You're Running Displacer Beasts Wrong (do this instead)

Comments · 73

• GR

  @Greenough-i2s · 1 month ago

  I love the idea of pairing these beasties with a Amthytist golem's treasure in a cave system... a natural trap.

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• FR

  @FranzJosefHaymaker · 1 month ago

  TIIIIIMM!!! Jokes aside, this brings up a common issue I've found DMing: that these sort of hit and run enemies, when played to their fullest, can be SUPER frustrating for parties 😅 I love em anyway, but id say don't drag on too long with lower patience groups. People need a conclusion or they get grumpy lol

  14

• TH

  @thelorewright · 2 weeks ago

  One of my favorite moments in a campaign I played in was when my wizard managed to convince a displacer beast to be his mount in exchange for food and hunting opportunities. Over the levels, my wizard and Ciara, the displacer beast, made a plan to dispose of the local lord by gathering other displacer beasts and "gift" them to the lord. When the pride was large enough, Ciara lead the other beats in an attack on the court and disposed of the lord.

• BA

  @Backdeckpro · 1 month ago

  This is perfect for the one shot I’m running this Sunday centered around an ambush creature (Flee monsters Lamasombra). Thanks for the suggestions

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• MA

  @maxterry7375 · 1 month ago

  There's a bit in the monster manual about the interactions between displacer beasts and blink dogs. Thinking about overwhelming my players with a pride of displacer beasts, only to have the blink dogs show up to even out the odds.

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• EL

  @Elipus22 · 1 month ago

  I love running Displacer Beasts in forests, specifically anything akin to a redwood or giant sequoia grove. And I love even more having them introduced indirectly.<br><br>Of note, Blink Dogs and Displacer Beasts got beef. Sometimes, a solitary preditor or young displacer beast is what you need to introduce them as a threat, some far off battle between a pack of ten or twenty blink dogs harassing a lone displacer beast. The party can find the aftermath, either dead or wounded blink dogs, with many having given chase to the beast once it fled. Gives the party a chance to heal the puppers who aren&apos;t down yet, while mourning those that didn&apos;t survive the encounter, maybe just one or two. Plus, with Blink Dogs being smart, they&apos;ll likely have part of the pack follow the players if they&apos;re going to tend to their pack, so when the displacer beast pride comes to settle the score, the players have a bunch of blink dogs to keep the battle even. 10 blink dogs and a full party fighting a pride of four or more displacer beasts is a fun combat. The party wants to keep the dogs up, but the dogs are much, much weaker than the beasts, and so much harder to nail down with their abilities.

• JO

  @JohnHall-po6ts · 1 month ago

  While they don&apos;t have a built-in climb speed, that doesn&apos;t stop them from climbing. They have a +4 to Strength checks and will succeed often. The can leap around the environment with Athletics as well. They would definitely use a three-dimensional approach to hunting their prey. In addition, they are absolutely smart enough to use cover to boost their AC as well as break line of sight to restore displacement. That +2 for half cover and +5 for three-quarters cover boosts that 13 AC to 15 and 18 and the attacks are still at disadvantage from displacement - not to mention the +2 and +5 to DEX saves where they take NO DAMAGE if they succeed. &nbsp;Trees, bushes, rocks, ruins, debris, back alleys with crates, barrels, and carts all are great for this. Don&apos;t forget those sneaky, sneaky rooftops. Oh, and that tentacle attack has a 10ft reach, so the can very &nbsp;much attach with them from cover. Using their environment, an pack of Displacer Beasts can be an absolute menace, even to mid-level and high-level characters. <br><br>Picture it, the party is exploring ruins of a keep on a cliff that used to guard the pass below. After a while there, they start hearing things moving around in the rubble, just out of sight, only catching glimpses. One of them lets itself be seen, but that&apos;s the distraction. Four more leap out focusing on a soft target like a rogue, sorcerer, warlock or wizard. The knock them prone with Rend and the rest mob them with attacks at Advantage, then they retreat back to cover, wait a round to bait out spell attacks they can beat with Avoidance, then pull back completely. &nbsp;They stay just close enough to prevent a long rest. Later, when the party resumes their exploration, they do it all again, and again. Eventually party members start dropping. Resources are used up. Every attack makes the party more desperate and more urgent, but the Displacer Beast pack can wait for them to be dealing with a obstacle or trap when the strike again. They might even knock down pillars or walls to create obstacles. Maybe the pack herds the party to a cliff to knock them off, or a powerful monster so they can pick off a weak target and drag them away. The possibilities are abundant for an encounter they will never forget. Good hunting, DMs!

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• JA

  @jasonbrown6604 · 1 month ago

  This is a great video. <br><br>I think the reason that we so often don&apos;t see these in packs is because most DMS when making a fight will pick one enemy at the cr level of the party.

• CH

  @christennant3421 · 1 month ago

  Great video Timothy!!

• IS

  @iskandarthegreat0487 · 1 month ago

  I HB&apos;d a rider that could use its reaction to Parry attacks aimed at it&apos;s mount and it paired really well with the displacer beast

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• SH

  @shinom0ri · 1 month ago

  About the caveat about blind sight - true sight<br>I recently ran a displacer beast chasing a merchant that the party ran into on the road. One of characters was a rogue, and I gave the disadvantage some thought when I made the encounter, since it really puts a dampener on the sneak attack abilities. <br>Their character had blind sight, and I think the player chose to blindfold themselves while fighting in, within their range, they would not get disadvantage. As I understand the displacement effect, it is a purely visual hallucination. <br>If someone disagrees, I&apos;d love to know why. <br><br>Unrelated to this, I love the idea of creatures weaving in and out in combat playing to their strengths. Far too often it&apos;s just squaring up on a character for an uninspiring &nbsp;slog fest. I do think that players that don&apos;t enjoy the tactical element of combat would necessarily find this &quot;bobbing and weaving&quot; as fun as others would.

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• OW

  @Owl_of_Omens · 1 month ago

  I had a pride of displacer beasts follow a party around for six levels attacking them and as soon as the first attack were one of the beasts was slain that meant that the rest of the pride was going to go after them and it came down to the final pride leader who was this large scarred up displacer beast and only had vengeance in his heart to kill the party for slaying his mate and his pridemates. And when he was fought he ended up permanently killing one of the party members and the other one barely made it with the last roll

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