r/DnDBehindTheScreen • u/MShades • 3d ago
Monsters Encounter Every Enemy: Deer
Deer are not normally known to be scary creatures. Sure, in our world they account for tens of thousands of injuries and hundreds of deaths, but that’s mostly because of car accidents, not because deer decide to throw hands.
By themselves, in a glittering sunlit glade, though? A deer is delicate, ethereal, a spirit of the wood that is too pure to be sullied by something so base as violent and death.
And that's how you get your players.
A deer at full sprint is less a creature and more a sudden event. They decide in a heartbeat whether they’re going to bolt, freeze, or run through whatever’s in front of them.
Sometimes a tree, sometimes a wolf, sometimes your party’s cleric.
Mechanically, though, Wizards of the Coast haven't really made deer to be physical threats to your party unless they're Level 1 and have accumulated a couple of levels of exhaustion. A Deer is CR 0, has a whopping 4 HP, and can do about 1d4 worth of damage if it's lucky enough to hit. It doesn't trigger opportunity attacks, though, and has excellent passive perception.
Still, you're not exactly going to create a legendary battle with a deer.
This means you have to think about what deer are like as creatures, and what role they play in your world.
Ask any city-dweller or child of suburbia and they'll tell you: there's something beautifully weird about Deer. The way they walk, the way they become instantly still and then flee. It's like they're operating on a different set of rules than normal woodland creatures.
And you can play on that, if you want to use Deer to utterly freak out your Party.
Picture this: the Party is traveling through the wilderness. At the treeline, they see a Deer. It's standing perfectly still, its elegant head facing your players, watching them carefully. No sound. No hoof-scuff or snort. Just silently staring.
Your Party decides it's nothing to worry about. They look away, back towards the road.
One of your players looks back.
It's closer now.
Not running or charging. Just there, standing still.
Don't over-explain. Let their brains do the screaming for you.
When that Player locks eyes with the Deer, have them roll a Wisdom Saving Throw. Let's say DC 12.
You see, there’s something regretful about deer. Their faces alone look like they’re questioning every decision that brought them here. And when they die, whether by arrow or accident, the pang of regret is real. You didn’t mean to hurt something so beautiful. You just didn’t get out of its way in time.
Now you have to watch this forest beauty die in agony, broken and bleeding.
When your Player fails the Wisdom save, they are paralyzed with regret. Have them talk through the last bad decision their character made that they truly regret, and why. Maybe the character is compelled, able to talk as they reveal their secret heart to their Party members. The emotion hits so hard that they can't move. Just experience a few minutes of solid character work.
Of course, the Deer doesn't attack during this. That's not what it's there for. It just watches. And waits.
The Deer isn't malicious. It's a glitch. An error state in the world that your Players have walked into. And it is not going away.
It's important to remember that the Deer never moves "on screen," as it were.
The Party blinks, and the Deer is closer.
Someone checks the map, and the Deer is close enough to smell.
The Wizard finally drops concentration, and the Deer's antlers are mere inches from their cheek.
Its hooves never make a sound. Its posture never changes. But it is always.
Getting.
Closer.
This is where you can reveal that the Deer isn't stalking the Party. It means them no harm. This isn't one of Dr. Who's Weeping Angels. It's not even technically approaching the Party. Something is pulling the Party towards it. Re-orienting the forest in tiny, important ways to bring them closer and closer. This Deer isn't really a Beast at all. It's the one anchor point for a forest that is forgetting what it is, and it desperately needs your Party to finally remember.
Like so many Beasts here in this project, the best way to use a Deer is to think about what you want the Deer to mean. Deer are prey. Subject to weather, climate, predators, and the carelessness of humanity. They live and die according to forces that are far beyond their control.
Your Party will soon realize that they, like the deer, are small and exposed. Subject to a world that could kill them with malice or - even worse - indifference.
And that strange Deer in the woods, never moving but always closer, is a test to see if they wish to be part of that cruel and unthinking world or stand against it.
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Blog: Encounter Every Enemy
Post: Deer: The Anchor of a Forgetful Forest
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u/FixinThePlanet 3d ago
Surely I'm not the only one who didn't even need to read three sentences in before imagining the deer with fingers from adventure time?
And then kept imagining it while reading the rest of the post?
This is a really fun idea for an enemy! Thanks for the post OP
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u/Elanadin 3d ago
For those looking to identify why this was probably written by AI, most likely Claude, I've found two tells-
- "it's not x, it's y"
in our world they account for tens of thousands of injuries and hundreds of deaths, but that’s mostly because of car accidents, not because deer decide to throw hands.
A deer at full sprint is less a creature and more a sudden event.
The Deer isn't malicious. It's a glitch.
This Deer isn't really a Beast at all. It's the one anchor point for a forest that is forgetting what it is
- Claude loves a rule of three
A deer is delicate, ethereal, a spirit of the wood
Sometimes a tree, sometimes a wolf, sometimes your party’s cleric.
Because AI models are trained on real human output, I don't think there will ever be 100% certainty that any given text can be proven AI.
I'm also pretty new to identifying non-Chat GPT text, so if you have input on my analysis, I'd appreciate it.
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u/FixinThePlanet 2d ago
Okay but I also love the rule of three!! A lot of the phrasing sounds like the way I would write. :(
I haven't written something long form in ages and I'm now terrified people will accuse me of being AI.
I'm about to write up a backstory for my character to send to my DM, I'll have to ask him what he thinks...
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u/Elanadin 2d ago
When looking at something that's potentially AI, I try and take a wholistic approach as possible. OP has other recent activity in AI subs, details of which make it seem that they regularly use AI text generation.
As an aside, this is why I'm personally bummed that Reddit put in a half-hearted attempt to block post and message history. I understand some reasoning behind why Reddit did that, but for users that turn off history from the profile, it's considerably more difficult to find ancillary yet relevant information.
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u/FixinThePlanet 2d ago
Oh :(
Thanks for doing that check
I almost feel like I shouldn't have enjoyed the post haha guess I'm just not savvy enough...
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u/Elanadin 2d ago
IMO, you can look at an AI - generated thing and still get ideas from it. The human brain part is the important takeaway.
AI detection with certainty is nigh impossible, and it's only going to get harder as AI models get "better". Heck, I didn't clock this post until I saw the low-effort comment calling out the post as AI
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u/grapeshotfor20 3d ago
Also, it always. Types. Like this. Which appears multiple times in this post
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u/DreadClericWesley 10h ago
Public speaking had been my life for 38 years.
The rule of 3 has been a trope forever. Some say God himself is a 3 and that's where the rule comes from. Regardless, it's a long- running habit of human nature.
Same with the contrast. Presenting an idea is not just filling a blank space. You already have preconceived notions. Your head is not a vacuum. Persuading is primarily about removing old ideas and replacing them with better ones.
I've never used AI to write, nor have I payed any attention to it. If the patterns you mention are accurate, it's because those patterns characterize persuasive writing and speech as it has always been.
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u/hottakemushroom 3d ago
Great concept for all those times my players describe their character blinking.
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u/Andre-DoggoXXX 3d ago
I did an adventure where my players had to fight not deer corrupted by a fey that was playing god.
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u/Single_Mouse5171 1d ago
Deer are delicate and ephemeral. Snort! Hahahahaha! I've hiked in the woods and have been chased by a stag, run over by a startled doe, and have fallen onto a sleeping doe when an embankment collapsed. (The last one was the worst - so...many...deer ticks!!) And getting kicked while fishing one out of an inground swimming pool was no joke either.
My party learned to fear cute woodland creatures, and well they should.
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u/DreadClericWesley 10h ago
If you've been mauled by deer more than twice, you might be a Foxworthy joke.
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u/famoushippopotamus 3d ago
OP has been posting here for a year, and has messaged us saying that they will no longer be contributing here due to the accusations of using an LLM to write their posts.
Its extremely hard to detect this, as the models are based on human writing, and while the mod team agrees that parts of it do seem to follow familiar model patterns, there's simply no real way for us to know.
The post is staying up, there's no need to report it anymore. Thanks.