now I would like to elaborate on that. One of the things I’ve noticed over the years of playing this game is that people seem to be under the impression that they can only speak on their turn. During a player’s turn, they have a movement, an action, a bonus action and a reaction. But speaking is free. The tank is the one who should be doing the talking, too, and I’ll explain why. He is up front and can see the field well from where he stands. He should be directing some traffic during combat, pointing out things he is seeing from his vantage point. He doesn’t have to wait until his turn to point these things out, either. “There’s a caster over there!” “I just saw something slip into the shadows over there!” “Someone give me a hand with this one!” Any and all of those are good directions for your allies and don’t hesitate to do this in combat. And for those allies, please listen for those directions. If the tank calls out that there’s a caster, shout back that you’re on it, or have the wizard take care of that, but don’t leave them hanging on that. I don’t know how many times I’ve shouted out during combat only to have my fellow players ignore me and do whatever they wanted to do on their turn.

That being said, sometimes in the heat of combat, the tank can’t see beyond the enemy in front of them. Now the backline troops need to be calling things out to everyone. The cleric should not be one of those, however. They should be focused on healing and not combat tactics. This really should fall to the wizard in the back. I use a battle mat for combat, which helps keep things organized and shows the players where things are. Keep in mind that you might not have a line of sight on something during combat, so therefore, calling out their location or actions might not be possible.

In summary, the main points I’m trying to make is, choose your classes carefully and keep in mind where you will be adventuring. Know which role your character is going to assume right off the bat so there is no confusion. And finally, work as a team, because you are a team. Everyone can have a share of the glory if they do this. Someone came up with the line, “work smarter, not harder” and it comes into play during dungeon crawls.